{Guest Post} Chicken manchurian by Finla of My kitchen treasures

Hi all, Thank you all for checking on me. I Hope you all had a great time, Eid and a blessed Ramadan. On my side, I have been keeping great. I Had great time in India and Abu dhabi. It’s about 20 days that I am back from my holidays, but still in the holiday hangover. I always feel refreshed and totally energized after a holiday that also means I stay relaxed.

This is another guest post from one of my dearest bloggers, Finla. I have to apologize to her for doing this so late. I was hoping to schedule it for the time I was away so that blog doesn’t deprive of attention. But sadly, I ran out of time, was stuck with packing, cleaning up the house etc before we left and I could barely finish the previous post!

It’s not easy to get back to normal life after vacation, at least not me.  After the laid back life back home and lot of pampering, chit chats, gossips, late night talks, hogging on like no tomorrow, takes a while for me get back to routine. After every holidays, you would have noticed I take a while to get back in action. I realise how much of time blogging really takes. After my return, I haven’t shot any pictures and I see myself having so much of time to relax and to lazy around; less dishes to wash, less cleaning up and less stressful too.

Finla is my one of my favorite bloggers, my Mac-buddy. Apart from all the mac research I do, she is the one whom I ping on and off with all my silly doubts. She is a great person, warm, charming and full of energy. She’s a great baker, bakes amazing goodies and macarons. When I asked her to do a guest post for me she had great deal of choice for me which included macarons, but I chose her chicken Manchurian recipe. I loved that recipe of hers and it looked great. Check her blog Kitchentreasures out for real treasure and a feast, I tell you, you will enjoy the tour. Finla, thank you so much for your time and doing this post for me. I loved it.

I have never done a Guest Post as mostly when someone ask me to do a Guest post I say no, as I myself don't have that much inspiration to write a post in my blog so how can I do them for others. But then, when Shab's asked me to a Guest Post, I coudn't say no, as we have been having so much fun on facebook admiring each other's food and baking especially Macarons. And also she is going for a month of holiday, so she really needed friends doing guest post for her. I have to admit I have had fun doing the guest post.

I am sure if you are Non Indian you have never heard about this dish .Chicken Manchurian an Indo- Chinese cuisine, is the adaptation of Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques to suit Indian taste buds. The Indo Chinese cuisine is said to have been developed by the small Chinese community that  lived in Kolkatta (formerly Calcutta) for over a century. Today, the Chinese food has become an integral part of the Indian culinary scene. It is also enjoyed by Indian and Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore, North America etc...

Manchurian Chicken, consists of chicken with vegetables in a spicy sauce. It is entirely a creation of Chinese restaurants in India, and bears little resemblance to traditional Chinese Cuisine. It is said to have been invented in 1975 by Nelson Wang. Wang described his invention process as starting from the basic ingredients of an Indian dish, namely chopped garlic, ginger, and green chilis, but next, instead of adding garam masala, he puts in soy sauce, followed by cornstarch and the chicken itself. A popular vegetarian variant replaces chicken with cauliflower, and is commonly known as gobi manchurian. Other possibilities include prawn, fish, mutton, or paneer.

Chicken Manchurian

Ingredients:

½ kilo Chicken breast

1 1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1 Egg

3 tbsp Flour

2 tbsp Corn flour

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tsp Pepper powder

1 cup Oil for frying or more depending on the pan you use

1/4 cup Spring onions ( I have used onions when I don't have spring onions)

4 to 5 Garlic cloves chopped finely

1 small piece Ginger chopped finely
2 to 3 chillies chopped ( optional)

1 Capsicum chopped

2 tbsp Celery ( optional)

3 tbsp Oil

2 to 3 tbsp Corn flour

2 to 3 tbsp Soy sauce

2 to 3 tbsp Ketchup

Salt for taste

Extra spring onions for garnish

Preparations:

1.Make a paste using egg, flour, corn flour, soy sauce, and pepper powder.

2. Heat the oil for frying in a wok and dip the chicken pieces in the paste you made and deep fry and drain on a kitchen paper.

3. Don't overload the wok; you can fry the chicken pieces in batches. Keep them aside.

4. In a another wok/ pan heat 3 tbsp of oil.
 

5. Add the spring onions ,garlic, ginger,chillies, capsicum and celery and fry for few minutes.
 

6. Add the soy sauce and Ketchup. Give it a stir and then add the chicken stock.

7. When it boils mix the corn flour with a little cold water and then add so that the sauce getes thicker.
 

8. When the sauce thickens, add the fried chicken and the extra spring onions and serve directly with rice to noodles.

Notes:

1.If you want more gravy then add more chicken broth, but then use more corn flour to get the thickness for the gravy.
 

