Pizza Amore

Yesterday I found myself cleaning up the leftovers of my fridge. With no fresh meat or veggies other than tomatoes I couldn't cook any 'sabzi' to go with the store brought frozen tandoori roti lying in my freezer , so I decided to try something outside the box and use the roti as a base for a homemade pizza! Luckily I found some shredded Italian cheese and leftover uncooked 'Alderwood smoked' bacon so all I really needed to prepare was pizza sauce.

Pizza sauce :
Blanch two medium sized tomatoes in boiling water for about 10 minutes (I used roma tomatoes). The skin will detach itself from the pulp and can be removed. In a bowl add half a cup of warm water to the tomato pulp and crush the pulp roughly with a spoon. Then add salt to taste , pinch of black pepper,two cloves of minced garlic, a pinch or two of sugar , a handful of the Italian cheese and about a tablespoon of the MOB ( marjoram, oregano and basil) . Those three dried spices as I found out are the holy trinity of pizza sauce. Mix everything together and let it sit for about 30 minutes for the tomatoes to soak up the dried spices.

Finally take two tandoori rotis as the base , laddle half the mixture on each base. Top it generously with rest of the shredded cheese and finally the meat of your choice. Since I was using bacon , I pan fried the bacon fried till it was 90% cooked , then cut in half inch pieces for the topping. Bake the pizza on a low rack on 450F for 10 minutes and you are ready for an ultimate treat.

The tandoori roti being whole wheat gave this pizza a healthy dimension and most importantly it cleared my fridge .

ciao.

Ramen on Top

So after a looooong hiatus I am back! In the last 6 months I have eaten several twisted dishes and cooked some myself ...I have visited foreign lands and pigged out on world delicacies. However for lack of any inspiration to write and a complete disregard for my less than half a dozen readers I have avoided posting about my adventures and /or recipes. In a feeble attempt to make a comeback , I thought I would post a simple recipe that takes an average student's most staple food i.e Ramen (Maggi tastes even better) and turns it into something that I find as tasty if not more than the Chinese noodles you get on the streets of Mumbai and much much more healthier.

Some facts:
Ramen is actually quiet healthy, packed with protein and fiber , if you throw away the sodium and MSG laden spice pack which comes along with it. With a few basic ingredients and flavorings so can make it much more authentic and flavorful than that sneaky little bastard.

What you need (for 2 people)
1 green bell pepper ( cut in very thin slivers)
1/2 carrot (also cut in very thin slivers)
2 green chillies (also cut in you know what)
250gms of boneless chicken thighs cut in 1/2 inch cubes (tofu is a good replacement for veggies and spca volunteers)
3 cloves of garlic diced finely
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
salt and pepper
low sodium soy sauce
chili vinegar and chili oil ( if you have regular vinegar and regular oil add two dried red chillis while cooking)
1 egg
And finally two noodle cakes.

How to cook the noodles:

Bring a pot of water to boil. After it has come to a rolling boil immerse both the cakes without breaking them in the water. Time it for 3 mins (not one min more!) Break an egg into the pot and with a fork stir the egg and noodles so that the noodles loosen up and the egg breaks up.

1 more min ...and strain the water ...noodles will be cooked 'al dente' and thats what you want. Add a few drops of oil to the eggy noodles to avoid them from sticking and keep them covered until later.

Add salt and pepper to the chicken or tofu and then finally the flour. Stir the chicken until the flour has coated the chicken properly. Then fry the chicken in sufficient oil for about 5 mins. Drain the oil away and rest the chicken on a paper towel to soak up any residual oil.

In a pan , heat about 1 tablespoon of chili oil. Saute the garlic and chillies first , then add the veggies. Add the chicken after about 5 mins and toss in couple splashes of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon chili vinegar.

Saute further for 2 mins and finally add the egg noodles . Turn of the heat and stir gently to mix in the veggies ,chicken and noodles.

Garnish with chopped spring onions...and serve hot. This stuff tastes authentic 'mumbai chinese' and you deserve it.