Oriental Stir Fry

Oriental stir fry is one of the easiest dishes to make for dinner or is a perfect one to be enjoyed by guests. The sauce is made in advance and can be stored in refrigerator for few weeks.This Oriental sauce is the best stir fry sauce you've ever tasted, which is very enticing with chicken, veggies or any other meat. A secret weapon for a fast midweek meals. Just make it in a mason jar and store it. A super delicious  sauce that is well combined with veggies, noodles, meat or rice. I have paired this dish with quinoa, which was perfect. I served the kids rice and this stir fry veggies.

Heat the wok with little oil, add proteins or veggies and some noodles and at last add this stir fry sauce, which will do it''s magic on the dish. I read about this stir fry from one of my friend's Instagram post and so here it is today in my blog. We all liked it a lot and the kids were asking for a second serving.

Here in my sauce I have used freshly squeezed orange juice, you can replace it with store bought and also use as required. We like the orange flavor and so I added almost 1/4 cup. This recipe is so healthy and nutritious as a whole lot of veggies are added to this dish. Please try this recipe and let me know how it turned.

Ingredients:
For sauce:

1. Orange Juice- 1/4 Cup
2. Soy Sauce- 3 tbsp
3. Garlic (chopped)- 1 tbsp
4. Ginger(grated)- 1 tbsp
5. Sesame Oil- 2 tsp
6. Honey- 2 tsp

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl using a whisk. Keep this aside, till the veggies are done.

For veggies:

1. Capsicum( cubed)- 1 no
2. Onions(cubed)- 1 no
3. Baby Corn- 5 nos
4. Bok Choy(chopped)- 1 no
5. Boneless Chicken(cubed)- 1 cup
6. Broccoli- 1/2 cup
7. Mushrooms(sliced)- 1/2 cup
8. Garlic( sliced)- 3 cloves
9. Oil- 1 tbsp
10. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, saute the chicken with little salt for a minute on medium heat. Stir and add all the veggies one by one and stir, adjust the salt.
2. Let this cook on low flame for about 3- 4 minutes, stirring in between. Once the raw smell of veggies disappear and when they turn crisp add the above made sauce and stir for 2 minutes on a medium flame.
3. When the veggies get coated well with the sauce, remove from heat and serve along with steaming hot brown rice/ quinoa/ noodles.

Orange Marmalade- A post on Father’s Day….

                                                       

     

 Happy Father’s day

Today is father’s day and today’s post is one of my dad’s all-time favorite. Whenever my dad goes out for some grocery shopping, if he sees this marmalade, he will grab this one just like kids grab candies. He likes to spread this marmalade on toast and have it along with his morning tea. Whenever I call them, it will be morning tea time there and my mom and dad leisurely while drinking tea they will be talking to me. In between, he will be telling about this marmalade, which he loves a lot and insists me to buy and try one.

One day I thought of surprising him and this is the outcome, a golden yellow colored delicious marmalade is ready. When I showed him, he thought I bought it from the store. When I told him that it’s homemade, he was surprised and the next thing he told was “when you come here we will make a big batch and store it”. I was really happy that I made my dad’s favorite, but he cannot taste it as I am here.

This marmalade is easy to make, just that it’s a bit time-consuming. I started the process in the afternoon and by evening this got over. If kept in the refrigerator this stays fresh for long. Make sure that the glass jars used in the process are sterilized well. To sterilize the jars, dip the glass jars in hot boiling water for some time, take it out and can the marmalade in the jars.

Today for father’s day, I am dedicating this post to my dad. Try this out and let me know

Ingredients:

1. Oranges- 10 seedless Oranges
2. Sugar- 3 Cups
3. Water- 2 Cups
4. Lemon Juice- 1 no

Method:

1. Cut the oranges in half and squeeze out the juice completely. Using a sharp knife cut all the orange skin in juliennes.
2. Take this orange juice and julienned orange skin in a large non-stick pan. Squeeze out the lemon in the large pan along with orange juice and skin.
3. Add the required amount of sugar and water and cook on a medium flame.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let it cook uncovered for about 30 minutes on a low flame. By now the orange skin will become soft and well cooked.
5. Skim off any foam that forms on top. To make sure that it is ready, place a drop of this orange mixture on a plate and keep this in the refrigerator until it’s cool. If it is firm, neither runny nor too hard, it’s done. Now this will be in golden orange color. ( If the marmalade is runny, then cook for some more time and if it is hard, add more water).
6. Pour the marmalade into clean mason jars, wipe the rims thoroughly using a clean damp towel and store it for up to a year.

