Chilli Fish Recipe - Indian Chinese Chilli Fish Recipe

Chilli Fish is one of amma's specialty Indo-Chinese Recipes. Like I mentioned in the fried rice recipe post, amma is an expert in making manchurian and related recipes. There's really no secret sauce (literally!) to her recipes, they just work excellently and this Chilli Fish is no exception. Maybe those of you who are off lent tomorrow can try Chilli Fish for Easter lunch?

We also make the same dish with Prawns and call it Chinese Fried Prawns. That's a dish from my childhood that I have fond memories of. You can serve the batter-fried prawns with ketchup as a starter or go on to make Chilli Prawns with it following the recipe below. Either ways, it's delicious. PS: the pic above is of Chilli Prawns.

Although Indo-Chinese sauces are easily available in Singapore, I find that the Indian brands like Sil or Ching's Secret (I am guessing that's an Indian brand) seem to work better for me and taste more "authentic" like you get in Indo-Chinese restaurants in India.

I have had a few failures when making manchurian and chilli something but after this Gobi Manchurian recipe, flops are history. I learnt from the best (my sister makes amazing manchurian too) after all!

Interested in a Chilli Chicken Recipe instead?

INDIAN CHINESE CHILLI FISH RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:

• 250 gm of cut into small cubes, deboned fish (any fish with a firm flesh would do, or use deveined prawns)
• 3 tbsp + 1 tsp of cornflour / corn starch
• 3 tbsp of maida / plain flour
• 1 tsp + 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp of black pepper powder
• 1 capsicum / bell pepper, cubed
• 1 onion, cubed
• 1/2 to 1 tbsp of soya sauce
• 1 tsp of green chilli sauce
• 1 tsp of tomato sauce
• A small bunch of spring onions or coriander leaves, chopped fine

How to Make Chilli Fish

1. Make a thick batter of 3 tbsp cornflour + flour + 1 tsp ginger garlic paste + salt + pepper powder + water
2. Dip the fish pieces in this and shallow fry in oil until golden brown (in small batches without crowding the pan)
3. Drain and set aside
4. In the same oil, add the onions and capsicum. When the onions start to turn pink, add the ginger garlic paste and saute until fragrant
5. Turn heat to high and add the soya sauce, chilli sauce and tomato sauce (keep them ready by your side to prevent the rest of the dish burning)
6. Mix well and reduce heat. Add the fried fish pieces
7. Mix well and cook on low heat. Meanwhile, mix the 1 tsp cornflour in 4 tbsp water without lumps. Add to the fish mixture and cook until the sauce thickens and coats the fish
8. Add chopped coriander leaves or spring onions and remove from stove
9. Serve hot with fried rice

Baby Corn Masala Recipe - Indian Baby Corn Masala Recipe - Step by Step

Baby Corn is this wonderfully crunchy, light vegetable that both The Husband and I love and so this Baby Corn Masala Recipe was an instant hit. Baby Corn is available in packs of 6-7 here and I mostly add them to fried rice, make baby corn manchurian, or make a baby corn stir-fry. Recently, my uncle was visiting us and I wanted to cook with something that is not easily available back in Kottayam. That's how this Baby Corn Masala happened one weekend for lunch.

I pretty much threw in whatever masala I felt like but the end result was well-balanced and we loved it with some Peas Pulao made in my rice cooker (recipe coming soon) and homemade vadaam, courtesy The Husband's G Perima. Paired with a simple cucumber raita, this was a lovely meal that all came together in less than an hour. Baby Corn Masala is a great side dish for roti (chapati) too.

Generally, baby corn is cooked or par-boiled before using in any dish but since we love the crunch and texture, I didn't want to make it soft and soggy. Also, this makes for a quick dish rather than having to follow multiple steps. If you prefer your baby corn more cooked and softer, I'd recommend cooking it in a pot of boiling water until just soft and then proceeding with the Baby Corn Masala Recipe.

