SOYA MANCHURIAN

This is my first attempt at making soya Manchurian. I tried it both baking and deep frying the nuggets before adding them to the sauces. Both ways tasted really good and crispy but the soya nuggets did absorb a lot of oil while deep frying. I drained on them a on a paper towel to soak up all the oil before adding the veggies. This is a dry Manchurian dish and to make this into a gravy, half cup of water mixed with 1 teaspoon of corn flour can be added and cooked for a few minutes and the nuggets can be added after that.

INGREDIENTS:
1. Soya nuggets, 1 cup.
2. Red onion, 1.
3. Bell peppers (any color), ¼ of each color or a whole one.
4. All purpose flour, around ½ cup.
5. Corn flour, 2 tablespoons.
6. Rice flour, 1 tablespoon.
7. Chili powder, 2 teaspoons.
8. Salt as per taste.
9. Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
10. Garlic, 2 cloves.
11. Aji-No-Moto or MSG, 1 teaspoon, (optional).
12. Soy sauce, 2 tablespoons.
13. Tomato-garlic sauce or ketchup, 1 tablespoon.
14. Spring onions, 1 bunch.

PREPARATION:
Take a cup of soy nuggets and put them in boiling water for 2 minutes until the nuggets are puffed up. Let them sit for 5 minutes, then rinse them well, and drain them. Mix the corn flour, all purpose flour, rice flour, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt, and Aji-No-Moto along with some water into a smooth paste for dipping the nuggets. The batter should be thick enough to coat the nuggets. If needed, a pinch of food color can also be added to the batter. Deep fry the nuggets or bake them by placing them on a well-greased baking dish and bake them at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the nuggets turn crispy.

Meanwhile cut the green bell peppers and red onions into the long, thin strips and chop the garlic into very small pieces. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the cut bell peppers, onions and crushed garlic and let them sauté for a minute. Then add 1 teaspoon of chili powder, salt, and tomato sauce and mix everything well and sauté for 5 more minutes under low flame and switch off the stove. Then add the baked or fried soya nuggets into the mixture and mix everything well. Garnish with spring onions on top and serve hot with rice or rotis.

COCONUT, LEMON, AND CURD QUINOA






This week I also tried quinoa as a rice substitute. Quinoa is the super-grain packed with protein. It contains all 9 essential amino acids that are required by the body as building blocks for muscles.It has magnesium, fiber, manganese and copper and a very ideal rice substitute because of its light texture. I tried making a couple of rice dishes like lemon rice, coconut rice, and curd rice with quinoa. Everything turned out pretty good, I really loved the quinoa curd rice very much. If you love the quinoa in soups or salads, then you are sure to love these dishes. I am not posting the recipes of the rice dishes. You can prepare your version of any variety rice by substituting the rice with quinoa.