WEEKEND DHAMAL...

I know its been a long time, but I had no time to sit down to really put my thoughts into words. Not that I was on to something really important, still time just flies... . One day its a Monday and by the time you get a grip on the week ,its already Friday night. This time I did not even realize when March got converted into April. And then it struck me that I had not even visited my blog-site, much less added something new to it.

My weekend was great though, as is usually the case. Two back to back potlucks and a movie. It was the Easter weekend, we had Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So after attending the church for Good Friday we had an all vegetarian Chinese themed potluck. Saturdays theme was Indian and Easter Sunday we watched  the movie Clash of the Titans. Thus my friends I was busy, the weekdays is another matter lets not go there.

 There was Fried rice, Gobi Manchurian, Corn soup and we started with a Vegetable kebab served in Chinese style. I had prepared Vegetable Chow-mien and Paneer chili. Now I am really confused as to which recipe to share with you. Lets do Vegetable Chow-mien, its easy and a good way to make the kids eat their veggies.

Vegetable Chow-mien  Recipe ( serves 4) :

1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/4 cup diagonally sliced baby corn
1/2 cup cauliflower cut into bite sized florets 
1/4 cup cabbage coarsely cut 
1/4 cup snow peas or regular peas
1/2 cup french beans, sliced diagonally
1/4 cup mushrooms sliced( optional)
1/4 cup  green bell peppers sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1/4 tsp ajinomoto
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 packets plain noodles
cornflour slurry -  2 tbsp corn flour mixed in 1/2 cup water
a few spring onion stalks finely cut
water to make the vegetable stock and boil the noodles
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil


Please cut all the vegetables to approx. an inch in size.


1. In 3 cups of boiling salted water, add all the vegetables except the mushrooms,bell peppers.

2. Par boil the vegetables and drain. Reserve the liquid , this is the stock.

3. In a wok, heat 2 tbsp oil and add the ginger and garlic. Stir till fragrant and put in the mushrooms and bell peppers. Stir fry on high heat for 2 minutes.

4. Add the soy sauce, a pinch of ajinomoto salt and pepper.

5. Now put in the par boiled vegetables and stir fry until mixed well and almost cooked, cover and simmer for 5 more minutes.

6. Heat the stock, add the remaining ajinomoto and thicken with cornflour slurry. Bring it to boil and keep aside.


7. In a large pot roll boil water and put in the noodles, when done drain and slightly fry in 2 tbsp oil in a large wok, so that the noodles do not stick to each other.


8. Serve individually; place the noodles first, lay the vegetables and then pour the thickened stock on top. Garnish with spring onions.

The recipe is originally my mom-in-laws, I simply converted it the vegetarian version by excluding the chicken and adding a few extra veggies and maybe a few details here and there. In any case its worth a try.


Cheers.