Dan Dan Noodles

Remember that ad "Don't be a noodle.......be a smoodle....".What on earth am I talking about? Well I ran out of good introduction ideas for the noodle recipe that I'm posting about .......so this is my very lame introduction to a popular Chinese street food. This recipe had been bookmarked to try out for a lazy afternoon lunch a couple of weeks ago. So when a really bad craving for Chinese food hit me, but I didn't want to make something elaborate for just my toddler and me it was a perfect recipe to experiment with. Quick to put together, with a countable number of ingredients, bursting with flavors and hitting all your senses like good street food should, I present thee - Dan Dan Noodles.



This recipe is from Helen Chen's book titled "Chinese Home Cooking". I'm not sure why I picked this recipe out of 300 odd authentic Chinese home style recipes. But I'm glad I did. You'll love this recipe if you like the ideas of noodles doused with a peppery hot, salty and sweet peanut sauce.

In her book Helen has a small introduction or an interesting note about every recipe. Whether it was a family favourite, something that takes her back to her childhood dinner parties, stories from China or a historical note on the origin of the recipe. Gives the book a personal touch that I love. The following are her words on this recipe.



"Dan Dan Noodles are Szechuan street food at it's most traditional. Dan dan refers to the thumping sound made by the pails of noodles and sauce at the ends of bamboo panniers as they are carried through the streets in a sort of travelling fast food restaurant.The noodles are served cold or tepid.Once assembled,the dish holds well, although the noodles absorb the sauce after an hour. If you like saucier noodles, dress them just before serving. I sometimes add blanched and shredded snow peas or blanched bean sprouts along with the scallions for texture"

This recipe was modified to suit what I had on hand, please take a look at the note below for modifications. Also I honestly felt the noodles tasted better after I allowed them to soak in the peanut dressing for about 6 hours.(Evening snack for me yum yum) The next time I make this I would definitely make and dress the noodles in advance so they soak up all of that lovely piquant peanut sauce.



Recipe

Source : Helen Chen's "Chinese Home Cooking"

Ingredients

1 pound thin spaghetti
2 tbsps sesame oil
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup Vegetable broth or water
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tsp chili oil, or to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne,or to taste
1 heaping tsp of Szechuan peppercorns, toasted and ground - Didn't have any so I substituted with a big pinch of white pepper and 1 tsp of red chilli flakes
3 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced

Method

Bring 4 to 5 quarts of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook uncovered until a little more tender than al dente. Avoid overcooking or the noodles will be mushy. Stir occasionally to keep the noodles from sticking together. when done, drain and rinse with cold water until thoroughly cool.Drain well, transfer to a large serving bowl and gently toss with 1 tbsp of sesame oil(hands work best).Set aside.

While the noodles are cooking,blend together the peanut butter and broth in a bowl until smooth and creamy.Add the soy sauce, chilli oil, the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame oil,the cayenne and Szechuan peppercorns. Mix thoroughly.If you have time let the sauce sit for 30 mins or more to allow the spices to develop.

Pour the peanut paste over the cooked noodles and add the scallions.I use my hands to toss the noodles because they mix the ingredients more evenly and the noodles don't break.Serve cool.

Variation - For a vegetable garnish, add blanched snow peas and bean sprouts to the noodles with the scallions.

Note - I have slightly altered the recipe as I couldn't find some of the ingredients. Instead of the Szechuan peppercorns I added chilli flakes and white pepper. The recipe originally called for chicken broth but water worked just fine. Also to give it a bit of a kick and zing I added about 1 1/2 tbsps of hot sauce.You can use Sriracha if you have it on hand. Or good old Maggi Hot and Sweet sauce will work in a pinch. 1 tbsp of vinegar was added to cut through the creaminess of the peanut butter. The toasted sesame seed garnish was mainly to make the picture pretty but 'twas a good addition as they added crunch and nuttiness to the dish.

Bharli Vaangi

Are you tired of serving your vegetarian guests paneer, paneer and more paneer? Do I sound like those really loud and obnoxious TV commercials trying to sell you stuff that you never ever thought you would need? I guess I do. At least when I read this out loud to myself I do. Well here's a "new" recipe which is different from the usual garam masala and cream laced tomato gravy deals. Bharli vaangi is a traditional Maharashtrian dish and it translates to stuffed brinjals or eggplants.



Ever since I've moved to Pune I've been wanting to try out the local fare and learn how to cook authentic Maharashtrian food. This recipe caught my eye on TV. It was presented by the head chef of the Taj Hotel, Mumbai. I scrambled to find my recipe note book and didn't find a pen but I managed to scribble it all down with an old worn out orange crayon. Pens are always kept safely away from my toddler (and me too I guess) who is just discovering the joy of doodling on everything. When I say everything I really mean that. His belly button, the TV screen, my driver's license the TV remote, the back of his ears, the apple symbol on his dad's computer - you name it.

Back to the recipe - this simple recipe has few ingredients and a short and straightforward cooking method. The eggplants are tender and bursting with their own juices. They are slightly hot from the goda masala, tangy from the tamarind and sweet from the jaggery. What is Goda masala? It is an authentic Maharshtrian garam masala widely used in Maharashtrain cooking. If you can't find it you can substitute with regular garam masala. Here is a excellent post from Shilpa of Aayi's Recipes where you can learn to make your own goda masala.
I loved how different this dish tasted from everything that I've made or usually eaten at buffets or parties. It's definitely going to be the surprise dish on my menu when I have guests over.



Make sure that you use fresh brinjals for this dish. Older ones tend to be bitter. I've made this with the green Thai eggplants as well as the purple ones. I preferred the purple ones.

Here's the recipe, follow it to the T and you won't go wrong. That is exactly what I did and it was super delicious. You can serve this with roti or bhakri. Bhakri is a flat bread made with jowar flour. Look out for a future post on how to make bhakri.