Also, I often get questions on the colour of my dishes and how some people who try my recipes get the taste pat down but sometimes not the colour. A few reasons for this could be that I almost exclusively use Kashmiri Chilli Powder for my cooking. It is much more vibrant and has less heat then regular chilli powder. Also, I use canned tomato paste to substitute a tomato or two in some of my cooking. This gives the dish a deep red colour which fresh tomatoes won't give. I don't enhance or change the colour in my pictures except to make it brighter in some cases, and I most definitely don't add any food colour to my regular dishes - not even to this restaurant-style paneer butter masala. Hope this helps! :)

INDIAN-STYLE BABY CORN MASALA RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 20 spears of baby corn, cut into 1" pieces
• 2 onions, sliced thin
• 1 large tomato, chopped or 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp of minced ginger
• 2-3 green chillies, slit
• 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of jeera powder (cumin powder)
• 2 tsp of coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup of milk or coconut milk
• 1 tsp of garam masala powder (optional)
• 1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 small bunch of coriander leaves, for garnish (cilantro)
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds

How to Make Baby Corn Masala:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onions and fry until golden brown. Add the green chillies, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric and some salt and saute for a few seconds

2. Then add the tomato paste or chopped tomato and cook until it turns soft

3. Add the baby corn and milk (or thin coconut milk) and more water and bring to boil

4. Cook covered for about 5 mins

5. Uncover, stir well and switch off flame. Add garam masala and chopped coriander leaves. Adjust salt

Serve hot with jeera rice, peas pulao, or chapati.

Notes:

1. I kept the gravy a bit thick and added more baby corn. If you want a looser gravy, either lessen the amount of baby corn or puree the tomato-onion gravy after step 2 and add more water/milk for the gravy
2. You can use the same base for any vegetable you prefer
3. I also add a pinch of sugar to the gravy but this is totally optional

Masala Omelette Recipe - Indian Omelet Recipe

An Indian-style Omelette is probably my favourite breakfasts on a weekend morning. I usually have all the required ingredients and whipping up a sizzling hot omelet in 10 mins beats having to eat cereal and toast for yet another day. Needless to say, the omelette has many forms in India and every household makes it differently. Even I have a few variations of the humble omelette depending on what I have in the pantry and vegetable tray.

I have tried making an omelette in various thicknesses, just to see what works best, and while I really enjoy the lacy thin omelets that are darker, these spongy, soft ones that are just cooked really hit the spot. While I am not a huge fan of almost-raw tomatoes (even on tomato uthappam, yes), The Husband loves them so I add some in.

Paired with hot coffee / tea and some fruit, this is the quickest breakfast I can rustle up and still feel like I can laze around. This masala omelette recipe is very versatile and you can choose which way you want to go with it. I have given a few options below that I generally rotate through.

You may also like these scrambled eggs with mushrooms

INDIAN MASALA OMELETTE RECIPE

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes 2 omelettes

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp of shallots or minced onions
• 3 tbsp of finely chopped tomatoes
• 3 tbsp of finely chopped capsicum (bell pepper)
• 1 green chilli, deseeded and chopped (see notes)
• 3 tbsp of finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 1/2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp of curry powder or garam masala
• 1/2 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
• 2 tsp of oil

How to Make Masala Omelet:

• Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat lightly with a fork
• Add all other ingredients (except oil) and beat again
• Heat the oil in a small pan and swirl around so it coats it completely
• Pour half the egg mixture in the pan and cook until the edges curl over and the centre bubbles up. I lightly scramble the centre without breaking the shape so it cooks evenly
• Gently flip the omelette over and cook for another minute (the centre may be jiggly but the edges would have cooked)
• The omelette will rise a bit and then fall, making it fluffy and soft
• Add more pepper powder on top if you prefer
• Serve hot with toast / ketchup or eat on its own

Notes:

1. I deseed the green chillies since biting into them can be very unpleasantly spicy. I like their flavour so I take the trouble to remove the seeds and them in. You can just skip this and add red chilli flakes or only pepper for spice
2. Add some grated cheese just before removing the omelette from the pan and fold in half. Awesome cheese masala omelette ready. I have used both cheddar cheese and pizza cheese with great results
3. You can add other vegetables like shredded carrots, mushroom, cabbage, etc. When I was about 10, I used to make this omelete called "stuffed omelette" with these vegetables - will share the recipe soon
4. You can saute the vegetables lightly before adding to the omelette, just takes extra time which I don't like spending on an omelette
5. You can also cook the omelette by covering it with a lid after pouring the mixture into the pan. I personally prefer the flipping method

Hokkaido Milk Bread Recipe - Hokkaido Milk Bread using Tangzhong

I had read about the Hokkaido Milk Bread before and even bookmarked a recipe to try it. True to many bookmarked recipes, I duly forgot about it. The Hokkaido Bread has a gorgeous soft and pillowy texture and was developed by a Chinese lady called Yvonne Chen who wrote about it in her book "the 65 degree bread doctor". She uses a special ingredient tangzhong which is a creamy cooked form of flour + milk. This is cooled and added to the bread dough while kneading which gives it a lovely texture and flavour.

Plain Hokkaido Loaf, sliced

The dough made using the tangzhong method is very versatile and you can make pretty much anything you want with it. I made some mini chocolate rolls, a medium-sized loaf with 4 rolls, and one large loaf with chocolate filling over 2 days. One portion of tangzhong was used for these and they turned out wonderful, my oven quirks aside.

Plain Hokkaido Loaf, pulled apart

The Hokkaido Bread dough also makes the most fabulous Indian-style Pav and I am looking forward to trying an entire batch of pav the next time I make pav bhaji. The plain rolls above were longer than regular pav but would have worked just as well. I sliced them up into small pieces and we had them with jam for tea (first picture).

Chocolate Bread Rolls

The chocolate rolls I baked in ramekins turned out lovely too. I baked them in a hurry for before going to meet Jey and Raks so they are slightly under-baked but still tasted great with no smell of yeast, according to them.

Lesson from above picture, do not cut chocolate swirl rolls when the bread is still warm. The melted chocolate makes a mess. Taste? Not compromised at all!

HOKKAIDO MILK BREAD RECIPE (USING TANGZHONG)

Preparation time: 4 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 1 large loaf or 1 small loaf + 6 mini rolls
Original recipe from 65 Degrees Tangzhong �65C Bread Doctor� by Yvonne Chen

Ingredients:
For Tangzhong
(You only need half the amount of tangzhong for making a large loaf so halve quantities below if you only plan to bake one loaf starting with 2.5 cups flour)
1/3 cup of all-purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
For Dough
2.5 cups of all-purpose flour (maida)
3 tbsp of sugar (see notes)
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of instant or active-dry yeast (I use and recommend Fleischmann's)
2 tbsp of milk powder
1/2 cup of milk
1/8 cup of cream (or milk)
1/3 cup of tangzhong (half of above cooked quantity)
25 gm of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of chocolate chips (if making chocolate rolls)

How to Make Hokkaido Milk Bread:

1. First we need to make the tangzhong. For that, whisk the flour, water and milk in a saucepan until smooth and lump-free. Place the stove, and over low heat, let the tangzhong cook till it starts thickening. Keep stirring/ whisking constantly so no lumps form and the roux is smooth.

If you have a thermometer, cook this mixture until it reaches 65 degrees. Otherwise, a good indication is to stop when your whisk leaves concentric lines on the tangzhong like in the picture below.

Let the tangzhong cool completely and set aside for at least 2-3 hours before proceeding with making the bread dough.

The dough for Hokkaido Bread is very sticky when you start to work on it. Adding more flour to balance this will ruin the bread so resist that temptation. If you have a stand mixer or food processor to make the bread dough, use that. Or, be patient and gentle while mixing by hand.

2. First, mix the tangzhong with the milk and cream (if using) until smooth and lump free, I combined gently with my fingertips because the whisk just wasn't cutting it.

