Last few days, due to various reasons, my number of cooking experiments have drastically gone down. I look for some easy dinners which can be made in no time and are equally delicious. What else can fit in this situation other than a simple stir fried noodle dish loaded with vegetables?
I have liked all kinds of noodle dishes for a long time now. Remember those Indo-Chinese dishes available in almost every restaurant back home? I was missing them for a long time now. Then after drooling over one post after another by fellow bloggers, I picked up a pack of soba noodles a couple of days ago. Well, I didn’t know they were soba noodles till I cut opened the pack while making this stir fry, I had picked it up randomly on one of my shopping sprees (yeah..I do that a lot. Just pick up something that looks interesting and then figure out what to do with it).
Then my experiments with it began. I used different sauces that I had with me. Finally I got this combination, which we have really loved. I am making this a lot these days. This is my entry to Archana’s one dish meal event.
Ingredients: 1/2 packet noodles (Hakka noodles or soba noodles, the pack I used weighed 200gms) 2 cups vegetables (onion, capsicum, tofu, carrots, beans all chopped in long strips) 2 tea spns hot chilli sauce 1 tea spn worcestershire sauce 1 tea spn vinegar 1-2 tea spns brown sugar 2 tea spns soya sauce 1/4 tea spn freshly ground pepper 1 tea spn fresh ginger-garlic paste Oil Salt
PS: Change the quantity of sauces according to taste. You can leave out worcestershire sauce if you don’t have it.
Method: Cook the noodles according to packet instructions with enough salt. Run cold water over it to avoid it getting soggy. In a large pan, heat oil, add vegetables and ginger-garlic paste. Fry for few minutes till the vegetables are half cooked but still have the crunch. Now add all the sauces, sugar, pepper and little salt. Add noodles, fry for few more minutes. Serve immediately.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
Avalakki/poha is supposed to be one of the easiest and cheapest snacks. We have heard in Mahabharat that Sudaama gave avalakki to Srikrishna which he ate with much pleasure. Many people like the dishes prepared with it very much. Many dishes are prepared with it depending upon individual taste.
Kuttavalakki – kuttida (powdered or in literal meaning, pounded) avalakki ( poha /flattened rice) is a dish prepared with powdered avalakki . This comes under evening snacks. My mother used to prepare this and we children liked it very much. She would make paper cones, put this in and give small paper spoons to eat this. I haven’t seen it prepared at my husband’s family. Some of the reader’s of this blog asked for “forgotten” recipes. So I thought of posting this.
Ingredients: 8 cups poha/avalakki of thin thickness 1cup desiccated coconut 1 cup dalia 3 tea spn tamarind 6 tea spn jaggery 2 tea spn coriander powder 2 tea spn cumin powder 2 tbl spns chilli powder 1/2 tea spn turmeric powder 2-3 tea spns(approx) salt
Seasoning: 4 tea spn coconut oil 2 tea spns mustard seeds 3 tea spns coconut pieces(cut into thin slices) 4 tea spns groundnuts(peanuts) 4 tea spns dalia 2 springs curry leaves 6-7 red chilli pieces
Method: Heat or warmup the poha on a low flame and powder it using a mixer. Powder dalia separately and then mix it with powdered poha. Powder dessicated coconut with jaggery and tamarind. Mix coriander powder, cumin powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder(do not add water). Add salt to this and then mix it with poha-dalia powder manually or using a mixer. Take coconut oil in a pan and heat it on a low flame. Do seasoning with mustard seeds, coconut pieces, groundnut, dalia, curry leaves and red chilli pieces. Add the prepared mixture of poha , dalia etc to this and mix all these on a low flame. Take off heat and cool to room temperature. Store it in a air tight container. It remains good for a long time. While serving, sprinkle some fresh coconut gratings or yogurt over it.
