green chilli sauce Archives - MyEdibleCravings

Today’s recipe is another entry to my healthy eats category. We have been having Quinoa for quite some time now, probably for a year or so, and I am on the lookout for any new recipe that has Quinoa as an ingredient.

Recently, we went to a mediterranean restaurant and I came across a new type of salad made with Quinoa. I got hooked to it and was eager to try it out myself. The name of the salad is Quinoa Tabbouleh salad and that is the recipe I have posted here.

Quinoa Tabbouleh salad is very easy to make and very healthy as well. On days when you don’t feel like cooking or doing a take out, Quinoa Tabbouleh salad is the one to go for. Very few ingredients are needed to make this salad. Also, there is an accompaniment to the Tabbouleh salad called the Zough. It is a condiment relish made from green chili. The mild taste of Quinoa Tabbouleh and the spiciness of Zough make the perfect pair.

Quinoa Tabbouleh salad can be had as a light dinner or for lunch. Quinoa in general is rich in calories and having it as a salad will not get you full or bloated. Try this wonderful mediterranean salad in your home and let me know your comments 🙂

Tabbouleh

Recipe type: Salad

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Tabbouleh:

Red quinoa – 1 cup
Chick pea or garbonza beans or sundal – ½ cup
Olive oil – 3 tbsp
Lemon juice – 3 tbsp
Cucumber, finely chopped – 1 no (I used Persian Cucumber)
Tomato, medium, finely chopped – ½ no (2 tbsp)
Green onions, finely chopped – 2 tbsp
Carrot, finely grated – 2 tbsp (optional)
Cilantro, finely chopped – 2 to 3 tbsp
Salt as required

Zough – green chilli sauce

Cilantro – small bunch
Garlic cloves, small to medium – 3 nos
Lemon juice – 1 ½ tbsp
Olive oil – 1 ½ tbsp
Cayenne pepper – ½ tbsp
Pepper – ¼ tsp
Cumin powder –a generous pinch
Green chilli – 4 nos
Salt as required

Instructions

Soak chick pea overnight and pressure cook for 6 whistles adding enough water and salt. Drain the excess water and set aside.
Wash the quinoa thoroughly and drain them using strainer, pressure cook adding enough salt and 1½ cup water (not more than that) for 3 whistles. Or you could parboil them adding the same amount of water in a sauce pan, covered for 15 minutes. Drain the excess water if any.
Finely chop all the above given ingredients and keep them ready.
In a large mixing bowl, add olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Mix well.
Add cucumber, tomato, carrot, green onion and cilantro. Mix well.
Finally add quinoa and chick pea. Mix them well until well combined.
Have it right away or Cover and leave it at least for ½ an hour in the refrigerator and serve chill for better taste.

For making zough

Blend all the above given ingredients to a fine sauce without adding any water.
Have zough sauce as a side for yummy quinoa tabbouleh. Enjoy! :)

I wanted to post something special for the first post of this new year. So for the past few days, I have been contemplating about trying a different cuisine than the usual south Indian or the occasional north Indian varieties. So me and my HB, after much deliberation, decided on chinese cuisine. As for the actual dishes, we decided on Prawn rice and Dragon chicken.

Prawn rice is similar to fried rice except that in fried rice we add soy sauce. Also in fried rice, we cook the rice separately, then add other ingredients along with the cooked rice in a wok and cook them further. In Prawn rice we cook everything separately, i.e.., rice and prawn and then mix them together. Dragon chicken is an indo-chinese dish which is very easy to make. Guess the ‘Dragon’ came from the fiery red color of the dish. It is a dry and spicy dish that goes well with rice, chappati, fried rice or rotis.
Do try these dishes in your home and let me know your experience 🙂
BTW, a very happy & prosperous 2015!!! 🙂

Prawn rice with Dragon Chicken

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Chinese

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For Prawn Rice

To marinate:

Prawn – 1 lb, 50 count
Chicken 65 masala powder – 1 ½ tbsp (I used shakthi brand)
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt – as required
Ajinamotto – ½ tsp (optional)
Corn flour – 1 tbsp
Water – 1 tbsp

For the rice:

Basmati rice – 1 cup
Ajinamotto – a pinch (optional)
Salt as required.

Other ingredients:

Oil – 2 tbsp
Scallions or spring onions – 3 tbsp, divided
Onion, slits, medium – 1 no
Green bell pepper, finely chopped – 3 tbsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Scrambled eggs – 1 cup
Salt if needed
Green chilli sauce – ½ tsp
Cilantro leaves – 2 tbsp
Garlic, minced – ½ tbsp

For Dragon Chicken

To marinate :

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Crushed pepper - ½ tbsp
Egg whites - from 1 egg
Corn starch - ¼ cup
Soy sauce - ½ tbsp
Boneless Chicken thighs (cubed) - 500g

other ingredients:

Ginger - ½ tbsp, finely chopped
Garlic - 1 tbsp, finely chopped
Red chilli flakes - 1½ tbsp
Tomato sauce - 1½ cups
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Cilantro - 1 handlful, chopped
Spring onions - 1 stalk, chopped
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Instructions

Clean and marinate the prawns. Leave it for at least an hour and shallow fry them.
Cook rice separately. I cooked the rice using boiling method to get fluffy separate grains.
Soak the rice for 20 minutes in water. Boil enough water in a medium sized sauce pan and add the rice. Cook until the rice grains starts to sputter. Always stay close while cooking the rice by boiling method. Because rice cooks really quick in this method.
Heat oil in a skillet and add scallions and onions. Sauté till they turn translucent. Add bell peppers and sauté for a minute. Add them to the rice.
Sauté garlic separately.
Transfer the rice to a wide open mixing bowl or a wok and add the sauce, scrambled eggs, sautéed garlic and fried prawns. Mix them very carefully without breaking the rice. Garnish with spring onions and serve hot.

For Dragon Chicken:

Marinate the cut chicken cubes with the marination ingredients mentioned above and set aside for like 15 minutes.
Deep fry the marinated chicken until the cubes turn golden brown.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and pour a tbsp of oil (you can reuse the oil used for deep frying)
Once the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic, garlic and saute until the raw smell goes away
Add in the chill flakes and saute for a little while.
Add in the tomato sauce and stir well.
Then add soy sauce and leave it until the broth comes to a boil
Add the fried chicken cubes to the broth and cook until everything is combined well (by now the mixture should have dried down i.e., not like a gravy anymore)
Garnish with chopped cilantro and chopped spring onion
Server hot with Prawn rice.

Notes

If you don’t have green chilli sauce at home, chop few green chillies finely and add them to a half cup of water. Allow them to soak for an hour and just use the water (2 tbsp) to the rice.