BABYCORN MANCHURIAN

 

Skip fractured his hand!

He races through the house all day long, chasing Puppy at neck breaking speed and has tripped and fallen many a time. That loud, sickening thud with which he would land would probably even make our furniture wince. Each time, he would pick himself up, dust himself off and get back to running. Multiple warnings were ignored.

Then, one day, he was sitting on a window ledge, quiet as a noodle and as he stood up, he lost his balance and landed on his hand. He bent his bone and fractured his wrist.

The ‘bone-doctor’ said it would be easier and quicker to fix the bent bone without anaesthesia and that it would take only 5 minutes. He said he would set the cast after that. I warned Skip that it would hurt a lot.

Skip had to go in alone. Covid -19 restrictions permitted only one person at a time with the doctor. As I waited outside with bated breath, I heard Skip squeak just once. After about 15 minutes, he walked out with the cast and a big grin on his face.

I asked him if he missed having me with him for support. He said he had no time to think of that as he had a lot of questions for the Doctor. Here’s what happened inside:

Doctor: I will have to bend your bone back into shape. Try not to move.

Skip: I have a few questions before that. Will it hurt?

Doctor: A little.

Skip: More than an injection?

Doctor: No.

Skip : I need you to tell me the truth.

Doctor: It will be done soon.

Skip *thinks to himself* Why do they always have to lie!

 

My poor little Skip, he didn’t want people at the reception hear him cry out in pain, so he just let out a muffled yelp. When the doctor was setting the cast, Skip said it looked like Dosa batter for which the Doctor burst out laughing.

All’s well that ends well, at least for Skip. He has us doing his HW and CW for him for the next two months whilst he lays sprawled across the sofa quoting me, back to me, while I struggle with his Kannada HW, “It’s always best to finish your work first and then have fun”.

Skip doesn’t like babycorn but he quite enjoyed eating this dish.

For more such recipes, follow me on Facebook and Instagram (Lucidlucent).

BABYCORN MANCHURIAN

 

Ingredients:

Babycorn – 200 gms

For the batter:

All-purpose flour (maida) – 3 heaped tbsps

Cornflour – 3 heaped tablespoons

Salt – ½ tsp

Pepper – ½ tsp

For the stir fry

Onion (medium sized) – 1

Capsicum – ½

Garlic cloves – 10

Soy Sauce – 3 tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 4 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Chilli powder – to taste

Method:

1.     Mix the batter ingredients and add water to make a thick paste. Cut the babycorn into bite sixed pieces and add to the batter. Give it a good mix until the pieces are well coated with the batter.

2.     Fry the batter coated babycorn until its cooked. Drain and set aside.

3.     Add finely chopped onion to a pan. Fry until it browns. Add finely chopped garlic and capsicum, cook for a few minutes.

4.     To this add the soy sauce and tomato ketchup and mix well.

5.     Add the fried babycorn and mix until its well coated with the sauces.

6.     Add salt and red chilli powder and give it a good mix.

7. Done

Recipe notes:

·       You may also add green or red chilli sauce.

·       In step 4, along with the sauces, you may also add cornflour slurry if you like the Manchurian to be a gravy dish.

·       Feel free to add additional ingredients such a green chillies, spring onions etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN SALAD

 

What’s the best part of having a butter fruit tree at home?

Your heart doesn’t shatter into a hundred pieces when you have to chuck the overripe one in the bin.

Puppy in the background trying to eat the fallen avocados!

We have three at home and Skip and the Puppy are currently on a mission to shoo away people who sneak into our garden to pluck the avocados. Last year we had a good crop and we had the fruit on our toasts, with scrambled eggs, in burgers, in tacos, guacamole and the old-fashioned way with sugar. This year saw hundreds of fallen, shrivelled avocados due to the off-season rains. Most of the ones that made it past adolescence got stolen by fruit thieves and the ones that remain are being fiercely protected by Skip who has apparently threatened to let the Puppy loose on these miscreants. Skip is however concerned that if the day does come, when he has to let the Puppy off the leash, these fruit thieves would get to know that our ferocious looking boxer is nothing but an attention seeking, big ball of floof, who, if left to him, would gladly give away all the avocados in the tree for a few pats on the head, a belly rub, a game of tug, two games of fetch and one of chase.

