Savour The Rains

TRY THESE APPETISING AND HEALTHY RECIPES TO SATIATE YOUR TASTEBUDS

This monsoon season, satisfy your palate without compromising on health

Keeping in pace with the changing season, our food preferences also shift from cold and light meals to warm and spice infused foods. During summer, we all stick to our diet resolutions to survive the sweltering heat, but the monsoon brings with it relief from the humid weather and also the rise of popular street foods such as fritters and roasted corns. But as people are increasingly sticking to nutrient-packed foods, the potato fritters are being replaced with healthier versions such as fruit-based fritters and deep fried frankies by egg akouri wraps. Here are five monsoon recipes for you.

STIR FRIED BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN Ingredients

500 gram boneless, skinless chicken breasts 6 tbsp cornstarch 1 diced white onion 1 cup snow peas, coloured peppers and pokchoi Oil for frying ¼ cup oyster sauce 1 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp black pepper ½ tsp white pepper 1 tsp sake or rice wine

Method

Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Cut chicken into ½’’ cubes and dust chicken pieces with corn starch until fully coated. Deep fry chicken in batches until golden brown. Heat about one tbsp of oil in the wok and stir fry diced vegetables for a minute. Add sauce mixture to the wok and heat until bubbling. Add chicken, stirring to fully coat with the sauce.

THUKPA/GYA-THUK (NOODLE SOUP) Ingredients (Serves four to six)

300 gram egg noodles 200 gram chopped onion 10 gram chopped spring onion 100 gram tomatoes 100 gram broccoli 150 gram pokchoi 15 gram chopped garlic 2 sliced green chili About three litres of clear vegetable stock

Method

Fry chopped onions with garlic and green chillies, add vegetables, saute for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste. Keep aside after cooking. Boil four litres of water and drop noodles, boil for two minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the noodles through a large sieve and run cold water over them to stop them from sticking. Drain the water from noodles and transfer to a bowl. Pour hot soup into bowl with noodles. Put fried vegetable mixture and finely chopped green onion leaves on top of it. Serve hot.

LEMONGRASS AND KAFIR SPICY CHICKEN SALAD Ingredients

150 gram minced chicken 20 gram fish sauce 3 gram sugar 25 gram fresh lemon juice 2 gram roasted ground rice 3 gram roasted dry red chilli powder 20 gram sliced red onion 5 gram sliced lemongrass 1 gram sliced kafir Lemongrass and kafir spicy chicken salad

lime leaves 10 gram chopped spring onion 3 gram chopped mint leaves 2 gram chopped Thai parsley 1 gram green coriander leaves 1 gram fresh green mint leaves 20 gram carved red radish

Method

Heat the wok until very hot. Cook chicken and remove from heat. Add fish sauce, sugar and lemon juice. Mix well. Add roasted ground rice and roasted dry red chilli powder. Add vegetables and mix lightly. Garnish and serve..

FENNEL SCENTED SWEET BANANA FRITTERS Ingredients

200 gram wheat flour 100 gram bananas 80 gram jaggery 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 cup milk/water Oil or ghee to fry

Method

Filter flour in a utensil using a strainer. Put jaggery in milk or water and dissolve it, sift flour in this composition and add mashed ripened bananas. The mixture for fritters has to be thick. Cover the mix and keep in cool dry place overnight allowing the flour to ferment. Whisk this mix properly. Add fennel seeds. Pour oil in a pan and heat. When oil is sufficiently heated, take small amounts of mixture at a time and put it in hot oil and fry till golden brown.

BBQ LAMB CHOPS Ingredients

3 New Zealand lamb chops ¼ tsp rosemary chopped 1 small onion cut to roundels 1 sliced potato ½ cup assorted vegetables

Method

Marinate the lamb chops with oil, rosemary, salt and pepper; keep aside for 30 minutes. Cut and wash the potatoes in slices, arrange them in a dish layered with butter, salt, pepper and put chicken stock to half the level. Bake in the oven for two hours at 160 degrees. Grill the lamb chops to desired denseness. Saute the vegetables add seasoning and arrange on the plate. Arrange the sliced baked potatoes on the plate and mount the grilled lamb chops on it and serve.