Street style Veg Fried Rice

 Just like pulav, I am struggling to get that THE flavor of fried rice that’s available in Indo Chinese restaurants. Every time I see a recipe with slightest difference than what I’ve tried before, I try again. 

So did this particular recipe pass my taste test? It kinda did, but not 100%. But to be fair, this is supposed to be street style fried rice(which I’ve never tasted), not restaurant style, and also I didn’t stick to the recipe 100%. This recipe is very close to what I want to achieve. This gives me a good base to work upon. 

This recipe is from a Chef Ranveer Brar(link given below).

Do try! 

 

 

Vangibath - 2 (from scratch)

 Here is one more recipe for vangibath by making vangibath powder from scratch. This recipe(link given below) uses stone flower, which gives a very distinctive taste to the vangibath. I have tweaked(guessed) the quantity for one time serving and given it below. Do try.. 

Veg Chow Mein

 Summer holidays is going on in full swing and my teen seems always hungry for something special(read: junk food). 

Veg Chow mein, I would say is a good mix of healthy and kid friendly. In the sense, you can add as many vegetables as you want and kids don’t seem to mind because it’s noodles. This recipe I got from a YouTube video(link given below). 

I generally substitute noodles with spaghetti. 

Enjoy!

Coconut Milk Pulav

 One of the very simple yet rich tasting pulavs I fell in love with instantly when I tasted it at my friends place. InstaPot makes it even more simple. Do try!

Mooli Fried Rice

 One major change that happened in our household in the last two years is the increased consumption of root vegetables. It all started during lockdown when I started sending my husband for grocery shopping instead of going myself, instructing him to buy vegetables with longer shelf life. And ever since it has only been beetroots, radishes, potatoes and onions in our house. How much of only these can one have. He doesn’t like carrots, so I’m spared there. Even after telling him again and again to get some variety, he somehow manages to bring only these.. if this is his way of getting away from doing chores, it’s working!! I tag along these days and make sure he is not even around vegetables when I’m shopping. 

Coming to the recipe, I was intrigued when I saw this recipe for Mooli fried rice in another one of my fav blogs. And since I always have lots of mooli in the house(thanks to hubby), I gave it a try. The taste was very unique and moolangi complimented the Indo Chinese taste soo well! And one cannot guess there is moolangi in this dish. Perfect for sneaking in vegetable for picky eaters. 

Do try! 

OraLu Chitranna/ green kaayi saasive chitranna

 We also make kayi sasive chitranna, but differently. This masala uses green chilies and the ingredients are roasted before grinding. I really loved the flavors and the convenience of making this. You can keep the gojju(masala paste) ready beforehand and mix it with rice (just like puliyogare gojju) whenever needed. This is ideal for festivals. Enjoy! 

Methi Pulav

Presenting another flavorful rice bath made with methi leaves - methi pulav. Very easy, very tasty and very healthy. This can be made in 1 pot too. Here’s another recipe for methi leaves rice bath. 

Enjoy!

Mavinakayi Chitranna - Raw Mango rice 2

I’ve already posted a recipe for mavinkayi chitranna(raw mango) which can be found here. Mavinkayi chitranna and lemon rice are very similar, one uses raw mango for sourness and other uses lemon.

I came across another unique way of making mavinkayi chitranna(link given below). A special blend of spices is roasted and ground and added along with mavinkayi. It tasted more like a mix between puliyogare and chitranna. Very tasty. Do try! 

Cabbage Rice

This is a very simple rice bath with simple flavors and can be made in no time. Cabbage is generally not liked by kids. But sneak it in a rice bath, they’ll not mind, hopefully :)

Along with cabbage, I added capsicum and chick peas for extra flavor. Do try!

Aloo-Matar Pulav

This pulav is THE TASTE I wanted to achieve all these years. Hence I am writing a very detailed recipe on what exactly I did to be able to recreate next time. For people who don’t know about my struggle with pulav, they can refer here to get the inside story. Now I can sleep peacefully :)

To top this, a “sone pe suhaaga” kind of a deal is - this is a 1 pot meal. I made this in InstaPot. This recipe is from Hebbar's kitchen(link given below). 

