Egg Noodles

When food is on your mind,that's what your conversations over chat with friends revolve around. One late afternoon sitting at work, getting hungry, and Joylita comes up with this brilliant idea of making Chinese food for the evening. (BTW Chinese/Indian/Spicy food goes along great with a bottle of Barefoot Moscato). So this is my contribution to the Chinese dinner. She decided to make spicy Shezwan Chicken, so I stuck to making a kinda mild version of egg noodles to compliment the tangy chicken gravy.

Ingredients
A packet of Egg Noodles_ Easily available in the Asian section of all grocery stores
1Onion
3 Green Onions
1 Carrot
1/2 Green Pepper
1 Tbsp Ginger Paste
1 Tbsp Garlic Paste
Salt / Pepper / Chili flakes to taste
Soy Sauce to taste
2 Eggs - Optional

Method
1. Prepare the egg noodles as per the instructions on the cover of the packet.
Drizzle some oil over them after its cooked and drained, to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other. Keep aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Cut the onions, bell peppers and carrots in long thin slices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Saute the onions in a little oil, now add the ginger and garlic paste. Wait till the onions turn transparent, then add the peppers and carrots along with the salt, pepper, chili flakes and soy sauce. Toss around for 3 to 4 minutes. Remember to cook on a high flame.
4. Tip: Use a large open pan / vessel so that mixing/tossing is easier when noodles are added.
Now add the egg noodles and mix all the ingredients well. Taste to see if you need to add any of the other condiments.
5. This is optional - In a separate pan scramble the eggs along with the green onions, some salt and pepper. Add them to the noodles. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These egg noodles can be eaten just as it is, even if you don't have time to make another gravy dish along with it. I just got lucky with my friend cooking too. The left over noodles tasted great even the next day for lunch at work.

Spaghetti in White / Mushroom Sauce

When I was making this....people around me really couldn't believe that it can be cooked in 15 minutes...so I had to prove it to them...and Wah la....
There are loads of variations you can do in this dish. I will explain as we go along.

Ingredients
Spaghetti - Normal / Wheat
1 Onion
Few cloves of Garlic
1/2 Green Pepper
1/2 Red Pepper
Corn
Sausages - Your choice of meat, I used Chicken
1 Can Soup (White) - Choice of Cream of Mushroom/ Cream of Celery/ Cream of Broccoli / Cream of chicken
Salt, Pepper, Red chilly flakes and Italian Seasoning to taste
Cheese to Sprinkle.

Method
Boil Spaghetti in a pot of boiling water with a pinch of salt.
Rule of thumb - As shown in the picture, hold a bundle of the spaghetti in between your thumb and index finger, that amount is enough for one person. I made this recipe for 3 people.
Strain and keep aside. You can drizzle a little oil over it so that it does not stick.

In a separate pan cut the sausages into halves (length wise) and saute them with a little oil till golden brown. Remove from pan and cut into small cube size pieces.

In the same pan saute the small cut onions and garlic for a while till the onions become transparent. Next add the diced green and red Bell peppers. After a while add the corn and the diced Sausages. Season it with salt, pepper, red chilly flakes and italian seasoning (mixture of herbs) or oregano. Next add the entire soup can. Add a little water to make it thinner and bring to a boil.

 

Next add the boiled spaghetti and toss till all the spaghetti is well coated in the sauce. Taste to see if the seasoning is to your liking. Serve with Cheese on the top and Garlic bread.

Enchiladas

This might look long and too many steps but believe me it cooks really fast and tastes yummy in the tummy.

Sausage Filling
Ingredients
1/2 Onion
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 Red bell pepper
2 Sausages (Turkey, beef, pork or chicken)
Salt n pepper to taste

Method
Cut sausages into 2 halves and lightly saute on non-stick pan till golden brown on both sides. Remove from pan.
Saute the finely chopped onions in a little oil and let them brown for a while. Then add finely chopped or diced peppers (green and red). Season with salt and pepper.
Dice the sausages into tiny pieces and add too. Stir for a while and Keep aside.

.

Mushroom Filling
Ingredients
1/2 Onion
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 Red bell pepper
1 Packet mushrooms
Salt n pepper to taste

Method
Saute the finely chopped onions in a little oil and let them brown for a while. Then add finely chopped or diced peppers (green and red) and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.
Stir for a while and Keep aside.

