Some days, I just love to curl up on my couch with my eyes glued to a movie or my ears glued to music. Those days I do wish if there was some way to cook food without my direct involvement. Well, there are frozen food options which I am not so keen about. Sometimes, I do cook food in a hurry burry. Even in a hurry burry I make sure to make it delicious as my taste buds and body are so particular about that.

Whenever I make easy dishes and when it tastes great, I get the feeling that food can be always made in an easy yet delicious way. Here is one such dish I made on an extremely lazy day which turned out to be just great.

Sesame Shrimp Salad

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil- 1 tbsp
• Whole dry Red Chilly- 2 no’s
• Onion, chopped- 1
• Celery, diced- 2 stalk
• Carrot, diced- 1
• Shrimp, deveined small- 30 no’s
• Sambal Oelek- 1/2 tsp
• Soy sauce- 4 tbsp
• Sesame oil- 1 tsp
• Sesame seeds- 1/4 cup
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful

Preparation:

• Clean and devein shrimp, keep aside.
• Place a pan over medium heat and add oil.
• When the oil gets hot, add dry red chilly, saute.
• Add onions and saute for a minute.
• Add the diced celery and carrots, saute for a few minutes.
• Now, add shrimp and cook covered till shrimp gets cooked well, for a few minutes.
• To the cooked shrimp, add sambal oelek and soy sauce, combine well.
• Stir fry the shrimp.
• Add sesame oil and sprinkle sesame seeds over the shrimp.
• Finish it off with chopped cilantro.
• Serve hot along with salad.

Every time I had these rolls for appetizer at a Thai restaurant, I used to think to myself of recreating this at home. After all the procrastination, it was yesterday that I finally decided to give it a whirl. It was my plan to make it a few weeks ago when I bought the rice papers, but it’s been sitting in my pantry almost forgotten.

To begin it all, I tired to recollect the taste of the summer rolls that I had eaten. I recalled the mild and fresh flavors. The dipping sauce was a key which complemented the rolls very well.

So, to add flavor to the chicken, I cooked it along with soy sauce and a few other ingredients. The rest of the ingredients for the filling were mainly fresh veggies which gave the rolls a colorful look and a refreshing flavor.

These rolls would captivate your taste buds with its subtle and wonderful flavors! Try them sometime.

Thai Summer Rolls

Ingredients

For cooking the chicken:

• Chicken breast, boneless- 1 pound
• Soy sauce- 3 tbsp
• Rice wine vinegar- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tsp
• Chilly paste or Sambal- 1/2 tsp
• Water- 1/3 cup

For making the filling:

• Carrot, cut thin small- 1
• Red Pepper, cut thin small- 1
• Bok Choy or lettuce, chopped- 3 leaves
• Cooked Vermicelli noodles, cut small- 1 cup
• Roasted Sesame seeds- 1/4 cup
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful
• Soy Sauce- 1 tbsp
• Lime juice – 2 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt – to taste

To make the dipping sauce: Adapted from Tyler Florence

• Soy sauce- 2 tbsp
• Rice wine vinegar – 1/4 cup
• Fish sauce – 1tbsp
• Sambal or Chilly paste- 1/2 tsp
• Garlic, minced – 1/2 tsp
• Lime juice – 2 tbsp
• Water- 1/3 cup

To make the Roll:

• Rice Paper
• Warm water, to soak the rice paper –  taken in a deep flat pan

Preparation:

1. In a saucepan combine the chicken, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger-garlic paste, chilly paste and water.
2. Cook the chicken covering the pan with its lid until it has cooked well and all the water has dried up, dice the chicken small and keep aside.
3. Cook the vermicelli noodles according to package instruction, drain water and chop small.
4. In a large bowl, combine the above mentioned for “making the filling” ingredients and keep aside.
5. For making the dipping: In a blender puree all the above mentioned “to make dipping” ingredients till smooth. Pour into a small bowl. This sauce is slightly spicy, if you want it less spicy adjust the amount of chilly paste.
6. Soaking the Rice Paper. Fill a deep flat pan with warm water.
7. Take one rice paper and dip into the warm water for a few seconds till it gets soft.
8. Don’t over soak the rice paper as it will fall apart.
9. Take the paper out of the water, hold it for a few seconds to let the water drain, gently place it on a plate.
10. Place 1-2 tbsp of filling onto one end of the soaked rice paper.
11. Roll it over holding tight two times, fold in the left and right sides, then tuck and roll it over to close the till the other end.
12. Place it on a platter and cover with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out.
13. Serve the rolls immediately along with the dipping sauce.
14. If there is any leftover filling, you could have that as a fresh salad after drizzling it with some dipping sauce.

Tips:

• For a vegetarian version: Just skip the chicken from the filling and fish sauce from the dipping sauce.
• If you don’t have rice paper, just make the filling and have it as a salad ( after adding more cooked vermicelli noodles), it’s a very refreshing salad.

