Ja Jiang Mein

This is an original recipe of Martin Yan, our Chinese cooking guru, slightly modified to suit our taste. As per the chef, Chinese men cook this easy dish when they invites dates over. As today was a very tiring day for me, I was not in a mood to cook.  Jai wanted to impress me with his culinary skills and went over some recipes he had saved to try. He made this in under 15 minutes.. And he did a fairly good job of impressing me with this easy and delicious dish
Ingredient:
For the Sauce:
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup sweet bean paste
1 tbsp chile garlic sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oil

Rest of the ingredients:
10 oz. dried wheat noodles
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup diced onion
1 cup soy granules, soaked and drained (or ground meat)
2 cup chopped spinach

Method:
Make a sauce by combining all the ingredients listed under sauce. Cook the noodles as per the package directions, rinse with cold water and drain.
In a hot wok, add oil, swirl to coat the sides, add the garlic and cook stirring for about 10 sec. Add the onion, stir-fry until almost translucent. Add the soy granules and cook for about 1 min. Add the spinach along with the sauce and cook until the sauce boils and thickens slightly. Now toss the noodles with the sauce.
Serving suggestion:
Serve with  thinnely julienned cucumber and carrots.

Buttermilk Cornbread

It had been quite cold for the last couple of days. Ideal for some hot chili. Even though chili itself is a complete meal, we like to have something solid to go along with that. So I made these cornbread to go along with this. It tastes like freshly baked pound cake, though with a grainier texture. The sweetness of the cornbread nicely complements the spiciness of the chili. You could have this as a stand alone snack also if you like to.
Recipe Source: Allrecipes
Ingredients:
 1/2 cup butter
 2/3 cup white sugar
 2 eggs
 1 cup buttermilk
 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 1 cup cornmeal
 1 cup all-purpose flour
 1/2 teaspoon salt
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Apple Pie Chimichangas

When it comes to food and nutrition, I am very paranoid - especially if it concerns Aishwarya's diet. I become so restless if she doesn't get her daily dose of fruits and veggies. Some of this seems to have rubbed off Jay also. These days even when I tend to go a little bit easy on things once a while, he would be the one to become so concerned.
During the weekends and holidays since we spend more time at home we tend to snack more and end up not having the normal helping of fruits. One way to overcome this problem is to have the fruit itself made up as a snack or a light meal or dessert. This way I don't have to worry about the daily intake of fruits any more.
And this recipe for Chimichangas is an excellent one that serves this purpose. Chimichangas are fried burritos - you can have it with sweet or savory filling. Here I have used the apple pie filling for making Chimichangas

Recipe Source: Jcocina.com
Ingredients

For the Apple Pie Filling
4 baking apples, chopped ( used a mix of granny smith and gala apples)
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbs. lemon juice
1tbs butter

For the Chimichangas
8-10 small tortillas
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs. cinnamon
Oil for frying

Method:
For the Apple Pie Filling
Combine the water, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for approximately 3 minutes, or until the mixture becomes very thick.
Add the chopped apples and reduce to a simmer along with butter. Allow the apple mixture to simmer until the apples become just tender (approximately 10 minutes). Allow the mixture to cool.

For the Chimichangas
Mix cinnamon and sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Spoon apple pie filling across the bottom 1/3 of the tortilla.Roll in both sides of the tortilla before rolling up the bottom of the tortilla over the filling, and then continue to roll the tortilla up like a burrito.

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet with 1/2 an inch of oil or 1 tablespoon. Once oil is hot, fry the chimichangas on all sides until the tortilla turns golden brown. (approximately 30 seconds on each side) or you can spray the chimichangas with oil and bake it at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
Remove the chimichangas to a paper towel-lined plate and allow to drain briefly. Immediately roll the warm chimichanga in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat and serve.
You can serve the chimichangas drizzled with caramel sauce if you desire.

Oats Porridge

Aishwarya usually likes to have cereals for breakfast. But as she got her braces fitted just yesterday, it was painful for her to chew. So when I asked her what else she would like to have for breakfast, she asked for the oats porridge the way my mom makes it. This is the only way she would have the oats porridge and she always claims that her grandma's recipe for this is the best in the "whole wide world". This is not a quick recipe, but the end result justifies the time and effort.
Ingredients:
Oats-1 heaped tablespoon
Water-1 cup
Sugar-2tbs or to taste
Milk-1 cup
Cardamom-1
Method:
Add oats and water to a thick bottom pan and cook the oats at medium heat stirring occasionally till the oats is cooked and water is reduced to half the amount. By this time the oats would have thickened and would be looking like thick paste. Now add sugar and milk and  stir continuously till it comes to a boil. Add cardamom and switch of the stove. It may not look so thick now but will turn to a smoothie consistency  once it cools down.