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!

Chinese Food Festival at Feast, Sheraton Bangalore

Monday was an eventful day. I finally drove all the way to the other side of town to experience authentic Chinese delicacies. Now this would have never been done, if not for a blogger friend of mine who invited me to come along with him to Sheraton. He was invited as part of the Chef’s table and I was going to be his happy sidekick.

Feast, which is the all-day dining restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel, Bangalore was playing host to visiting Chinese Master Chef Thi Gang. Chef Thi Gang is from their award winning restaurant Li Bai at the Sheraton Saigon, Vietnam and was here to showcase the rich and diverse culinary heritage of China. Like India, China is vast country with unique regional cuisines and showcasing all of it can be a gargantuan task. So the Chef had handpicked some interesting dishes to help us savour a taste of China, if you will. The chef is a tiny man with a big smile and speaks very little English but his mastery was evident as we tasted the food. Anyway, we had Executive Chef Bela Rieck who was happy to indulge us with some fun conversation and cuisine facts. 

Garlic Pepper Sliced Pork

The story started when I decided to take a ride on the Metro from Indiranagar to MG Road. I had already used the metro the day it opened, but that was purely on a touristy whim. This time I wanted to be a commuter with a purpose. The purpose - taking me to the holy grail at the end of the boulevard – The Bangalore Ham shop. After picking up the usual, the owner suggested I try the sliced pork. And there begins my dilemma. The sliced pork looked fantastic – meat and fat in thin slices, almost bacon-ey. I wanted to do something different with it, something special. I combed through the internet but nothing impressed me. I posted a ‘Help me’ on the Foodies in Bangalore page and waited …waited… waited. Finally, I met chef and restaurateur Madhu Menon on Saturday for lunch.  He asked me if it was Korean style sliced pork. I say yes. He asked me if I wanted an authentic recipe? I said I wanted it to taste like the indianized chilly pork in restaurants. Stunned Silence! Considering he is a pan-asian chef, this was tantamount to blasphemy. After sheepishly apologizing for my lack of refinement, he relented with his Garlic Pepper Pork recipe. It needed Oyster Sauce. I din’t have any. I was contemplating to just wing it without, when Madhu’s “tsk tsk” face appeared in my head. So I went and bought some and the rest as they say is history! I am now harboring the most intense love for it! To sum it up - Best oriental Pork recipe ever! All hail Madhu Menon!

Garlic Pepper Pork

(Recipe Courtesy: Madhu Menon)

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 12 mins

Serves: 4

What you need:

250 gms Sliced Pork

1 Tbsp Coriander root

1 Tbsp/ 2 tsp White Pepper powder (Or lower, depending on taste)

1 Tbsp Garlic, minced

2 Green Chilli, chopped

2 Tbsp Oil (peanut/vegetable)

2 Tbsp Dark Soy

2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

3 Tbsp Water/ Stock

What to do:

Buy the sliced pork. Because slicing it at home is a pain and you won’t get the right amount of fat and meat in each slice. Cut up the slices into 2 inch strips. (I use a scissor). Get all your prep done. Wash the coriander root (it has the most flavor, followed by the stems). Mince it up finely or whizz in a chopper for a few seconds. Keep all your ingredients at hand, cause timing is critical in a stir fry.

Heat a wok till smoking and add the oil. Toss in the coriander root, garlic and white pepper powder and fry for a minute. The pepper will stick to the bottom of the wok, just scrape and stir. Add the pork and green chili and stir-fry for 3 minutes. You can see the pork releasing the fat and the meat getting opaque. Now add the soy and oyster sauce and the sugar. Stir for another minute. Add the water and incorporate so that the dish dosen’t burn. Stir for 3 more minutes. Serve hot!

P.S. Actual cooking time depends on the thickness of the slices and the temperature of the wok. So make sure you check a slice for doneness, before taking it off the heat.

Easy Stir-Fried Vegetables

I always believe that good Chinese food can never be replicated at home. Our palate has been assaulted by MSG and extra salt in every Chinese restaurant, that we have now acquired a taste for it! That’s why every time I try Chinese at home; I’ve already resigned myself that the recipe is going to be equivalent to a pirated DVD! My fear of ODing on MSG and Salt has prevented me from achieving greatness in my quest for restaurant Chinese. (By restaurant I don’t me the fancy 5 star’s…am sure they go easy on the MSG). Am I sad? Au contraire… I actually like the fact that I can indulge in dangerous liaisons only once in a while (OK, I actually eat Chinese almost once a week… but you get the drift!). Coming to the point … this Stir-Fried Vegetable recipe is really easy and tasty. (Cross my heart!). It takes care of the mid-week Chinese craving quite well. Toss in some Chicken or shrimp if you fancy and you’ve taken it to another level!

P.S. Here's some advice I nicked off the net about Chinese Cooking. It works!!

X========================================================================X

Principles of Chinese Cooking

1. Preheat the wok (before you put the oil in).

2. Season the oil (with whole pieces of garlic and sometimes ginger root, which you often remove when you add the food to be cooked).

