Was seeing a show on Food Food channel the other day and came across this recipe by Harpal Singh Sokhi. Was intrigued because he mixed Indian spices in a Chinese dish. Had to try it and have to say it turned out to be perfect for the Indian palate.
I like the flavor and crunchiness the till seeds gives to this dish. Kids love to eat the crispy fried chicken before adding it to the gravy and hence remember to reserve some for them.

Here is my recipe for this dish.

Ingredients

1. Chicken breasts - 500 gms
2. Onions (medium) -2 , cubed
3. Red Capsicum -1/2 piece, cubed
4. Yellow Capsicum - 1/2 piece, cubed
5. Sesame seeds - 4 tsp
6. Ginger  - 1 inch piece, finely chopped
7. Garlic - 5-7 cloves, finely chopped
8. Green chillies -2 , finely chopped
9. 2 tsp chicken masala - I used Kitchen King masala; you can use 1 tsp of garam masala instead
10. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
11. 2 tsp soya sauce
12. 2 tsp red chilli sauce
13. 1 egg - white separated 
14. 2 tsp corn flour
15. Spring Onion for garnishing

Method

1. Cut chicken breasts into long thin slices. Marinate with salt, ginger garlic paste, chicken masala, soya sauce, red chilli sauce for 15-30 mins.
2. Now add egg white and cornflour to this mixture and deep fry it in hot oil till crispy brown. Drain the chicken and keep aside.
3. Now in a pan, take 2 tsp oil. When the oil is hot, add 2 tsp sesame seeds (till) and roast it till slightly brown. Take care not to burn it.
4. Add finely chopped ginger garlic and green chillies and saute for a minute
5. Add onions and red and yellow capsicum  cut into cubes and saute for 2-3 mins
6. Add 1 tsp of red chilli sauce and soya sauce each and mix well.
7. Add 1 tsp of chicken masala or 1/2 tsp of garam masala and saute
8. Adjust the salt and saute it till the capsicums are cooked. You can add a bit of sugar here in case you prefer the dish to be a bit sweet.
9. Add the fried chicken to it and mix well
10. Garnish with spring onion and roasted sesame seeds 

 In case you want it to be of gravy consistency, you can add some water after adding garam masala and cook it. This dish goes very with fried rice.

Anya, my daughter loves chicken which is not very spicy. Had some chicken breasts in the refrigerator and decided to cook this not too spicy dish for her.

Very simple recipe and difficult to get this wrong.

Method

1. Clean and wash 250 gms of chicken breasts. Cut them into small 1 inch slices, season with salt and pepper and keep aside.
2. As the chicken is marinating, chop 2 small carrots into longish slices. Cut 2 onions into 4 pieces and separate the florets. You can also dice some spring onions. Cut 1 green capsicum into small cubes.
3. Take 1 tsp soya sauce, 1 tsp green chilli sauce, 1 tsp finely chopped ginger and garlic, 1 tbsp white flour(maida), 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tbsp corn starch, 1 egg white and water (as needed) to prepare a fine batter.
4. Add the chicken to this batter, coat it well and deep fry in a oil. As the chicken starts getting golden brown and cooked, strain and keep aside. 
5. Prepare a mixture of 1 tbsp sugar, 1 cup water, 2 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tbsp tomato ketchup, 2 tsp soya sauce, 1 tsp red chilli sauce and 1 tbsp corn starch, mix well and keep aside.
6. Now for the sauce, take a wok and add 1 tbsp oil to it.  Add 1 tsp each of finely chopped ginger, garlic and chilli. (You can add more of this according to taste)
7. Add the cut vegetables and saute this well for 5 mins. Add the sauce, mix well and bring to a good boil. Check if the vegetables are cooked till they are nice and crunch. When almost done add the chicken and cook till all the chicken and vegetables are well coated with the sauce. 
8. Garnish with spring onions greens and serve.

Note: The original recipe contains pineapple chunks added along with vegetables, but I did not use it.

Tried this awesome Chicken with dried red chillies in Singapore and decided to recreate it.This is my own version which is a mish mash of a few recipes I found online.



Method

1. Marinate 500 gms of chicken with bones with 2 tsp soya sauce, 3 garlic cloves peeled and grated, 1 tsp red chilli sauce, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp pepper powder 1 tsp honey and salt and keep aside for an hour.
2. Take 2 tsbp olive oil in a pan and heat it. When hot, deep fry 10 dried red chillies and keep aside. In the same oil deep fry 1 inch ginger which is cut into long thin slices and keep aside. Fry handful of peanuts and keep aside
3. In the same oil, sear the chicken in batches along with the marinade till they are almost cooked. 
4. Make a mixture of 1 tsp soya sauce, 1/2 tsp red chilli sauce, pepper, 1/2 tsp honey and 1/2 tsp vinegar or according to your taste, add 1 tsp of cornflour and keep it aside. 
5. Add back the chillies, ginger and peanuts and the above marinade. Mix well and stir fry for 5 more minutes. Garnish with spring onions cut into long thin slices.

Last Sunday, we had one of the best parties of our lives at a friend's farmhouse in Hyderabad. It was a pot luck barbeque party and I carried among other dishes, some prawns. Deepali, my friend who is my culinary guru, asked me to try marinating the prawns in Chinese sauces and this turned out pretty good and different from the Indian bbqs. 



Method
1. Devein and deshell 1 kg prawns. Leave the tail on.
2. For marinade, add 2-3 tsp soya sauce, 2 tsp chilli sauce, salt, pepper, red chilli flakes, 1 tsp honey and 3 tsp olive oil in a glass bowl. You can change the proportions according to your taste.
3. Toss the prawns in the marinade such that all the prawns are covered and refrigerate for 24 hours.
4. Arrange the prawns on a wet wooden skewer. 