Next, combine the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and milk powder. Add the tangzhong to this and start kneading slowly (on lowest speed if using a Kitchenaid which is what I did).

When the dough begins to form, add the softened butter. Continue to knead on slow speed for about 10-15 mins. The stickiness of the dough will gradually give way to a very soft and pillowy texture.

3. When the dough is ready, it will be super soft to touch and also break into a circle when stretched.

4. Form the dough into a ball and place in a well-oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise for about 45 mins until doubled.

5. After it's risen, gently knead the dough again and decide which direction you want to go with it. I made one medium-sized plain loaf and 4 chocolate bread rolls.

There's no need to use flour when working with this dough. The texture was delightful and non-sticky. It's hard to resist playing with it!

For that, divide the dough into half. Divide one half further into 3 or 4 balls. Gently roll each into an oval. Fold over twice from each end. Turn 90 degrees and roll into a rectangle. Roll and with the free end at the bottom, place into a well-oiled (this is important!) loaf pan. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

For the chocolate rolls, I merely put some chocolate chips after rolling out the rectangles and before rolling. I baked these in ramekins (again, well-oiled!).

6. Cover and let them rise for another 45 minutes. They will become chubby and double in size. Gently brush with some milk or cream and bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for about 30 mins.

My oven has terrible hot spots and whatever I bake in it gets cooked too soon on top and leaves the bottom uncooked. The loaf looks too dark on top but was perfect overall and cut beautifully into slices. We finished the loaf over two days and it stayed soft and tasty.

Notes:
- This milk bread has some sweetness when you eat the bread as is. If you want to use spicy or savory filling, you can reduce the amount of sugar to 2 tbsp
- Some people experimented with making the entire loaf out of just water and not milk. Of course, then we can't call it milk bread but still, the bread turns out soft and nice. That would be a good way to veganize this Hokkaido Bread
- If making chocolate rolls, slice only after the rolls have completely cooled
- Hokkaido Milk Bread is bread #3 baked by the We Knead to Bake group. Thank you for a lovely and soft bread recipe, Aparna!

Orange Lemon Juice Recipe - A Welcome Drink Recipe Idea

I barely make juices at home since whatever fruits we buy, we prefer to eat as is without squeezing it out and adding more sugar or sweeteners. Plus, I'd rather make paneer than make juice - it's all about priorities. However, I was raised on a healthy amount of hand-squeezed juices. Amma would juice pretty much anything that came her way and we always welcomed guests with a nice cold glass of juice, aptly called a welcome drink - here's Amma's favourite welcome drink recipe.

I love all things citrusy and making a juice of orange with some drops of lemon and sugar just seemed like a welcome change to the usual tea we have in the evenings. This orange lemon juice was born out of necessity though.

The other day, we saw this huge orange being sold in a supermarket nearby. When I say huge, I mean huge - almost three times the size of a regular orange. See below for comparison in sizes of the orange against a pretty large-sized lemon. See what I mean? I am sure there's some other name to this fruit than "orange" so if you know, please share share your wisdom.

Update: thanks to the many who pointed out that this is actually a mandarin. I have seen the regular mandarins that come individually packed during Chinese New Year but this one was huge so I got confused. Thanks for clarifying, you all know who you are :)

Chinese New Year time is when all sorts of oranges in different shapes and form enter the market. Although this is our 4th Chinese New Year in Singapore, neither of us had seen an orange this big. So we did what any curious person would do and bought one.

It peeled like any other orange would do but with a bit more resistance. The skin was thick, the insides were more fibrous and the seeds were huge. We both bit into one piece with great anticipation but owwww, it was very very sour.

So I did the obvious thing and juiced it. That one orange + a few drops of lemon juice gave us three 200ml glasses of orange lemon juice.

I altered the proportion of orange : lemon in each glass which explains the difference in colours. We polished off all three glasses of juice in a matter of minutes! Make these for guests or your dehydrated kids/selves when the sun is hot and there's that lull between breakfast and lunch. Your body will thank you for it.