Orange Chicken

After seeing the advertisements of orange chicken everywhere my husband started asking me to make this at home. As I was little hesitant about how it would taste and if it is sweet then nobody will eat it, so I never made it. But my daughter also started insisting me to try making it and at last gave a try and googled a lot and finalized on this one, which was an eye catcher. This dish was not like what I thought. It was really yummm…

The flour covered, lightly fried chicken pieces are well coated in a sweet orange flavored chilli sauce is a very delicious recipe which will be loved by all and will be finished within minutes.

A lovely Chinese dish which can be made within minutes and is perfect for any occasion. Just try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Boneless Chicken pieces- 100gms
2. Egg- 1 no
3. Corn Starch- 2 tbsp
4. Salt- as required
5. Oil- for deep frying

For the sauce:

1. Orange Juice- 1 Cup
2. Garlic (Crushed)- 1 tbsp
3. Ginger (Crushed)- 1 tbsp
4. Soy Sauce- 1 tbsp
5. Orange Zest- 2 tbsp
6. Sesame Oil- ¼ tsp
7. Vinegar- 1 tbsp
8. Salt- as required
9. Water- ¼ Cup
10. Corn Starch- 1 tbsp
11. Spring Onions- 1 tbsp (for decoration)

Method:

1. Whisk together the chicken pieces, corn starch, egg and little salt. Keep this aside.
2. Heat oil for deep frying. When it becomes hot, fry the chicken pieces in batches (do not overlap them) and drain on a kitchen towel.

Meanwhile for the sauce

1. Take orange juice, crushed or chopped garlic, ginger, soy sauce, orange zest, vinegar and at last salt in a wok.
2. Mix everything well and bring them to boil.
3. Whisk cornstarch with water and add 1 or 2 tbsp to the above made sauce to thicken. Switch off the flame after 1 min.
4. Toss the above fried chicken in to the orange sauce. Mix well, sprinkle some spring onions on top and serve hot.

Orange Burfi- A Sweet dish for a Sweet Occasion

Hi all.Its been more than a month.. How r u all ? For those who were wondering why I went MIA.. I have been busy welcoming by newborn son who came to this world in the last week of Sep!!! and I was busy revising the old lessons.. after a long gap of 6 years…. :)

Meanwhile I have missed my little space a lot but I was catching up with all the recipes my fellow bloggers were posting. Today I am posting a sweet dish which will be loved by all who has a sweet tooth. I tasted this orange burfi when one of our friends bought this from pune. That time itself I had decided to try this out and so I got the opportunity when there were lots of oranges at home.

Orange pulp

Orange Pulp Cooked in Milk

This burfi, which is made from oranges is very famous in Nagpur, yes..the city of oranges... This is a quick dish which can be prepared within minutes.

Ingredients:

1. Orange- 2 nos
2. Maida / All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup
3. Sugar- ½ Cup
4. Ghee- 4 tbsp
5. Milk- ½ Cup
6. Almonds- ½ Cup

Method:

1. Peel the skin and the transparent skin of orange and keep the orange pulp aside.
2. Fry the maida on low flame in the ghee till the raw smell disappears and till it turns light brown.
3. Heat milk, sugar, orange pulp and stir continuously till the mixture thickens.
4. Add the roasted maida and stir continuously so that there are no lumps and mixed well with milk. Add slight orange edible colour and cook till the mixture separates from the sides of the pan. Remove from stove and pour this in a greased pan, let it cool, decorate with almonds and cut into desired shapes.

Orange Milkshake- A fantastic cooler...

Now you all might be thinking how can we combine milk and oranges together, as the citrus in the fruit will tend to curdle the milk? But trust me the combination is absolutely delicious when we are using cold milk or ice cubes. I have used ice cubes so I took the milk which was at room temperature.

The oranges which I used are called Mandarins, which doesn't have seeds. If using a normal orange then deseed and separate the carpels then blend well and serve immediately. Otherwise it will curdle up.

This milkshake I had at my SIL’s house and it tasted amazing. I never thought that milk and orange could make such a wonderful combination.

Ingredients:

1. Oranges- 3 nos
2. Milk- 1 ½ Cup
3. Sugar- as required
4. Ice cubes- few (optional)

Method:

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth. Sieve and serve immediately.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Joan’s Rainbow Cake - Colors of joy this Christmas season

This Christmas season I wanted to bake a cake and I was looking for various recipes. It was sheer coincidence that we happened to see this Malayalam movie called Salt n’ Pepper (superb movie especially for all you foodies out there). This movie has a sequence where the lead pair talks over the phone about a cake recipe which was made by a housewife in France while she was waiting for her soldier husband to come back from the war. Each day, she baked one cake thinking that her husband would return home and this continued for 3 days, when finally her husband came back home and she completed the cake with three layers of different flavors and chocolate topping.

