THAI-STYLE STIR FRIED CHICKEN

Ingredients:-

·        500gms boneless chicken

·        1 yellow bell pepper

·        1 red bell pepper

·        Fresh basil leaves

·        5-6 cloves of garlic

·        Olive oil

·        Soy sauce

·        1 tamarind

·        Jaggery

·         3 dates

·        Salt

·        Black pepper

·        Vegetable broth

Preparation:-

·        Soak tamarind and dates in half a cup water for 2 hours. When it softens, separate the pulp from the seeds. Crush it and mix a spoonful of jaggery and dissolve it in the water.

·        Heat olive oil in a pan and add finely chopped garlic to it. When the garlic begins changing colour add the chicken. Toss it around in the pan over a high flame for a good 5-6 minutes.

·        When the chicken has changed colour, add a tablespoon of the tamarind-date sauce, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, salt and ground black pepper. Toss it around and coat the chicken with all of it.

·        Add finely chopped bell peppers, crushed basil leaves and a ladle of vegetable broth. Let it bubble on a high flame for a minute.

·        Serve hot with steamed rice.

PANEER MOMOS

Ingredients:-

·        100-200gms all purpose flour

·        Salt

·        Ground pepper

·        100gms paneer

·        1 onion

·        Coriander

·        ginger-garlic paste

·        2-3 chillies

·        Soy sauce

Preparation:-

·        For the vegetable broth, boil ½ onions finely chopped, 2 chopped chillies, ½ tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, finely chopped coriander, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and some salt.

·        For the filling, grate the paneer

·        To the grated paneer, add 2 finely chopped chillies, finely chopped coriander, ½ tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, ½ onion finely chopped, a tablespoon of broth and salt. Mix it together.

·        For the outer covering, add salt and a pinch of ground pepper and with water knead it into dough.

·        Roll out the dough into small circles. Place the filling at the centre and press together the sides of the circle like a dumpling. Make as many of these as possible. Be generous with the filling.

·        Steam the momos for 5-7 minutes.

·        Serve with warm broth. Momos are dunked in the broth then eaten.

Note: - To make sure the momos don’t stick to the bottom of the steamer, lay down lettuce leaves in it and place the momos on these leaves.    

SABUDANA WADA/ FRIED SAGO CUTLETS

Ingredients:-

·        250gms sago

·        3-4 chillies

·        2-3 large potatoes

·        Coriander

·        ½ inch piece of ginger

·         Roasted peanuts

·        Salt

·        Oil

Preparation:-

·        Wash the sago and leave it aside for an hour or two. It will be softer at the end of it.

·        Boil the potatoes and grind the chillies and ginger together.

·         Add this to sago and mix it like dough.

·        Roughly crush the roasted peanuts, coriander and salt and fold them in the mixture.

·        If it seems like the potatoes are not binding the mixture together, then add a little flour.

·        Make bite sized patties and deep fry them in oil or vanaspati ghee till golden brown. Strain on a kitchen towel or dab with paper towels to remove excess oil.

·        Serve hot with yoghurt/dahi. 

TEA / CHAI

Chai or tea is an essential part of any Indian's day. India has many beautiful and picturesque tea gardens. Chai is very easy to make and can be made with various spices too. A steaming cup of tea and a hot plate of pakoras is heaven on a rainy evening.

Ingredients:-

·        Tea powder

·        Sugar

·        ½ cup milk

·        ½ cup water

Preparation:-

·        Boil the water with 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of tea powder.

·        When the water boils add ½ cup of milk.

·        Bring it to a boil and strain in a cup.

·        Serve hot.

To make ginger tea, add grated ginger to the water as it boils and add milk.

Same goes for cinnamon or cardamom tea.

BANANA CARAMEL SAUCE FOR PANCAKES

Ingredients:-

·        Three bananas

·        1 cup sugar

·        2/3 cup fresh cream

·        1/3 cup milk

Preparation:-

·        In a small pot, pour all the sugar and a little bit of water. The sugar should not be immersed in water but it should just be wet.

·        Heat it on a low flame till all the sugar melts and the mix starts boiling.

·        Boil this sugar syrup till it caramelizes or changes colour to dark golden brown.

·        Once it is brown, add the cream and milk to mixture.

·        The sugar will instantly crystallize but keep on stirring till it dissolves and the whole mixture is rich golden brown syrup.

·         Make sure to do all this on a low flame otherwise the sugar will burn.

·        Take the pot off the stove and add sliced bananas to it.

·        Fold in the bananas and serve this sauce on pancakes.