Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts


That's yet another addition to my ever-growing book collection. Earned points from my account and got a gift voucher from Crossword. That ended up in me buying another cookbook and this time it was exclusively Chocolate. I purchased this book named Chocolate: The Food and the Music, with recipes using chocolate as base ingredient. The hardbound book comes with CD which carries a collection of sweet melodies along with 100 odd tempting chocolate recipes. I guess it's probably aimed at making a romantic evening dessert for two. :)


I have been scanning through recipes from the book for long now and decided finally I should put it to use. DH got a new pack of oats and it's been lying to be used for our breakfast. He loves it, especially when he's had heavy dinner the previous night. I fuss over it. Agreed it's good to keep your tummy light, but I think it's a little too light, sort of like a patient's food :( I eat it, but by no means reserve any liking for it. May be I should put it this way... I don't like them in form of porridge, probably? What I do instead is to disguise it in food in form of oat flour. I pound some regular oats to fine powder and make instant oat dosa. They are good for disguise and one can't say oats have gone into it. I recently experimented with some oat flour muffins and they were yum!


A flapjack is a sweet tray-baked oat bar made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup. This dish is found in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and is also found in Australasia, but known as a 'muesli bar'. In other countries including Canada, the United States, and South Africa, flapjack refers to a form of pancake, although flapjacks do exist as 'Hudson Bay Bars'. Source: Wikipedia Now call it Flapjacks, Granola Bars, Muesli Bars or Hudson Bay Bars, I love them all!

I am gripped by books that have catchy photographs, it's an eye-candy. This is one such book which has an amazing collection of tempting chocolate recipes which I would love to re-create. Chocolate Chip Flapjacks were made inspired from this book. I tweaked the recipe a little by reducing the amount of butter to 100gm and sugar to 30gm and increased honey by 3 tablespoons. Also threw in a good amount of dates which is sweet by nature too. Again, as I insist always, test-taste your food for sweetness before you push them into oven for baking. However, the recipe I've put down here is right from the book with no changes.


Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

Adapted from the book Chocolate: The Food and the Music

INGREDIENTS:

115gm butter
60gm caster sugar
1 tbsp honey or golden syrup
350gm rolled oats
85gm dark/plain chocolate chips
85gm sultanas
50gm pitted and chopped dates


DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease a 8" cake tin.

Place the butter, caster sugar and honey in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring often, till the sugar has melted and mixture has combined well. Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in the oats and mix in till they are well combined. Add the chocolate chips, the dates and sultanas and combine well. Turn into the prepared tin and press down well. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 mins. Cool slightly and mark squares on it. When almost cold, cut into squares and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.


Flapjacks are extremely easy to make. I suggest instead of the stove-top method, you can even microwave the said ingredients, mixing them at regular intervals, till the sugar has melted. Just toss in rest of the ingredients and bake them. I assume this would be simpler and may be I should give it a try next time. You can add dry fruits, nuts as per your tastes. These are great as snack bars for kids or tea time treats. Also good for travels and as picnic accompaniments.


I am hell bent on not trying the Indian cuisine when we dine out at restaurants. Although most Indian restaurants expertise in good Indian food, I opine that we dine out for a change in the regular food we eat. It doesn't make sense to me to eat Tadka dal or Chole or Palak Paneer, unless if the hotel offers great Indian food and is known for that... On the other hand, I have come across people who just love to stick on to the same menu every time they eat out. I wonder how one never gets bored! For me it's a BIG NO NO! I love my life and food with a difference... be it Chinese, Italian, Mexican or even Middle Eastern food... Since we do not make them home very often, it's a pleasant change to dine outside once a while. And whenever we do, we love to explore different cuisines.

Being vegetarian does not limit our options. And that does not stop us from eating good food either. We even love and enjoy even basic stuffs like salads! One common kind of food that Indians often love to eat out is Indo-Chinese food. I am not sure where and how this concept evolved, but it definitely is a hit in this country with a large population of people loving street side food. Though I have never been hooked by street food considering cleanliness factors, most people would beg to disagree me on that.

Whenever we have such cravings, I make them home with much lesser oil and salt than what we get outside. One such food favorite of mine is simple flavorsome Chinese Hakka Noodles. I adore them truly. I made them over the weekend and they tasted wonderfully good.


Chinese Hakka Noodles

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Hakka Noodles, boiled and strained
2 tsp Garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp Red chilly flakes
1 small bunch Spring Onion
1 onion, diced
1 small capsicum, diced
1 tbsp shredded cabbage
1-2 green chilly, slit vertically
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Cook noodles in boiling water as per the instructions on the pack.

In a wide mouthed pan/kadai, heat oil. Add garlic and green chillies and fry for a minute. Add onions and fry till transparent Now add capsicum and fry till it tenders. Next add shredded cabbage and fry for another minute. Add spring onions and continue frying for 2-3 minutes more. Now add boiled and strained noodles and salt (to taste) and mix well. Add soy sauce and tomato and mix it well. Top with red chilly flakes for spice. Hakka Noodles is ready to be served hot.