Tandoori Chicken, Rice-A-Roni, Mini YouChoy

I know it was a weird combo to have for dinner but it was gooood and it was so easy to make.

Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken breast - 2 lbs (bonesless and skinless cut into thick strips)
Tandoori Masala - 3 Tbsp. (I bought priya brand but you can use any brand you like)
Red food color - 2 drops
Curd/yogurt - 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice - 2 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 Tbsp.

Procedure:
- Mix food color, masala , lemon juice and salt to the curd.
- In a ziplock bag, add the chicken and the marinade and mix well till all the chicken pieces are coated.
- Leave the ziplock in the fridge for 2 to 4 hours.
- Now, you can cook this in different ways, you can either bake them or pan fry them or do what I did.
- Pressure cook the chicken for 2 whistles (no need to add any water).
- Heat oil in a saute pan. Add the cooked chicken pieces and pan fry them till they form a thin golden crust on all sides.
- Do it in batches so you don't over crowd the pan.

Rice-A-Roni

Rice-A-Roni is nothing but rice and vermicelli cooked together. Instead of Vermicelli I used angel hair pasta.

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups uncooked
Angel hair pasta - 1/4 cup cut into small pieces
Salt - to taste
Water - 5 cups

I have a microwave rice cooker, so I just added all the ingredients and cooked them for 200 minute sin the microwave. However you can use the electric cooker or even do stove-top method too.

Mini YouChoy with garlic and soy sauce
YouChoy I think is also called Chinese broccoli. You can get this in any asian store. I became a fan of it few years ago when my then manager introduced me to this vegetable.

Ingredients:
You Choy - 2 lbs washed and ends trimmed
Garlic - 4 cloves sliced thin
Low-Sodium Soy Sauce - 2 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
vegetable stock - 1/4 cup
White pepper - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp.

Procedure:
- Heat oil in a wok.
- Add garlic and stir for 15 seconds making sure it doesn't burn.
- Add youchoy, soy sauce, stock, slat and pepper
- cover and cook till the veggie is cooked through.

Tips n Tricks

I was reading my man Tony's(Yes, I think he is hot) book, "Kitchen Confidential" and decided not to buy the "Garlic Press". Why? because he said it's no good and I blindly follow whatever he says ;). Ok, Jokes apart, I did buy one from Ikea few years ago, that thing is a piece of crap and I don't use minced garlic as much as garlic chips or slivered.

I told you all to go take a knife skills class in my last post. And the question I get asked most form my family is if they should by Wushtoff or Henckles or the latest from Rachel Ray. Rachel Ray is making knives? WTF? I don't care what brand you buy or how much you spend, just get a 8 or 10 inch thats made with High-Carbon stainless steel. I have one 10" that I bought for $12 in 2001 when I took a basic cooking class at community college in NJ and it still works as good as brand new.

I am also thinking of starting to store mint and coriander and other fresh herbs in a tall glass with water than in the fridge. America's Test Kitchen magazine recommended this Progressive Herb-Saver which doesn't seem like a bad idea too.

VT Noodle Salad with Mango and Cucumber

As soon as I saw the cover of my vegetarian Times magazine, I wanted to eat it. Since I don't eat paper, I decided to re-create the recipe for the noodle salad. It wasn't bad. Mom and dad loved. For Prabu and me, since we are not big fans of raw mint and coriander, it was ok. Mom wants me to include this in my monthly menu rotation :)

Ingredients:

Rice Noodles - 8 oz
Carrot - 1 large thinly sliced
Cucumber - 1 thinly sliced
Mango - 1 large ripe, thinly sliced
Lettuce - 1/5 cups shredded
Basil Leaves - 1/2 cup
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Green onions - 1/2 cup chopped fine
Bean Sprouts - 1 cup
Roasted peanuts - 1/2 cup crushed (optional)

For Dressing:

Light Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
Lime juice - 1/2 cup
Soy Sauce - low-sodium 1/2 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves minced
Red Jalapeno chile - 1 finely chopped


Procedure:

- For the dressing: Warm all ingredients in pan over low heat until sugar is melted, stirring occasionally and cool.
- To make salad: Cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and chill. Cook carrots for 30 seconds in pot of boiling water. Transfer to colander and rinse under cool water. Add to the noodles.
- Toss the noodle mixture with rest of the ingredients. Drizzle with the dressing and top it with coriander and serve.