Spunky Chinese Fried Rice to Liven Up a Weeknight Dinner

It is rare that I experiment with nouvelle cuisine on a weekday. Weekdays  are chaste days ( only with regards to food) where the Routine is the Master and we are nothing but mere serfs to it. Week night dinners are the only meals that dear hubby and I have together and so it has to be simple and quick.  Then we get on with our cleaning, reading, some email checking or whatever we choose to do before we call it a night. For some reason, I haven’t been feeling the weekday pressure for quite many days. Probably it may have to do with the fact that the weather is glorious in Bahrain and it is a pleasure to wake up early and hit the gym. On one such weekday, I was felt a burgeoning urge to do something different and hassle the Big Routine. I was in no mood to refer recipe books and only wanted to make the most of what I had in my refrigerator. Once the ingredients gathered themselves, I chopped and hopped around the kitchen. Some sauces, a few condiments and a quarter of an hour later, I realized I made myself some spunky Chinese fried rice. This would be my first ever foray into the Chinese style of cooking and I was extremely happy with the way the fried rice turned out. It was full of flavour, the right amount of heat and quite enough on its own.

Recipe for Chinese Fried Rice ( Chicken)

Ingredients

Cooked rice – about 3 cups( left over rice works the best)

Salt to taste

Pepper – 1/2 tsp or according to taste

oil

Oyster sauce  - 2- 3 tablespoon ( I like the strong flavour)

Soy sauce – 2 tablespoon

white vinegar – as per taste ( I enjoy my fried rice a little tart)

Chicken ( shredded and half cooked) – 1 to 1 and a half cups ( I bought mine stir fry ready and  marinated from the super market.  But I feel that the flavour would be more wholesome if you marinate it at home in the spices of your choice)

Cabbage, chopped – 1/2 cup

beans, chopped – 1/2 or less ( these are not appreciated in my home)

mushrooms, chopped – 1/2 cup

capsicum, chopped – 1/2 cup or less

carrots, chopped – 1/2 cup

green chillies, chopped – according to taste and they serve as garnish too

spring onions, chopped – 1/2 cup and more for garnish

garlic and ginger paste – about 1 and half tablespoons

Preparation

1. Heat some oil in a non-stick frying pan and shallow fry/stir fry the marinated chicken and keep aside

2. In another wok, heat some oil and saute the garlic-ginger paste.

3. When the ginger garlic paste is done, add the chopped veggies and stir continuously. Do not over do it.

4. To this, add the said quantities of salt, pepper, oyster sauce, soy sauce and white vinegar and stir well.

5. Keep the flame from a medium to high all the times so that the contents do not remain soggy.

6. Add chicken pieces to and stir again. Check to taste and add more salt or sauce as per requirement.

7. Finally add the rice and mix well.

8. Garnish with chopped spring onions leaves and green/red chillies.

For vegetarians an easy substitution would be tofu or just the stir fried vegetables should do the trick.

I couldn’t believe it was so easy to put together and waited to see the reaction on my hubby’s face when I announced that there would be some Chinese Fried Rice for dinner. As expected, he was pleasantly surprised by the detour. When I saw him tuck into this rice preparation, I realized breaking the Routine once in while is good. The other thing I realized was, probably this was the only way I was going to have my Chinese Fried Rice from now on.

 

Weekend Dinner – Veg. Lasagne, Whole Meal Loaf & Tomato – Feta Salad

You must all know Mimi by now. What you may not know about her is, she is a very peculiar toddler. While I know of kids who love to eat out and gorge on fried chips, munchies, chocolates, biscuits, flavoured milk, burgers and cola, my child detests it with all her might. She prefers eating home-made meals. Hot and piping, right off the stove. Going out with her never means a break for me from the kitchen. I have to make her meal, feed her and only then step out. Else I have to carry her dinner of roti & sabji or dosa & sambar and feed her on the go. When I rant about it to my girlfriends, they feel, I am blessed. They narrate to me their struggles of trying to get their children to eat home cooked meals.