I was requested by one my readers to indicate the level of difficulty on the recipes that are posted on this blog. Henceforth all recipes will be categorised as easy, moderately easy and tough cookie. Have fun!

Recipe

Difficulty level - easy
Cooking time - 25 mins

Ingredients

8 small brinjals
4 tsp of oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp tamarind water
2 tsp jaggery syrup
1 cup water
salt to taste

For the masala stuffing

6 tsp of dessicated coconut/kopra
4 tsp of roasted and crushed peanut powder
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp of goda masala( you can use regular garam masala if you don't have any)
salt

Method

1)Make + shaped incisions on the brinjals deep enough to get the stuffing in but don't break them open.
2)Make the stuffing by mixing together all the ingredients listed under stuffing.
3)Stuff the brinjals with the stuffing and keep aside.
4)Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin and mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter gently slide in the brinjals and saute for 2 - 3 mins. Add a cup of water and lower the flame. Cover and cook for 10 -12 mins.
5)After the brinjals are fork tender add the tamarind water,jaggery syrup and salt to taste. Keep in mind that the stuffing has salt added in as well.Stir well and evenly distribute the seasoning. Remove from the flame.
6)Garnish with coconut shavings and fresh coriander. Serve hot.

Yay! you've cooked your first authentic Maharshtrian dish!

Fried Chicken

Fried chicken is comfort food personified. Crispy and crunchy on the outside, soft and succulent on the inside. Most people can't resist the calling of fried chicken. There are numerous versions of it and I'm sure every cuisine and culture has its signature way of making it. One that immediately comes to mind is the fried chicken classic - Southern Fried Chicken - lightly breaded and fried to a golden crisp after being marinated in buttermilk that gives it a juicy and tangy taste.



My version of fried chicken is asli desi with a characteristic red color but not the kind achieved by artificial coloring. The marinade itself has very few ingredients and the most vital is the chilli powder which gives this chicken a hot and smoky flavor. This is the way my grandma or awwa as we would fondly address her used to make it ever since I can remember. It's one of those dishes that jazzes up a simple meal of just rice and dal, it's fantastic as an appetizer and can still hold it's own when served alongside biryani.

With this version of fried chicken the longer it marinates - the better it tastes. And since the marinade is ridiculously easy to put together you can just mix it up, refrigerate it and forget about it. And while you go about doing your stuff the marinade is working it's magic on the chicken. Yumm- O.



The chilli powder that this recipe calls for is plain ground dried red chillies. Note - this is different from chili powder that is used to season American chili. The lime in the marinade helps cut the grease and soften the chicken. Turmeric helps remove that chicke-ny odour. A teaspoon of oil added into the marinade helps keep the chicken moist. Don't be alarmed at the large quantity of chilli powder being used here. Trust me, after you're done frying the chicken the heat from the chilli has mellowed down quite a bit. So it's not insanely hot - which you would expect looking at the proportion of chilli being used. It has a pleasant bite to it. Nevertheless this is still a dish for people who love hot food.

Speaking of hot food and people who just cannot tolerate it reminds me of my dear friend M. (I know I know a lot of you lovely readers gave me feedback saying "What's with this whole dear friend thing?" But how else can I say this? I guess next time I'll look for a better phrase, until then.....dear friend it is.) She's a very sweet lady who helped me adjust so well to a new city and a new country. Most importantly she made me feel so much at home and took such good care of me when I needed it the most. They are one of the nicest couples we've met and befriended, very welcoming about the fact that we came from a different country - our food was different and our culture was different. So one fine day we decided to have them over for dinner. Both of them love Indian food and she also mentioned that she was especially fond of palak paneer. So what did yours truly do? But of course make palak paneer........ with about 10 extremely hot thai bird chillies ground into the spinach sauce. To me it was just an ordinary green chilli that we find at India. There was no way of fishing it out!



Well she was nice enough to swallow a few morsels of it before she had to run to the restroom. A few minutes later she emerged with tears streaming down her face! After a few bowls of vanilla ice cream and plain naan bread(which was all that she had for dinner - I know....... I'm awful) she was back to her old self willing to give pani puri a try the next weekend. Lesson learned - thai chillies are potent.

I'm sending this recipe across for the monthly Think Spice event which focuses on a spice a month and this month's theme is red chillies. Red chillies can be used in fresh, dried, whole or powdered form.
This event is being hosted by Lakshmi Venkatesh who blogs at this beautiful blog Think Spice - Think Red Chillies.
Think Spice was started by the very talented and gracious Sunita Bhuyan of Sunita's World.

I had previously forgotten to also link to Archana's Mad
Tea Party where she's hosting a Party Event in which the recipe entry should have less than six ingredients. What a great idea for cooks who are short on time and still want to entertain!



Here is red chilli in its most unadulterated and star-of-the-show form.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 kilo or 2lbs chicken cut into smallish pieces
3 - 4 heaped tbsps of red chilli powder
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1 large lime/lemon juiced
1 tbsp of neutral tasting oil
salt to taste
Oil for frying for chicken. Neutral in flavor - peanut or vegetable oil works best.

Method

1)Wash the chicken and pat dry. Keeping the surface of the chicken dry helps it absorb the marinade better.
2)For the marinade - mix together the chilli powder, turmeric powder,salt, lemon juice and oil. Make a thick paste.
3)Rub this marinade all over the chicken and let it rest in the fridge, overnight for the best flavor. If you don't have that kind of time, allow to rest for 2 hrs at least.
4)Deep fry the chicken in batches taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Maybe about 5 - 6 pieces at a time on a medium flame until they attain a uniform dark red color all over.
5)Serve hot with a generous squeeze of lime.