I don't like pulp in my orange juice so passed the juice through a relatively fine-meshed sieve. You can squeeze the juice directly using a hand-juicer and just remove the seeds if that's what you prefer. I used my blender for the job.

ORANGE LEMON JUICE RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Makes 3 glasses

Ingredients:

• 3-4 of regular-sized oranges or 1 large orange if you can find them
• 1/2 of a lemon
• 2-3 tbsp of sugar (adjust to taste)

How to Make Orange Lemon Juice:

• Peel the oranges and add them to a blender. Alternately, you can use a hand-juicer and juice them with the pulp intact.
• Blend the oranges and pass through a sieve or mesh to remove the hard fibres and pulp.
• Squeeze the desired amount of lemon and add sugar.
• Chill and add ice cubes before serving

Notes:
- Don't make this too much in advance - about 30 mins max before you need to serve is ideal
- Add ice cubes just before serving, otherwise the juice will become too dilute from the melting ice cubes
- Adjust the proportion of orange and lemon to your taste

Bhatura Recipe - How to Make Chana Bhatura Recipe - Step by Step

Batura (also spelled as Bhatura, Bhature, Bhatoora, etc) is a childhood favourite. We had a maid called Mary who would make the most amazing Batura - she used to called them Vatura, a standing joke in the house - which amma always complimented with a perfect bowl of Chana Masala. Chana Bhature needs no introduction to any Indian or people familiar with the Indian food. Chana Bhatura gained popularity as a street food in India with many roadside vendors frying up piping hot, large Bhatura served with a katori of Channa Masala, raw minced onions, and a lemon wedge.

I am a bit of a snob when eating out and prefer to not order deep fried mains like Poori and Batura simply because the thought of that large kadai of bubbling oil puts me off. That's not to say I don't eat anything deep fried, I most definitely do, but they are hardly my first choice and I prefer to make Batura at home.

As mentioned in the Chana Masala Recipe post, when Amma visited last May we made Bhatura at home. I was all excited and then forgot to take pictures of the final dish so decided to make them again. You need to plan ahead a bit for homemade Bhatura but most of it is just waiting time and not active cooking time. I'd say make the Batura dough and soak the chana at the same time and by evening, you can make a hot plate of Chole Bhature. You can also do the waiting overnight and make it for breakfast or brunch - entirely up to you.

Chana Masala & Bhature

One word of caution - making Bhature is easy but since we are dealing with regular flour or maida here, it tends to get rubbery if the dough is not made properly and your oil heat is not regulated. I have made them twice (apart from with Amma when they obviously turned out perfect) and they got significantly better in the second batch. So do take care to follow the steps and give it enough resting time to get crispy and great-tasting Batura.

BATURA RECIPE - CHOLE BHATURE RECIPE

Preparation time: 8 hours
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes ~ 18 Bhatura
Recipe Source: Amma

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of maida / regular all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups of plain curd / yogurt (not sour)
• 1 heaping tsp of baking powder
• 1.4 tsp of soda powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 3-4 cups of oil, for deep-frying

How to Make Batura:

• Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and soda until combined
• Add curd to this little at a time and knead into a soft, smooth, slightly sticky dough. You can add more or less curd as required but don't add any water to the dough
• Keep this dough in the refrigerator covered with cling wrap or a plate for about 6-8 hours
• The dough will rise a bit and become more airy. Punch it down, knead lightly and roll into lime-sized balls
• Flour the dough balls generously, flatten on your palm, and roll into circles
• Heat oil for deep frying just until smoking and add the rolled bhature one by one
• Fry until puffed up and golden specks appear on both sides
• Drain and set aside. Repeat until all the dough is used up
• Serve hot with Chana Masala

Step by Step Pictures to Make Batura

1. Mix the salt, soda, baking powder and flour well with fingertips.

2. Add curd little at a time and knead into a soft, slightly sticky dough

3. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling wrap or a loose plate so the dough doesn't dry out. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

4. The dough would have risen a fair bit. Punch it down and knead gently. Divide into lime-sized balls.

5. Dust generously with more flour and roll these out into thin circles.

Or, erm.. almost-circles in my case

6. Deep fry in hot oil

Until brown specks appear on the surface. The oil needs to be quite hot, almost smoking.