I seldom shy away from salad that is loaded with browned pepper chicken. This is one dish that I often make when I feel lazy, when I am out of cooking ideas or simply when I get the craving to eat pepper chicken. Whenever I take a bite of this browned pepper chicken, I get the feeling that I don’t have to add heck a lot of ingredients to make a dish flavorful. For making this pepper chicken I used very simple ingredients that are always found in our pantry, yet it tasted great.

Also, you could make couple more dishes with this same pepper chicken. If you want burger or sandwich, then go ahead and place this chicken in between the breads or burger buns. If you want salad, load the veggies with this chicken. Or you could even place the chicken on a bed of rice along with baked potatoes or steamed veggies.

One recipe and you get to serve in three ways.

Making Pepper Chicken:

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast, boneless- 3 fillets full or halved

To marinate:

• Ground Cumin- 2 tsp
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste

While Cooking:

• Butter- 2 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1+1 tsp
• Lemon juice- 3 tbsp

Preparation:

• Marinate the chicken breast with ground cumin, ginger-garlic paste and salt. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

• Place a non-stick pan over medium heat.
• Melt the butter in the pan, sprinkle 1 tsp of ground pepper over the melted butter in the pan.
• Place the chicken fillets on it.
• Sprinkle 1 tsp more of ground pepper over the chicken.
• Pour the lemon juice over the chicken.
• Cover the pan with its lid and let the chicken cook through.
• After a few minutes, flip the chicken to the other side and continue to cook.
• When all the water has evaporated, open the lid and let the chicken get browned on both sides.
• Remove from the pan and keep aside.
• If  you are making a salad: Shred the chicken, top the veggies with this chicken and serve with your choice of dressing.
• If you are making a burger, half the cooked chicken breast and place it in between the burger buns.
• Or, you could place the cooked chicken breast over rice pilaf and serve with baked potatoes or steamed veggies.

My salad veggies:

• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Pomegranate: For a nice red color add some pomegranate seeds, it tasted great as well.
• And I served with Ranch dressing. You could even use yogurt dressing.

I am very picky when it comes to salad and salad has always been my last choice. When I make salad at home I make sure to hide the greens with delicious toppings so that I can forget the fact that I am having a salad. Last week, I made a sea food topping for the salad. I had bought a bag of sea food mix which contained shrimp, mussels, squid and calamari. All these are my all time favorite sea food. If only I had crab meat in my fridge, it would have been the perfect sea food mix.

I stir fried the sea food and made an orange sauce. Then combined the stir fried sea food with the sauce along with some veggies and topped this on the greens. Each and every mouthful of this salad was an “Aha! moment”.

Orange Sea food Salad

Ingredients:

• Sea Food mix (shrimp, squid, calamari and mussel)- 4 cups
• All purpose flour- 1/4 cup
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Oil to stir fry- 4-5 tbsp
• Carrots, cut thin lengthwise- 1 large
• Celery, cut thin lengthwise- 2 stalks

For making sauce:

• Orange juice, fresh or canned- 3/4 cup
• Soy sauce, low sodium- 2 tbsp
• Ginger, minced- 2 tsp
• Lemon grass, chopped (use fresh or dried)- 1 tbsp
• Corn starch- 1 tbsp
• Cold water- 4tbsp, to dissolve the corn starch

For salad:

• I used lettuce and spinach
• Freshly grated or thinly cut orange peel-  1 tsp or 5-6 strands to sprinkle over the salad

Preparation:

• Wash the sea food mix under running water and pat dry using paper towel.

• Combine the all purpose flour, chilly powder, ground pepper and salt together in a bowl.

• Sprinkle the flour mix over the sea food and coat it evenly.
• You could also put the flour mix in a large plastic bag, add the sea food and shake, coating it evenly with the flour.

• Heat a wok or non-stick skillet over medium heat, add the oil to the skillet.
• When the oil turns hot, add the sea food mix coated with the flour and stir fry it till it turns golden brown and well cooked.

• Transfer the fried sea food on to a platter lined with paper towel.

• Stir fry the carrots and celery in the same wok or skillet till the veggies turn tender.
• In a bowl, combine together the orange juice, soy sauce, minced ginger and lemon grass.

• When the veggies have turned tender, pour the orange sauce over it and let come to a slight boil.

• Dissolve the corn starch in cold water and pour it over the sauce.
• Immediately stir the veggies and sauce together, the sauce will start to thicken.

• If the mixture is too thick you could add little water to thin it down.
• Add the stir fried sea food into the skillet and combine everything well.

• When the sauce has coated well over the sea food, remove the skillet from the stove.
• Place the greens: lettuce and spinach on a plate and top the greens with the sea food mixture.

• Sprinkle the freshly grated or thinly cut orange peel over the salad.
• For a nice presentation you could even place some orange slices and an orange rose.

Tips:

• You could try this with chicken as well.

Make this Valentine’s day more personal, give a touch of love to everything, make it delightful and romantic…

This V-day skip making a reservation to a restaurant, instead whip up a delightful  dinner in your kitchen in under 30 minutes. Oh ya, you heard me, Valentine’s day dinner in under 30 minutes which includes appetizer, main course, salad and dessert. If you think that you can’t make restaurant style fancy dinner at home, then you are totally wrong. If I can make it, you can make it too.

