Stir Fried Egg Noodles

What is it about enlarged mammary glands and disproportionate stick thin limbs that attract little girls ?

What is it about Barbie ?

"The Venezuelan government has spent $1.4m (£860,000) importing 124,000 toys from China and is selling them at rockbottom prices in its first socialist toy fair. Barbies sold out within the first few days"

Me, I have yet to give in.

"

Stir fried Noodles are an all time favorite with S. Strangely this is one of the few dishes that have survived the taste of time. Most Saturday brunches at our home is egg noodles with vegetables, eggs, shrimps and maybe sausages, cooked mostly by her Dad. For weekday packed school lunch I make a similar but quicker version with Maggi minus the tastemaker.

This is a favorite with the adults in our home too. With a dash of hot sauce and some green chillie in vinegar, this easily converts to a bowl of spicy delight.

Stir Fried Egg Noodles

Cook 250 gms of egg noodles according to package directions. I usually add a few drops of oil and salt to the water and let it come to a rolling boil. Break the noodles by hand and add it to the water. Once the noodles are cooked, drain in running cold water and toss with a little olive oil. This will help to keep the strands separate and not turn into muck.

Heat Vegetable Oil in a wok

Add 2 cloves of garlic minced followed by 1 medium onion finely chopped

Fry the onion till it is soft and translucent

Cook veggies like sliced carrots, french cut beans, spring onions, peas etc. in the microwave. I have added carrots, french cut beans and asparagus this time. I also add small florets of broccoli or cauliflower at times. Thinly sliced cabbage and bell peppers are another common choice.

Add the veggies to the wok and stir fry for a minute or two, at high heat. Alternately, stir fry the veggies separately and keep aside.

To the wok, add salt to taste, a sprinkle of white pepper powder, about 2 tsp of Dark Soy Sauce, 1 tsp of White Vinegar and 1 tbsp of tomato ketchup. Add a tsp of green chili sauce for grown ups.
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Mix well and then add the noodles. Combine the noodles with the sauce and veggies and fry for a couple more minutes. If you have stir fried the veggies separately, now is the time to add them to the noodles in the wok.

Meanwhile in a separate frying pan, cook sausage and eggs. I usually scramble eggs and chop the sausage. You can skip this step or do your own thing

Add the eggs and sausage to the noodles and toss to combine. If it is only for grownups I add some green chili rounds to vinegar and then at the end add these green chilies to the noodles.

Adjust for seasoning and serve. This also makes for a great lunch box item.

Bread Pizza -- easy pizza bites

December is a special month for Big Sis S. And in her honor I am going to post recipes of food that she likes to eat, for the whole of next week. Now S likes good food and so she likes a lot of grown up food, her recent favorites being the Pepper Shrimp and Chicken Korma. If the food is hot but to her liking she will gladly eat it with a bowl of yogurt on the side. But if not, then it is another story.

For this week, I am going to concentrate only on those recipes which is solely intended for her. These are stuff which makes her face glow and she will eat them without any cajoling. These will be mostly quick and easy stuff which also make good lunch box items.We also love those but these are kid specific versions, mildly spiced, wholesome and healthy, I mean healthy for kids, me I try to stay away from too much cheesy stuff.

I know one week is not enough to blog all of them but I will see how much I can do.

I am also going to try out new easy kid friendly recipes from other blogs, easy being the keyword. To start off is this Bread Pizza which is inspired by Sailaja's Kids Zone which by the way has volumes of great kid friendly recipes. S loved it and so did we. Actually S liked it so much that she took over and prepared most of the bread slices before I popped them in the oven. Thanks Sailaja for such a kid pleaser.


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Bread Pizza

Soften butter and spread smoothly on slices of brown wheat bread. You can use white but brown is better Note: I tried some without the butter and they were as good

Spread tomato ketchup in a thin layer on top of it

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan

Add some finely chopped onion and fry till onion is soft and pink

Add steamed broccoli, chopped in small florets and fry for a minute. You can substitute with other veggies like carrots, corn or bell peppers too

Add a little pasta sauce and mix well. If you don't have pasta sauce season with salt and pepper.

Spoon this topping on the bread slice

Cover with enough shredded cheese on top

We also added a slice of Kraft singles cut up in bits

Bake in the oven at 375 for 8-10 mins or so till the cheese melts

The yummy and easy bread pizza is ready

Aam Kheer -- sunshine in December

See how pretty it looks.