For Beans
Ingredients
1 can red beans
1/2 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp Salsa (Hot)
1/2 Cup water
Salt

Method
Add the tomatoes, salsa and salt in a pan and let it heat. Meanwhile rinse the can of bean in running water, in order to remove all excess salts and preservatives.
Add the beans to the tomatoes and let it boil for a while with the water. Let it cook till the water evaporates and the beans are soft. The mix should be thick in consistency.

For Red Sauce

Ingredients
1 can Tomato sauce
1/2 Can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp Salsa
2 tbsp ketchup

Method
Add all the ingredients in a pan and boil for a while. Here the sauce should be a little liquid (soup consistency) so that it can be poured over the enchiladas.

Additional Ingredients
Cooked rice
Tortillas (Corn /wheat / Multi-grain)
Cheese (Packet of mixed Mexican Cheese) to sprinkle

To Assemble
Preheat over at 350 degrees.
Take tortillas (wrap a few in a wet cloth and put them in the microwave for 40 sec to moisten, otherwise they will break while rolling).
Add a layer of mushroom or sausage filling. then a layer of rice followed by a layer of beans.
Roll the tortilla tightly and keep in a oven safe dish facing downwards. Similarly roll 4 or 5 of them to fill up the entire dish.

Pour the red sauce evenly over all the tortillas. Sprinkle with Cheese.
Keep the dish in the over for 5 mins till the cheese melts on the top. Serve Hot but Be careful.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients
1 Onion
2 Jalapenos
1/2 Green pepper
1/2 Red pepper
1/2 Cabbage
Ginger garlic paste
Schezwan sauce
Soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
Salt n pepper to taste
2 cups boiled rice

Microwave Rice
Take 2 small cups of rice, rinse it thoroughly in water.
Put 4 cups of water (1:2 ratio). a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil.
Put in microwave for 15 to 17 mins.

Method
Once you have the put the rice into the microwave, you can start cutting all the vegetables. Now the trick is to chop and add the vegetables in the pan at the same time, so you save on preparation/chopping time. Always go in order of the cooking time of the vegetables.
So first, cut the onions in long thin slices. Heat some oil (Canola or olive oil is healthier). Let the onions brown a little in the oil, while you cut the jalapenos and the peppers, similarly in long thin slices. Add the ginger garlic paste along the jalapenos and peppers and cook for 2 mins.
In the mean while cut the cabbage in long time slices. Now add the schezwan sauce (depending on the spice level you want), salt, pepper, ketchup and soy sauce. Stir for a while. Add the cabbage. (now you may think that 1/2 cabbage is a lot when cut but in another 5-7 mins it will get reduced to half, so don't worry). Let it cook.

Simultaneously, the rice will be done in the microwave. Remove it and just fluff it, so that the grains are all separated.
Add it to the vegetables, little by little so its thoroughly mixed. Taste to see if you need to add some more salt, pepper or soy sauce. Serve hot.
Enjoy a whole, healthy (coz you get your serving of vegetables and carbohydrates) quick meal. Take left overs the next day for lunch.

Variation
You can also add chicken and eggs also if you want.
Chicken - Chop chicken breast into small bite size pieces. Saute them lightly in some oil with some salt, pepper and ginger garlic paste. Add to the rice and vegetables.
Egg - Make scramble egg of 2 eggs, with a little salt and pepper to taste, in a separate pan. Mix in after the rice has been mixed.

So here I finally start

This Blog is specially for the university going students and busy single professionals, who take forever (At least an hour) to cook and hence land up cooking only once in a week or so. For those who find cooking a chore and extremely boring.
Ever since I moved in with USC kids , I saw that they took very long to cook...like at least an hour and hence ate out mostly. This blog is show show all u guys how cooking can be done daily, can be fun and in the process u can eat healthier in just 15 minutes.
It obviously starts with getting the right ingredients when you go grocery shopping. Its about being a little creative, thinking differently and multi tasking. Example. chicken takes longer to cook, and needs to be flavoured with all the right ingredients, instead if you get chicken sausages which are already flavoured, makes life easier and cooks faster. Another example would be when you get vegetables from the store on a free weekend chop them and keep the in zip lock bags in the freezer, so that you can directly throw them in the pan while cooking and save on preparation time.
Finally the credits definitely goes to all my "2818" friends who inspired me to start this blog and who are prey to eating all the stuff I cook. Thank you guys...