Do try!

Sambar Rice

Sambar rice/ Sambar sadam is Tamil Nadu’s counterpart of Karnataka’s bisi bele bath. Both look the same, tastes the same(well, almost), procedure is also the same. Only difference is in the masala. Sambar rice has a strong black pepper flavor, our own BBB doesn’t. Choice of vegetables is also different. Good way to finish up vegetables… 

Do try! 

Instapot Spaghetti/ Pasta

I had seen somebody make pasta in Instapot and I liked the convenience of it. I searched for the same online for spaghetti, since that was what I had on hand(got it from Costco and it doesn’t seem to get over😭😭), and found one with good description(link given below). 

This is an ideal meal for quick weeknight dinners. Hassle free. One pot meal. Gets done in few minutes. Add some veggies and call it healthy. Do try!

Veg Burrito Bowl

My husband loves chipotle burrito bowls. Burrito bowls are easy to prepare at home. If you are hosting a party, you can prepare all the side dishes in advance and still have time to dress up and look fresh :) You can easily feed a crowd. Taste bhi health bhi kinda dish. 

Do try!

Happy holidays!!

Bread masala

So one day, casually browsing I came across bread masala video on Hebbar’s Kitchen and my daughter who was close by saw it and insisted that I make it for her. It looked easy.. so I gave it a try.. It tasted soo good! Generally making pav bhaji is easy, but this is easier than that. This is perfect for lunch box for kids. You can make masala previous day and add bread pieces in the morning, mix and give it for lunch box. 

Do try!  

Capsicum Rice Bath

Here’s another unique rice bath with simple taste and simple flavors. Very easy to make, and tastes like a variation of vangi bath. Makes for a great lunch box item. Onion can be skipped for festivals. Do try! 

Gojjavalakki/ Spiced Poha

Happy Krishnashtami! 

Gojjavalakki is basically crushed poha mixed with puliyogare-like masala. One of the very popular devara-prasadas served in temples. Very simple to make. This particular recipe makes masala from scratch. You can also use any other puliyogare mix instead of the masala below. 

Do try! 

InstaPot Aloo Pulav

Presenting another simple rice bath - simple only in ingredients but rich in flavor - Aloo rice bath. It was a big hit in my family. I made this in InstaPot. Quick and easy. 

Do try! 

Mint Pulav in InstaPot

Presenting another one-pot/InstaPot dish - mint pulav. 

Advantages of cooking in InstaPot - vegetables were perfectly cooked… onions too. Flavor was retained. 

Instant? Not really! 

Less baby sitting - if you call turning off the cooker on time baby sitting, then yes! I really don’t get this guys! It took me 1 hr from start to finish, how is that instant :)

Anyways, rice bath was flavorful…  Enjoy! 

Vegetable fried rice

Presenting another one of my favorite Indo Chinese recipes - Vegetable fried rice. I was thrilled to find this recipe in one my favorite blogs(link given below). I just tweaked it a little bit - like adding celery, and adding green sauce instead of green chillies. 

Celery, like I mentioned in my last post, definitely enhances flavor. But this recipe has another key ingredient - white pepper powder, which also gives a very unique and authentic flavor to the dish. Do not skip this. 

Overall preparing this is very easy. Comes out extremely tasty. Do try! 

Schezwan Noodles

Noodles are anytime welcome in our house, lunch or dinner. I personally love anything Indo-Chinese and Hakka noodles tops the list. 

To get an extra kick out of plain Hakka noodles, add schezwan chutney, which I found out about in a recipe online(link given below). 

I also followed a tip given by Vah chef, that to take any Indo-Chinese dish to the next level, to get that authentic taste, use celery. Yes, celery definitely enhances the taste, and I would highly recommend it for any Indo-Chinese dish, be it noodles or fried rice. 

Now, one more personal tip - generally you cook noodles and then run them in cold water and then add little oil and use them later. To avoid all these steps, I sauté all vegetables and keep everything ready, then I cook noodles, take them out of water and add them directly to the wok. This saves lot of time and energy :)

Do try!