3. Symmetry of cut (all pieces must be cut the same size and shape).

4. Have all ingredients cut and sauces mixed before you cook.

5. Use very high heat and cook fast.

X========================================================================X 

Easy Stir-Fried Vegetables

Prep time: 10 mins

Frying time: 10 mins

Serves: 4 as side/ 2 as main

What you need:

2 Carrots

1 small Green Zucchini/ Courgette

1 small Yellow Zucchini/ Squash

1 Green Pepper/ Capsicum

6 Babycorns

12 Mushrooms

2 Med Onions

4-6 cloves Garlic

2 Tbsp Peanut/ Sesame/ Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1 cup Vegetable/ Chicken Stock – Keep warm

1 Tbsp Cornflour/ Cornstarch mixed in 2 Tbsp cold water

½ tsp Chili flakes

½ tsp ground Black Pepper

Salt to taste

What to do:

Cut vegetables into pieces that are the same size and same shape. (thick Matchsticks). Get oil, soy sauce, salt, cornstarch mixture and measuring spoons out and have them ready on the counter near the stove.

Put wok or frying pan on the stove and heat 1-2 minutes, until it's too hot to hold your hand over it. (You should be able to almost see the heat shimmering up from the wok.) Add the oil and heat about 30 seconds, then add sliced garlic and sliced onion and cook 20 seconds, stirring constantly.

Add the rest of the vegetables all at once, add salt, and cook 4-5 minutes, stirring every 20-30 seconds, or until vegetables are barely starting to soften.

Add soy sauce, stirring gently so all the vegetables are coated with sauce. Cook about 1 minutes more, stirring a few times. Stir in the warm stock and gradually mix in the cornstach mixture. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.Sprinkle with pepper and chilli flakes. Mix and Serve hot!

Sweet Corn Soup Chinese Style

I had a can of Sweet Corn cream style in the pantry. I had picked this up in the market to produce something exciting. But as it happens with most things in my pantry, the exciting recipe never gets produced and the expiry date on the can looms close. So one fine day when I look at the contents in the pantry (which happens to be a big drawer actually!), I find things that should have been thrown out six months ago and things that need to be used as of yesterday. The Sweet Corn, thankfully, belonged to the latter category. So I poured into my innumerable cookbooks for a recipe with cream style corn and I didn’t find anything I fancied. Finally out of desperation and hunger gnawing at my tummy, I did the unthinkable! I followed the recipe on the back of the can. *Eyes wide with horror*. Ok, I was just kidding, of course I don’t give a damn if the recipe is from the back of the can as long as it tastes good. And this people, did taste good. A penny saved is a penny earned, or in this case – ‘A can of corn saved is a can of soup eaten’!

Sweet Corn Soup Chinese Style

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 12 mins

Serves: 4 small portions/ 2 large portions

What you need:

1 can Sweet Corn Cream Style (I used Delmonte)

2 cups Stock (vegetable/ Chicken)

1/2 cup Chopped Vegetables (Carrots/ beans/ asparagus)

1 Tsp Corn Flour

2 Tsp White Vinegar

Salt and White pepper powder to taste

1/4 cup Chopped spring onions - to garnish

What to do:

Heat 2 cups of vegetable stock/ water in a pan. Mix in cream style sweet corn, add chopped vegetables and bring it to a boil. Blend 1 tsp corn flour in a Tbsp of water and stir in the boiling soup to get the desired consistency. Season with salt, pepper powder and white vinegar to taste. Garnish with spring onion greens and serve piping hot with soya and chilli vinegar!

P.S. You can crush a Maggie tastemaker cube into 2 cups of water to make a substitute for Vegetable/ Chicken stock.

P.S. Delmonte din’t pay me for this. The can just looked so colourful, it was begging to be photographed. Also if Delmonte would like to pay me for this, please call me for my bank account number. (People can dream can’t they? :P)

Chili Chicken - Indian Chinese Style

This recipe might not be understood by everyone. I say that with confidence, because to understand this recipe, you needed to have eaten Indian-Chinese Cuisine. You probably won’t find it listed even if you look hard in the dictionary. Fact is, its not got much of Chinese in it other than the soy sauce and stir fry technique. But as a nation we love this so much, that we’ve given it a top three slot in our hearts. 80% of our everyday restaurants will list themselves as, ”Serving Indian, Mughlai and Chinese”! And that my friends, is the ONLY way to stay in business! The most popular dish of this marvelous collaboration is of course the ubiquitous Chicken Manchurian. (And its vegetarian cousins - Gobi Manchurian and Paneer Manchurian). However another post shall sing its glory, but for today it’s the Chilli Chicken’s place in the sun!

Chilli Chicken – Indian Chinese Style

Cooking time: 25 mins

Marination time: 2 hrs

Serves: 4

What you need:

500 gms of Boneless Chicken cubes

For the marinade:

1 Egg

2 tsp Yoghurt

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Kabab Masala powder (available in stores)

Paste of 3 pods Garlic and 3 Green Chillies

2 Tbsp Cornflour

Orange-Red Coloring (optional- available in stores)

Salt to taste

For the Stir Fry:

1 Onion sliced

4-6 Green Chillies, split lengthwise

¼ tsp Ginger paste

½ Capsicum, cut lengthwise

1 Tbsp Soya Sauce

2 Tbsp Oil (Refined Oil/ Peanut Oil) for stir fry

Oil to deep Fry

What to do:

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and coat the chicken with it. Refrigerate for 2 hrs to tenderize it. Heat the oil and deep fry the marinated chicken pieces for 10-12 mins till tender and crispy. Set aside to drain on a paper towel.

Heat 2 Tbsp Oil, toss in the Onion and ginger paste. Saute. Toss in the chillies. After 3 mins toss in the capsicum and sauté till the onions just start to turn brown. Add the soya sauce and mix well. Check seasoning. Add salt if required. Now toss in the fried chicken pieces and sauté till the sauce coats every piece. Serve hot!!