Pad Kee Mao - Thai Chilli Basil Noodles aka Drunken Noodles

Pad Kee Mao also known as Chilli Basil Noodles and also known as Drunken Noodles is a huge family favourite for us. I don't remember the first restaurant where I started relishing it - but has been on our orders during pretty much every visit to a Thai restaurant. No - there is no alcohol involved in the "drunken" noodle. The legend goes that some drunkard stumbled across this dish by accident and became very popular later on. Another story goes like Thai people made this after a night of hard partying. Of course definitely a great dish that could go very well with a nice cold beer. The best part of this dish is the aroma. This was the first recipe when I came to know that basil - thulasi (or tulsi) can be used in cooking. In fact you need what they call as Thai Basil or Holy Basil. Do not try this with the Italian basil - it's not going to be the same. Vegetarians - you can try making this with just the veggie ingredients but it's never going to be the same.

Ingredients

1. Flat rice noodles - the fresh variety from an asian store - 500 gms
2. Thai Holy Basil - you will need about a cup since you will need this during different stages of cooking.
3. Garlic - 1 bulb
4. Thai Bird's Eye Red Chilli - 8 - 10
5. Shallots - thinly sliced - 1/3 cup
6. Veggies - Sliced carrots, beans, some leafy vegetable
7. Green pepper corn - 3-4 twigs
8. Thinly sliced galanga - 2 table spoons
9. Protein - I used prawns this time. One can use any thinly sliced meat or tofu.
10. Fish sauce - 1 table spoon (got to be careful with this one) - Vegetarians feel free to skip. 
11. Sugar - 2 tea spoons
12. Dark Soya sauce - 2 table spoons
13. Oyster sauce - 2 table spoon
14. Any vegetable oil - 3-4 table spoons

Method

1. Create a sauce mix with fish sauce, oyster sauce, soya sauce and sugar.
2. Marinade the meat with a few tablespoons of sauce.
3. Prepare the noodles as per the packet instructions. Some may need a blanch in boiling water.
4. Pound the garlic and red chillies roughly.
5. If not done already keep your vegetables sliced and ready. Once the process starts then there's no stopping. :)
6. In a large wok heat a few table spoons of oil and saute the garlic-chilli mix.
7. Add the shallots, galanga slices and the pepper corn twigs and saute for a minute.
8. Add the prawns (or any meat) and saute until about 75% cooked.
9. Add the stems of leafy vegetable, beans and carrots and saute for a minute.
10. Add the remaining sauce and mix well.
11. Add the noodles and mix well.
12. Add the basil leaves and toss it around for about a minute.

Happy Cooking!!

C

Schezwan Chilli Chicken

Schezwan or should I say Sichuan cuisine is known for it's spiciness thanks to extreme climate of the Sichuan province in China. As with many other Indo-chinese adaptations here's my version of Schezwan Chilli Chicken made using home made schezwan sauce. It's a great appetizer / entree that has a slight amount of sauce in it. 

Ingredients

1. Diced chicken - 500 gms - I normally use chicken with bones for this one.
2. Schezwan sauce - 3-4 table spoons. Something you can keep adding later if you want to increase the "heat".
3. Finely diced red onion - 1
4. Dried red chillies - 10-15
5. Egg - 1
6. Corn flour - 2 table spoons
7. Vinegar - 2 table spoons
8. Sugar - 1 teaspoon
9. Tomato sauce - 1 table spoon
10. Spring onions - for garnish

Method

1. Marinade the chicken with egg, a table spoon of schezwan sauce and corn flour. Let it marinade for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large wok - heat a few table spoons of vegetable oil.
3. Add half of the minced onions and saute for a few minutes.
4. Add the schezwan sauce and the red chillies and saute for a few minutes.
5. Add the vinegar and sugar and mix it up.
6. Add the marinaded chicken and cook for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Add the remaining onions and saute for a few minutes.
8. Finally add the tomato sauce and mix it up well.
9. Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Enjoy!!

