Stir fry, with a little bit of zing

Don't wait to dig in!

No guys, the zing is not coming from garam masala. Just kidding. This was not meant to be a blog post, it was just supposed to be dinner. But when I saw how delicious it looked, I couldn't resist clicking a picture and putting it up here. Stir fry is one of my all time favourites, little surprise, since I am such a big fan of vegetables. I was, however, tired of the limp and dull stir fries that I have been served, some with just a runny soy sauce thrown into the veggies and some just too dry to get me through my portion of rice. 

I like my stir fry to be hearty with taste, and like a little bit of extra sauce. Both Swati and I know it is due to a hangover of our good old dal-chawal, we just cannot do with just dry veggies over our rice. In addition, I am a fan of the sweet sour Asian sauces, so when I found a simple recipe needing a few ingredients that were readily available in my fridge, I was sold. Doesn't matter that the sauce was part of a recipe for meat or sea food mains. I know how to adapt my food :) And then I decided to end the dish with a corn starch mixture to thicken the sauce and add a glossy sheen to the whole dish. Well, I figure since I was eating so many veggies (which is quite healthy) a spoon of corn starch would not do that much harm! The recipe of the sauce mentioned chilli flakes as an ingredient, but it did not sound interesting enough. Being Indian (all Indians will understand this comment), I decided to add a tablespoon of the schezuan sauce that I had left over from the Chinese vada pav. That's what added the zing and just lifted the taste of the boring stir fry!

I draw satisfaction from the fact that I have not used any oil at all in my stir fry, I just used a dash of Pam Cooking Spray to start frying the garlic. After that, most veggies lost water and so no other medium was required. Using a teflon-coated pan helped. You could easily use one teaspoon of oil (whichever you prefer, I am not picky about this, since I tend to use what I have at home at the time). Want to get started?

Veg stir fry with a sweet sour sauce

Ingredients - for two

Mushrooms, sliced - 3-4 medium

Capsicums (bell peppers) - all colours, diced - 1/2 cup

Baby bokchoy, roughly torn - 1 head

Water chestnuts, peeled and sliced - 7-8

Baby corn, sliced - 5-6

Garlic, peeled and sliced - 2-3 cloves

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Oil - 1 teaspoon

For the sauce

Soy sauce - 1/4 cup

Vinegar - 3 tablespoons

Brown sugar - 2-3 tablespoons

Schezuan sauce - 1 tablespoon (You can replace it with 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes)

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

For the corn starch mixture

Corn starch - 1 tablespoon

Soy sauce - 1 tablespoon

Water - 1 tablespoon

Brown or white rice to serve

Method

1. Before you start chopping the vegetables, make sure you have washed them well, especially the mushrooms. The ones available in Indian markets are full of dirt. With the bokchoy make sure you have separated each leaf/ stem and cleaned it  through.

2. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the garlic when it sizzles. Alternatively, you can heat the pan and then spray Pam. 

3. When the garlic slices start turning brown in a couple of minutes, add the baby corn and let it fry for 2-3 minutes. Give it a good stir in between. The heat should be on medium or low. Add in the capsicums, and continue stirring. After another two minutes, add the mushrooms, and let it cook another 2 minutes. Finally add the water chestnuts and bokchoy, and let it cook on low heat. Add the salt.

4. In the meanwhile, assemble all the ingredients of the sauce in a bowl. Once the bokchoy starts going limp, add the sauce mixture to the pan and let it cook.

5. Immediately make the corn starch mixture by dissolving the corn starch in the soy sauce and water so that there are no lumps. Add it to the pan when the sauce in the pan starts to bubble. Let the corn starch cook for 2 minutes and turn off the heat.

6. Let the veg stir fry rest in the pan for 7-10 minutes before serving.

8. Serve with white or brown rice. 

Notes:

• You could add or subtract any vegetables of your choice. Additional vegetables that can be used are spring onions, cabbage, squash and egg plant.
•  Tofu can be added too, but you will need to shallow/ deep fry it. Add it to the dish at the end, after the sauce is cooked.
• It can be served with plain cooked noodles as well. 
• Sorry I do not have pictures of the process, as I said, I had not intended it as a blog post!

