Thai Fried Rice & Sichuan Shrimp

Fried Rice:

Ingredients(Serves: 5 - 6):

Jasmine Rice                 --   4 Cups cooked, cooled
Red Onions                     --   1 large, thinly sliced
Green Chillies                --   3 - 4, slit
Thai Red Curry Paste --   2 - 3 tbsp (I use Thai Kitchen brand)
Garlic                                --   3 - 4 cloves, crushed
Mixed Vegetables        --   1 cup, chopped
Eggs                                   --   2
Soy Sauce                        --   1 tsp
Thai Fish Sauce             --   1 tbsp
Black Pepper                  --   1 tsp
Green Onions                 --   1 cup, chopped
Oil                                       --   3 tbsp
Salt                                     --   if required, after adding the paste and sauces.

Preparation:

Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet. Preferably, plan a day ahead and cook it a day before and refrigerate. If not, make sure you use cool rice.
Heat oil in a wok over medium heat and fry the onions and chillies until soft. Add the the red curry paste and fry until the oil separates from the mixture. Add the crushed garlic and the mixed vegetables and fry on medium high until the veggies are crisp and almost cooked.
Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, ½ tsp black pepper and soy sauce.
Push the veggies to the side and pour the eggs to the center of the wok. Scramble the eggs until they are set. Optionally you can scramble the eggs in another pan and add.
              
Add rice and mix thoroughly until coated with the mixture and is well heated.
Sprinkle pepper and the sauces and mix / toss lightly if you are an expert. Remove from heat.

Add the chopped onions and give a quick mix. Save some for garnishing.
Serve hot.

Sichuan Shrimp:

Ingredients(Serves: 5 - 6):

Shrimp                              --   1 kg, shelled, deveined & cleaned
Tomato ketchup            --   3tbsp
Soy Sauce                         --   4 tsp
Black pepper                   --   1 tsp
White Sesame Seeds     --   2 tsp, slightly roasted and ground
Cayenne                             --   1 ½ tbsp
White vinegar                  --   2 tbsp
Green Serrano Chillies --   7
Red Serrano Chillies     --   7
Garlic                                  --   4 - 5 large cloves
Ginger                                 --   4 tbsp, finely chopped
Red onion                          --   3 cups,thinly sliced
Cornstarch                        --   2 tsp
Water                                   --   ¼ cup
Spring Onions                   --   5, thinly chopped
Salt                                        --   as required
Oil                                          --   ¼ cup

Preparation:

Marinate the shrimp with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 15 - 20 mins.

Remove the seeds from the chillies and chop it. Slice the onions and chop the ginger and garlic.

Roast the sesame seeds until they start to change colour and grind to a fine powder.

In a bowl, mix the tomato ketchup, soy sauce, remaining black pepper, ground sesame seeds, cayenne and white vinegar.

In a wok, heat half the oil on high heat and fry the shrimp until they start to turn opaque. Remove from the pan and keep them aside.

Add the remaining oil into the same wok and let it heat up. Add the onions, chillies, ginger and garlic. Fry them until the onions turns soft.

Lower the heat to medium and then add the sauces and fried shrimp.Stir well to mix. In case you feel that the gravy is too thick to coat the shrimp completely, add ¼ cup of water before adding the shrimp.

Make a paste of corn flour and water. Add this and cook for 2  - 3 minutes.

Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Serve hot.

This dish is really hot. Adjust the number of chillies as you can tolerate.

Recipe Courtesy: partially from Food.com

                                    Rias Collection

Chicken Curry

Ingredients(Serves 5 - 6):

Chicken                      --   1 kg
Onion                          --   2 large, approximately 5 - 6 cups, chopped
Ginger                         --   1½ inch
Garlic                          --   8 - 10 cloves
Green chilies            --   4 - 6
Tomato                       --   2 medium-small
Turmeric powder   --   ½ tsp
Chilly powder          --   1 tbsp
Coriander powder --   1 tbsp
Garam masala powder --   2 tsp
Black Pepper powder --   1 tsp
Mustard seeds        --   ½ tsp
Dry red chilies        --   2, broken
Curry leaves            --   1 sprig
Salt                               --   To taste
Oil                                 --   3 - 4 tbsp, preferably coconut oil

Preparation:

Clean and cut the chicken into medium size pieces.