C

Prik Gaeng Ped - Thai Red Curry Paste

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Prik Gaeng Ped aka Thai Red Curry paste is a great condiment to have at home to make yummy Thai curries. A word of caution - once you have tasted home made curry paste you may not quite like the curry from your favourite Thai restaurant. There's not many ingredients involved but you will need to have a bit of patience if you want to do it the right way. But hey if you are after tasty food...who's looking at the clock. :)

Ingredients

1. Red Chillies (Dried or Birds eye) - about 20 chillies 
2. Lemon Grass - just the bottom white section finely chopped - 4-5 stalks
3. Coriander stems - 15-20 stems finely diced
4. Kaffir Lime leaves - 1/2 cup - ensure the middle stalk is removed
5. Galanga - 200 gms - remove the skin and dice it up
6. Garlic - 1 bulb
7. Coriander seeds - 1 table spoon
8. Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
9. Black Pepper seeds - 1 table spoon

The Method

1. Soak the dry red chillies in hot water for about 30 minutes. Once soaked  remove the seeds and stalks from the chillies. Make sure you wear gloves for this step.
2. Now comes the best part - just pound all of the ingredients in a mortar. This might take a good 30-40 minutes. You absolutely need this since the galanga and kaffir leaves need a good pounding before it gets to the next step.
3. Once you have made a coarse paste blend it to a smooth paste in a blender with water used sparingly. 
4. Once blended heat a wide sauce pan and pour about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and sautee the blended paste for about 20-30 minutes with a teaspoon of salt until the paste is cooked and oil separates.
5. You can refrigerate / freeze this paste once it has cooled down to room temperature. The last time I made it this lasted for a few months.

Enjoy!!

C

Chilli Chicken - Indo Chinese Style

Since the time I left India there is always a craving for good Indo Chinese food. Unfortunately there have not been many restaurants that fitted the bill. I ended up re-creating those dishes I was missing. Chilli chicken is definitely one of those. This can be made in a different ways - dry, semi-dry or with a bit of sauce. I like this as a starter and hence made the dry version. This is a great starter to go along with the drink of your choice or as a side dish for noodles or fried rice. So without further ado...

Ingredients

1. Boneless chicken - 500 gms
2. Eggs - 2
3. Corn flour - 1.5 cups (add more as needed to get the required batter consistency)
4. Maida / Plain Flour - 1/2 cup
5. Red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon
6. Onions - 1 - cut in cubes
7. Green chillies - about a dozen depending on your spice appetite
8. Vinegar - 2 table spoons
9. Garlic - minced - 2 table spoons
10. Ginger - grated - 1 tea spoon
11. Sugar - 1/2 tea spoon
12. Dark soy sauce - 1 table spoon
13. Capsicum - 2 diced in cubes
14. Vegetable oil
15. Salt - to taste

Method

1. Dice the chicken breast in small slices. It is important to cut / slice it thin and diagonally. DO NOT chop it in cubes. Idea is to make it cook fairly quickly or a flash fry.
2. In a large bowl mix 2 eggs, corn flour, plain flour, red chilli powder and some salt. 
3. Create a thick paste and add water slowly and create a smooth but thick batter. If too watery add little amounts of corn flour to make it thick.
4. Marinate the cut chicken in the batter until you get done with other chopping / preparation tasks.
5. Chop up the onions in small cubes.
6. Slit the green chillies.
7. Mince the garlic in small pieces.
8. Grate about 2 inches or so of ginger to get about 1 tea spoon of grated ginger.
9. Dice the capsicums.
10. In a large hot wok fill about 1 cup of oil and heat it up. Test the heat by dropping a small piece of batter and it should pop up immediately.
11. Fry the chicken pieces in batches and keep aside.
12. Once done transfer the oil into a separate bowl, wipe it with a towel and heat it again.
13. Pour a few table spoons of the oil.
14. Once hot add the garlic, chillies and onions and saute for about 2 minutes.
15. Add vinegar and sugar (to balance the pungentness of vinegar) and toss it up.
16. Add the deep fried chicken pieces with the soy sauce and toss it up.
17. Add salt to taste.
18. Add the capsicums and toss it well.
19. Make a corn flour slurry with a tea spoon of corn flour and few table spoons of water.
20. Add the slurry and toss well for about a minute.
21. If you want more sauce add about a cup of water and bit more of corn flour slurry and let it boil until a thick sauce is prepared.

Enjoy!!

C

Japanese Souffle Pancakes

Pancakes has been a weekend affair at home for a while. Every now and then the "Tasty" channels throws in a feed of these super fluffy souffle pancakes tempting me to try. Well it didn't take too long for me to fall for it. After a look up on a few YouTube videos finally landed on one which I though would work for me and of course customised it a bit for my needs. It only took 3 attempts for me to get here. So here's a "Chetty proof" version which I would love to get some feedback. As one of my friends suggested I tried to include more photos of the process as "behind the scenes". Hope they help.