After all this while, I realize, I am truly blessed, for various reasons. Mimi’s habits not only ensure that she eats  healthy and fresh meals  but also prompts me to try different cuisines in my kitchen. One such weekend dinner was about experimenting with Italian. Vegetarian only.

I prepped up for some vegetarian lasagna, a crusty loaf and some easy tomato – feta gorgeousness of a salad.

Vegetarian Lasagna : The silly thing about reading recipes is that they make you feel that it is the simplest thing in the world to do. But when you get around doing it with your bare hands, you realize you completely lack co-ordination. It happens to me all the time. Lasagna was tricky to make especially the boiling of the sheets. I wanted it all ‘al-dente’ and micro observed to get it right. But when I was done, peeling them off of each other was a task that took me the maximum amount of time. The vegetable part was easy since it was just about going chop, chop, chop. The white bechamel sauce was something I make  regularly so that did not take any time either. Layering was enjoyable like artwork. Cheese scraping was done by my friend Namit to help me get the dinner on the table before the clock struck mid night. The result was remarkable and worth all the effort. Mimi loved it and had an extra  helping. This is definitely winner of a recipe.

Recipe for Veg. Lasagna

Ingredients

Lasagna sheets  - use as required, I had to use about 24 of them since I had a large tray to fill

Salt to taste

White Sauce* – 1 1/2 cups – 2 cups

Cheddar cheese grated – 1 cup ( more the better)

Oil – 2 tbsp

Butter- 2 tbsp

Garlic crushed – 8 cloves

Onions chopped – 2 medium

Mushrooms  chopped finely – 7-8 nos.

Brinjal / aubergine chopped finely – 1 large

Zucchini chopped – 2 medium

Capsicum chopped – 1 no.

Tomatoes chopped – 4 medium

Dry Basil – 1 tsp

Dry Oregano – 1 tsp

Maggi vegetable stock – 1 small cube

Fresh Parsley chopped  - about a handful or less

Preparation

1. Heat a lot of water in a deep pan. Add enough salt such that the water tastes like sea water. Add lasagna sheets and a little olive oil to the water. Boil it for 10 minutes and take them out. Spread them out carefully without burning your fingers and cover with a damp cloth.

2. In a separate pan, heat oil & butter. Saute the chopped onion till they are translucent and then add crushed garlic. Add the Maggi vegetable stock cube. You will see it dissolving in the oil in sometime.

3. Add all the chopped vegetables except capsicum and tomatoes. Let them cook. Add salt but with care since the Maggi vegetable stock has a lot of salt in it already.

4. Now add the tomatoes and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Once they turn soft add capsicum, dry basil, dry oregano and parsley. Mix well and cook for some more time. Take it off the stove.

5. Preheat the oven to 200C  and butter your baking dish.

6.First lay down a the first layer of the pasta and then the white sauce on top of it. Then put another layer of pasta and a layer of the vegetable mixture. A layer of pasta and then the white sauce. Alternate layers like that and fill up the baking dish.

7. Once the last layer of pasta has been laid, spread grated cheese on top and cover completely. Shove it in the preheated oven for about 20-22 minutes or until the cheese has turned golden. Serve hot.

*Notes – For the white sauce/bechamel sauce,  you need 4 Tbsp of all-purpose flour, 2 cups of hot milk, 2 tbsp of butter, salt to taste and pepper.

To prepare- Take a heavy bottomed pan, put it on the stove and melt the butter first. Add the flour and stir well. Do not let it brown and cook well for about 2 minutes. Add the two cups of hot milk and stir continuously. You will find that the sauce has thickened. Add salt and pepper and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from fire and let it cool. While using if the sauce has thickened too much then you could add a wee bit milk and heat it a bit to loosen it.

Whole Meal Loaf – Sometimes I feel, we demand a level of convenience that is immodest. But when you make bread with your bare hands, kneading and toiling , it presents itself as the most humbling experience. I followed the same recipe as in the post about Nigella Lawson’s bread. Only that I shaped it like a baton and made some deep gashes  atop to give it a rustic feel. The loaf was crusty on the outside and on the inside the crumb was a delight to bite on. I made some garlic infused olive oil which was such a splendid accompaniment along with blobs of butter.

