It has been a while since I tried something for the blog as I was busy with work. I hadn’t even had time to do my usual grocery shopping! I finally made some time last weekend to get into the kitchen and try a couple of different dishes. You can expect to see some new recipes soon!
I find cooking to be therapeutic. Does anyone else feel that way? Somehow when I am in front of the stove, I forget all my stresses. Anyways, one of the things I tried this week was this Indo-Chinese style of stir-fry. Crunchy veggies go perfectly well with this recipe – I’ve used green beans, carrots, capsicum and onion. I also added in pan-roasted tofu for some extra protein. Feel free to skip this or you can even substitute it with paneer. The recipe is really simple actually – cook the veggies on medium high heat with a mixture of soy sauce, red chilli flakes and black pepper! The saltiness from the soy sauce and the spices add a wonderful taste to the veggies. I ended up eating this just as is – it was that tasty. You can serve it with rice or even chapathi.
A lot of times I debate between doing a take-out or cooking something at home. Having these simple recipes helps me cut down on the number of times I eat out. I prefer home-cooked food so that I know exactly what goes into my food. That way I know I am eating healthily. If you always thought cooking was difficult, try this simple recipe. Cooking can be fun and easy. You’ll never know unless you give it a shot 🙂
Indo-Chinese Style Mixed Veggies
- 150 grams green beans
- 2 small carrots
- 1 large onion
- 1 small capsicum
- 2 cloves garlic
- 200 grams extra firm tofu
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
Method
- Chop the green beans into 1 inch pieces. Chop the carrots also into thin slices about 1 inch in length. Slice the onions and chop the capsicum coarsely. Finely chop the garlic as well.
- Wrap the tofu in a kitchen towel and place a heavy pan on it. This helps squeeze out some of the water in the tofu. Then chop the tofu into thin rectangular pieces.
- In a broad pan, add 1 tsp oil. Lay out the tofu pieces flat and let it roast on medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Once the underside turns golden, flip all the tofu pieces and let them roast on the other side as well. Take these out onto a plate.
- In a large deep pan, add the rest of the oil. Add the slices onions and garlic and saute well for a few minutes. Then add in the other chopped veggies to this. Sprinkle a little salt and let cook the veggies on medium high heat till they are 3/4th cooked. That way the veggies will still be crunchy and not mushy.
- Once the veggies are cooked, add the roasted tofu to the same pan.
- In a bowl mix together the soy sauce, wheat flour, red chilli flakes and black pepper along with 2 tbsp of water. Make sure there are no lumps.
- Add this mixture to the veggies and mix well. Cook for a 2 more minutes and then serve this Indo-Chinese style moxed veggies with hot rice or chapathi. Enjoy!