Warm, sunny happy that is what you would say looking at this delicious Aam Kheer or Mango Kheer and there is no two thoughts about it. It is magnificently delicious, if there was a phrase like that.

But warm, sunny, happy was not how my mood was when I was making it. Not the dish's fault really but mine.

My Ma used to make kheers like this very often, in winter she would add kamla lebu(oranges) to make the sweet, luscious kamola kheer, in other times she would add rasgulla to this kheer to make rosogolla'r payesh and during summer it would be mangoes to make aam kheer. Ok, actually aam kheer was rare, mangoes were much enjoyed as is.
The casual air with which she made it, made the whole process seem extremely easy and quick. You were lulled into the false belief that saying "Abra Cadabra" reduces whole 1 liter of milk to a quarter in a jiffy. And she even smiled at the end of that process, a smile of content.

Me, I have many virtues(ahem!!), sadly patience does not top that list. So Last Thursday when I started the process of reducing a mere 1 liter of milk around 10 at night, my mood had turned severely sour after the first 45 minutes. The milk was stubborn, needed to be babysat and craved much more mollycoddling than Baby A. The fact that I had had a long day and needed to be up by 6 next morning made me more edgy and I was throwing around angry looks and angrier words by 11.

D meanwhile was standing by the sink and calmly licking the lid and bottom of the condensed milk can in a manner which called for severe caustic remarks. A guy who doesn't have any respect for rules in the kitchen and that includes, the kheer maker gets to lick the condensed milk can, is a threat to the kitchen environment and needs to be dealt by K(Kitchen)PA if not EPA.

Finally around 20 past 11 the milk had reduced to half of its original, my Ma insists on reducing a little bit more, but I had reached my limits.

After a night in the refrigerator, the kheer had thickened a little more and it was just perfect the next day. This time I served a little differently by layering and mixing mango pulp only for the second layer (as in Serving Suggestion 2 in the recipe). It helped that I had only few guests so I could prepare a serving for each beforehand and then chill in the refrigerator. This aam kheer (mango kheer) was a major hit, it was such a creamy mango delight that people just loved it.

This is actually a very easy dessert, the only thing to keep in mind is not trying to start the process when time is a constraint or one is tired. This works very well made ahead though. So you can make the plain kheer a couple of days ahead when you have time and just serve it on the day of the party.


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Aam Kheer/Mango Kheer

What You Need

Whole Milk ~ 1 litre

Sweetened Condensed Milk ~ 1 can

Sugar ~ 1/3 cup or less

Mango Pulp ~ 1 cup. Either use fresh mangoes to make the pulp or use a canned one

Fruits ~ Small pieces of cubed mangoes if they are in season else a can of Dole Tropical fruits cut up in bite size pieces

Few strands of saffron

Blanched slivered almonds or Pistachios for garnish

How I Did It

In a heavy bottomed deep pan heat the milk

Bring the milk to boil and then stir it intermittently

Add a can of condensed milk and continue the process of stirring

When the milk has reduced a little add the sugar. Note: If you don't like too sweet avoid the sugar

Keep on stirring continuously at medium heat till the milk has reduces to almost half the initial volume. By this time the color of the milk would take on a creamy hue and it would have thickened. Continuous stirring is necessary else the milk may stick to the bottom and burn. This process of reducing the milk will take a little more than an hour at medium heat.

Add a few strands of saffron when the milk has almost reduced to the desired consistency

The consistency is now like smooth kheer

Pour in a serving bowl and put in the refrigerator.

Now to serve I do it two ways

Serving Suggestion 1: Once the kheer has cooled down, add 1 cup of mango pulp and mix well. While serving serve with cubes of fresh mangoes or if mangoes are not in season serve with any other tropical fruit. I have used Dole canned tropical fruits for this purpose. Garnish with blanched slivered almonds or pistachios and serve chilled. This is how it is done in Indrani's Aam Kheer

Serving Suggestion 2: Once the kheer has cooled down, divide in two portions.
To one half add 1/2 cup of mango pulp and swirl. The other half remains plain.

In a parfait glass or wine glass or a dessert bowl add a layer of the Plain kheer(the portion without mango). Add cubes of fresh mangoes or if mangoes are not in season any other tropical fruit. I have used Dole canned tropical fruits for this purpose.

Top this with a layer of the kheer with mango pulp

Garnish with blanched slivered almonds or pistachios


Similar Recipes:

Orange Kheer or Kamola Kheer

Easy Mango Dessert -- done in minutes

Paayesh -- the traditional rice kheer