Here are a few special dishes I whipped up in under 30 minutes which could be made for V-day dinner. It’s not about just cooking food, give your special touch to everything you make, get creative and you will see the magic. Everything will turn out as perfect as you want.

Also, while serving food for special occasions, do spend little time on plating and arranging the table. Make it simple and it will look elegant!

Appetizer:

• Onion Rings: Click for recipe

• Scallion Tempura: Click for recipe

Main Course:

• Baked Succulent Salmon: click for recipe

Salad:

• Romaine Sweet Hearts: click for recipe

Dessert:

• Chocolate Pistachio covered Strawberries: click for recipe

Fruits:

• Strawberry and Raspberry

Sharbat:

• Rooh Afza

Refresh your meal with this deliciously light and crisp salad…

Romaine hearts has been always close to my heart. I might consider eating a salad with the presence of these hearts loaded in them. And a bag of romaine hearts always come in handy for me, most of the time to decorate a dish and for platting purpose. None of them ever got wasted. I love the subtle flavor and the crispiness of the leaves.

While making a fancy salad, I first mixed mayonnaise, lemon juice scallions and a hint of pickled jalapeno. Topped the romaine lettuce with this and for a sweet touch added raspberries.

Romaine Sweet Hearts

• Romaine lettuce from the heart, fresh- 5 leaves

• Mayonnaise- 4 tbsp
• Fresh lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Scallions chopped- 2tsp
• Pickled deseeded Jalapeno, minced- 1/2 tsp
• Fresh or frozen raspberries- place 2-3/ leaves

Preparation:

• In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, scallions and jalapenos.
• Place the romaine lettuce leaves on a platter, top with mayo spread and add raspberries on top.

Spruce up your salad by topping with chunks of Orange Chicken…

Are you tired of eating the same salad over and over? Then you should consider adding this new twist I’ve given to my salad. Here is the most delicious way of eating salad, top your favorite veggies with Chicken cooked in a Spicy Tangy Orange Sauce. When I came across this recipe, I never thought that this easy orange chicken would enhance the taste of the salad instantly. Now I can’t help having this salad almost everyday, and I really don’t mind having this even for breakfast.

Honestly, I am not a huge fan of salad and I go for salad only during worst situation when I really can’t find any other good alternative. And the funny thing is that while eating out with my girl friends, when my health conscious friends orders salad, on the other side of the table I will be seen surfing through the real food on the menu:p

When I made this orange chicken, I only had lettuce and carrots to give this chicken a company. Hence, I topped the veggies with chunks of orange chicken. A forkful of this salad, and I immediately bowed the salad with appreciation. It was way too delicious and I didn’t get the feeling of having a salad. This salad was healthy, protein rich, filling and flavorful. What more do I want? Now even I have the answer if someone asks me about my favorite salad, it’s none other than Orange Chicken salad.

Orange Chicken Salad:

Ingredients:

For marinating chicken:

• Boneless Chicken breast, cubed or cut thin long- 1 1/2 pounds
• White Vinegar – 2 tbsp
• Corn starch- 1 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Salt-to taste

For Orange Sauce:

• Orange juice- 1/3 cup
• Soy Sauce, low sodium-2 tbsp
• Sesame oil- 1tsp
• Brown sugar- 1tsp
• Crushed Red chilly- 1/2 tsp

Other ingredients:

• Garlic minced-1 tsp
• Ginger minced-1 tsp
• Green onions, chopped- 1 tbsp for garnish
• Oil for stir frying- 2tbsp

Preparation:

• In a bowl, combine the chicken, vinegar, corn starch, ground pepper and salt.

• Marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, prepare the sauce by mixing all the above mentioned ingredients for making the sauce.

• Heat the wok or wide skillet, add the oil and add ginger and garlic minced, stir fry it until aromatic.
• Now, add the chicken and stir fry it until cooked well. Avoid over cooking or browning the chicken.

• Add the prepared sauce into the chicken and stir fry it for another 2 minutes.

• Garnish with Green onions.

• Remove from the heat and serve hot with salad or Rice of your choice.

Tips:

• I added the orange chicken to lettuce and baby carrots sliced.
• Try to use sesame oil as this enhances the flavor of the orange chicken greatly.
• Leftover chicken can be  refrigerated. Reheat the chicken in microwave and top with your favorite veggies.

Most of the meat appetizers are served along with a dipping sauce or some kind of sides. Most of the time, tomato ketchup acts as the dipping sauce. I love to have my meat cutlets and other meat appetizers with tomato ketchup. At times I make an easy salad as the side dish.

Quick Salad:

Ingredients:

• Red onion minced-1
• Tomato minced- 2
• Green chillies minced-1tsp
• Cilantro chopped-1 handful
• White vinegar or lemon juice – 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt-2 pinches

Preparation:

• Mix all the above mentioned ingredients in a small bowl.
• Serve this salad with any kind of meat appetizer.

Tips:

• You could also substitute lemon juice for vinegar.