Roughly chop the onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes. In a deep pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and add the onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute until the onions are transparent. Add the tomatoes and saute until they are slightly mushy. Let it cool and grind the mixture.

Heat remaining oil in a the same pan.  Add the ground mixture  and saute until it turns brown. Add the masala powders and saute until the raw smell goes off. Add few tbsps of water in case the mixture starts to stick to the bottom at any stage.

Add the chicken pieces and salt and mix well so that the chicken is well coated with the gravy. Let it cook on a medium low flame with the lid on. Stir in-between to make sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom.

                      

Once the chicken is cooked, add ½ cup hot water. Mix well and let it boil. Adjust the gravy adding more hot water if required. Check the salt and adjust accordingly. Sprinkle the pepper powder.

Heat 1 tsp coconut oil in a small pan. Splutter mustard seeds and add the red chilies and curry leaves. Pour over the prepared curry.

Serve with rice, chapathi or any Indian breads.

Potato Mezhukkupuratti / Stir Fry

Ingredients(Serves 4 - 5):

Potatoes                    --   3 - 4 medium size, approx 300 gms
Turmeric Powder  --   ¼ tsp
Chilly Powder          --   3 tsp
Coriander Powder --   2 tsp
Garam Masala         --   ½ tsp
Onions                        --   1 large
Mustard seeds        --   ½ tsp
Curry leaves --   few leaves
Salt --   as required
Oil --   2 - 3 tbsp, I prefer coconut oil

Preparation:

Skin off, clean and cut the potatoes into cubes or rectangles as required.

Add the turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt along with 1/4 cup water to the potatoes. Mix well and cook in a wide pan on a low - medium flame. The water will be completely absorbed and the potatoes should be cooked well but not be mushy. Test one or two pieces for doneness. Add few tbsps of water(more water will turn it mushy) if the potatoes are not cooked.

Remove the potatoes from the pan and keep aside or you can use another wide pan to fry onions.

In the wide pan, add oil and mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add the curry leaves and onions and saute until the onions are brown.

Add the cooked potatoes and mix well until the potatoes are covered with the onions; taking care not to break the potatoes.

Fry for 3 - 4 minutes on a low flame, to make the potatoes crispier.

Serve hot with rice and curry.

Ulli Vada / Onion Fritters

Ingredients(Serves 4 - 5):

Besan flour / Kadala podi --   1½ cup
Rice flour                                 --   ½ cup
Green chillies                         --   4 - 5
Red chilly Powder                --   2 - 3 tsp, adjust according to taste / tolerance
Onions                                       --   2 large
Melted ghee                            --   2 tbsp
Baking soda                             --   ¼ tsp
Curry leaves                           --   few sprigs
Salt                                              --   as required
Oil                                                --   for deep frying

Preparation:

Combine the flours with salt, baking soda,red chilly powder, finely chopped green chillies, curry leaves and onions.

Add the melted ghee and mix well with fingers. Combine well till u have a crumbly texture.

Add few tablespoons of water and mix well that it forms a hard batter. Make sure not to add more water. The mixture will be hard and sticky and slightly hard to separate from your fingers.

Heat enough oil in a deep frying pan. Drop a small piece into the oil and you should hear it sizzling as soon as you drop. Thats the test for the oil temperature.

Drop the batter into the oil to form small fritters. Hand works best, it will be hard to separate the batter with a spoon. Fry on medium flame until it turns golden brown. Flip to get the other side cooked. You can see that the sizzling almost stops when it is cooked on all sides and the fritters will be light brown in colour.

Remove it from the pan onto a plate lined with tissues to absorb the additional oil.

Serve hot with tea. Or you can store in air tight containers to use later.

Recipe Courtesy: Sailus Food