Quick Fried Rice - A Lifesaver, literally!

Chinese Cooking is an art (At least for me). So attempts of Chinese cuisine at home are few and far between. We do visit the fancy Chinese restaurant for a nice meal, but nothing beats ordering greasy Chinese food from the neighborhood restaurant and settling blissfully on the couch to watch reruns of ‘How I met your Mother’ (Or CSI Miami, if that’s your scene :P). At the end of the meal however there’s always a faint feeling of regret. And regret tastes like a swollen tongue because of the amount of MSG/ Ajinomoto that the local guys use, to kick up the taste of the food. Not nice… not nice at all!

When such derailing urges strike these days, thankfully I don’t need to call the Ajinomoto joint anymore. (No, I don’t have a Chinese chef at home.) But I recently found this brand called Blue Dragon, which makes some amazing stir fry sauces. All I need to do is cut up some chicken and veggies and stir fry them quickly and toss the sauce in to finish! It tastes brilliant :) and even though I know there is some MSG in it, the level is not as high as leaving my mouth feeling like a barren wasteland! The only problem with this situation is that I only have the main course bit covered. Now if I order the noodles or rice from Ajinomoto Joint (that’s not their real name!), it defeats the purpose. That’s when I came across this fantabulous (yes, it’s that satisfying) Quick Fried Rice recipe. It looks and tastes like the real deal and helps complete the meal! Win win! Feels as good as Superman saving the day… well almost!

PanchPhoran Dal (Five Spice Lentils) - Comfort food at it's Best!

I know I’ve said many times that making regular dal and rice bores me. That dosen’t mean I don’t make it. No week is complete without Dal being made atleast twice. It’s what we grew up on and it’s what I crave when I come back from a long trip to unfamiliar places. Eating dal and rice with a veggie on the side and a smattering of pickle is nothing short of a homecoming! The fact that it’s such a commoner on the dinner table and gets made so often, I’ve actually never written down a recipe for dal. So this was my first attempt at documenting the precise quantities. I kept a little sheet of paper next to me and kept jotting down what I threw into the pan. Now I finally have a dal recipe that I can pass to the co-resident and ask him to attempt it when am too bored to move a muscle J We use mustard seeds and curry leaves to temper the dal. However, this one uses a five spice mix called Panchphoran that is unique to the eastern parts of India – West Bengal and Orissa. The mix is equal parts of brown mustard seeds, Nigella (kalonji/ onion) seeds, fenugreek (methi) seeds, cumin (jeera) seeds and fennel (saunf) seeds. This totally rocks the Dal into a different universe. I almost feel like I’m eating super sattvic temple food …God bless the humble Dal!