Tomato-Feta Salad - First, this salad is such a stunner to look at. Second it demands nothing out of you except a few firm and sweet tomatoes sliced and arranged on a plate adorned with a few pinches of feta. No seasonings required to perk it up. The feta does what is required of it, that is, give it that tangy-salty twist.

 

 

The dinner goes down as one of the most memorable ones. To be able to put a smile on my family’s and friend’s faces makes it worth my while. Every attempt that I have made that seemed outside my comfort zone has met with mixed results. But it is only practising the craft again and again that has made all the difference.

There is so much more that I yearn to learn through such wonderful dinners.

For the beautiful collage and photographs I have my friend, Namit to thank. While I was busy preparing the dinner, he made use of that time to click some wonderful frames. Thank you so much for your patience.

A Vegetable and Paneer Quiche from Scraps

I have been fond of Quiche since the time I tasted it first during my visit to the US. It was 2007. My client’s office had a lovely cafeteria that served sumptuous food and huge portions. I always struggled trying to finished my portion which was almost always wasted despite my best efforts. I was a vegetarian back then and was pretty pleased to see ample options wherever I chose to dine in the US. Mexican by far, had endless options and the chef who was always eager to please, would easily convert a meat based dish into a vegetarian version to my delight. I have only fond memories of good food and lovely people in the US.

Fast forward, 2011 and I am still fond of Quiche and the incredible variations you can make of this exotic sounding humble dish. I have had meat based, vegetarian based and all sorts of Quiche. I also find it interesting that a Quiche could be easily devoured no matter, any time of the day or night. I could have a hearty breakfast with Quiche and some black coffee or break into a Quiche and salad lunch and last but not the least, an early supper with Quiche and some hearty soup. Wow! I can visualize all that spread already.

But I made this particular vegetarian version as  desperate breakfast attempt. We had just a day before we were to embark on a  3 week trip to London, and my refrigerator was stark naked. It is not a heartening sight since I always stock it up to the brim with wanted and unwanted stuff. Since the trip was planned, I made it a point to empty and use what was already there. I had just the amount of flour, some butter, some frozen vegetables and 4 eggs. I worked at dough to make the crust with some butter but soon found out why shortening was used usually. It was extremely difficult to make the crust but I did manage somehow after a lot of crumbling and breakouts.

The Recipe for Vegetable Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour + a little more when you roll out to make the crust
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• dash salt
• 6 tablespoons butter( or substitute 3 Tbsp of shortening)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Filling

• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese ( I did not have any so I skipped this but inclusion of cheese would take it to new levels of gooey deliciousness)
• 1/2 cups frozen peas and diced carrots, beans cooked and well-drained
• 1/2 cup frozen paneer
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder(optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 4 eggs, beaten

Preparation:

• Combine flour, 1/4 teaspoon oregano.
• Cut in 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons shortening (or all butter like I did) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Sprinkle with the milk, one tablespoon at a time, mixing until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape dough into a ball. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to form a circle 12-inches in diameter.
• Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry; turn under edges and flute, forming a rather high rim.

For filling,

• Combine cheese, vegetables, flour,  salt, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper; gently toss.
• Place cheese mixture in bottom of pie crust. ( I skipped this)
• Melt butter in a skillet; saute onion until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle onion over cheese mixture.
• Combine milk and eggs; pour over cheese mixture.
• Add the paneer pieces
• Bake at 350° 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let vegetable Quiche stand 10 to 12 minutes before serving.

So all  the Quiche was devoured that day for Breakfast/Brunch, lunch and as an evening snack. All the time I enjoyed eating it, I wondered as to why I never tried making this incredibly easy Snack before. Made a mental note to try it with different combination such as zucchini and broccoli, chicken and paneer and much more.

I was really happy that I was able to use the scraps from my fridge and convert it into this delightful dish.