Beef Stir-Fry

Ready in 30 mins

You will need:

• a large skillet or a Wok

Ingredients:

Recipe for 4 servings

• Sirloin or chuck steaks (cut 1/2 inch strips) - 1 lbs
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Garlic (minced) - 1 clove
• Oil for frying - 3 tablespoon
• Bell pepper (mixed colors, sliced into 1/4 inch strips) - 2 medium
• Onion (yellow, thinly sliced) - 1/2
• Tomato (roughly chopped) - 1
• Cilantro (chopped, optional) - 2 tablespoon
• Soy sauce - 1 tablespoon
• Sesame oil - 2 teaspoon

Directions:

1. Season stir-fry meat with 
• Salt
• Pepper
• minced Garlic
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add
• Sliced Onions
• Bell Peppers
• Cook, stirring until barely tender - about 1 - minutes
• Remove the vegetables from the pan to a bowl and keep warm.
3. Heat the rest of the oil in the skillet on high heat. Add
• Beef strips
• Let the beef brown initially, without stirring, but as soon as it is brown on one side, then stir. Cook for about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the 
• Pepper 
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Cilantro
• Soy Sauce
• Sesame oil
• Cook for a half a minuted longer, stirring.
• Remove from heat
4. Serve alone or with steamed rice. Salt and pepper to taste

Footnotes:

Haven't tried this recipe yet.

Mushroom Pork Chops

Ready in 40 minutes

You will need:

• Large skillet

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 4 servings

• Pork Chops - 4
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Garlic Powder - 1 pinch or to taste
• Onion (chopped) - 1
• Fresh mushrooms (sliced) - 1/2 lbs
• Condensed cream of mushroom soup - 1 (10.75 oz) can

Directions:

1. Season pork chops with 
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
2. In a large skillet, brown the chops over medium-high heat. Add the
• Onion
• and Mushroom
• and saute for one minute.
• Pour cream of mushroom soup over chops
• Cover skillet and reduce temperature to medium to low
• Simmer 20 to 30 minutes or until chops are cooked through.
3. Serve over brown rice.

Footnotes:

Instead of using a skillet to brown the chop, it could be baked. In a baking pan pour in the cream of mushroom soup (you could also mix a bit of milk if low on soup) . Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 F for one hour. This can be served with mashed potatoes or baked potatoes.

Ginger Pork Stir-fry

Ready in 30 minutes

You will need:

• a Wok or a large skillet
• a trip to the local Chinese groceries

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 2 servings

• Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
• Ginger root (Fresh, thinly sliced) - 1/2 inch piece
• Lean Pork (sliced) - 1/4 lbs
• Soy Sauce - 1 teaspoon
• Dark Soy sauce - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• Sugar - 1/3 teaspoon
• Sesame Oil - 1 teaspoon
• Green Onion (chopped) - 1
• Chinese rice wine - 1 tablespoon

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Fry ginger in hot oil until fragrant, then add
• pork
• soy sauce
• dark soy sauce
• salt 
• sugar
• Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes
2. Stir in the 
• Sesame oil
• Green onions
• Rice wine
• Simmer until pork is tender

Footnotes:

I haven't tried this yet...

Spinach Dal

Ready in 1 1/2 hour

You will need:

• Pressure Cooker
• Wok (kadai)
• a trip to the Indian store

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 6 servings

• Spinach (Washed and chopped) - 2 bunches or 4 cups
• Chana Dal - 1 1/2 cups
• Water - 4 cups
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Red Chili (Whole) - 2
• Red onion (chopped) - 1
• Garlic (minced) - 2 teaspoon (3 cloves)
• Ginger (minced) - 2 teaspoon
• Green chili (Serrano/minced) - 1
• Red chili powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Tomato (diced) - 1 cup (1 whole tomato)
• Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cilantro (washed and chopped) - 1/4 cup

Directions:

1. Soak chana dal in water for 30 mins. Drain the water.
2. In a pressure cooker add 
• Dal
• Water (4 cups)
• Turmeric powder (half)
• Salt
• Pressure cook it for about 30 minutes (about 3 whistles) on medium heat. Let it cool and open only after the pressure subsides.
3. On medium heat, heat oil in a wok. Add
• Asafoetida
• Cumin seeds
• Mustard seeds
• Red chili
• When the cumin and mustard seeds start popping add 
• Onions
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Green Chili
• Fry till onions become light brown
4. To the Wok, add 
• Turmeric (rest of)
• Red chili powder
• Fry for one more minute and add 
• tomatoes 
5. Once the tomatoes get mushy, add 
• spinach 
• a pinch of Salt
• and cook till the spinach starts giving off water and reduces to about half the amount.
6. Add the dal from the pressure cooker to the wok and mix well. Add a little water if required. Stir well and let it boil for a minute or two.
7. Turn the heat off and garnish with 
• Garam Masala
• Cilantro
• Cover the Wok for at least 5 minuted before serving
8. Serve with a side of rice.