When Skip brought 4 avocados from the garden, I immediately had one on garlic toast, because that’s how I currently like it best. I decided to use the remaining in salads.

I had chicken lying around and I came across this wonderfully lemony and herb-y recipe for chicken salad which didn’t call for avocados but I threw one in anyway.

The marinated chicken tasted great by itself and makes for a great appetiser. I wish I had lettuce, that would have added the crunch, the salad needed. I used caramelised almonds instead. Throw in a whole lot of garlic chips if you like the flavour, it goes well with the herbed, lemon chicken. The original recipe also called for olives which I didn’t have at that time.

If salads tasted this good all the time, I’d gladly skip meals.

For more salad recipes, please follow me on Instagram and Facebook @lucilucent.

I have recipes for a Boiled Egg Salad, Cottage Cheese Broccoli and Corn Salad and a Chicken and Mango Salad on my blog. Do check it out. I have some vegetarian salad recipes coming up next.

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN SALAD

 

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

Olive oil – 2 tbsp

Lemon juice – ¼ cup

Water – 2 tbsp

Vinegar – 1 tbsp

Oregano – 1 tbsp

Garlic (either powdered or minced) – 2 tsp

Salt, pepper – to taste

Salad ingredients:

Boneless chicken – 300 gms

English cucumber – 1

Tomato – 1

Avocado – 1

Garlic cloves – 6-7

Almonds – 10

Mayonnaise – 1 tbsp

Method:

1.     Whisk the dressing ingredients and marinate the chicken in it for a few hours.

2.     In a pan, add a little oil. Add almonds and sauté for a minute. Sprinkle a little salt and a generous pinch of sugar and sauté the almonds until they have caramelised. Set aside.

3.     Into the same pan, add sliced garlic and fry it until they turn crisp. Set aside.

4.     In a grill pan, add a table spoon of oil and grill the marinated chicken and half the marinade until the chicken is fully cooked and brown. Pour the remaining marinade and give the chicken a good mix and turn off the flame.

5.     Dice the cucumber, tomato and avocado. Add mayonnaise to it and give it a good mix. Add the pieces of chicken to it and pour the leftover marinade onto the salad and give it a good mix.

6.     Top the salad with the caramelised almonds and garlic chips. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

7.     Done.

 

CHICKEN AND MANGO SALAD

 

If you are looking to lose some of that lockdown weight, the best substitute for a meal would be a salad- a big bowl of healthy goodness that is delicious and will keep you from piling on calories. A perfect salad typically ought to include greens, fresh vegetables and fruits, proteins, healthy fats and insoluble fibre but let’s think beyond leafy greens and spruce up the traditional recipes.

Get adventurous with your ingredients. You’ll know you’ve got the perfect salad as long as you have something crunchy, something sweet, something creamy and a little bit of tangy added to that bowl.

If you are a vegetarian, you can substitute the chicken with alternate sources of protein such as cooked beans or tofu.

If the thought of mango with chicken (which by the way pairs up beautifully) perturbs you, you can add red grapes instead or skip fruit altogether.

You can reduce the quantity of mayonnaise and add sour cream or yogurt to it.

The possibilities are endless!

I have more exciting and simple salad recipes coming up. Please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucidlucent and show some love. Thank you.

CHICKEN AND MANGO SALAD

 

Ingredients:

Chicken (boneless) – 200 gms

Oil – 1tbsp

Half a lemon peel

Sweet Chilli Sauce – 3 tbsp

Mango – 1

Red/Yellow Bell pepper – half a large sized one

English cucumber – 1

Onion (small) – ½

Almonds – 10

A slice of bread

Salt, pepper – to taste  

Mayonnaise – ¼ cup

 

Method:

1.     Place the chicken in a pan. To this add salt, half the lemon peel and add water until the chicken is just covered.

2.     Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until the chicken is fully cooked.

3.     Drain the water and once the chicken has cooled, shred it and add it to a greased pan. Fry the pieces of chicken until they are nicely browned. Add the sweet chilli sauce to this, sauté for a seconds and set aside.

4.     Dice the mango, cucumber and bell pepper. Slice the onion and set aside.

5.     Toast almonds and set aside.

6.   Slather garlic butter on the slice of bread, cut it into small squares and toast these squares until they have browned.

