How to jazz up plain ramen

Too lazy to go to the market? Want something that you can do without much effort? This is a nice way to make your instant ramen/noodles more interesting.

Ingredients:
Ramen noodles cooked as per instructions on the packet
Veggies (bok choy was used in this recipe)
Egg (soft boiled)
Chicken strips (chicken breast cut thinly against the grain)
Olive oil (for pan frying)
Seasoning for the chicken: salt, pepper, garlic powder

Method:
First boil the veggies until you can poke a fork into it with very little effort (or to the tenderness you like). Once its ready, put them in an ice bath (5mins) to preserve its color and also to prevent over cooking and avoiding the mushiness

Then drain it and let the water trickles downn like rain.. jk :)

Next soft boil the egg and season it with pepper only. Packaged ramen is usually very salty as it is, so there is no need to add more salt.

Then season the chicken strips with the mix and pan fry it. I cook it until I can see brown edges.

Here is what my ramen would look like just by it self (booooring...)

Here is what it looks like when it is put together with the fix-ins. You can make the ramen even more healthy by adding more veggies (adding volume) to the ramen aaannnndd ...... if you are ambitious you can also reduce the amount of ramen noodles and seasoning in one serving.

Here is another shot :)

Simple Summer Salad

This salad was totally inspired by what was there at home. Its an easy way to get away from having an all carb lunch (rice, pasta etc). Its refreshing to replace heavy meals with light and fresh salads once in a while. I love adding fruits & nuts to salads.

Here is my simple recipe:

Ingredients:
Lettuce
Cucumber
Baby tomatoes
Pear
Strawberry
Any salad dressing of your choice
Chicken Breast cut into strips
Olive oil
Seasoning mix: salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon/lime juice, mint (or any fresh/dry herb at hand. Mint goes really .. realllly ...well and I recommend using it when possible...no pressure! :P), chili powder (optional)

Note: The amount of ingredients (ex. lettuce vs. fruit vs protein etc) you decide to add to the salad is entirely up to you. That's the best part about making salads.

Method:
First marinate chicken with the seasoning mix.

After 10 mins or so.... fry the strips in the pan with a little olive oil. If the strips are cut thin, the chicken will cook very fast. For beginners, you can check the 'doneness' by splitting a strip in half and checking if the meat looks white. Stay away from pink. Here is what mine looked like after cooking:

While the chicken is cooking, cut the other veggies to your liking.

Here is what it looked like when put together. So pretty!

Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are the ultimate comfort food for me. Its something that gives me the same 'happy' effect that I get when I have dessert.May sound weird here, but its true.  :)

I have noticed that in a lot of restaurants they fry the chicken to 'death' ... literally! Chicken wings should be handled with care. Its ultimate taste and essence comes when it is cooked just right. The perfect chicken wing carries on the flavor as a garment and is soft and crunchy at the same time. Maybe my thoughts are going too far, but i guess a chicken wing 'fan' like myself could understand what I'm talking about!

CILANTRO CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients:

1. Chicken wings (5 wings, cut into 3 parts at the joints)
2.  Yoghurt (3/4 cup)
   
3. Ginger (1tsp)
4. Garlic (2 cloves)
5. Cilantro ((1/2 cup, roughly cut)
6. Onion (1 medium)
7. Lemon (1/2 medium)
8. Spice Mix (Chili powder (1tsp), Cumin powder (3/2 tsp), dried Methi leaves (1tsp), Salt & Pepper (according to taste))

Method:
 Get all the ingredients ready

 

 In a food processor, process all the ingredients except the chicken. Make sure that you process until you can see small bits of the cilantro.

Tip: Taste the the mixture for adequate spices and salt before putting it in the chicken. The mixture should have a little more salt than you prefer. The reason is because when this mixture has to flavor the chicken also. The 'saltiness' kind of reduces/lessens when you bake/cook.

Add the mixture to the rest of the chicken and marinate it for .5 to 1hr

 After marination, spray some cooking oil to the cooking tray and place the chicken and then pour the marinade over it. Turn the oven on to 455F.

Tip: Put the bigger pieces on one end and the small on the other. The end that has the bigger pieces goes into the oven first. Usually the inside part of the oven is hotter than the 'opening side' or the 'other side.' So this would allow all the pieces to cook at the same rate.

I hope it makes sense ... :)

 I usually do 'eyeball' baking. Meaning, I check what is baking every 30 mins to find out when its done.

So after 30 mins in the oven, the marinade and the water from the chicken should have dehydrated a little bit.

This is the time when you have to flip them 180degrees.

 After turning it gather the surrounding marinade and put it over the flipped wind.

 When its all done, put it back in the oven

 Again after 15-30 mins it should look something like below. As you can notice, the water from the chicken is dried. Flip it again and put it in the oven. At this point the chicken is fully cooked.