2. If you think you sauce is too thick just add a bit water or chicken broth.
 

3. This is a recipe you have to make and eat it straight away, which otherwise the fried chicken goes soggy because of the special paste method used for frying the chicken.
 

4. If I don't have capsicum at home or spring onions, then I just use normal onions and don't use capsicum.

Chinese Spring Rolls

Here is a spring roll recipe that I started making several years ago. Spring rolls also known as egg rolls are slender and crispy morsels packed with oriental flavours. Easy to fry up and assemble, I make slightly a huge batch and freeze the uncooked rolls to munch later. Here is a link with step by tutorial and an elaborate description. 

Chinese Spring Rolls

Make about  20

Ingredients:

20 spring roll sheets

50g, ½ a small onion finely chopped

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic, grated

75 g, ¾ cup French beans finely chopped, or sliced at an angle

250g, 2 ¼ cup white cabbage shredded

60g, ½ a green capsicum, sliced thin and then chopped

130g, 1 large carrot, finely chopped

2 ½ - 3 tsp soy sauce

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp- ¾ tsp black pepper powder

salt as required

A mixture of plain flour and water to seal the spring roll.

Preparation:

1.Heat a large wok/skillet on medium and add vegetable oil and sesame oil. Once hot, add in chopped onion and garlic. Sauté until they are transparent.

2. Add in all other chopped vegetables and by keeping the lid open keep sautéing until cooked through, yet crisp.

3. Add in soya sauce, pepper and salt to taste and sauté for couple of minutes.

4. Sprinkle a generous pinch of sugar and mix well. Take the pan off the heat.

5. Thaw you pastry sheets before you start working and cover them with damp cloth to prevent it from drying.

6. Now place one pastry sheet on the work surface, add a heaped tablespoon of the mixture on one end of the pastry, leaving 1 inch from the sides to fold later on.

7. Start covering the stuffing by rolling the pastry; fold the sides and roll till the tip and seal the edge by using a concoction of plain flour and water. Repeat with all the pastry sheets.

8. Heat the oil to medium in a frying pan or kadai and deep fry them until golden. Serve with sweet chilli sauce or ketchup.

Notes:

1. Uncooked spring rolls can be frozen for later use. For freezing, Place a sheet of parchment paper on a plate and lay a single layer of uncooked spring rolls on parchment paper. Freeze till hard and once they are frozen, then can be taken off and put in a freezer bag. This way they won’t stick to each other and can’t be thawed and fried later too.

2. You can also add some cooked chicken or prawns into the mix if you want to make it non-vegetarian. For cooking chicken, add some salt and pepper and pan fry it until done. Shred it and add to the filing as needed. Similarly, you can cook prawns with salt and pepper too.

Chilli Fish

Chilli fish is one of my all time favourite food! I had it for the first time from the flight and fell in love with it on the spot. I desperately tried to re-create it few times at home and was a failure. It was then that I came across the chilli fish recipe posted by Varsha of Will-O’- the- wisp (www.varshaspaceblog.blogspot.com). Well, I just couldn’t resist to try her recipe and that’s it. My experiment has come to an end. To be frank, her recipe was better than the one I had from the flight and was so happy that I found it. Thanks to Varsha for posting such an amazing recipe. I followed her recipe as such and the outcome was just amazing. It had all the heat from the spices and green chillies and sauces and vinegar gave it a slight tang.

I have made this recipe twice ever since. I also tried the same with mushrooms. So, for the vegetarians, you may substitute mushrooms for the fish. They are really good, but personally, I loved the fish better. For some reason I am not a fan of the woody taste of mushrooms. I tried to like it, but I can’t! I only tried the dry version of this recipe. But if you want a gravy, just mix the required amount of corn flour and water as mentioned in the recipe and add it to the dish at the end.
For a note, you may use different fish for this recipe. But make sure the fish is fresh and good especially when it comes to fish like ‘King fish’ (neymeen, Aykoora). They smell very odd when they are kept in the freezer for long time. You may use frozen salmon, haddock etc with no problem, but make sure you use fresh fish when it comes to king fish. I once prepared chilli fish using frozen king fish and the dish turned out to be ‘Uneatable’ because of the nasty smell it had!


Chilli fish as a dry curry can be served as a starter, it is really yummy to munch. It can also be served as accompaniments for rotis, rice, chappathis, noodles etc when you have other curries around. If you are making the gravy version, it will blend well with Fried rice, chilli garlic fried rice, chappathis and even parattas. And you may omit or reduce the green chillies to reduce the heat. I just used 1 of them.

