Hot Favorite American Chopsuey

One of the comfort foods that was born out of the evolution of Chinese food as it traveled across the world and each community added some of their touches and many suck favorites were seen. Chopsuey takes crunch to a different level altogether by deep frying egg noodles and topping them with a Sweet and sour sauce with meat and vegetables.

My all time favorite chopsuey is from Food Inn in Colaba in Mumbai where I was introduced to this marvel. Chopsuey lovers swear by it and other hate it, such is the drastic reputation of this high calorie taste bud tickler

Sharing the recipe for a vegetarian version of this epic dish :

Freesh noodles 200g

Tomato puree ½ cup

Tomato ketchup ½ cup

Water 1 cup

Corn flour 1 tbsp

Salt

Pepper

Sugar

Worcestershire 1 tsp

Chili sauce 1 tsp

Assorted capsicum julienne ¼ cup

Baby corn juliennes ¼ cup

Zucchini Juliennes a hadful

sliced shitake mushrooms 6 nos 

Sliced onions 1 small

Tomato juliennes 1 nos

Shredded cabbage handful 

Garlic 1 clove

Ginger 1 cm piece

Celery chopped 1 tsp

Dry red chili 2 nos

Chili oil for cooking

• Deep fry the noodles and keep aside
• Mix together water.. corn flour ..Puree ketchup and Worcestershire.. Remove lumps
• Cook an a high flame till thick and add seasonings and chili sauce
• Heat chili oil and sauté garlic ginger and dry red chili
• Sauté all vegetables and add the sauce
• Top on the fried noodles
• For non-veg add a  fried egg on top…..

The recipe is simple and yet it has charmed so many. For non vegetarians please add fried boneless chicken juliennes to the sauce and top with a sunny side up !

Cheers !

Crunchy Tofu Salad

Tofu, or bean curd is very "IN" these days, Everyone is becoming very heath conscious an the idea of a high protein diet is pretty much on everyone's finger tips. Tofu is pretty much set curds of Soy milk with a coagulating  agent Epsom Salt. There are various types of Tofu but only a few available on India. Majorly it is considered to have oriental roots and there are various alternates available world wide, from pickled, dried, smoked, fermented, cured, and sweetened.

The Most popular ones and the ones that are available easily are The Rustic home made tofu and the silken tofu. The hand made tofu are much like Paneer or Cottage Cheese and is available at grocers in New market or most people dealing in exotic vegetables. Silken on the other hand is available at leading stores selling imported food items and available in Firm or Soft variants . 

This Particular recipe uses the Local tofu and is an amazing salad and also a lovely snack .



Tofu 200g ( cut into tiny cubes)
Corn flour 100g

• Coat the tofu in the corn flour and keep deep fry 
• Fry till golden and crisp 
• Keep aside to cool 

Onion 1 nos chopped
Red capsicum 3 tbsp (diced)
Yellow Capsicum 3 Tbsp ( diced)
Green Capsicum 3 tbsp Chopped
Tomato deseeded diced 1 nos
Chopped spring onion 3 tbsp
Litchees 5 nos chopped
Chili oil 2 tbsp
Tabasco sauce 2 tbsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Salt
Pepper
Lemon juice ½

• Make dressing with lemon juice , chili oil, Tabasco, salt, pepper 
• Mix the tofu with the chopped ingredients and toss in dressing 

This dish has one of the best textures and is riot in the mouth ,

Seeya !

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Winter Soul Comfort :Short-cut Cream of Tomato Soup

Cream of tomato, is one such dish that appeals to people of all ages. Old, young, all love it and its very difficult to find a substitute of it. A tomato soup is what is very difficult to displace. On a cozy winter evening, a big mug of soup with some crunchy grissini or some cheese straws, the combination is nothing but eternal.

Tomato as an ingredient is very soul comforting and the redness is very pleasng to the eye. Thus most tomato based soups taste nice. It requires a herculean effort to run a tomato soup. Be  it a basic Creme de Tomate or a rustic Minestrone or a homely Tomato Dhania Shorba, all of us love tomato in out soups.

Well, there are many ways of making a cream of tomato soup but I being my lazy self always like to simplify it. Sharing a simple but super scrumptious recipe below.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Tomato juice 2 cups

Tomato puree ½ cup

Tomato ketchup ½ cup

Butter 1 heaped tbsp

Maida 1 tbsp

Cream ½ cup

Salt

Pepper

Chili powder ½ tsp

Onion 1 nos chopped

Celery chopped 2 tsp

Carrot grated ¼ nos

• Melt butter in a pan and sauté onion celery and carrot red chili powder
• Add the maida to make roux
• Add tomato juice and cook till thick and puree and ketchup and boil
• Finish with cream and seasoning and strain the soup
• Garnish with a cream swirl

 This recipe is not authentic but super easy to make and really appeals to the palette ...

Bon Appetit ...