But if you want it to be a little bit more crunchy on the ends, fip it back and back until it is cooked to your liking.

 After more baking:

 And its ready :)

The thing that I like most about this preparation is that there is minimal usage of oil (remember we used the cooking spray). Unlike store bought which is mostly deep-fried, this is guilt fee.

Fluffy vs. Crackles

So, there are two distinctions for the snow that has been falling in NJ lately. The first is the 'Fluffy' or the 'Fluff.' This kind of snow is soooo soft!! .... almost like feather pillow. Yes, I said a pillow.

Even though sleeping on the snow in general would be uncomfortable, not to mention 'wet', I would like to think of it as comfortable in my thoughts (where rules dont necessarily apply...hehe ). 

Anyway...so this kind of snow is very lovely. Lovely why? because its almost as if it is in love. It clings to anything it touches. Notice how even the tiniest branches have a mountain the for fluffy snow on it. 

The second form is the 'Crackle.' This is the type which we will be getting this coming week (and im looking forward to it! ). For all those who are feeling somewhat like:

For the haters....i cant sympathize with you .... not at all ... not in the least bit. I feel something on the lines of the picture below. (Thought to self: 'Bring it on baby!')

For the past few weeks ive been doing a lot of cooking, but no blogging. But I will try to keep up.

In honor of the fluffies and the crackles, I wanted to post a warm and yummy chicken and corn soup and chicken with snow peas dish.

CHICKEN & CORN SOUP

Ingredients:

1. Chicken quarters (2)
2. Sweet Corn (1 cup, canned)
3. Onion (1 medium)
4. Garlic (2 cloves)
5. Butter (1tbsp)
6. Olive Oil (1 tbsp)
7. Cornstarch (1 tbsp)
8. Water (5-6 cups)
9. Rosemary (1 tbsp)
10. Salt, Pepper to taste

 Method:
Gather all the ingredients. For the chicken, I tried to remove as much meat from the bones as possible. You'll know why laters.
The onions were cut into medium squares. I cant define 'medium' but, its just according to what one likes :)

Lightly puree half the corn in a blender. So there will be a good flavor and texture of corn in the soup.

Heat the pan. Add some olive oil and butter over medium heat.

And i insist on medium heat because over high heat you get something like this (something along the lines of inedible):

So when the butter melts and the bubbles come up, add the crushed garlic

 After 2 minutes add the onions

 Cook for 2 mins or so...

 Then add the chicken bones (The bones will add more flavor to the broth and you don't have to deal with the store bought 'high sodium' chicken broth).

Add salt and pepper.

(Tip: According to mommy dearest, adding salt early in the cooking speeds up the cooking process. Dont know why, but she speaks the truth :P)

 Stir until the pink color becomes lighter.

 Then add 2 cups of water and boil for about 30 mins.

 Then after that add rest of the water, chicken meat and rosemary and boil for another 40 mins or so. Or until the meat from the bones start to fall off.

 When the meat seems to separate easily from the bones, separate it from the pot and let it cool and remove the meat left.

 Meanwhile, add in the corn goodies from earlier. Continue boiling. Adjust the salt and pepper throughout the cooking process.

Top view of the soup so far...

 Next, add in the chicken bits that were separated from the bones before and the cornstarch.

 Bring to a boil and the soup is ready.

CHICKEN WITH SNOW PEAS

Ingredients:

1. Chicken (1.5 cup, cut length wise)
2. Snow Peas (1cup)
3. Onion (Medium, cut length wise)
4. Ginger (crushed, 1 tsp)
5. Rice Vinegar (or lemon juice, 1tsp)
6. Oyster flavored sauce (2-3tsp)
7. Hoisin Sauce (1tsp)
8. Soy Sauce (1tbsp)
9. Corn Starch (optional,1 tsp) Note: I didn't use it in this recipe.
10. Salt, Pepper to taste

Method:
Get the ingredients ready.

 Next, steam the snow peas until they loose their firmness (as in when you try to hold it vertically, it does not stand up).

Mix the oyster flavored sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and ginger separately.

Note: this mixture is quite salty, so be careful about adding any extra salt. I did not add any because it was salty enough.

 Heat oil in a pan.

 After it is hot, add the onions.

 Saute for a minute or two...

 Add the chicken, some pepper, and the rice wine vinegar

 Stir until the 'pinkness' is reduced and the water has almost evaporated. Because of the vinegar it might not smell as nice, but replacing the vinegar with lemon will work well.

 Then add the sauce mixture from before.

 And the snow peas.

 Some pepper again. I LOVE pepper!

 Stir and cook for 5-10 minutes. Adjust the salt and pepper (yes, i added more pepper. I can never get enough :) ).