Restaurant jaisa Chinese Ghar Pe ;)

I can place bets on the Chinese food cooked the Punjabi way. If a Chinese man came over to Punjab and ate what we call Chinese, he would die! or might lose his mind or might fall in love like every other person. :)

There is a new restaurant in the town. Its called Shankh and they serve all kind of yummy food. Indian, Punjabi, Thai, Chinese, Mexican Italian et al cuisine. Only speciality is that the food is all vegetarian and they dont use Onion and Garlic. Yes. You read it right. And yes. The restaurant is the concern of ISKCON. You must have heard that ISKCON temples distribute all kind of fast food and continental food as prasad. They offer the God all yummy food. Isn't it awesome?

Anyhow. We visited the restaurant to check it out and the garlic onion flavor was missing. Which brings me to key down this post. Yes, I decided to cook Chinese at home. :D

The menu I decided was Hakka Noodles, Crispy Veg, Chili Cheese.

For now, I am here with my Crispy Veg recipe.

Crispy Veg

Ingredients:

For The Batter

5 tbsp cornflour;

5 tbsp flour (maida);

1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste;

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper powder;

1 tsp lemon juice;

salt to taste;

1 tbsp oil

Other Ingredients:

2 cups mixed vegetables (baby corn , capsicum and cauliflower) , cut into long strips;

oil for deep-frying;

For Schezwan Sauce:

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup sesame oil;

3-4 whole red peppers;

3/4 onions-chopped fine;

1 tbsp garlic;

1 tbsp ginger;

1/2 tsp chilli powder;

1 tsp sesame seeds;

2 tbsp corn flour mixed in a cup of water;

1 tbsp vinegar;

1 tsp soya sauce;

1 tsp chilli sauce;

1 tsp salt

Method:

• Combine Cornflour, Flour, Ginger garlic paste, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, oil and water and make a smooth batter. 
• Dip the vegetables in the batter and deep fry once, keeping scope for frying them again. Keep aside.

Now, make the Schezwan sauce.

• Grind together the onions, garlic and ginger.
• Heat the oil in a wok add the whole red peppers and saute over high heat till they darken a bit. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and stir-fry over high heat till glossy.
• Add the corn flour mixture and bring to a boil.
• Lower the heat and add the chilli powder, vinegar, soya sauce, chilli sauce and salt and mix well
• Cook till well blended (1/2 minute) and use.

Now, Deep fry the vegetables once again, and add them to the sauce directly. Toss lightly.

Garnish with fried noodles, and serve.

The Outcome:

Crispy veg

The Fiasco:

None :D

Main Course bhi try karna chahiye :)

Starters and Snacks I have been into. Just thought why not try a main course dish. I am not a Paneer fan and being a vegetarian we do not have much options in main course other than Paneer. And then, cauliflower enters into the scene. Cauliflower, generally paired up with potato makes a very commonly and most widely cooked Indian meal in winters. Aaloo-gobhi as we call it. Tired of it, i thought of trying the gobhi a new and delicacy way. Picked the Murg Mussallam recipe and made it with Califlower. Okay, being a non-veggie, you can kill me for that. But, somehow, it turned out to be delicious. *pats her back*.

Bringing you the recipe.

Gobhi Mussallam

Ingredients:

1 nos Cauliflower (separated into florets);

Oil for frying;

2 nos. Onions (1 ground to a paste, 1 finely chopped)

1 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste

1 tsp Turmeric powder

2 tsp Red chilli powder

2 tsp Coriander powder

4 nos Black Peppercorns

3 nos Cloves

2 nos Green Cardamom

1 nos Black Cardamom

1”stick Cinnamon

1 small piece Mace

½ cup Tomato puree

1 tbsp Khoya (grated)

2 leaves Silver varq

3-4 nos Almonds (cut into slivers)

1 nos Green chilli

Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry cauliflower florets till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside.
• Combine the onion paste with ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a frying pan and saute chopped onion with whole spices till onion is golden and spices release flavour. Cool and grind to a paste. Keep aside.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and saute the onion-ginger-garlic paste. Mix in tomato puree and khoya and saute.
• Mix in onion-spice paste, salt, add cauliflower and water and cook till cauliflower absorbs the flavour and gravy thickens. Heat oil in a tadka spoon and fry the green chilli whole.
• To serve, arrange florets in a plate and pour gravy around them. Apply silver varq, sprinkle over with almonds and place fried green chilli on top. Serve hot.

The Outcome: 

Gobhi Mussallam

The Fiasco: While frying the onion and whole spices, I brought it to perfect golden color and put the gass off. Just dint remove it from the pan. And when I came back to check it, the golden color had turned a little black. #FML. Somehow, it dint really burn. #ThankGodForThat