Chicken Thai Noodles

This quick and easy recipe is to die for! Spicy in taste, you can just whip up this recipe and look like a pro in about half an hour. Serve it to suit your taste with either prawns, beef or chicken.

Ingredients:

Egg noodles boiled 1 small packet

Chicken 1 breast fillet (cut into cubes or strips)

Capsicum 1 cut into julienne 

Cabbage sliced 1 cup 

Carrot 1 cut into julienne

Mushrooms 3-4 sliced

Crushed garlic 1 tsp heaped

Salt ½ tsp

White pepper ½ tsp

Red chili flakes ½ tsp

White vinegar 1 tsp

Soy sauce 1 tbsp

Fish sauce 1 tsp (optional)

Brown sugar 1 tsp

Oyster sauce 1 tbsp

Chili garlic sauce 1 tbsp

Oil 2-3 tbsp

Method:

1. Warm up a wok or large frying pan on a medium-high flame. Add oil and crushed garlic, stir-fry until golden in color.
2. Now add chicken, continue stir-frying until the chicken is cooked.
3. Put all the mentioned seasonings and sauces in the ingredient list. Add vegetables and mushrooms, fry for a minute.
4. Immediately add boiled egg noodles, toss it well with the help of two wooden spoons. 
5. Stir-fry in this way for another 1-2 minutes. 
6. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on the top, and serve. Enjoy! 

Serves: 2-3 people

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

This is quicker and easier than the previous version of pancake recipe. However, the taste is pretty similar. The best part about these pancakes? Chocolate oozes out as soon as you take the bite! Nothing can lift up your mood better than this in a bad morning. 

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour 1 cup

Eggs 3

Milk 1 cup

Baking powder ¼ tsp

Chocolate chips ½ cup

Caster sugar 2 tbsp

Vanilla essence ½ tsp

Method:

1. Whisk all the above ingredients except chocolate chips into a thick runny batter.
2. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Pour ¼th cupful of batter on a warm, greased griddle and brown the pancake on both sides. 

Tip: Once the pancake begins to bubble around the edge it's ready to flip. 

Kung Pao Chicken

I learnt this recipe around 4-5 years ago in a cooking class by Shireen Anwar. Kung Pao Chicken is my family's favorite since then. It is very easy to make, and you can be as sloppy with the measurements as you want. The thick sauce gravy, with crunchy peanuts (which unfortunately I didn't have today) with spiced chicken tastes heavenly! You can't go wrong with this recipe. 

Ingredients for Chicken:

Chicken boneless (cut into 2'' cubes) ½ kg
Salt ½ tsp
White pepper ½ tsp
Egg 1
All-purpose flour 2 tbsp
Cornflour 3 tbsp slightly heaped


Method:

1. Whisk all-purpose flour, cornflour, salt, white pepper, and egg in a clean bowl.
2. Add chicken cubes, mix well.
3. Deep fry on medium-low flame till the chicken is cooked and tender. 

For Gravy:

Oil ¼ cup
Garlic chopped 1 tbsp
Onion sliced 1
Carrot 1 (cut into julienne)
Ketchup 3 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp
HP sauce 1 tbsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Salt ½ tsp
White pepper ¼ tsp
Chicken cube 1
Cornflour 1 tbsp dissolved in  ½ cup of water
White sesame seeds 1 tbsp
Unsalted peanuts ½ cup (optional)
Orange food color few drops (optional)


Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add crushed garlic, fry till golden brown. 
2. Add sliced onion, fry until it's soft.
3. Now put all the seasonings and sauces in the pan along with the chicken cube and a cup of water. Let it simmer on high flame.
4. Add dissolved cornflour and stir it constantly to avoid forming lumps. 
5. When the gravy is thick, add carrot, and fried chicken. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
6. Serve with Garlic Fried Rice, Egg Fried Rice, or plain rice! 

Semolina Shortbread

This is the easiest baking recipe I've ever come across. The flavor is extremely buttery, crumbly, and flaky. You can make this even if you don't know how to bake. Trust me. Please do try this recipe!

Ingredients: 

Unsalted butter (must be room temperature) 100 grams
All-purpose flour 10 tbsp
Caster sugar 4 tbsp slightly heaped
Semolina 4 tbsp
Vanilla essence ½ tsp


Method:

1. First of all, preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.
2. Now beat the butter to soften it, then beat in the caster sugar, vanilla essence, followed by semolina, and sieved all-purpose flour. 
3. Finish off with your hands until you have a smooth mixture that doesn't leave any bits in the bowl. 
4. Now lightly press this mixture evenly into 8'' by 8'' baking pan with the help of spatula. Do not grease it. 
5. Prick it all over with a fork or knife. 
6. Bake it for at least 20 minutes on the center shelf of the oven until it turns gold and firm from the center. 
7. Remove it from the oven. Cut it into any desired shape using a sharp knife. 
8. Store it in an airtight tin.