Hindi-Chini vada bhai

This post has been in my mind for a long time - over a year and a half! Well, finally got around to doing it :)

On his trip back home after a long time in New York, Aditya wanted to dig into a vada pav, but that opportunity had somehow eluded him until the day we were walking down Tardeo Road from Haji Ali. Nestled on a corner near the signal in the AC market area in Mumbai, there is a snack place that has a number of vadas ready and stacked for passers-by to pick up quickly. Not wanting to miss that opportunity, we quickly ordered two. My first clue should have been the spicy Chinese sauce (albeit, an Indian concoction!) that was served as a condiment. Well, the bulb didn't click then. One bite and we were hit by some snazzy schezuan taste. The sauce on the side added oodles of flavour to the whole gastronomic ensemble. All this for a mere seven bucks. We had just sampled the ultimate fusion food - the Chinese vada pav! The two countries may have had innumerable influences on each other, but this definitely must be the most interesting :) It is as good as fusion gets on the streets of Mumbai.

I have been talking about it so much, that everyone at my former office wanted to be treated with the Chinese vada pav. I also wrote a tiny piece for the magazine, Youth Incorporated. Alas, when I went to get some for all of us one monsoon evening, the stall owner told me he had discontinued the item.

Ever since I ate it with Aditya, I wanted to try it out at home. Finally, today was the day! For the recipe of the accompanying schezuan sauce, I turned to India's very own Tarla aunty. I made one batch as per her proportions. Saved the rest for later. I must say, the result was pretty amazing. It was easy to tell, since my brother Mihir came to the kitchen and asked "What's cooking?"

"Chinese vada pav."

"The schezuan smells niiiice..."

Schezuan in the making

Well, that set my mood. Also, I did the non-fried version not only for health purposes, but also because I did not want to heat so much oil and then re-use it later. My appakara vessel to the rescue. It is easily available in any stainless steel vessel store in India, or at Indian stores abroad.

Well, I will not be between you and the wonderful taste of this snack any more. Be happy, the recipe uses minimal oil! Here goes: 

Chinese vada pav

Ingredients (makes about 6-7 vadas)

For the filling

Boiled potatoes - 3-4 medium

Beetroots - 2 tablespoons (grated with a fine cheese grater)

Carrots - 2 tablespoons (grated with a fine cheese grater)

Cabbage - 1 tablespoon (grated with a fine cheese grater)

Spring onions - 1 tablespoon (chopped extremely fine, a bit of green, a bit of white)

Soaking the chillies for the schezuan

Ginger - 1/2 teaspoon (grated with a fine cheese grater)

Salt - 1 teaspoon, then adjust to your taste

Ground pepper powder - 1 teaspoon

Soy sauce - 1 teaspoon

White vinegar - 1 teaspoon

Schezuan sauce - 1 tablespoon (Refer to Tarla Dalal's recipe)

Oil - 1 teaspoon

For the coating

Chickpea flour - 2 tablespoons

Asafoetida (hing) - a tiny pinch

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon, then adjust

Water - 3 tablespoons, to get a batter consistency

Oil to shallow fry - 2-3 tablespoons

To serve

Schezuan sauce

Ketchup (since Indian's eat it with almost anything, but optional)

Pav - 6

Piece of newspaper or cheap paper plate to serve on - A must!

Method

1. Lets tackle the filling first. In a small pan, heat the oil and add the ginger when its hot. Once the ginger sizzles, add the veggies - carrots, beetroots, spring onions and cabbage. Saute for about two minutes and add the schezuan sauce salt, and pepper. Turn off the heat. Allow it to cool for 5-7 minutes.

2. In a mixing bowl, mash the potatoes and add the above mixture and mix well. Make sure that the beetroot red colour spreads across the potatoes and the colour is even.