Ingredients

(these measurements makes about 8 pancakes - good for a family of 4)

1. Plain flour - 1 cup
2. Baking soda - 1 tea spoon
3. Milk - 3-4 tablespoons
4. Vanilla extract - 1 tea spoon
5. Eggs - 6
6. Sugar - 1 teaspoon
7. Cream of Tartar - 1/2 teaspoon
8. Salt - 1/4 tea spoon

Method

1. Separate the egg whites and yolks in different large bowls.



Step 2

2. Add sugar and cream of tartar powder in the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
3. Mix the egg yolks with flour, milk, salt and vanilla essence until all of them are mixed well into a smooth paste.
4. Fold in the egg white meringue into the batter slowly until a smooth foamy batter is formed.
5. Create a ring using baking paper. The ring should be 2 cms tall and about 8-9 cms in diameter. This dimension is very important folks. Any other size will mess things up.
6. Heat a non stick tawa on low heat.  The lowest possible on your stove. 
7. Sprinkle a few drops of water. The tawa is ready when the water sizzles.
8. Place the baking paper ring and pour about 3/4th of a cup of the batter into the ring. Remember this will raise up a bit so do not pour until the brim.



Step 3

9. Add a few table spoons of water around the side and steam it for 1 minute with a lid on. The timing is very important. This may slightly vary based on your setup.
10. Flip it around and steam it again with water on the side for another minute.
11. Remove the pancake into a plate and remove the paper ring.
12. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.

Enjoy!!

C

Some behind the scene images

Step 4

Step 10

Step 8

Step 9 

Fish Fry

Fish Fry - a dish I first tried during one of my stays in Yercaud. It was a river fish with so many bones and I had no clue how to eat it. Over the years got to know the difference between a river fish and a sea fish and began to start liking the sea fish - simply because it had less bones to take care of. :) Of course not every fish is suitable for a cutlet for a shallow fry.  Some that I liked are King fish, Cat fish, Barramundi and now Rainbow Trout. So here it comes - a shallow fried Fish Fry.

Ingredients

1. Fish cutlets (we used Rainbow Trout) - 1.5 kg
2. Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoons
3. Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tea spoon
4. Black pepper powder - 1/2 tea spoon
5. Curry leaves (finely chopped) - 1 table spoon
6. Corn flour - 2 tea spoons
7. Lemon juice -  2 table spoons
8. Salt - to taste
9. Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup

Method

1. Create a paste with all the ingredients with a little bit of water.
2. Marinade the fish in the paste for about 1 hour.
3. In a wide and deep grill / tava pour any vegetable oil for about enough to cover the entire base for up to 1/2 inch height.
4. After the oil is hot shallow fry the marinaded fish pieces in low flame.
5. Turn after 4 to 5 minutes and cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Rest it on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Enjoy !!

C

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms - Something that the American restaurants blessed me with on many occasions.  Stuffed mushrooms along with corn meal biscuits are an amazing combination. A good part is we can experiment with it in so many different ways for the stuffing. Few years ago I tried masala stuffed mushrooms.  This time it's a bit more traditional but with my own twists. It's a great option for an appetizer / entree and goes very well with a glass of red. :) 

Ingredients (these measurements for about 15-20 mushrooms)

1. Mushrooms – preferably the wide ones that you can stuff after removing the stem
2. Garlic – minced (about 3-4 cloves)
3. Onions – finely chopped (1/2)
4. Cream Cheese (100 gms)
5. Parmesan Cheese – grated (1/2 cup)
6. Mozzarella Cheese - grated (1/2 cup)
7. Sundried tomato - minced (optional) 3-4 tablespoons
8. Italian herbs - 1 tablespoon
9. Butter - 30 gms
10. Coriander leaves – finely chopped - 2 table spoons
11. Bread crumbs - 3-4 table spoons
12. Black Pepper powder - 1 table spoon
13. Olive oil spray

Method

1. Remove the stem of the mushrooms and chop them finely. This is of course going to be the core of your stuffing.
2. Heat a sauce pan and melt a few tablespoons of butter.
3. Saute the onions, garlic, mushroom stems and sun dried tomatoes for a few minutes with Italian herbs, black pepper powder and salt to taste.
4. Keep the mixture aside and bring it close to room temperature.
5. Using a fork, mix the cream cheese, bread crumbs, parmesan.
6. Add the cooled down mushroom mix into the cream cheese and mix well.
7. Use a teaspoon of this mixture and stuff the de-stemmed mushroom cups.
8. Garnish the stuffed mushrooms with a sprinkle of parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
9. Place the mushrooms on a baking tray lined with aluminium paper.
10. Spray them around with olive oil. This is optional.
11. Bake the mushrooms in an oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 5-7 minutes – just until the parmesan starts turning golden (or you start smelling a burnt smell – whichever comes earlier).
12. Allow the mushrooms to cool for a few minutes before serving.
13. Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy!!

C