Chicken Hakka Noodles

Another Indo-Chinese favorite among many of us is the Hakka Noodles. Lots of veggies and sauces stirred up together makes this a colorful complete meal for any day of the week.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Ingredients

Hakka Noodles: 1 packet

Soy Sauce: 2-3 teaspoons

Vinegar: 2-3 teaspoons

Green Chili Sauce: 1 teaspoon

Chili Garlic Sauce: 1 teaspoon

Vegetables : 1/2 cup (we used a mix of  the following)

Beans (Cut lengthwise)

Carrots (Cut lengthwise)

Green & Red bell peppers(Cut lengthwise)

Cabbage (shredded)

Onions (sliced)

Green Chilies (slit): 2-3:

Ginger(sliced): 1 tablespoon

Garlic (sliced): 1/2 tablespoon

Spring Onion (Chopped): handful

Salt & Pepper to taste

Oil to fry (You could regular cooking oil or some sesame oil)

Egg: 1

Chicken (Shredded): 1 can

* For convenience we used store bought can of chicken breast in water.

* You could also add cooked shrimp to this if you like.

Boil water in a deep pan. Sprinkle some salt and a few drops of oil. Add the hakka noodles and let it cook. This should take about 5-7 mins. Turn off the heat and drain off the water in a colander and rinse the cooked noodles under cold water.

Meanwhile chop all the veggies and keep aside. In a wok, heat some oil. On medium to high flame, stir fry the cut ginger, garlic and green chillies, Add all the veggies and stir. Add the soy sauce, green chilli sauce, chilli garlic sauce and vinegar. Now add the shredded chicken.When the veggies are half done, add the noodles and stir well. Adjust the salt. Sprinkle some pepper too. In a another small frying pan, heat some oil and add beaten egg and  scramble it. Add this also to the noodles. Give a final stir and the noodles are read. Garnish with freshly chopped spring onions.

Enjoy!!

Soy Nugget Manchurian

Nutri-nuggets or soy nuggets are popularly used an an alternative for meat. Back home in India, our mothers would make a masala curry tricking us into eating this as chicken curry. High in protein, they are a great choice for vegetarians and can be made in varied preparations. We tried something different on the lines of indo chinese and is a big hit in our homes.. 

Prep Time:  20 mins + soaking time
Ingredients

Soy Nuggets (soaked in hot water with salt): 1 cup
Onions (cubed): 1/4 cup
Bell pepper (cubed): 1/4 cup
Ginger (finely sliced): 1 tablepsoon
Garlic (finely sliced): 1 tablespoon
Green chillies (slit): 4-5
Spring Onions (chopped): one bunch
Corn starch: 5 tablespoons
Chili Garlic sauce: 2 -3 tablespoons
Soy Sauce: 3 tablespoons
Vinegar: 2 tablespoons
Tomato Ketchup: 2 tablespoons
Sugar (optional):  1 teaspoon
Dried red chillies: 2-3
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Soak the soy nuggets in hot water and salt for about 20 mins. They will drink it up immediately and fluff up. Dissolve the corn starch with some ketchup in little water to make a thickish paste. Keep aside. Put  the fluffed up nuggets into the corn starch mix n let it sit for a while you chop rest of the veggies.

Afters thats done, heat some oil on a deep wok. Shallow fry these soy nuggets until the coated corn starch gets all cooked. Take them out. In the remaining oil, fry the dried red chillies, chopped ginger, garlic, green chillies. Toss in the onions, bell peppers. Add back the fried soy nuggets. Add in all the chill garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Adjust the salt and spice. Keep tossing till everything gets well coated. Finely garnish with chopped spring onions.

The manchurian is ready to serve  to make complete your indo chinese dinner night  either with some fried rice or noodles.

Sweet Corn Chicken Soup

Kick start your Indo-Chinese dinner night with this comforting sweet corn chicken soup. The sweet corn kernels and spicy green chillies cooked in a chicken broth do a balancing act with flavors to make this soup a favorite among all age groups.

Ingredients

Creamed style corn (can) :1
Chicken stock: 2 Cups
Chicken (shredded) : 1/3 cup
Egg: 1
Green chillies (cut up): 4-5
Ginger (chopped): 1 teaspoon
Corn starch: 2 teaspoons
Soy sauce: 1 teaspoon
White vinegar: 2 teaspoons
Chilli garlic sauce: to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

* For vegetarians, you could the skip the shredded chicken and make the soup in vegetable broth.

Begin with diluting the corn starch in some chicken stock and keep aside. Empty the corn into a large pot. Pour in the chicken stock and add the chopped ginger, green chillies and shredded chicken and mix well. Start to boil. Add the diluted cornstarch. Stir continuously so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the chilli garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and mix well. Now beat up an egg and pour into this boiling pot. The egg will disintegrate into stretchy white pieces. Keep stirring. Adjust the salt and spice levels. You could add more chilli garlic sauce if you need.

Enjoy it hot!!

Chow chow Fried Rice

Here's quick n easy Indo-Chinese recipe for a fried rice using your left over rice and freshly cut up veggies. Put together anything and everything you like in a wok and stir up this yummy meal. If you were wondering whats with the name, Chow chow was just a random word that came up in our minds to add some Chinese spirit into this meal.

Ingredients

*Cooked Basmati /Sona Masoori Rice: 1 1/2 cup
Carrots (finely sliced) :1/4 cup
Green Beans (finely cut): 1/4 cup
Colored bell peppers (finely sliced): 1/4 cup
Broccoli (Cut): 1/4 cup
Cabbage (finely shredded): 1/4 cup
Green Chilies (slit): 4-5
Ginger (finely sliced): 1 tablespoon
Spring/green Onions: 1 bunch
Shredded Chicken (optional):1/4 cup
Egg: 1
Soy Sauce: 2 teaspoons
White Vinegar: 1 1/2 teaspoons
Red Chili garlic Sauce: 2-3 tablespoons
Oil to stir-fry
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

* Only thing to note while using cooked rice, is that you shouldn't use overcooked rice as the fried rice might get lumpy.
*Choice of vegetables is entirely up to your choice. Celery sticks, Mushrooms and Corn kernels are other things you can further add on.
*If you are adding chicken to this recipe, you will have to fry the shredded chicken pieces and keep aside before proceeding with below procedure.

Heat some oil in wok. Fry the sliced ginger and green chillies. Add all the cut vegetables and stir fry on medium to high heat. Sprinkle salt, add the soy sauce, vinegar and the chilli garlic sauce and mix well. When the vegetables start to cook, add the rice and toss well. Don't wait too long to add the rice as the vegetables might lose their crunch. Add the fried chicken and mix well. Meanwhile slightly beat the egg. Make a little space in the centre of the wok, moving the vegetables and rice to the corners. Pour the beaten egg into the wok and constantly stir until the egg fully cooks. Give everything a final toss. Check the salt and spice levels. Take it off from heat and garnish with freshly cut up green/spring onions .

Enjoy them hot.