VEG HAKKA NOODLES

This is very quick and easy to make chinese noodle dish is perfect as a snack or main course and for hosting great parties. In it’s typical preparation boiled noodles are tossed in garlic, ginger,chopped vegetables, soy sauce, chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and spices. These are all ingredients that gives it its signature taste and texture. The veggies added to hakka noodles have to really chopped fine or cut into julienne as all the stir frying is done at a high heat. Make sure to use pan with handles, so that you keep on moving the pan when tossing and stir frying the noodles. To make non-sticky noodles, don’t overcook them. Cook them until they are cooked but not mushy. You can use either red chilli sauce  or green chilli sauce.For variation add baby corns, mushrooms or any vegetables of your choice. 

INGREDIENTS:

200 gms Hakka Noodles [1 pack of Chings Noodles]

1 Small Sized Carrot Finely Chopped / Julienned

1 Cup Cabbage Finely Chopped

1 Medium Sized Capsicum Chopped Finely [You can use all coloured peppers]

3-4 Sprigs of Spring Onion Chopped Finely, reserve a few greens for garnishing

2 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic Paste

½ tablespoon White Vinegar

½ tablespoon Soy Sauce [as required]

½ tablespoon Tomato Sauce

1/2 tablespoon Oil for coating the Noodles

1 tablespoon Oil for frying [ I used Olive Oil here]

Salt as per taste

Black Pepper Powder as required

Water to cook the Noodles

METHOD:

STEP 1 – Heat enough water in a pan with salt and few drops of oil, till it comes to boil.

STEP 2 – Add hakka noodles and cook according to the package instructions.

STEP 3 – When the noodles are cooking, rinse and chop the veggies or you can chop the veggies before you start cooking the noodles.

STEP 4 – Drain the noodles

and rinse in running water, so that the noodles stop cooking.

STEP 5 – Then add oil and gently mix, so that the oil gets evenly coated on the noodles. Keep them aside.

STEP 6 – Heat oil in a wide wok or kadai on medium heat.

STEP 7 – Add ginger-garlic paste, sauté for a minute.

STEP 8 - Then add the carrots and capsicum and cook them for 1-2 minutes

and then add cabbage and sauté well.

STEP 9 - Increase the flame and stir fry the veggies well. Then add soy sauce as well as tomato sauce and mix well.

STEP 10 – Add hakka noodles and toss them well and stir fry.

STEP 11 – Season with pepper powder and salt,

add vinegar to it and continue to toss and cook the noodles on high flame for a minute.

STEP 12 – Toss the whole mixture well and then add chopped spring onion greens, give a stir and switch off the flame. Garnish with some greens of spring onion and serve.

Serve hot hakka noodles accompanied with veg Manchurian curry .

NOTE: You can use the veggies according to your choice as mushrooms, beans,etc.

WHOLE WHEAT GARLIC BUTTER NAAN

Sharing with you one more, special dear to my family recipe of Indian flat bread, world famous as “Garlic Naan” . Not just me, this naan is favourite of everyone who have tried Indian food , isn’t it ? Naan is one of the most ordered bread in an Indian restaurant. Usually, this soft tasty bread is cooked in tandoor oven, a hot clay oven used to cook tandoori dishes. Additionally, preparing garlic butter naan with this step by step photo recipe doesn’t require you to have a clay or gas tandoor as it uses  a unique “cook over flame” technique to get the burnt smoky flavour as you get with naan cooked in tandoor.  It’s difficult to make them on tawa but I managed to make them on tawa / gas.

 First, one side of naan is cooked on tawa/ griddle on gas stove and then the other side is cooked directly over the gas flame by turning upside down to get tandoori like flavour. Garlic naan is my favourite naan. It goes really well with so many punjabicurries. The garlicky flavour of naan compliments the spicy flavour of different Punjabi curries. This can be made in oven too. But not all home kitchens have oven so here is my full recipe of garlic naan on tawa instead of oven. So why not to use gas stove and a tawa to recreate this soft and delicious naan bread. Just give a try to this recipe and I am sure you will be surprised how easy it is to make garlic naan at home on gas stove/ tawa. So be ready to give a treat of garlic butter naan at home and make them happy. This is whole wheat naan recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour/ Atta

1 tablespoon Sugar

½ teaspoon Instant Yeast

1 Cup Water or as required

3 to 4 tablespoon Curd / Dahi / Yogurt

2 tablespoon Softened Butter (unsalted or salted)

¾ teaspoon Salt or as required

1 teaspoon Kalonji  [onion seeds]

2 tablespoon Finely chopped Coriander

2 tablespoon Chopped/ roughly paste Garlic

Butter as required for spreading on the naan

METHOD:

STEP 1 – In a bowl, take the instant yeast, sugar, add a little water and stir the mixture.

STEP 2 – Then add 1 cup whole wheat flour and stir or whisk it with the rest of the yeast mixture.

STEP 3 – Cover and keep aside to leaven for 40 to 45 minutes.

STEP 4 – Then add the remaining whole wheat flour, salt, butter and curd/ yogurt.

STEP 5 – Knead to a soft and smooth dough.

STEP 6 – If the dough become sticky, add a few tbsp. of flour and knead again. If it’s dry, then add some more water.