5. Grill in barbeque - keep basting with the leftover marinade and oil while grilling. 

You can also try adding some sesame seeds (Till) to the marinade. I will try it next time. The prawns can also be barbequed at home on a pan - it wont taste smoky but then this will be a good second option.

I like the sweet and sour dishes in Chinese cuisine. I think its the yin and yang concept that manifests itself in the recipes.  

Method

1. Marinate about 250 gms of deshelled and deviened prawns (I left the tail on) for about an hour with 2 tsp soya sauce, 2 tsp red chilli sauce, 1 tsp vinegar a little bit of honey and salt to taste.

2. Cut 1 onion into lengthwise thin strips. Julienne  about 1/2 cup of carrot  and 1/2 cup of capsicum. Finely chop about 1 tsp of garlic and 1 tsp of ginger. In Chinese cooking most of the ingredients are cut in the same shape. You can also cut all the vegetables into cubes instead of julienne. Cubes takes slightly longer to cook.

3. Take 2 tbsp  of oil in a pan. Add 2 tsp of cornstarch to the prawns. When the oil is hot, saute the prawns till they are pink and start to curl. Dont overcook the prawns as then they become harder.Remove from pan and set aside

4. In same pan, add 1 tsp oil and saute the carrots for 2 mins till slightly soft. Remove from pan and set aside

5. In same pan, add 1 tsp oil and saute the onions. When the onions are pink, add the ginger and garlic and saute briefly on medium flame. Add capsicum and carrot and saute till the vegetables look cooked. 

6. Mix 2 tsp soya sauce, 2 tsp vinegar, 2 tsp red chilli sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp corn starch and add this to the pan and bring to boil. The mixture will thicken and coat the prawns and the vegetables beautifully.

Serve with rice /noodles. 

As I was writing this post, I wondered whether what I bought today was shrimps or a prawns? Googled and found this post. The differences are so subtle that  I would rather enjoy my food - anyways whats in a name....

Here is my Indianised version of Chilli Chicken - one can never go wrong with this dish!

Method

1. Marinate 500 gms of boneless chicken pieces with salt, ginger garlic paste, soya sauce according to taste.

2. The usual method is to deep fry the chicken pieces. However I like it sauteed in 2-3 tsp of oil. I saute it till the color changes to brown and the chicken looks 70-80% cooked.

3. Remove the chicken aside on a plate.

4. Heat 2 tsp oil and saute 1 finely chopped onion (you can use the whites of spring onion), 2 inches of Ginger finely chopped, 10 pods of garlic finely chopped and 4-5 green chillies.When sauteed, add 1 capsicum chopped into long thin slices. Saute on high flame and dont overcook the vegetables as they taste better if they are crisp.

5. Add the chicken pieces, 1 tsp soya sauce(soya sauce is salty so be careful with salt), 1 tsp green chilli sauce, 1 pinch sugar, salt to taste, 1 tsp pepper powder, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp corn flour mixed in water and cook again on high flame for 10 mins stirring continuously.

6. Add a cup of spring onion greens cut into 1 inch pieces. Stir them into the dish and serve with fried rice.

My very good friend Rajneet is excited about my blog and keeps sending me new recipes as and when she cooks it. It is nice as she is a vegetarian and a Punjabi and the dishes she makes are very different from the dishes that come out of my kitchen. They add to the range in this blog. 





Here is her awesome Vegetable Manchurian recipe.

1. Finely chop 2 medium sized onion, 1/4 cup beans, 1/4 cup cabbage, 1/4 cup capsicum and grate 1 carrot. Squeeze out extra water out of these veg. You can do it directly with your hands or using a muslin cloth.

2. In a bowl, take 5 tsp all purpose flour (maida), 2 tsp corn starch, 1tsp soya sauce , salt and above vegetables and mix them properly. If required you can sprinkle few drops of water and make small sized balls out of that mixture.

3. Deep fry them on a medium flame . Drain the oil and keep aside

4. In a separate pan, take 2 tsp oil and add 1 tsp each of chopped garlic, ginger and 1 onions and sauté them till they turn light brown.

5. Add 1 tsp each of soya sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce and a pinch of salt and sauté for few seconds.( while adding salt remember all the sauces already contain some amount of it)

6. Add some water and let it boil.

7.  Now add 1 tbsp dissolved corn starch ( in a bowl mix 1 tsp corn starch in little water) drop by drop and mix it till the required consistency.

8. Add Manchurian balls to this gravy and cover and cook for 2 mins.

9. Serve it hot with fried rice.

10. If you want to cook dry Manchurian, add fried Manchurian balls after step 5 and cover and cook for 2 mins.

Another recipe from Rajneet's kitchen. Recipe and photo courtesy Rajneet.

Method 

1. Cook  1 cup rice in the 2 cups water with some salt till its just cooked.  Do not overcook the rice.

2. In a pan, take 2 tsp oil and add 1 chopped onion, 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp garlic.

3. When it turns light brown, add sliced 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup cabbage, 1/2 cup beans, 1/2 cup capsicum and 1/2 cup peas.

4. Cook on high flame with stirring in between to avoid burning.

5. The vegetables are to be cooked till you are just able to slice it with a spoon. (This will take not more than 5 mins).

6. Add 1 tsp soya sauce, 1tsp  vinegar, 1 tsp red chilly sauce and salt . Since Soya sauce is already high on salt add salt only to taste.

7. Now mix rice with these vegetables and cover it for 2 mins. You can add little oil while mixing .

8. Garnish it with spring onions and serve with your favourite gravy.

Tip : You can use leftover rice from the fridge - this keeps the rice hard and just right for the fried rice