Life 'n' Such

Bored of the same old food, day in and day out. Then why not make Chinese food! First off, its easy, its healthy, and most importantly its yummy!

I made Chinese meal last weekend. I made spring rolls, chicken satay (which is more Thai actually), fried rice (Fauzia taught me how to make this), Chicken Manchurian (or whatever that was, but very very good, my dear Sis-in-laws recipe).

Ingredients:

Spring Roll sheets (thawed as per the instructions on the package)
Cabbage and Carrots (shredded), I used Cole Slaw mix – great idea huh?
Scallions also called Spring Onions in India – chopped
Salt, pepper, a bit of soy sauce
oil for cooking
Method:

In a little oil, fry the onions for a minute, then add the Cole slaw mix to it. Cook covered till the cabbage is tender crisp. Add the salt, pepper and a dash of soy sauce.

Cool the filling. Then using one sheet at a time, put about a table spoon of the filling towards one corner. Wrap the end, once. Then lift and fold in the two opposite ends on either side of this corner (to seal off the ends, so the filling wont fall out). Then tightly roll away. Dip the end of the roll in water, to make it sticky enough to seal off the roll.
( You can prepare these a day in advance, and refrigerate them in an air-tight container or even freeze them)

Shallow fry till golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Enjoy!

No Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Other, Recipes | | #

YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY, did I say YUMMY too many times? Well, then this dessert sure deserves the compliments!

I watched this recipe on TV last week (I think the host was Robin Miller, she is superb with these shortcut recipes), and since my dear MIL made apricot jam for us, I decided to give it a try. I am sure glad I did.

All our friends enjoyed this simple, quick, and easy recipe. Few minutes prep time, and few minutes of baking, and you have an amazing dessert, especially great for the cool winter nights.
Ingredients:

2 puff pastry sheets, thawed as per the direction
enough Apricot jam or preserve (to spread on the 2 sheets in a thin layer) or any flavored jam you like
Method:

Roll out the pastry sheets (with a rolling pin, or as we call in India ‘belan’) to make them a little bit thinner and into a rectangle.

Then spread out the apricot jam evenly over the sheet. Fold it lenghtwise in half. Press the edges with your finger tips to seal of the ends.

Use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut out thin strips, about half a inch thick.

Stretch them a bit, if needed to tie them up in a knot. (Like you would tie a ribbon/shoe lace)
Lay on a baking tray.

Bake at 375 deg F for about 6-10 minutes, or until the puff pastry are golden and flaky.

Serve them hot with a scoop of creamy icecream. (We ate ours with Fauzia’s famous Mango Icecream). How heavenly!

No Comments | In: Dessert, Food, Recipes | | #

Looks beautiful, and tastes great! Oh, did I mention easy to make recipe?

I love to eat these stuffed zucchini boats (stuffing can be potatoes, or ground meat, or chopped chicken). How versatile!

Ulfet has made these a few times, and finally I remembered to ask her the recipe yesterday over the phone. By the way, belated birthday wishes to her!

Ingredients:

zuchini (1 per person), cut lenght wise into 2 pieces
stuffing: either mashed up potatoes, or ground meat, or chicken (Recipe for each stuffing follows)
(Also, chopped onion, tomatoes, garlic and oregano for meat or chicken stuffing)
spices and seasoning (salt, red pepper black pepper)
mozzarella cheese grated
oil for cooking/frying
water as per the requirement

Method:

Fry the zucchini halves till they are golden. Then remove some of the core with a spoon (scooping it out slowly). Mix the boiled potatoes with red pepper, black pepper and salt. Fill in spoonful(s) in the fried zucchini. Top it off with mozzarella cheese. Bake/broil in the oven, till the cheese melts.

For Chicken/ground meat Stuffing:

Fry the onion, add the chicken/meat to it, and cook till done (water is evaporated, and the meat/chicken is ready). Add the tomatoes, garlic, and cook till the tomatoes melt in. Add the salt, pepper, red pepper and the oregano. 

No Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #

First off, Congratulations, to the newly elect-President Mr. Obama, its truly an historic time for this lovely country. We are all hoping, that the change he brings in, is positive!

Back to Lifensuch: Missed you all, I am back now. I had a good long vacation after a while, it was very busy, in 45 days, I did 5 countries.
We had a good short European holiday (mainly Switzerland). It was good, the highlight was the Paragliding! I will post pics of that pretty soon.

Then, a couple days in Paris, and then I was off to India, after 5 and half long years!

I visited Mumbai (I still prefer calling it Bombay), Bangalore, and Kashmir. It was excellent, ate good food, went to superb restaurants, and had the best time with family and friends.

Incase you are wondering, if I learnt new dishes, sorry! I was only looking after my tummy this time!! Long time since I had gone back home. But, I promise, yummy things I ate, I will get the recipes for it soon.

Alrite, bye for now, gotta catch up with the work, so I will get back to Lifensuch, shortly. Till then, ta-ta!

No Comments | In: About me, Interesting stuff | | #