3. Add the soy sauce and vinegar, and mix well. Be sure to taste, and adjust any flavours to your choice.

4. Once the filling is ready, divide it evenly into 6-7 medium size balls.

Ready to go into the fryer

5. In another small mixing bowl, mix the batter for coating. Take the chikpea flour, add the salt and asafoetida. Then add the water spoon by spoon and mix the batter so that there are no lumps. Make sure you have a smooth batter of a consistency thicker than pancakes or dosa.

6. Heat the appakara vessel, and when hot, put a drop of oil in each of the seven sections. Alternatively, you could deep fry the vadas in hot oil over a medium flame.

7. Dip each ball of the filling in the batter, coat it evenly and then fry (shallow or deep).

Done done done!

8. Be sure to turn your vadas over, and fry until golden brown on each side.

9. Cut the pav from the centre, place the vada in it, and serve it with schezuan sauce on the side.

Dig dig dig in!

10. Wait no more, just devour! Slurrp.

Truly international ;-)

11. Wash it down with a glass of delicious and cold aam panna (raw mango coulis). 

Worth the salt?

You can't do with it being less, you can't do with it being excess. It has to be just right. Until not very long ago, even a foodie, avid food reader and cook like me did not know the purpose of salt in our food. Nor had I ever thought about it or bothered to find out. (Shame on me!) Sure, when questioned, I could come up with the usual. Like it provides the zing, and the seasoning etc, but that was not the real deal, as I found out later. It was when Chefs Kunal Kapoor and Ajay Chopra explained it on one of the episodes of MasterChef India. The role of salt is to bring all the tastes and flavours together, to bind them in the preparation.

Just a pinch!

While reading recipes and experimenting with them, as a cook I was quite used to reading 'Salt to taste' in the ingredients column. Did not even give a second thought to it while writing out my own recipes (check muthiya and salsa rice). Then one day I happened to read this article about a novice cook tearing his hair out since he could not deal with 'salt to taste' in most of the recipes he was referring to. He wrote something to the effect of - "How much is 'to taste'. I have no clue! I don't know where to start, at least give me a start!" Pity, I didn't think of remembering where I read it, so can't link it here. But the guy had a point. Recipe writers cannot and should not assume such knowledge from all the readers, they should be more specific. 

It reminds me of a day when Amrita (a close friend) was upset about something similar. Sitting in her Chicago apartment, she was a learning how to cook something, her mom guiding her from India over the phone. And she got exasperated when directed to 'add water'. "How much? One spoon, one ladle or one cup? Give me a starting point!"

Well, coming back to salt, I have understood my folly, and shall not repeat it. The start was made last night with the grilled portobello salad, and all forthcoming recipes shall have a start point to adding the little white grains. The rest, then, can be adjusted to taste :)

The elusive portobellos…

… well not anymore! As I have mentioned in my profile, we in India are deprived of many ‘foreign’ ingredients, most of them that are thought of as exotic. Until a few years ago, mushrooms were part of that group too. Even today, the mushrooms that are freely available now in every market are the button variety, the others still remaining largely elusive to the common man. What a lovely surprise it was, when yesterday, I noticed a packet of portobellos neatly sitting next to all the other exotic stuff at a vendor's in the local market. Right among the small piles of iceberg lettuce, broccoli, purple cabbage, cherry tomatoes and other things, were two packets staring at me. Skeptical about even asking the cost, I just picked up a packet. Rs 40. Not bad at all ($1 approx = Rs 53). Then I asked the vendor – “Kitne ka?” Rs 30! Yay! I wanted to dance right there, on the footpath (sidewalk), but soon realized that I needed to exercise control.

Since the dinner menu for that day was already decided, my mushrooms had to spend a day in the fridge. There was no way, however, that I was going to wait any longer than required. The dilemma – what should I make? I could stuff them, but my mushrooms were small. Sandwich? Naah, didn’t have the right bread. Considering I had stocked up on the salad ingredients too, it seemed the best option. Grilled portobello salad. My mouth was already watering.

The salad bed - just right!

