Spring Onion Fried Rice / Scallion Fried Rice

Scallion, green onion, and spring onion are eaten either raw or cooked. They all belong to the same family except for the fact that in Spring onions, you'll notice that they have small onion bulbs at the base. Scallions have a milder taste than most onions.

Spring Onions may bring a tear to your eye, and pungency to your breath, but they will most certainly bring delight to your taste buds. Despite its plain looks, has an intense flavor and is a beloved part of the cuisine of almost every region of the world.

Spring onions grow all year round. Also known as salad onions, green onions, and sometimes scallions, these mild-tasting onions are young plants, which if left in the ground, would develop into mature onions. Spring Onions comprises of Whites and Greens. Spring onions may be cooked or used raw as a part of salads, salsas, or Asian recipes. Diced scallions are used in soup, noodle and seafood dishes, as well as sandwiches, curries or as part of a stir fry.

Today I am going to make simple fried rice with Scallion / Spring Onion.

Ingredients:

White rice, medium grain, cooked – 2 cups ( I used Basmati rice)

Eggs - 3 nos (optional)

Vegetable oil –  2tbsp + 1 tsp

Spring onions / Scallion, chopped - 1 cup

Fried Onions, - 1/4 cup( for garnish)

Garlic, chopped - 1 tsp

Ginger, ground -  1/2 tsp

Onion, chopped - 1/2 cup

Soy sauce – 2 tbsp.

Sesame oil - 1tsp

Black pepper – ½ tspn

Method:

Heat 1 tsp oil in pan, crack and add the eggs. Season with salt & pepper and scramble it well. Keep this aside.

Heat the remaining oil in another pan; Add chopped garlic, ginger and sauté for a few seconds, Now add the chopped spring onion and sauté for few more seconds.  

Now add cooked rice, soya sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper powder, scrambled eggs and mix well and check for seasoning.

Cook for another 2 minutes or until piping hot. Garnish with fried onions & Serve hot!!!

Restaurant Style Chilli Chicken / Chilli chicken recipe

Chicken is one meat that is a favoriterea of all beyond belief! When cooked, it can be presented in many guises. Sauté it, fry it, toss it, bake it, steam it – eat it the way you want to. Chilli chicken is one of the most popular Indo-Chinese style chicken appetizer or starter that is served in Chinese restaurants across the globe. Vegetarian alternates to this are chilli paneer, chilli mushroom, chilli gobi(cauliflower) and tofu chilli… Boneless chicken (fillets or cubes) are marinated in soya sauce, chilli sauce and pepper. Then deep fried and then seasoned in sauces. It’s spicy, it’s got a crunch from the flour coating over the chicken and the capsicum, and it’s really quite delicious.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken 500 grams

Red chilli crushed – 1 tspn

Onion – 1 medium, big cubes

Green Bell Pepper/Capsicum – 1 medium, big cubes

Oil 2 tablespoons

Garlic chopped 5-6 cloves

Ginger chopped one-inch pieces

Tomato ketchup – 2 tbspns

Soya Sauce – 2 tbspns

Chilli sauce – 2 tbspns

Salt to taste

Cornflour/ corn starch – 1 tbspn

Egg 2

Spring onion greens 2-3

Method:

Cut the boneless chicken into one to one and a half inch sized pieces. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped garlic, ginger, onion & capsicum and sauté for two minutes. Add tomato ketchup, soya sauce, half of the chilli sauce and mix. Add one cup of water and mix.

Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and let it simmer for five to ten minutes. Meanwhile take chicken pieces in a bowl. Add salt, remaining chilli sauce, cornstarch, half of the crushed red chillies and mix.

Add a whole egg and mix. Heat sufficient oil in a wok and deep-fry the chicken pieces taking care that they do not overcook. Fry on high heat for two to three minutes for colour only.

Drain onto an absorbent paper. Add salt and the remaining crushed red chillies to the sauce and stir. Add cornstarch blended in water. Cook, stirring continuously, till the sauce thickens.

Arrange the fried chicken pieces on a serving plate. Beat one egg. Remove the sauce from heat and add the beaten egg slowly in one flow. Mix gently and pour over the fried chicken pieces.

Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot as an appetizer or main dish with fried rice, Schezwan fried rice, Hakka noodles or Schezwan noodles.

Recipe Source: SanjeevKapoor.com!!!

Vegetable Stir-Fry

Stir-fries have come a long way from the brown-sauced ones to the crunchy dry veggies one. With a few simple techniques and fresh ingredients, you can put together a delicious vegetable stir fry.

