VEGETABLE SWEET AND SOUR SOUP

Ingredients:
Vegetable broth - 5 cups
Mushroom – 4-5
Carrot – 1 medium
Green bell pepper – ½
Red bell pepper – ½
Tomato – 1 small
Cabbage – 3tbsp
Chopped Ginger – 1 tbsp
Chopped Garlic – 1tbsp
Soy sauce* – 2tbsp
Chili sauce – 1tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Sugar – ½ tsp
Red chili flakes – 1tsp
Corn flour – 3tbsp
Green onion – 3-4, take only the green part
Fried noodles for serving

Cooking Procedure:
Cut all the vegetables in small pieces.
In a big pot, heat some oil. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 mins. Then add all the chopped vegetables, except the green onions and sauté 2 mins without adding any salt. Then add soy sauce, chili sauce, salt, sugar and red chili flakes. Stir well and then add vegetable broth. Bring it to a boil and let simmer for 5-10 mins. Dissolve the corn flour in half cup of water. Add it to the soup and stir continuously. After adding corn flour, the soup will start to thicken. You can add more/less corn flour for desired thickness of the soup. Let it simmer for 5 more mins. Finally garnish with chopped green onions and serve hot with fried noodles**.

* I used Chings Dark Soy sauce; I bought it from the Indian store.
** I used La Choy chow mein noodles.

MIXED DAL DHIRDE/ DOSA

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ½ cup
Moong dal – ½ cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Chana dal – ½ cup
Rice – 1 cup
Green chilies – 3-4
Ginger – 1”
Garlic – 3-4 cloves
Freshly chopped coriander leaves – 3-4tbsp
Salt as per taste

Cooking Procedure:
Use separate container for dals and rice. Wash all the dals and rice till water runs clear. Soak them for atleast 5-6 hours. Coarsely grind the rice. Grind all the dals to smooth paste, adding just the required amount of water to grind .Mix all the dals and rice together to form a cake like batter. Grind ginger, garlic and green chilies. Mix this paste into the batter. Add the coriander leaves and salt.
Heat the non stick griddle/ skillet on medium heat. Pour a ladleful of batter over the skillet and spread the batter evenly using a circular motion from inside out.
Pour a teaspoon of oil around the edges. Increase the heat and cook until the bottom of the dhirde/dosa starts to turn golden brown. Turn over carefully and cook the other side for a about a minute
Serve hot with coconut chutney/ chutney powder.

CHICKEN BALTI

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1 kg
Onion – 1 big sliced
Bay leaf - 2
Ginger paste – 1 tsp
Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Tomato – 2 medium chopped
Green chilies – 3-4
Red chili powder – 1 tbsp
Jeera powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Everest mutton masala – ½ tsp
Yogurt/ curd – 4 tbsp
Kasoori methi – 1tsp
Cream – 2-3 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves

Cooking Procedure:
Clean the chicken and keep aside. Whip the yogurt with little oil and keep aside*.
Heat some oil in a pan. Add onions and fry till dark brown (not black). Now add bay leaf, ginger paste and garlic paste. Fry well then add chicken. Fry this chicken on high heat till oil separates. Now add tomato and salt. Cook till tomatoes get dissolved. Continue cooking on high heat. Now add green chilies, jeera powder, red chili powder, garam masala and everest mutton masala. Stir well till oil separates. Now remove the pan from heat and add the yogurt**. Mix well and then return the pan on heat. Now add hot water and bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame, cover and let the chicken cook till tender. When the chicken gets half cooked add kasoori methi. When the chicken cooks completely add cream. Simmer for 2mins and finally garnish with coriander leaves.

* whipping the yogurt with little bit of oil will make a very smooth gravy.
** By removing the pan from heat and adding the yogurt will prevent the yogurt from curdling.