Few fresh bell peppers, a whole basket full of hot chili peppers, some tomatoes  & bitter gourds are a few things that I harvested from my yard a couple of days back; fresh, glossy & happy produce of my efforts through the summer.
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Not much about recipes today…


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Yes, another Roasted Bell Pepper recipe, but a “Chilled” one this time. Those of you who regularly visit me must have already realized that I am fascinated with bell peppers.
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Update: (June 13th, 2009) – This was one of the winner recipes in the Pasta Sauce contest sponsored by Foodbuzz & Buitoni! (Read about it).

Thanks to the Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program that I got these awesome Buitoni’s Wild Mushroom Agnolotti delivered to me.  These are “generously filled with fresh portobello & crimini mushrooms, imported Grana Padana & Parmesan Cheeses & fresh roasted garlic.” Actually I cannot wait to buy more of these! I am not usually a big fan of filled pastas, but this did beat anything around. These were just delightful, bursting with the earthy tones of mushrooms & garlic. The mushrooms  & the roasted garlic were really some serious business here, &  unbelievably delicious. I could just eat them boiled.

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The Spring air smells good. Along with the change of season comes the colorful blooms of the pretty flowers & some fresh vegetables& fruits  in the market. The local market got crates of fresh corn & avocado. (I was somehow under the impression that the corns came during fall..) Anyway. we got quite a few of these. Today I saw Corn Salsa in Peter G’s (Souvlaki for The Soul) Blog. His pictures tempted me to make some salsa with the hass avocados & corn right away.

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Singapore Fried Rice

Asian food has all kind of variation all over the world. Generally Indian food in America are not all that spicy and oily as in India, except for a few authentic restaurants. Just like so, we cook  Indian Chinese in India.

I am not sure if Singapore Fried Rice is a cuisine of Singapore, but it is a big part of the Indian Chinese in India. It is similar to Chinese Fried Rice, except it is made very spicy by adding tons of red dry chili to hot oil. You can go easy on the number of red chilis you add, but do add a few because it is the red dry chilis which actually adds the flavor to this rice.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup long grained rice (Will yeild about 2 cups approx. cooked)
2. 2 cloves of garlic – chopped fine
3. 1/2 onion chopped
4. 8 -10 Dry Red Chilis
5. 1 teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorn
6. 1 teaspoon very thinly sliced ginger
7. 4 tablespoons oil
8. 2 teaspoons oil ( to use when boiling the rice)
9. 2 teaspoon white vinegar
10. 2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
11. 1/2 green bell pepper chopped
12. 1/2 cup peas
13. 1 Big carrot chopped
14. 3 sprigs of green/spring onion chopped
15. 1 tablespoon cilantro chopped
16. 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
17. Salt to taste

Any vegetable like beans, celery may be added to this.

Preparation:

Wash the rice very well to wash off the starch. Soak it in cold water and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Boil 1.5 cups of water, add 2 teaspoons of oil to it and and add the rice. The oil will help the rice not to stick to one another. Cook it so it so they are long and done but separate. If there is till some water left and the rice it done, strain the water.

Spread the cooked rice in a thin layer on a plate and sprinkle vinegar on it. Let it cool

Heat oil in a Wok. Once its smoking hot, add the crushed black peppercorns and the dry red chilis. The chilis will soon turn dark and sizzle. Add the garlic and the onion. Fry at high heat till the onion starts to brown. Add the peas, carrots, bell pepper, and ginger and fry at high hear  till all the moisture dries off. This should not take for than 3-4 minutes.

Lower the heat and add the soy sauce. Mix it with all the vegetables and add the rice. Stir it around to mix it and keep frying at medium heat. Increase the heat to high again. When all the rice is coated, with the sauce, add the cabbage and cook for a couple of more minutes tossing it around fast and sprinkling few drops of water on the wok for the sizzle and the smoke. Switch off the heat. Add the cilantro and spring onions and cover it for 5 minutes for the heat and the smoke flavor to be absorbed. The smoky flavor is a very distinctive flavor to this dish.

 Serve hot with with Hot Oil, or with Vegetable Manchurian, Chili Chicken, or Chili Paneer.