Ingredients:

Garlic – 1 tbspn (grated)

Fresh ginger – 1 tbspn (grated)

Mixed vegetables – 2 cups (cleaned and chopped; go for a good combo of colors and textures, e.g., mushrooms, snap peas, string beans broccoli, carrots, baby corn, cauliflower and bell peppers)

Olive oil – 1 tbspn

Pepper powder – ¼ tspn

Soy sauce – 1 or 2 tbspn

Rice wine -– 1 or 2 tbspn

Salt – to taste

Method:

Heat the frying pan over high heat, coat the bottom with vegetable oil, and heat until the oil is shimmering but not smoking. Add the ginger and garlic and stir. Add the denser vegetables, for example, carrots, broccoli or cauliflower. Season with salt and stir. When the garlic turns golden brown, add the rest of your vegetables. Be careful not to let the garlic get too dark. Season with more salt. Do not cover the pan. Stir every couple of minutes, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy. Turn off the heat. Add a few spoonful’s each of rice wine and soy sauce. Stir.

Serve over steamed white or brown rice.

Note : For Non-vegetarian version you could add boiled & shredded chicken breast along with the veggies

Mushroom Fried Rice

Mushrooms can provide more than just taste and texture for our meals, they actually have a surprisingly high nutritional value also. Mushrooms are low in calories, carbohydrates, fat and sodium. However, like watermelon, they are very high in water content (80 to 90% water) and fiber which makes them a great diet food! 

All mushrooms are an excellent source of the antioxidant Selenium which works with vitamin E to protect cells from damaging free radicals. Like almonds, mushrooms are becoming more popular for their cancer-fighting and disease protecting properties.

Today’s recipe is a Mushroom Fried Rice. This is a Chinese dish with an Indian twist. Mushroom fried rice is a very easy to prepare dish and requires only handful of ingredients.

        

    Ingredients: 

White rice, medium grain, cooked – 2 cups ( I used Basmati rice)

Eggs - 3 nos (optional)

Vegetable oil –  2tbsp + 1 tsp

Mushrooms, sliced - 1 cup

Capsicum (green bell pepper), sliced - 1/2 cup
Green Onions, chopped - 1/3 cup

Garlic, chopped - 1 tsp

Ginger, ground -  1/2 tsp

Onion, chopped - 1/2 cup

Soy sauce – 2 tbsp.

1tsp sesame oil
1/8 black pepper

     Preparation:

Heat 1 tsp oil in pan, crack and add the eggs. Season with salt & pepper and scramble it well. Keep this aside.

Heat the remaining oil in another pan; add onions and sauté until onions turn transparent. Add chopped garlic, ginger, capsicum, green onions and sauté for a few more seconds. Add mushrooms and cook until mushroom becomes soft.

Now add cooked rice, soya sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper powder, scrambled eggs and mix well and check for seasoning.

Cook for another 2 minutes or until piping hot. Serve hot!!!

[The Nutritional Value of Mushrooms - http://www.fitday.com]

Gobi Manchurian / Cauliflower Manchurian

Gobi Manchurian, also known as Cauliflower Manchurian is a delicious Indo Chinese appetizer. Gobi Manchurian is the result of the reworking of Chinese cooking and seasoning techniques to suit Indian tastes.

          They are prepared in two stages, the first stage requires preparing a spiced corn flour batter, and cauliflower florets are then dipped in it and are deep fried.  In the second stage, the deep fried florets are sautéed with chopped onion, capsicum, garlic, etc in soy and chili sauce. There are two different variants of it, dry and with gravy. Unlike the gravy version, the dry gobi manchurian makes a great party snack.

          This dish is quite close to my heart as its one of my Dad’s favorite dish. He loves my Gobi Manchurian a lot. I have included a detailed recipe of this amazing dish. I hope you enjoy making and eating them.

Ingredients:

For Frying

Cauliflower florets / Gobi, small sized – 15 nos
Corn flour - 3 tablespoons
All-purpose flour/ Maida - 5 tablespoons

Egg – 1 whole
Water – 2 tablespoons
Black pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For Manchurian Sauce

Spring onions, chopped - ½ cup

Onions, Cubed – ½ cup

Capsicum / Green Bell Pepper, Cubed – ½ cup 
Garlic, finely chopped - 1 tablespoon
Ginger, finely chopped - 2 teaspoons

Green chillies, finely chopped - 2 teaspoons
Corn flour - 1 tablespoon
Water  - 1 cup
Tomato ketchup - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli sauce - 1 teaspoon

Soya Sauce - 1 teaspoon
Cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a wok or a pan, while the oil gets heated, mix the corn flour, egg, all-purpose flour /Maida, pepper and salt in water. Now the cauliflower florets till all the florets get coated with the flour mixture. Then fry in oil (5 at a time) until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain in paper towels. Keep aside.

For making the sauce, mix the corn flour with ¼ cup of water. Add soya sauce, ketchup, chilli sauce and salt. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan on high heat; add garlic, ginger, green chillies, onion and capsicum / green bell pepper stir fry for a few seconds. Now add the corn flour mixture to the above and cook for a few minutes until the corn flour is cooked and the sauce become thick. You could now turn off heat. Toss the fried cauliflower with the Manchurian Sauce and serve.

Garnish with spring onion leaves. Serve Hot!!!