7.   In a bowl, add the veggies and shredded chicken. To this add the mayonnaise and mix well.

8.     Add a little salt and pepper and toss the salad.

9.     Add the garlic croutons and almonds just before serving.

10. Done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EGGLESS MANGO SEMOLINA CAKE

 

I wanted to get this mango recipe out while the fruit was still in season.

I already have a recipe for a Mango Cake on my blog. This one is with Semonlina /Rawa/Sooji. I have been seeing recipes/ pictures of Rawa cake all over the internet and wondered what the hype was all about and when I found this recipe (from Love and Flour by Pooja) with mango in it, I thought it was time to finally bake the Rawa Cake.

As always, I scoured the net for different recipes until I settled on this one as this is from a tried and tested blog. While this recipe calls for using Rawa as is, some of the other recipes called for grinding the Rawa into a fine powder. (I didn’t grind the Rawa)

This was the first time I had eaten Rawa cake and I did not like it, it felt like eating mango flavoured upma. I did not like the texture. Would I bake this cake again ? No. I wonder how it might have tasted had I powdered the Rawa.

If you like Rawa cakes, you may try this cake out. It has a mild mango flavour, is moist and crumbly and if it weren’t for the grainy texture, I would have liked it too. Sky, who detests Upma, enjoyed this cake while Skip who loves Upma (he and I have it with sugar) kept feeling mysteriously full , each time I offered the cake.  

For more mango recipes, stay home, stay safe and follow me on Facebook and Instagram (Lucidlucent).

MANGO SEMOLINA CAKE

 

Ingredients:

Semolina (Rawa) – 1 ¼ cup

All-purpose flour (maida) -1/4 cup

Sugar – ¾ cup

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Baking soda – ½ tsp

Butter (melted) – 1/3 cup

Yogurt – ½ cup

Mango pulp – ½ cup

Chopped nuts – 2 tsp (optional)

 

Method:

1.     Grease a loaf pan.

2.     In a bowl, add the semolina, flour, sugar, melted butter, yogurt, mango pulp and mix well. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.

3.     15 minutes into the resting time, pre-heat the oven at 180C.

4.     After 30 minutes (Step 2), add baking powder and baking soda to the above mixture and whisk well. If the batter feels too thick, you may add 1 or 2 tbsps of milk.

5.     Pour the batter into the greased dish. Add chopped nuts on top.

6.     Bake for 35-40 mins or until done.

7.     Done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEPPER CHICKEN

 

Lately, I’ve been cooking chicken quite often, all thanks to the Puppy. When I order meat for him, I pick up extra for ourselves. The Puppy however, like Skip, is more excited about eggs, curd and fruits!

The other day Skip and I were discussing the food we missed eating the most during this lockdown and the conversation moved on to unconventional chocolate fusion dishes. I told him about chocolate on pizza. He gave it a thought and said he was open to try it as it would in all likelihood taste like pancakes. I next told him about the chocolate samosa. Skip gave me a weird look and then said, “Mamma, that’s called a croissant and not a samosa!” He shook his head in disapproval and walked away with his nose stuck in the air.

Look at that gorgeous colour of the chicken! I was looking for a dry(er) pepper fry recipe but this tasted delicious as well. It is mildly tangy and spicy and makes you want to lick your fingers when no-one’s looking.

Recipe is from Tasty Recipe Hut.

For more such chicken recipes, stay home, stay safe and follow me on Facebook and Instagram (Lucidlucent).

PEPPER CHICKEN

 

Ingredients:

Kashmiri red chilli – 6  

Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Black peppercorns – 2 tsp\

Onion (medium sized)- 3

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Chicken ( I used curry cut) – 500 gms

Curry leaves – 12

Additional curry leaves, coriander leaves (optional)

Salt – to taste

Water – 2/3 cup

Method:

1. Toast the dry red chillis on low flame for about 2 mins and keep it aside.

2. Toast the coriander seeds for a minute, to this add the cumin seeds and black pepper and toast till aromatic.

3.     Let the above spices cool and then grind into a fine powder.

4.     Slice the onions and fry them in oil until they brown. Once cooled, grind it into a fine paste and set aside.

5. Fry the ginger garlic paste for a minute and add the chicken pieces to it.

6. Fry the chicken till they slightly brown. Add the ground spice powder (the mixture may appear to be a lot, but it’s the right quantity for 500 gms). Mix it well until the pieces of chicken are well coated with the powder.

