Fried Rice and Gobi Manchurian

I'm back from vacation. We had gone to Yosemite national park with a lot of our friends. We had a great time. Now, I'm back to boring reality.

My vegetable compartment in my fridge was almost empty. The only veggies left in my fridge were one cauliflower, a couple of carrots, a few beans and quarter of a cabbage. I had one onion left. No tomatoes - no green chillies - nothing else.

So, I thought what is it that I can make with the things I have left out. And the wind blew the words manchurian...fried rice..into my ears! yeah ! So, I decided to do the same.

Here's the quick recipe for fried rice -

Cook 2 cups rice in 3-4 cups water.

Cut carrots, beans, cabbage and onions into long pieces.

Cut garlic into small pieces if you like it. Or you could use ginger garlic paste. Or skip the whole thing if you are not a garlic person.

Add a tsp of oil to the pan. Fry the garlic and onions. Add a pinch of salt to the onions. Now, add the other veggies. Add salt and pepper on top. Cook it for about 5 mins - Don't overcook it - the veggies should still be a little crunchy when done. Mix the rice at this point - add salt and pepper to taste. I add salt at every stage of cooking instead of all at once. I somehow get the feeling that this provides more flavor.

Fried Rice is done. This is a healthier version. I don't add a lot of oil. Its just 1 tsp that you add in the beginning. We will be compensating this healthiness by deep frying cauliflower for the manchurian! haha!

For Gobi Manchurian:

Cut cauliflower into big florets.

For the batter:

1 cup maida

1 cup corn flour (if you don't have corn flour, add besan instead - that works well too)

1/2 cup rice flour (for crispiness)

ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

salt

red chilli powder

Mix up all the above ingredients. Add water to this mix and make into a thick paste. Not too thick. When you dip the cauliflower, it should not coat completely like bajjis. After you dip in the batter, you should still be able to see the cauliflower thru the paste. Now, deep fry these cauliflowers. Fry them till they are nice and crisp. Set aside.

For the coating-

Sesame seed oil - 1 tsp

soya sauce - 1 tbsp

vinegar - 2 tsp

brown sugar - 1tsp
tomato paste - about 1 tbsp

Chinese five spice - 1tsp

Mix up all the ingredients above and add water and make a paste of it.

Chop up onions and bell pepper into small pieces. Add a tsp of the sesame oil, fry the onions and bell pepper. When they are done, add the paste above. Let it cook completely until most of the water evaporates and you have a thick paste.

Just before you are ready to serve, heat up the paste again and add the fried cauliflower pieces to it. Garnish with chopped spring onions. You are done!

Enjoy your meal!