Baby Corn Manchurian

Baby corn - 1 packet, (about 10 to 15 nos, cut in half) 
Maida – ½ cup
Corn flour – ¼ cup
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - ½ tsp
Crushed ginger - ½ tsp
Crushed garlic - ½ tsp
Vinegar - 1tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Oil for deep frying      

• Cook the baby corn for 1 whistle in the cooker.
• Mix all the above ingredients except the oil. It should be a thick batter.
• Add the corn to the batter; it should be well coated.
• Deep fry till it turns golden brown on all sides and keep aside.

Crushed ginger – ½” piece
Crushed garlic – 5 cloves
Onion (Preferably white onion) - 1 big, (Chunky cubes)
Green chillies - 2-3, julienne slices (As per tolerance)
Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Capsicum - 1 (Chunky cubes)
Spring onion 5-6 stalks, chopped
Chilli-garlic sauce - 2 tbsp
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp 
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Corn flour - 1 tsp dissolved in ¾ cup water
Salt as needed
Oil

•        Heat a pan with oil and add ginger and garlic, sauté it for a minute and add the onion and green chillies and fry till onion starts to turn pink.
•        Add the salt, red chilli powder and pepper and fry for half a minute on high flame. Add the capsicum. Sauté for ½ a minute, and add the chilli-garlic sauce, soya sauce and vinegar, sauté a little.
•        Add the fried baby corn with chopped spring onions and mix well.
•        Slowly add the corn flour dissolved in water and stir well, till the baby corns are well coated with the gravy.
•        Decorate with chopped spring onions.

·       Serve hot with fried rice or noodles!

Soy chili vinegar sauce or dip... the best accompaniment with any kind of Chinese or Thai dishes

Soy sauce - 2 tbs.p

Vinegar - 1/4 cup tbsp.

Green chillies - 2 chopped or as per heat tolerance

Sesame oil - 1 tbsp.
Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp.
Chopped garlic - 1 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp.

Mix all the ingredients to make the sauce.
Serve with almost any Thai or Chinese dishes, especially rice dishes. Goes great with Dim sums too.

Chicken Sausage Rice

This recipe is one of my cooking experiments, inspired by the ‘Chinese chicken rice’ which I used to have during my stay in Brunei. It was a very popular choice for lunch for majority of Bruneians as well as Malaysians. I was in a mood for Chicken rice today, but was too lazy to go buy chicken, and since sausage was readily available in the freezer, decided to experiment with it. I must say, it came quite close to the real chicken rice, or maybe we were too hungry, either way we enjoyed it. Very soon I’ll be trying out the original chicken rice. For now here’s the Chicken Sausage rice...

For the sausage:

Chicken sausage – 4, whole

Ginger – 1 tbsp, chopped
Garlic – 1 tbsp, chopped

Shallots – 1 tbsp, sliced
Pepper powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala powder – ¼ tsp

Honey - 1 tsp
Red wine – 2 tbsp
Oyster sauce - 1 tsp

Soy sauce – 1 ½ tbsp

Fish sauce – ½ tsp

Red chilly oil – ½ tsp

Chilly vinegar – 1 tsp
Sugar – ½ tsp

• Marinate the sausages with all the ingredients for 10 – 15 minutes.
  
  
• Pan the marinated sausages fry in a little oil till its nicely browned, turn over and fry the other side too.

• Add ½ cup water, cover and cook on very low flame for 10 minutes till the sauce starts to thicken.
  
  
• Remove cover, do a taste-test for the sauce, add salt and sugar to taste if necessary.
  
  
• Set this aside, and cut the sausages into desired pieces, pour half the sauce over it.
  
  
• Keep the remaining half of the sauce on the pan for later use.

For the rice:

Cooked white rice – 2 cups
Ginger – 1 tbsp chopped
Garlic – 1 tbsp

Shallots – 1 tbsp
Chicken cube – 1, powdered (I used Maggi chicken cube)
Sesame oil – 1 tbsp

Kaffir lime leaves – 3 (I used dried leaves as I couldn’t get any fresh ones)

Red wine – 1 tbsp

Soy sauce – 1 tsp

Vinegar – ½ tsp

Water – ¼ cup

Remaining sauce from the sausages
Salt to taste

·        Sauté the ingredients (except rice and water) in some oil.

·        Add the rice, stir fry for 5 minutes.

·        Add water and mix well, and cover the pan for 2 minutes on low heat.

Serve hot with the sausages, some Soy-chilly-vinegar sauce, and some fresh salad.