Chilly Baby Corn

One of the ways to beat homesickness in an expat life is to have family and friends visit every once in a while. We have been having a steady stream of visitors over the last couple of months and it has been a blissful couple of weeks cooking and sight seeing.

 The kind of food available in most attractions here in Singapore is limited to sad food courts or the teeming KFC's and McD's. While it does look fancy on the first day, by the second and third day you will kill for idli smothered with podi or even die for a roti stuffed with grandsweets thokku. So invariably I had to come up with fancy food as packed lunch or for dinner when the folks crash in after a tired day. Its tricky to take packed lunch here as due to the heat and humidity most foods don't hold well unless you think puliyodharai is exotic (I am sure after day 4 some of them did think lemon rice is manna!!). One of the meals I had planned was Fried Rice and Chilly Baby Corn. The fried rice is a tested family heirloom. The Chilly Baby corn recipe was adapted from here.

Chilly Baby Corn

Ingredients

1 Cup Baby Corn - Blanched and sliced/cut in big pieces
Oil for frying

Marinade:

2 Tblsp - Maida or All purpose Flour
1Tblsp - Corn Flour
1 tsp - Red chilli Powder
1 tsp - ginger garlic and green chilly paste
1/2 tsp - Black pepper powder
Salt to taste

Sauce:

1 Tblsp - Gingelly Oil
1 Dried Red Chilly
1 large Onion, chopped into chunks
1 Capsicum (Red or green) chopped into chunks
2 Tblsp - Ginger and Garlic - finely chopped
1Tblsp - Dark Soy Sauce (I use Chings brand)
1 Tblsp - Red Chilly Sauce (I use Chings brand) or 1/2tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp - Tomato Sauce
1 Tblsp - Corn Flour
1 tsp - Lemon juice
1/2 cup spring onion - white and green parts
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix together all items given under marinade and add the blanched baby corn pieces. Allow it to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Heat Oil and fry the marinated corn. Drain and set aside. You can either shallow fry or deep fry. Deep fry obviously is the tastier option.
3. Heat Gingelly oil (nallennnai) in a deep pan. Add the red chilly and allow it to release the fragrance
4. Add the ginger and garlic and fry.
5. Add the onion and capsicum and fry
6. Add all the sauces and chilli powder and mix well..
7. Taste and adjust salt.
8. Add the fried baby corn and mix well.
9. Mix the cornflour in little water and pour into the pan.
10. Squeeze the lemon juice and mix well.
11. Garnish with spring onion.
12. Serve hot with fried rice.

Notes:

1. Gingelly Oil / Nallennai gives a lovely flavor to Chinese and Thai dishes. Its different from sesame oil. If not available then you can substitute with sesame oil.

2. You can replace baby corn with mushrooms / broccoli / cauliflower / soy chunks.

3. Check out the Vegetable Fried Rice recipe here

Easy Potato Curry

It has been a hectic couple of weeks with school runs, multiple activity classes and not to mention the flu season here resulting in Little A being a bit under weather and not to mention bound to the house. I have been making a lot of flu-fighting meals - lots of soups, peppery rasams and spicy stir-fries. This is an easy potato curry that is an absolute favorite here. There is no prep required and can be done in 10-15 minutes.

Easy Potato Curry

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Potato - cut into small cubes
2 onions - finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic - finely minced
1 t Turmeric Powder
2 t Red Chilly Powder or Sambar Powder (I have used sambar powder)
Salt to taste
1/2 t Mustard seeds
1/2 t Broken Urad Dal
1 sprig of curry leaves
Coriander leaves for garnish
1 T Oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Season with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves
2. Add the minced garlic and fry
3. Add the chopped onion and fry till they turn soft
4. Add the potatoes, turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Mix well.
5. Add 1/2 cup of water and allow the potatoes to cook on open pan.
6. Stir well and when the water is fully absorbed and potatoes are cooked, mix well and allow them to brown.
7. Remove from heat. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.

