Chicken Dumplings - Momo

Beginning this year with a recipe for "Dumplings", hugely popular in many parts of Asia and has now made it's place as one of the world's most favorite snack. Dumplings are always a crowd pleaser and is a kind of food one can have almost at any time of the day. There are various kinds and types of Dumplings from different countries like China, Nepal, Japan, Korea etc. India is mostly exposed to the dumplings from Nepal called "Momo". This was the only face of dumpling known to me until I moved to Shanghai in 2012.
I came to know Dumplings originated in China. It was there that I got exposed to the world of Dumplings from Steamed Dumplings "Jiaozi" to Potstickers to Wantons and its variation the Wanton soup and my Soupy dumpling -"Xiao long bao"  and Crystal Shrimp dumpling to name a renowned few. In China during occasions preparing Dumpling at home is a family affair where everyone contributes in the preparation of the dish. 
I learnt to make dumplings from Ni Su Mai, our housekeeper in Shanghai.Though there was a language barrier but we could manage to understand with mix of broken sentences, hand gestures and a lot of guess work 😊
What I understood that even home cooks are extremely proficient in making dumplings and the output was no less professional then a commercial establishment.

In a lot countries readymade dumpling wrappers are available to buy, but in India I have not come across them thus including the recipe for the same with the basic dumpling recipe.
I am sharing the basic recipe of Dumplings. 

Food made with love at home is incomparable with anything we find outside, although it might look rustic but the mix of love and flavour is what we always remember

Chinese - Tea Eggs

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  On our first day in Shanghai I went to buy some essentials in a store called Family Mart, these eggs caught my attention. I had never seen something like this before. The eggs was getting cooked in a very dark colored solution and most of the eggs were partially cracked. The look in itself was not appetizing. It was only when I started with my internship, our colleagues used to order local food and I got to taste the eggs for the first time. The Tea eggs are a common snack and many times added with combo meals as well. We are normally aware of only plain water boiled hard eggs but this technique can be used to beautifully infuse different types aroma and taste in eggs- a delightful variation of this simple everyday dish.

Sada Dosa (Plain Dosa)

 South Indian cuisine is an all-time favorite for me, from childhood I have been a fan of the taste and variety of classics that South Indian cuisine has to offer. The ubiquitous Dosa,Vada,Idli,Appam,Uthapam,Sambar, Rasam being the dishes that we can find all over the country and give us the refreshing flavor punch we crave from this cuisine. 
In Calcutta there are number of "South Indian" restaurants and I was always happy to visit those, but never tried my hands in preparing these dishes before. Being a Bong and preparing Dosa at home was an achievement for me :) 
Before you are tempted to prepare dosa at home  give yourself a prep break of a day. There are number of varieties of Dosa but to begin with I have tried the recipe for Sada (Plain) Dosa as mentioned below.

Fried String Beans - Sichuan Style

 

 I am sure most among us do enjoy having Chinese food especially while eating out.Chinese Food in India is ubiquitous, be it small road side stalls selling "chow mien" and "manchurian" or up market establishments serving variety of mouth watering prawn or  seafood dishes.It is only after coming to China and tasting the different varieties of Chinese food I understood  that Indianized version of Chinese food is completely different from the Authentic Chinese cuisine (probably because Chinese dishes in India is customized for the Indian palate).

Tandoori chicken

Tandoori Chicken !!!!!!!! ...One of the most popular Indian subcontinent dish and is among my favorite.....Let me give a brief about this dish...Tandoori Chicken is originated from the Mughlai cuisine but with time it became popular throughout India.
It is traditionally cooked on high heat tandoor or a barbecue grill. The chicken is prepared by exposing the food to live- fire, this is how the dish is named Tandoori Chicken. A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven where the heat is generated by a charcoal or wood fire and smoking by the fat and food juices that drip on the charcoal...We always think of having tandoori chicken in a restaurant  but it is equally easy to prepare and enjoy at home with an added advantage of tweaking the flavors as per your palate.
Well at home you can prepare it in an oven in case you don't have a tandoor...the dish will come out equally good or even better...

Simply Bruschetta

Bruschetta is an antipasto from Italy,which means it is served as a first course or starter in a formal Italian meal.At the same time you can also serve them as a cool party snack.The best thing about bruschetta is the different variations that can be made according to available ingredients and your own choice of taste,additionally it is a very easy uncomplicated dish to prepare. 

Masala Pomfret Fry

Today I am going to write about Masala Pomfret fry . This dish is one of my favorites. It is a simple yet very tasty and tempting dish. You can eat this as a starter along with any drinks or as main coarse . I generally prepare a Shahi rice and a spicey veg curry to compliment the fish fry. Hope you all will enjoy this recipe.