In the movie, they have named this cake as Joan’s rainbow cake. Though it says rainbow cake, it only has 3 layers and not seven :-) I wanted to use the same original name as they depict in the movie since it sounds quite unique and passionate.

This story sounds apparently fictional. We couldn’t find anything in the web which indicates otherwise. So this must be the creative imagination of the story writer. But anyways, the cake they made out of this sequence is quite interesting. Each layer individually is quite simple, but the whole recipe obviously takes more time and effort than a regular cake.


This whole excitement culminated in a cake which I believe came out quite well with all the intended flavors.

This is undoubtedly the most exciting recipe I have ever posted in my blog. Here you go ...
First Layer:
Strawberry Cake:
Ingredients:
For Puree

1. Strawberrys- ¼ cup
2. Sugar- 2tbsp (optional)
3. For the cake
4. All purpose flour / Maida- 1cup
5. Baking Powder- 1tsp
6. salt- a pinch
7. Milk- ¼ cup
8. Sugar- ½ cup
9. Butter- ¼ cup
10. Egg- 1no
11. Strawberry essence- 1tsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Puree the strawberry and sugar in a hand mixie to a smooth pouring consistency.
3. Cream butter and sugar, till creamy. In this add egg and stir well till fluffy.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and add this to the egg and butter mixture in 3 lots alternately along with milk.
5. Add the strawberry essence and puree and beat well till everything is mixed well.
6. Pour this batter in a greased baking pan and bake for 30- 40 min or till a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool this on a wire rack.

Note:

• Before pureeing the strawberrys check for sweetness and then add sugar.

Second Layer:
Pista Cake:
Ingredients:

1. Pista- 1cup
2. Milk- ¼ cup
3. All purpose flour / Maida- 1cup
4. Baking Powder- 1tsp
5. salt- a pinch
6. Butter- ¼ cup
7. Sugar- ½ cup
8. Egg- 1no
9. Pista Essence- 1tsp
10. Green Colour- ½ a pinch

Method:

1. Soak the pista in water for 4hours and grind them to a fine paste in a hand mixer along with milk.
2. Cream butter, sugar and eggs and also add the above made pista paste to a fluffy texture and keep it aside.
3. Sift together Flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to the above wet ingredients ad blend well. In this add the pista essence and green food colour. Mix well.
4. Mean while preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Pour the prepared cake batter in a greased cake tin and bake in the oven for 30- 40 min or till done.
5. Cool this on a wire rack and keep it aside.

Third Layer:
Orange Cake:
Ingredients:

1. Orange Juice- ¼ cup
2. Orange Rind- 1tsp
3. All Purpose Flour / Maida- 1cup
4. Sugar- ½ cup
5. Butter- ¼ cup
6. Egg- 1no
7. Milk- ¼ cup
8. Baking Powder- 1tsp
9. Salt- ½ tsp

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and egg till fluffy and creamy.
3. In this, add the above dry ingredients and milk alternatively in 3 lots.
4. Add the orange juice and rind. Mix well.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Pour the cake batter in the prepared greased cake pan and bake for about 30- 40 min.
6. Cool them on a wire rack.

Soaking Syrup:

• Sugar- ½ cup
• Water-1/2 cup

Method:

• Boil the sugar and water for 2 min or till the sugar dissolves well.

Other Ingredients:

1. Whipping Cream- 2cups (I have used amul cream packet and ¾ cup of castor sugar. Blend it well with a hand mixer for about 15- 20 minutes. Before blending, we must take care that the amul cream packet are refrigerated.)
2. Chocolate Ganache- 1cup

For Chocolate Swirls and curls:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Make sure the water doesn’t touch the  bowl containing chocolate.
2. Spread this evenly on a plain surface with the help of a knife.
3. When this is cooled lightly, with a sharp knife in a short sawing movements make curls.Keep this in fridge until ready to use.

For Assembling the Cake:

• On a plate or a cake stand place the first layer i.e the strawberry cake and soak it with 3- 4tbsps of syrup.
• Over this and on the sides, spread the whipping cream. Place the next layer i.e the pista cake and soak it with the syrup and spread the whipping cream over this.
• Over this keep the last layer, orange cake and soak it with syrup. Spread the whipping cream well on the sides and over the cake.
• Keep the cake in the refrigerator till we prepare the ganache and let it cool completely.
• Take out the cake from refrigerator and pour this ganache over the cake. Decorate with chocolate swirls or as you wish.

Note:

• The whole process looks tiring, but it is fun to make this and I am sure that this will be perfect for parties and will be loved by all.