Well. Dressing? Choices choices. Not that many. Used a bottled vinaigrette, or whip up something. Considering how much I enjoy the latter, there was no question. A bit of soy sauce, a little vinegar, salt and pepper. I was set. No wait, something to cut the acidity (ha ha I can use Masterchef words too :) Since I had no maple syrup, I used honey. Perfect.  
When marinating the mushrooms, I set out to make the bed for my salad. Once again, the exotic ingredient dilemma. I had lettuce – the one variety popular in Indian markets – iceberg. Right or wrong, I had to use it. Salad greens? None. I could use spinach, but wasn’t up to eating spinach tonight. Digging in the vegetable drawer, I found a perfect solution (well, at least for me!) Cucumber. Just peeled ribbons length wise, leaving the dark green skin on. Into the freezer to chill and provide crunch.

Sizzle sizzle

The 'Masterchef deglaze'

By then, I started grilling the mushrooms. (I saved the remnants of the marinade to use at a dressing over my salad. I used a simple grill pan on a stove top. A slight dash of olive oil. Yumm! Once my mushrooms were done, I realized that there was too much taste that was stuck on the pan, and all those episodes of Masterchef where they talk of ‘deglazing the pan’ came running back to my mind. My heart, nay, my taste buds, would not allow me to waste that! So I just threw in the  tomatoes (they were supposed to go in raw in the salad) and let them grill in the juices. After taking them off and setting them to cool, the Indian in me could not resist sprinkling a pinch of dried oregano over the tomatoes. Trust me, it went well with the whole dish! (I guess mixed herbs would do just as well.)

Not one to waste any bit of the taste, I even toasted my bread on the same pan. A light grill on each side. All I needed was a bit of assembly, and then dig in! Simple delicious. I can’t wait to chance upon a packet of shiitakes now!

 

Grilled Portobello Salad

Ingredients

Cooling off. Notice the 'Indianness'
- oregano on the tomatoes

Portobello mushrooms – 5-6 medium size
Tomatoes – 1 large
Iceberg lettuce (or any other you like) – 2-3 leaves
Cucumber – 1 large (you could substitute it with salad greens
Salt – a pinch
Crushed black pepper – a pinch
Olive oil – 1 teaspoon
Brown bread – 2 slices

For the dressing/ marinade

Salt – 1 teaspoon
Crushed black pepper – 1 teaspoon
Soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
Vinegar (you could use any you like) – 1 tablespoon
Honey – 1 teaspoon

Method
1. Stem the mushrooms and thoroughly wash them.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl and put in the mushrooms. Let them marinate for 20 minutes.
3. Wash the lettuce and chop it roughly to make a bed on your plate. Peel ribbons or strips of the cucumber to sit in the middle of the plate to make a bed for the mushrooms. Stick it in the freezer to chill.
4. Heat your grill pan, and grease it with a little bit of olive oil. Place the mushrooms on it to leave them to grill. Don’t forget to take in the aromas while they sizzle away. Season them on the pan, if need be. And turn them over to do the other side as well.
5. Chop the tomatoes in 1 cm cubes, while the mushrooms are on the grill.
6. Once the mushrooms are done on both sides, take them off pan, and throw in the tomatoes. Take them off when they are slightly charred and have absorbed all the juices. Don’t turn off the heat yet. Place the bread slices (halved into triangles). Grill until brown on both sides.

Pretty, ain't it

7. Now, assemble. Take out the salad bed from the freezer. You will need to season the lettuce and cucumber on the plate itself. Sprinkle a bit of pepper is you want. At this point, you could grate a small piece of ginger over it if you want. (I didn’t, since I thought of it only while I’m writing this!) Drizzle 1 tablespoon of dressing over it. Lay the tomatoes on one side. Slice the mushrooms and lay them on top of the cucumber bed. And place the toast on the side. Then? Do not wait one more minute. Just devour it!

The perfect bite

Notes:

I do feel that I should have used fresh lemon instead of vinegar. It would be refreshing in a summer salad. Well, there's always next time!