Footnote:

Chana Dal might not be easily available to everybody. In that case, yellow split peas work well too. A word of caution though, yellow split peas get mushy (read cooked) a lot faster than Chana Dal and might not need extensive pressure cooking. 

The British-English term for 'Chana Dal' is 'Bengal Gram Dal' also called 'Chholar dal' in Bengali.

Mustard Chicken

Ready in 1 1/2 hours

You will need:

• Oven to bake
• an oven safe Baking dish preferably with a lid
• a large Ziploc bag or an air-tight container of similar kind (could do without)

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 4 servings

• Chicken thighs (preferably boneless - cut into bite size pieces) - 1 lbs
• Dijon mustard - 1/2 cup
• Non-fat yogurt - 1/4 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Red chili powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - to taste
• Green chili pepper (Serrano) - sliced in halves

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. In a Ziploc, combine
• Chicken thighs
• Dijon Mustard
• Yogurt
• Turmeric powder
• Red chili powder
• Salt
• Shake well so that the ingredients mix together. Let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes
3. Pour out the chicken with the marinade into an oven safe covered baking dish.
4. Place sliced green chilies on top and cover the dish.
5. Bake in the oven for about 45 mins or until chicken in done.
6. Serve with a side of rice. 

Footnotes:

The quantity of Dijon mustard can be changed according to taste, by changing the mustard to yogurt proportions. 

In the absence of a covered baking dish, a sheet of aluminium foil can be used to cover the dish.

Moong Dal

Ready in 1 1/2 hours

You will need:

• a Pressure cooker, but you could do without it. It'll just take longer
• a small frying pan/skillet/egg pan/sauce pan

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 6 servings

• Dried yellow split peas (Moong Dal) - 2 1/2 cups
• Water - 2 1/2 cups
• Salt - 1 1/2 teaspoon
• Ginger root (freshly grated) - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chili pepper (jalapeno) diced - 1 teaspoon
• Tomato (diced) - 1/2 cup
• Lemon Juice - 3 teaspoon
• Ground turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil - 2 teaspoon
• Cumin seed - 1 teaspoon
• Dried red pepper (whole) - 1
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Garlic (freshly chopped) - 2 cloves
• Cilantro (fresh, chopped) - 1/4 cups

Directions:

1. Rinse split peas; soak in water for 30 minutes.
2. Heat split peas and water, with salt until boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender and thickened. Add more water if necessary, to prevent drying out. To the cooked split peas add 
• Ginger
• Jalapeno pepper
• Tomato
• Lemon juice
• Turmeric
3. Heat oil in a small saucepan and add 
• Cumin seeds 
• Red chili pepper
• When pepper is heated, add 
• Asafoetida
• Garlic 
• Stir mixture into split peas and add 
• Cilantro
• Mix well.
4. Serve with rice or roti/chapatti

Footnotes:

The split peas (dal) can be cooked in a pressure cooker for quicker results, instead of boiling it in a pot.

Pork in Peanut Sauce

Ready in 40 minutes

You will need:

• a Wok
• a large Bowl to mix

Ingredients

Recipe makes 4 servings

• Ginger Root (chopped) - 2 teaspoons
• Garlic (thinly sliced) - 2 Cloves
• Crushed Red Pepper flakes - 1/4 teaspoon
• Soy sauce - 1/2 cup
• Chicken broth - 1/2 cup
• Peanut Butter - 4 tablespoon
• Pork (boneless cut into strips) - 1 1/2 lbs 
• Peanut oil (for frying) - 2 tablespoons
• Onion (chopped) - 1
• Cashew Nuts - 3/4 cups
• Mixed Stir-fry Vegetables (Frozen/freshly cut) - 2 cups 

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Red pepper flakes
• Soy sauce
• Broth 
• Peanut butter
• Stir in pork
• Set aside
2. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. 
• Stir in onions and cook for about a minute.
• Stir in cashews 
• Cook until onions are soft ans translucent.
• Pour in pork and marinade.
• Cook until pork pieces are done, about ten minutes.
• Stir in mixed vegetables and cook for 5 more minutes.
3. Serve with rice or noodles

Footnotes:

I decided to try this recipe on a whim. Of all the ingredients, I didn't have chicken broth, cashew nuts and peanut oil. So instead of the chicken broth, I just used water with a pinch of salt and instead of peanut oil, I used vegetable oil, the oil I generally use for frying. As for the cashews, I didn't replace it with anything. I just didn't use any. Yet the recipe turned out great. So, this goes in my recipe collection blog!