STEP 7 – Keep the dough in bowl greased with oil.

Cover the dough with a moist cloth and keep aside for 25 to 30 minutes or till the dough leavens.

STEP 8 – Divide the dough into medium sized balls.

STEP 9 – Give a resting time for dough balls for about 15 to 20 minutes. Cover again with the same moist cloth and keep aside.

STEP 10 – Lightly dust the dough balls with some flour. Press gently and apply some flour on it.

STEP 11 – Using a rolling pin, roll the naan dough into a small to medium sized rounds/rotis of medium thickness. Alternatively, you can make naan using hand instead of using rolling pin. Strech the naan using hand to make it oblong shaped.

STEP 12 – Sprinkle some of the onion seeds , chopped coriander and crushed garlic over the rolled  naan.

STEP 13 – Turn the naan upside down [garlic side down] and apply water on the other side. [Water along with the flour make a sticky glue that will help naan get stuck on hot tawa.]

STEP 14 -  Place the naan on a hot tawa or griddle keeping water side facing tawa and cook it on high flame for 1 minute.

STEP 15 – When the bottom is partly cooked, you will see bubbles on the naan.

STEP 16 - Then turn the tawa upside down on gas flame as shown in photo. Then cook naan from all sides. For this keep the tawa in slanting position over the heat so that sides will cook properlly. Keep moving the tawa so that naan will evenly cook from all the sides.

STEP 17 – Remove naan from tawa and  flip the naan with the help a pair of tongs and cook directly on the gas flame.

STEP 18 –  Then cook well from the other side on the gas directly.

STEP 19 – The naan will puff up. Flip and brown the naan.

STEP 20 – Place the hot naan in a roti basket or casserole. Smear some butter on top of each naan and serve.

STEP 21 – Make naans this way with the remaining dough. If not serving straight away, then stack them in the roti basket.

STEP 22 – Or else you can serve these butter naans immediately with some Punjabi curry.

Serve hot garlic naan with Punjabi curries like aloo palak, palak paneer, matar paneer or non-veg currires like butter chicken, murg mussalam, etc.

ONION FRITTERS / KANDA BHAJI

Kanda bhaji are onion fritters or onion pakoras. You can serve this bahji sandwiched in the pav / Indian bread. Further it’s mixed with dry garlic chutney, sometimes also green chutney and served with fried green chillies. A perfect recipe for the monsoon season, a plate of hot kanda bhaji with a hot cup of masala chai / coffee. It’s magical moment to eat these during monsoon, friends around you.  You may also have some  other recipes to enjoy your monsoon pals like moong dal pakodas, potato bhaji, chana dal, etc. Generally, onion bhaji are served only with green chutney and garlic chutney. But it’s totally depends upon you how you would like to eat them. You must try this recipe once during rainy season.

I used to make two different versions of kanda bhaji, of which I had shared the other version before in my blog.  To make this crispy, make sure that you are not adding any extra water. Onion releases its own water while resting time. That water moisten flour which is enough water because we just want to moisten the ingredients. No need to make thick batter like other pakoda recipe. In short, less water means crispy pakodas. So next time on a rainy day just give a try to this crispy onion pakodas with a cup of adrakwali masala chai and don’t forget to share your experience.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Large Onions, Thinly Sliced

2-3 Green Chillies, Finely Chopped

1 teaspoon Ginger Paste or Freshly Grated Ginger

4-5 Curry Leaves, Chopped

1 tablespoon Coriander Chopped

Salt to taste

¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder

 ½ teaspoon Coriander Powder

¼ teaspoon Carom Seeds

½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds

1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds

1 Cup Besan / Gram Flour

2 tablespoon Rice Flour

METHOD:

STEP 1 – Take slice onions in a bowl  and add ginger paste to it.

STEP 2 – Add chopped green chillies, chopped coriander, chopped curry leaves. Mix well.

STEP 3 – Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder ,coriander powder , carom seeds, cumin seeds and salt .

STEP 4 – Then add rice flour and besan.

STEP 5 – Mix it well. So all the flour and masala coat the sliced onions.

Adjust the besan flour quantity to coat the onions. Make sure all the sliced onions should be coated with flour.

STEP 6 – Leave this mixture for about 15-20 minutes. By this time onion start to leave its water. Flour mixture will get well. No need to add extra water, water from onion is enough.

STEP 7 – Heat the oil in a wide pan on medium heat for deep frying the pakodas. Once oil is hot, add spoonful of pakoda mixture. Make sure that oil is hot enough. If not hot then it will absorb too much oil.

STEP 8 – Fry the pakodas till golden brown in both the sides. Turn them around while frying for even cooking. 

 Add few pakodas at one time, do not over crowd them.

STEP 9 – Remove them on a tissue paper to drain excess oil and serve hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Serve hot , crispy onion pakodas with green chutney as well as tomato sauce or your liking dip with a hot cup of adrakwali chai.

A perfect recipe for rainy season.

NOTE: *Onion pakodas should be served hot, as they cools, they loses their crispiness.

            *Oil should not be hot enough. If so hot then pakodas will get burn outside and inside stays raw. If it is not hot enough then it will absorb too much oil.