...- LUcidLUcent: Egg Noodles with Chilly Chicken and Vinegared Cucumber

Here is another in the series of Chop Chop Chow – Egg Noodles with Chilly Chicken and Vinegared Cucumber. Sounds fancy right?

Instant noodles to the rescue! My favourite is Top Ramen. Which is your favourite brand of instant noodles?

Whenever I make noodles/fried rice, I serve it in individual bowls with the meat/veggies layered in the bowl with the noodles. Not only does it look tasteful, it is also taste-full. I then top it off with an egg with a side of vinegared sliced cucumber.

It will not take you more than half an hour to prepare this meal.

So the next time you decide to make instant noodles at home, cook it with a twist. I boiled the noodles, drained the water and then sautéed them with onions and the readymade spice powder. This way you don’t have the spices getting diluted in water and the sautéed onions add an additional punch of sweetness and crunch to the noodles. You could cook the instant noodles as per the instructions but then it won’t be ‘fancy’ now, would it?

I have made Chilly Chicken to go with the noodles. The recipe is the exact same as the Chilly Paneer recipe. It is a simple recipe and can be cooked even by those who don’t eat chicken but may have to cook it for their better halves ;) Look at the lovely colour of the fried chicken. (I haven’t added any food colour to it). If you are a vegetarian, you can make Chilly Paneer and also skip the egg.

Skip and Sky like Bull’s Eye, I prefer scrambled egg in my noodles.

Skip and Sky do not like vinegared cucumbers much, but I add it anyhow for that “authentic Chinese” touch.

EGG NOODLES WITH CHILLY CHICKEN AND VINEGARED CUCUMBER (Serves 2)

NOODLES

Ingredients:

Instant Noodles – 3 packets

Water to boil the noodles

Medium sized onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Soy Sauce – 1 tsp

Tomato Ketchup – 2 tsp

Method:

1. Cook the noodles al dente in water. Drain it, rinse it in cool water and keep aside.

2. Fry the onions until they brown a bit. To the fried onions, add the readymade spice powder and mix it well. To this, add the soy sauce and tomato ketchup and mix well.

3. Add the cooked noodles and mix until noodles are coated with the onion mixture.

4. Done.

CHILLY CHICKEN

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken – 250 gms

Onion- 1 medium sized

Capsicum (Bell pepper) – 3/4^thsof it

Garlic – 6-7 cloves

Cornflour – 1 ½ tbsp

Maida (white flour) – 2 tbsps

Salt, pepper, red chilly powder – as needed

Soya sauce – 3/4^th tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 1 ½ tbsp

Oil

Method:

1. Add cornflour, white flour, half a teaspoon salt and pepper as per your taste into a bowl. Add a little water to make a fine paste.

2. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and add to the above ‘flour’ paste and coat it well. Set aside.

3. Chop the onion, capsicum and garlic. Set aside.

4. Shallow fry the chicken in oil until it is fully cooked and set aside.

5. To the same pan, first, add onions and fry until they turn pinkish brown ( around 3-4 mins on medium flame)

6. Next, add the capsicum and sauté until the edges start browning. ( 3 mins)

7. Add the garlic. Sauté for a minute.

8. Add the soya sauce and tomato ketchup and stir well until all ingredients are coated with the sauce.

9. Add the pieces of chicken and quickly stir until the chicken is well coated. Sauté for 2 mins.

10. Add salt and chilly powder as per your taste. Sauté for a minute more.

11. Done.

VINEGARED CUCUMBER

Ingredients:

Cucumber – 1 (sliced)

Honey – 1 tbsp

Apple Cider Vinegar – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Mix the honey with the vinegar and add the sliced cucumbers into it. Set aside.

2. Done.

ASSEMBLY

Add half the desired amount of noodles to the base of the bowl. Top it with chicken/paneer. Add another layer of noodles. Top it with the fried egg and add cucumbers to the side. (Do not pour the honey-vinegar mixture to the dish)

Recipe notes:

· Do not add too much salt to the Chilly Chicken as Soy Sauce is also salty.

· If you don’t have Apple Cider Vinegar, you may use white vinegar but reduce quantity to 1 ½ tbsp.