Indo-Chinese Yummies from Blogosphere...

I am a glutton when it comes to Indo-Chinese food...in my opinion, this food reflects the perfect marriage of Indian spices with the distinctive Chinese food flavors. My best memories of this style of food go back to my college days in Kolkata or Calcutta as it used to be called. My college had a caterer who ran a food stall there and his specialities included many Indo-Chinese favorites like crispy Hakka Noodles and steaming hot & sour soup...sometimes there was the popular Manchurian and yet other times, there was Chop-suey Noodles...I vividly remember, rushing out of class at lunch-time and sometimes there were professors who would continue with their class even well into lunch-time which irritated me & my friends hugely, because we were afraid that the food stall would run out of our Indo-Chinese favorites. Of course, after such a heavy lunch, we invariably would walk back into post-lunch classes and struggle to stay awake :) )

Nowadays, I feel just as excited when I see delish recipes of the same kind in various food blogs. So, this week's edition of Yummies from Blogosphere features an awesome blogger who has a great collection of Indo-Chinese delicacies. She has a huggggge collection of beautiful recipes, but these Indo-Chinese recipes are very unique and they caught my eye.

So, here is the Chilli Tofu Recipe from Sushma Mallya's Authentic Food Delights blog.

I was so carried away looking at this recipe that (being the glutton I am) I had to follow it up with yet another yummylicious recipe for Tawa Vegetable Rice...a beautiful stir-fried rice. The stir-fried rice was extremely easy to prepare yet very flavorful and the Chilli-Tofu Recipe is unique enough to make any non-tofu eater become a convert to the other camp of enthusiastic tofu-eaters!

Notes/Variations: I did make a few additions to the tawa rice with some boiled carrots and roasted peanuts and caro seeds(ajwain) in the seasoning.

Thank you, Sushma for these awesome recipes!!!

Links: Recipe for Tofu-Chilli gravy as posted on Sushma's Authentic Food Delights

          Recipe for Tawa Vegetable Rice as posted on Sushma's Authentic Food Delights

Recipe for Tofu-Chilli gravy:(as posted on Sushma's blog)
Ingredients
For the batter
1/4 cup maida
a pinch of baking powder
1/4 cup cornflour
2 tsp gramflour
a pinch of ajinomoto(you can definitely omit this one...I leave it out in most of the recipes too)
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste


For the gravy
10-12 cubed tofu pieces
1 capsicum cut into cubes
1/2 cup spring onion greens
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
5-6 roughly chopped green chillies
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp chilli sauce or chilli powder
a pinch of ajinomoto
6-7 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tsp cornflour mixed in 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
3 tsp oil + oil for deep frying


Method
Make a batter of the above mentioned ingredients under the list: batter with enough water to a semi-thick and a fine paste


Heat oil in a pan, dip the cubed tofu one by one in the batter and deep fry it till golden brown and crisp, drain on a kitchen towel and then keep aside. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, fry capsicum cubes for 1-2 minutes or till tender yet crunchy and then keep it aside


For the gravy
Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add garlic, green chillies and fry till light brown


Add half of the spring onion greens,white pepper powder,sugar,ajinomoto, salt and fry for 1 minute


Switch off the gas, then add soya sauce,vinegar,tomato sauce, chilli sauce, and mix well


Switch on the gas then fry it for 3-4 minutes


Add capsicum, 1/4 cup water, cornflour mixed in water and mix well, and allow it to come to a boil, add coriander leaves and mix well


Keep it aside and allow it gravy to cool and at the time of serving, add fried tofu pieces, garnish with spring onion greens and then serve immediately with steamed rice or fried rice


Recipe for Tawa Vegetable Rice:(as posted on Sushma's blog)
Ingredients
For rice
1 tsp oil
2 green cardamom
3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp melted butter
salt to taste


For the masala
200 gms fresh mushroom cut into quarter
1 capsicum cut into small cubes
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 dry red chillies
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
5-6 methi seeds
1 tsp crushed kasoori methi
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil or butter


Method
Heat water in a pan, when it starts boiling, add green cardamom,cinnamon,bay leaf,cloves,salt and 1 tsp oil and rice and cook it till 3/4th done


Drain it and allow it to cool, then mix 2 tbsp melted butter and salt and then keep it aside


Soak dry red chillies in water for 10 minutes,drain it and grind it along with coriander seeds with little water to a fine paste


In a pan, add oil or butter, add methi seeds, fry it for 1 minute and then add ginger-garlic paste,chilli-coriander seeds paste and fry for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell goes off


Add onion and fry till translucent and golden brown, and then add tomato and fry till it gets mashed, remove it from the gas and then keep aside


In another pan add 2 tsp oil, add capsicum and fry for 1-2 minutes and then add mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes till tender and then add the tomato masala , kasoori methi,salt and fry for 1-2 minutes


Switch off the gas and allow it to cool, then add the rice and mix it well


Switch on the gas again and cook it on a low flame for 10-15 minutes till all flavours get mixed well with the rice and then serve hot .