Ingredients:
260g Fillet of fish (salmon. Haddock etc)

To marinate:
2 tbsp Plain flour
2 tbsp corn flour
4 tbsp water
½ Tbsp pepper powder
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder/paprika
1 tsp minced ginger and garlic
A pinch of salt


Others:
Vegetable Oil to deep fry the fish
2-3 tsp sesame oil
2 whole Dried Kashmiri Red Chilli (Piriyan mulaku)
2 large cloves of garlic minced
1” ginger julienned (1 Tbsp)
1 ½ cups onion diced
1-5 green chillies split lengthwise (add more or reduce depending on your spice level)
½ of a capsicum diced
2-3 stalks of spring onion sliced thick
1 Tbsp hot Chilli sauce (I used Maggi)
¾ Tbsp Soy sauce
2 tsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp white vinegar
4 Tbsp water
2 tsp corn flour (Add only if making gravy)
1 cup water (Add only if making gravy)

Preparation:
1.Clean the fish thoroughly and drain on a kitchen towel. Cut them into small cubes, about an inch long. Make them as small as u can manage without breaking them.

2. Marinate the fish using the ingredients under ‘To marinate’ title.

3. Fill a frying pan with 2” height of oil and set the heat to medium. When the oil is hot enough, slowly add in the marinated fish pieces (fish pieces should be fully coated in the marinade) and fry till golden and crisp. You may shallow fry them as well with minimal oil. Drain on kitchen towel.

4. In another pan, heat sesame oil and add the crushed chilli flakes. Sauté for few seconds and throw in the minced garlic, ginger juliennes and diced onions. Cook for some time, sautéing occasionally, until the onion is transparent, slightly soft yet crisp.

5. Add bell pepper, spring onion and sauté for a minute. Add the sauces and 4 tbsp of water and mix well till blended.

6. Tip in the battered fish and slit green chillies and mix well until the fish is coated well with the sauces.

7. Add vinegar. Cover and cook on low heat for few minutes until all the flavour is infused and the sauce is all dried up. Chilli Fish prepared this way can be served as starters. If you are serving as gravy for Fried rice or rotis, mix corn flour with water and pour it in the chilli fish. Mix and cook for a while till gravy thicken.

Chilli Garlic Fried Rice

I have had this recipe in my archives for very long time and just recently tried it out. The recipe is very simple, and delicious. You just need very few vegetables, or you cam make with out any vegetables at all since garlic and chillies are used for main flavour. Since I love garlicky flavour, I love this rice. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups basmati rice
Water
Salt
6 large cloves of garlic
2-3 dried red chilli (seed them if you like it less spicy)
1 tbs Soya sauce
¼ cup frozen green peas (optional)
¼ piece capsicum diced (Optional)
½ medium onion chopped (½ cup)
3 tbs vegetable oil
1tsp sesame oil
A knob of butter

Preparation:
1. Wash rice and cook it in plenty of salted water by keeping the lid OPEN ,until the rice is just soft. Drain and run cold water over the rice to cool the rice completely. Keep the rice in a colander to drain off the excess water.
2. Grind/grate garlic in a grinder and keep it aside.
3. Heat a large saucepan, add the vegetable oil and sesame oil. Add the chopped onions and the garlic chilli paste to this and sauté until onion becomes translucent.
4. Add soya sauce and sauté for few seconds.
5. Add peas and capsicum (if using) and sauté just until the capsicum goes soft.
6. Add rice and mix well and adjust salt. When it is heated through completely add a knob of butter and close the lid. Serve hot with any chinese curry.

Chilli Paneer

Paneer is a cheese normally made by adding citric acid or lemon juice to milk to curdle. The curdled mixture is then put in a muslin cloth to get rid of the moisture present in it. It is then compressed by adding a weight on top to give a block shape. Or we can get it processed from supermarket, already made in blocks. Paneer on its own is tasteless and doesn’t have any flavour. But when it is it prepared in specific ways, it is so tasty that you will have an unending craving for it.
My husband loves Paneer; I came to about it from him for the first time! Whenever we go out and spot paneer, he picks one and asks me to make something out it. I have prepared quite few dishes before with paneer, but we were not at all happy with the result. It used to be disappointing at times and I always think I would never prepare a dish that has paneer in it again. But I still keep trying because that’s the way to learn I suppose. Well, I had this block of paneer sitting in the fridge for some weeks and have been approaching its expiry date. So I thought I had to make something out of it that I have never tried before….I started searching for the recipes and finally came up with the Chilli Paneer that I spotted on http://www.pachakam.com/ and thought of giving it a go without much hope. For my surprise, it came out excellent. Here is the recipe that I followed:

Ingredients:
125 gm Paneer
3 tbs Corn flour
1½ tbs Plain flour
2 Green chillies (cut into thin & long strips)
4 large Garlic pods
1 onion, sliced thin
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vinegar
¼ tsp Sugar
¼ tsp Black pepper
2 tsp Soya sauce
2½ tsp ketchup
1 tbsp Chilly sauce
4 tbs water
Oil for deep frying

Preparation:
1. Make a thin paste of plain flour, corn flour and 1/2 tsp of salt.
2. Cut paneer into small square pieces. Dip them in the paste and fry till they become golden in colour. Don’t brown it, it will become hard and lose the texture.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry green chillies, garlic and onion until the onion and garlic turns soft, but not brown.
4. In a separate small bowl mix salt, sugar, black pepper, chilly sauce, tomato sauce, soya sauce, vinegar and 4 tbsp water. Add it to the pan and cook for half a minute.
5. Add Paneer pieces and mix well. Serve hot as a starter,or side dish.

Fried Rice (Serves 3)

It is amazing how different the foods of different cultures are. Isn’t it? The smell, the taste, the texture, the method of preparation and even the way of eating them. There is a bunch of restaurants and hotels and many other food places just across the street that I live. Just walking in front of those restaurants, you can assume which restaurants they are…Chinese, Indian, Italian, Turkish etc even without reading the board on top. The aromatic smell of the spices that comes from Indian restaurants and take-aways, smell of the dishes prepared by blending different sauces from the Chinese restaurants, smell of dishes using wide range of herbs from Italian restaurants etc are really appetizing. Like the restaurants, it’s the same at my home too. Since there is no window in my kitchen, the aroma of the dish just perfumes the whole house (which I hate actually) which smells like the restaurants. And the smell varies depending on the dish that I prepare. The house will occupy the smell of the Chinese restaurants if I prepare something Chinese, like my favourite Fried rice and chilli chicken, and an Indian smell if I prepare some thing Indian. Apart from the incredible smell, the cuisines from different culture have their own distinct taste and character and styles of preparing them. To Master the cooking techniques of different culture is like mastering an art. Or should I say cooking itself is an art?

Well, in this post I’m sharing with you my family’s favourite recipe for the mixed fried rice. The recipe is quite versatile in a way that it can be turned out to a completely vegetarian and vegan meal by taking off the prawns and egg from the recipe and not altering the taste much. You can even add the vegetables of your choice like bean sprouts, baby corn, corn kernals etc.You can add cooked and shredded chicken for a different flavour if you wish. But prawns with vegetable are my favourite. The prawns gives a very distinct flavour for the rice. I have heard many times on TV that it is always best to use the leftover cold rice for preparing fried rice. DON’T use warm or hot rice for cooking else the rice is going to be mushy. So the rice should be completely cooled before adding to the vegetables.

Ingredients:
1½ cup Basmati rice
6 pieces French Beans cut into a cm length
1 Medium Carrot cut into small cubes
½ Medium Capsicum cut into small cubes
¼ cupGreen peas
1 medium Onion (Chopped)
2 cloves Garlic (Chopped)
1 tsp Black Pepper powder (for rice)
1 tbs Soy sauce
4 Spring onion stalks (chopped into thin round slices)
1 Egg
A handful of shrimps
Salt and pepper to season
1 tsp sesame oil+2 tbs vegetable oil (for frying vegetables) plus extra oil for scrambling egg and frying shrimps.

Preparation:1. Bring plenty of water to boil in a large sauce pan. Add salt and rice and cook the rice UNCOVERED until just soft. You can add a teaspoon of oil (if required) while cooking rice to prevent rice from sticking to each other.
2. Drain the rice in a colander and run cold water to prevent rice from further cooking. It is important that the rice should be cooled well.
3. Heat a frying pan, add a dash of oil and scramble the eggs. Keep them aside.
4. In the same pan add some more oil and fry the shrimps by adding salt and a pinch of pepper. Reserve them for later use.
5. Heat a large wok or a sauce pan until smoking hot and add a teaspoon of sesame oil and 3 tbs vegetable oil. Add the Sliced onions and garlic and sauté just until they are soft. Don’t burn. Add carrot and stir fry until it is almost cooked. Add the beans, peas and capsicum and stir fry until all the vegetables are just cooked. Don’t over cook them.
6. Add rice along with 1 tbs soy sauce, 1 teaspoon pepper powder, chopped scallions (spring onions), Scrambled egg and the fried prawns and stir for further 2-3 minutes until the rice is heated up and mixed well with other ingredients. Serve warm with any Chinese curry dish.