7. Drain and set aside. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Serve immediately with Chole Masala or Vegetable Korma. Even Paneer Dishes go well with Batura. 

Szechuan Eggplant Recipe - Sichuan Eggplant Recipe - Step by Step

Eggplant cooked the Chinese way in a delicious szechuan sauce. Szechuan Eggplant is a very quick side dish for vegetable fried rice or noodles.

Making a side dish for Vegetable Fried Rice (or noodles) usually leaves me in a cloud of flour dust, crankiness due to the heat of the oil I need to deep fry stuff in (you know, for manchurians and such) and the humidity in Singapore doesn't help matters much. While I would definitely agree that a finished Gobi Manchurian or Chilli Paneer is a thing of beauty and deliciousness, it's not something I would make often simply because of the number of steps and the chances of messing up the kitchen and the final dish.

This Eggplant Schezwan Recipe is a boon on such days. It's so very easy to put together and tastes great and takes all of 20 mins to cook up. If you are not a fan of eggplant, may I take a few mins and try to convert you? No? Ok then, try Mushroom Schezwan or Tofu Schezwan or ooohh, a Paneer Schezwan. Pretty much any vegetable can be customized and made using the same basic recipe for Schezwan sauce that I have given below.

Hungy yet? Ok, on to the Sichuan Eggplant Recipe now!

SCHEZWAN EGGPLANT RECIPE

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 2-3
Recipe idea from: Food Network

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant cut into 1" wide wedges
• 5-6 shallots or pearl onions
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 1 tsp of red red chilli sauce (Sriracha, Maggi, anything works) or chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp of soya sauce
• 1 tsp of regular white vinegar
• 1 tsp of cornflour or corn starch
• 1/2 tsp of brown sugar (or jaggery)
• 1 small bunch of coriander leaves / cilantro
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil (Indian gingelly oil) or peanut oil
• 1 cup water

How to Make Schezwan Eggplant:

• Heat oil in a wide pan and when it starts to smoke, add the eggplant in 2 batches, frying until sticky and brown. Add salt and pepper to this, drain and set aside
• In the same pan, add a few more drops of oil if required and fry the shallots until soft. To this, add the red chilli sauce (or flakes) and minced garlic. Saute for a few seconds
• Meanwhile, mix the soya sauce, vinegar, corn starch, sugar, and some salt to make the Schezwan Sauce
• Add this to the shallot mixture and cook on medium-high heat until it starts to bubble
• Tip in the fried eggplant and mix well until the sauce coats the eggplant
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with fried rice or noodles

Step by Step Pictures to Make Schezwan Eggplant

1. Heat oil and fry the eggplant in 2-3 batches

... until soft, browned, and sticky. Add salt and pepper, drain and set aside.

2. In same pan, add more oil if needed, and fry the shallots.

3. Add chilli sauce and minced garlic and saute some more.

4. Meanwhile, make the Schezwan Sauce by mixing the corn starch, soya sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and some salt

5. Add water to the shallot mixture and top off with the Schezwan Sauce

6. When it boils and starts bubbling, add the eggplant

7. Mix well and cook through until sauce coats the eggplant fully.

Notes:

• You can deep-fry the eggplant until crisp and proceed with the recipe. If served immediately, this will give the dish a nice texture
• You can use spring onions (scallions, green onions) instead of the shallots for a different flavour
• Use the Asian eggplant for best results. They are long and purple. If not available where you live, use the regular fat eggplant or smaller purple brinjal
• You can add some minced ginger along with the garlic. For some reason, I felt like omitting ginger so I did