The popular golden, crunchy, bite sized popcorn chicken goes all vegan in our kitchen.

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Asian cuisine is well loved around the world, and one of the most popular dishes  is a stir-fry. Dishes like almond chicken, cashew chicken, Kung Pao chicken, and chicken chop suey, are among the most popular chicken stir-fries. (more…)

If you look around the grocery/whole food stores, you will find a variety of soy products.  Soy is cholesterol free, low in carbs. & fat calories & most importantly, excellent source of protein.

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It is Indo Chinese. It is Chinese ingredients given a strange but lip smacking Indian twist. Chinese Bhel is Crispy Noodles with vegetables, tossed with sauce.

College crowd grouped in street corners and Chinese Bhel remind me very much of the street side food stall culture in India and how everything is prepared at lightning speed to cater to so many waiting in the line. And that’s where it tastes the best!!  It is also a great quick fix snack for unannounced guests in the evening. So here it is – the crunchy, munchy Chinese Bhel. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups noodles (Any kind noodles like small bags of Hakka noodles, Ramen or Maggi Noodles are good to use).
2. 2 tablespoon chopped red onion
3. 2 Serrano peppers chopped (Optional)
4. ½ cup cabbage very finely shredded
5. 1 Roma tomato chopped
6. 2 tablespoons green bell pepper chopped
7. 2 tablespoons Cilantro very finely chopped
8. 2 stalks of green/spring onion chopped
9. 1/2 teaspoon very very finely julienned fresh ginger
10. 2 tablespoons Oil

Optional:

Any vegetable of your choice (Shredded carrots, chopped baby corns etc)

For the sauce:

1. 1.5 teaspoon chunky peanut butter
2. 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
3. 1 tablespoon ketchup
4. 1 teaspoon vinegar
5. 1 teaspoon Sriracha or any hot sauce (Optional)

Preparation:

Break the noodles in to pieces (Do not crumble them), so they are separated, and not in clumps. Heat oil and fry the noodles at low heat, frequently tossing it around so all the noodles are cooked. It should look light brown and should be crispy to taste. Set aside.

Whisk all the ingredients for the sauce.

Place the fried noodles in the serving bowl and add all the above ingredients except the sauce. Toss.

Spoon the sauce uniformly over the noodles and toss again.

Tangy Hot Oil

This Oil is similar to what we are accustomed to getting in most Chinese Restaurants. Our family, all of us being spice eaters:-) always take a few extra of these ‘Hot Oils’ whenever we are eating Chinese. This Tangy Hot Oil is something which I experimented at home, by adding a few more things to the basic oil and crushed red peppers. The result was pretty well accepted and I have also used the oil to cook some other dishes with it for extra spicy flavor.

Ingredients: 

1. 1/2 cup  Oil
2. 2 cloves of garlic
3. 1 tablespoon of vinegar
4. 2 tablespoon of ginger juice (grate fresh ginger and strain out the juice)
5. 2 tablespoons of crushed dry red pepper
6. 3 hot green chili pepper ( numbers may be adjusted to taste)
7. 1 tablespoon ketchup
8. 1 tablespoon any red hot sauce

Preparation:

Chop and mash 1 clove of garlic. In a bowl mix together  garlic, ginger juice, ketchup, hot sauce, vinegar and slit green hot peppers.

Heat Oil to smoking hot. Add 1 clove of garlic in the oil. Add the red pepper flakes  till they start sizzling. Add the mixture in the bowl to this hot oil and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve with Fried Rice or even use it as spiced cooking oil.