Babycorn Pepper Fry

We were bored with usual set of vegetables that are available here and after multiple rotations in dal, sambar, curry and stir fry, we wanted to try something different. There were 3 packets of baby corn lying the fridge (what was I thinking when I picked THREE!!). As I had just ground a fresh batch of black pepper powder, I decided to make a simple baby corn pepper fry and served it with lunch. Its simple fast and quite easy too.


Baby Corn Pepper Fry

Ingredients:

12 - 15 Baby Corn, sliced
1 large onion - finely chopped
1/2" piece of Ginger - minced finely
2 cloves of garlic - minced finely
1 green chilly - minced
1 T corn flour
1 T black pepper powder
1/2 t Jeera
Curry leaves
salt to taste
1 T Oil

Method:

1. Heat Oil in a pan.
2. Add the jeera and curry leaves. Add ginger, garlic and green chilly
3. Add chopped onions and fry till soft
4. Add the sliced baby corn and fry well.
5. Add pepper and salt and mix well.
6. After a minute, when the baby corn is 3/4th cooked, sprinkle the cornflour and mix well. Keep tossing until the baby corn is nicely roasted.
7. Serve hot.

Notes:

• If the babycorn is not tender enough, blanch them first in hot water.
• You can use the same recipe for paneer and cauliflower. Cauliflower needs to be blanched first.
• Adjust the pepper quanitity according to your taste.
• Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onions.
• It goes well with rasam and sambar rice.
• For a slight change in taste, you can replace gram flour (kadalai maavu) instead of corn flour for a Chettinad style pepper fry.

Urulai Roast - Pan Roasted Baby Potatoes

I was surprised to find a basket of small potatoes lying hidden at the vegetable vendor today. I picked up a small bag to make an all time favorite potato dish - spicy baby potatoes roasted to a golden hue and garnished with loads of coriander leaves. It makes for a beautiful appetizer for parties - just stick a couple of toothpicks in for visual impact or takes its place in a thali meal as well.

 Simple, fast and tasty.



Urulai Roast - Pan Roasted Baby Potatoes
Recipe Source - My own

Ingredients

Potatoes - 10 - 15
Red Chilly Powder - 1 T
Turmeric = 1/2 t
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Salt to taste

For Seasoning

Mustard Seed - 1t
Broken Urad Dal - 1t
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 1T

Method:

1. Pressure cook the baby potatoes for 1 whistle or boil them in water for 7 to 10 minutes. Peel and set aside. If using normal potatoes, peel and cut into big chunks.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the chilly powder, turmeric and salt and mix well.
3. Toss the boiled potatoes in the spice powder mix well. Using a form prick randomly if the potatoes are big.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add items for seasoning one by one. Toss in the potatoes along with remaining spice powder and mix well.
5. Allow the potatoes to roast well until it becomes golden brown.
6. Add the coriander leaves and mix well.
7. Remove from stove and serve hot.

Quick Capsicum Fry

This recipe is a keeper for those days when I am too tired to do elaborate side dishes. It requires minimal prep and can be a side for rice based dishes at lunch or for rotis at dinner time. Total time required is under 10 minutes including chopping.

QUICK CAPSICUM FRY

Ingredients

Capsicum - 1 large, sliced
Mustard seeds - 1t
Urad dal - 1t
Cumin - 1t
Red chilly powder - 1t
Fenugreek powder (methi) - 1t (refer notes)
Turmeric - 1/2t
Salt to taste
Oil - 1T


Method

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds, urad dal and cumin.
Add the capsicum and fry well.
Add the turmeric, chilly powder and salt and fry until the capsicum is cooked.
Add the fenugreek powder and mix well. Leave it on stove for about 2 minutes. Switch off and serve.

Notes:

Fenugreek powder is made by dry roasting methi(fenugreek)) seeds until they turn a bit dark and grinding them into a powder. With its health benefits, methi powder can be used in many dishes and can also be added while making buttermilk. Adding this powder to sambar gives a lovely aroma. Just a pinch of it is sufficient as too much of it can make the dish bitter.