Stir fried Lettuce

Last night, I got the craving to eat “Lai Patta” or lettuce leafs. Stir fried lettuce is made by almost every local household in Arunachal Pradesh/ Nagaland/ Assam/ Mizoram/ Meghalaya. Now the lettuce leafs that you get in the North eastern states is lot different than you get outside

So what we need

One bunch of lettuce leafs – Please remember that once cooking is done, the quantity would look very less

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
• 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tbs of fine granulated sugar – means small fine almost powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil - NO mustard oil please

Preparation (15-20 minutes including the preparation time)

Wash the lettuce, drain and separate the leaves. It’s important to make sure the lettuce is dry. Combine the soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl and mix well.

Heat a wok on medium-high heat and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Stir-fry until aromatic (5 - 10 seconds) and add the lettuce. Stir-fry the lettuce, sprinkling with the salt, for 1 - 2 minutes, until the leaves begin to wilt.

Give the sauce a quick re-stir and swirl it into the wok. Stir-fry for 1 - 2 more minutes, until the lettuce turns dark green.

And its done

Healthiest Fish recipe ever known by man :)

Hey you like fish – healthy and delicious. Yeah Yeah I know. What you thinking but No. Not a pinch of oil...

So here it goes

The maker – The Momo making machine ..

½ Kg of any kind of fish – Try Bohu because that ‘s what I tried or any boneless fish or fish with less bones.. Actually it does not matter

The marinating process1) Take 2-3 pieces of garlic cloves (Mind you not too much. I smelt like garlic for 2 days when I made it for the 1st time)

2) Take 1 big piece of ginger . You would need more of ginger than garlic

3) Chillies based on your taste buds

4) A little salt

5) Lots of coriander leaves (Dhaniya patta

Once you have all the stuffs, Mix them in a mixer, or manual grinder. I like the latter and mix it with the fish. Here you can use little oil (Very little)

Now that you have keep it covered say for an hour. Please do not add Vinegar (it’s a request).

Now take an aluminium foil and place the fish in the centre and fold the four sides of the aluminum foil up to prevent the juice from flowing.Place the fish cupped in aluminum foil on the steamer tray.Steam the fish for 20 -30 minutes or till fully cooked. Use a fork to poke iknto center of the fish to check

Once done… enjoy with food or with your drinks. You may also add very thinly sliced Carrots, spring onions on top to garnish

To make the fish little crisper, what I tried what I took the fish out and grilled it. You do not need to go through all that. It works either way.

Now who said a girl who lived outside Arunachal for a decade can’t cook ;)

Mix vegetables with Tinned fish - Its healthy and its yummy

If you like Tinned fish, you will like this too

All you need (if you are cooking for say 4 people)

1)      vermicelli –White ones (Sewai) . So when you go to a store, ask for sewai which is not fried.One packet is enough

2)      Two medium size potatoes

3)      2-3 capsicums

4)      Green chilies

5)      1 small Cauliflower

6)      1 mooli – I seriously don’t know the English name

7)      2 tomatoes  - Not too raw

Oil, Salt and water

Basically, you can add other vegetables that you like. I have mentioned the above because they go well with Tinned fish

The process

·        Cut all the vegetables in small cubes and set it aside. In a Pan/Karahi, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the potatoes, mooli and cauliflowers.

·        After 5-7 minutes, check if they have softened little bit.

·        Once they are, add the other vegetables and add little water and cook for another 5 minutes. Let the vegetables soak the water completely. Mind you, don’t get too greedy with water as the cauliflower is going to break its water ..Ha ha Here comes the baby cauliflower…

·        While they are being cooked, boil 4 cups of water in a different utensil  and add the vermicelli and bring it boil. Once the vermicelli is done, set is aside by throwing the extra water.

Now check your vegetables, add the tinned fish, fry in low flame for 2 minutes, Add salt and than add the vermicelli and cook for another 5 minutes in low flame

  

If you prefer gravy, you can add extra water

And if you add something extra… Please go on food lovers. If you love food, "EXPERIMENT" 

Mojitos -Care for a cool refreshing Rum drink

You can have it on a hot summer day as well however I cannot guarantee the after effects. If you are a Rum drinker, you know what I mean. Lets not forget that this is no Russia

What you must have

1) White Rum (Obviously)

2) Ice - Crushed

3) Lemon slice

4) Lime juice

5) Club Soda

6) Powered-ed or say granulated sugar (Arre nahin hain toh mixer main grind kar do…)

7) Mint leaves..lots of them (Pudina- Please note that it makes the entire drink, hence it’s a must)

Place the mint leaves (8-10 for one glass),1 and 1/2 cup of club soda,2 tea spoon of sugar and mix well till the sugar dissolves.
Than add 3 tablespoon lime juice, add the rum (depending on how strong you want your drink to be) and mix. Add crushed ice and Mix well again.
Strain the drink and garnish with lemon slice and 2-3 mint leaves.

So there you go - A cool refreshing Rum drink Mohitos (Pronounced as MOHITOS). Dear friends, enjoy clubbing at home :)

Chicken soup/boil chicken

Being an Arunachali/ Naga/Mizo we all eat mostly boiled stuffs. How about making it little different than the everyday’s boiled stuff- Chicken soup or boil chicken with bread or with rice (Rice if you are a north eastern)

So this is what you need to do…
The ingredients

1) 1/2 kilo chicken

2) 3 Tomatoes - sliced

3) Chillies

4) 1 Tbs black pepper - Jaalmuris..Lol

5) 2-3 cloves of garlic and ginber

6) 2 eggs

6) Salt to taste

Bring 4 big cups of water to boil. Add 3 sliced tomatoes – Big sizes (If you can please remove the seeds), Chilis if you like.

Crush 4 pieces of garlic and ginger – not mash but crush and add them

Add small pieces of chicken , add salt and bring it to boil (please keep it covered)

Cook for 15-20 minutes based on what kind of chicken you are using – You know local murgi has thick skin

Before you take out the chicken, add one/two raw egg /eggs(beat the eggs well first)..2 eggs are more than enough for 1/2 kg chicken

Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes and see how different it tastes that your usual boil chicken