7.  Add the curry leaves and the ground onion paste and mix well.

8.     Add salt and mix well.

9.     Add 1/3 cup water, give the chicken a good mix and add the remaining water.

10. Cover and cook until the chicken is fully cooked (for about 15 minutes).

11. Add curry leaves, coriander leaves and some powdered pepper ( if you like it spicy) and give it all a good mix.

12. Done.

 

 

 

 

 

BAKED MAC n CHEESE

 

Kindly do spend a minute admiring that lone cherry tomato on top. Skip and I planted tomato seeds last year which bore fruit this year. A year of waiting yielded two fruits! Skip and I tenderly plucked the first one, washed it gently under a trickle of water, dried it with the softest muslin, lovingly rolled it about in our palms and then placed it on the board and sliced it into two. The second tomato went on top of this pasta.

 

Speaking of tomatoes, for a month, I was sans any help in the kitchen. Skip and Sky did help around with washing and drying the dishes but cooking was turning out to be a pain in my lower back. Our daily meal schedule was disrupted as I got caught with other chores and at times, I’d end up cooking a dish at the time we were supposed to have begun eating it. On one such day, it was already 8pm (we eat at 7 pm) and I had just begun to make chicken curry. I got the blender out to grind the tomatoes and even as I picked the smallest of the three jars, I knew it was the wrong choice. In 5 seconds, there was tomato puree splashed all across the kitchen, even behind me!

 

After letting out a loud wail of ‘Why God, Why’ and contemplating giving off the uncooked chicken to the Puppy, I went ahead and cleaned the kitchen and Sky and I enjoyed a delicious meal of Chicken curry and rice.

 

Lesson learnt. I now do not use the smallest jar even if it meant grinding just two cloves, three peppercorns and a spoonful of coriander seeds and ending up with unground spices. Why God, Why!!!

 

Skip and Sky love pasta and I love cooking it. I also like to add a lot of vegetables in the pasta. I usually make the stove top version. Skip prefers it runny and creamy and once you bake it, it loses that runny texture. I prefer the baked one, only because I like the cheesy, crunchy topping.

 

If you like it runny, you can stop at Step 8. If you don’t like veggies, you may skip adding them. You can also add, boiled, shredded and seasoned chicken or cooked chicken sausages/bacon into the pasta. If you like your pasta simple, I also have the recipe for Macaroni in Mushroom Sauce and if you like it with red sauce, I have the Pasta in Arrabiata Sauce on my blog.

 

If you enjoy the recipes, please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucilucent. Also, when you try out these recipes, please do DM images of the same and I shall share them on my Instagram page. Thank you.

    

                                                                                                 

BAKED MAC n CHEESE  (with veggies)

Ingredients:

Macaroni – 2 cups
Water -  3 cups
Butter – 2 tbsp
Olive oil- 1 tbsp
Chopped onions – ½ cup
Chopped garlic – 2 tbsp
Sliced mushrooms –  1 cup
Paneer (cottage cheese) - 1 cup
Peas – ½ cup
Boiled sweet corn – ½ cup
Steamed broccoli – 1 cup
Carrot – 1 (sliced) 
Maida (all purpose flour) – 2-3 tbsps
Milk +Water – 2 cups
Cheese – ½ cup (or 2 cheese slices)
Salt, Pepper, Oregano
Mozzarella – ½ cup
Bread crumbs – ½ cup 

Method:

1.   Heat 3 cups water and once it begins to boil, add the macaroni to it along with a tsp of salt and few drops of oil. Once the macaroni is cooked (in less than 10 minutes), drain the water and keep aside.

2.     Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions soften and turn pink.

3.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they brown. Add the remaining vegetables and cook until they have softened

4.     Add olive oil to the vegetables and give it a quick stir and then add the flour and keep stirring it for a minute until the vegetables are coated with the flour.

5.  Add the milk and water mixture gradually, mixing well to make sure that no lumps form.

6.      Add the cheese and stir until the cheese melts.

7.      Once the sauce begins to boil, add the salt, pepper and oregano.

8.     Add the cooked macaroni into the sauce and let it cook for a minute or two.

9. (The Pasta is ready to be eaten at this stage.)

10. Transfer the contents to a baking dish. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top and top it with bread crumbs.

11. Bake at 180C until the crumbs have browned a bit (about 10 mins).

12. Done.