Indian Chicken Biryani

I recently found a recipe for chicken biryani on www.indobase.com and decided to try it. It turned out REALLY good. I would definately make this again. Check out the recipe at http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/chicken-biryani.php or I've pasted it below for you. I did not have saffron nor rose water, and it tasted perfectly fine without it, so I wouldn't stress on those details too much. Ingredients:
• 1 kg Chicken (pieces) • 500 gm Basmati Rice (washed and soaked for 30 min) • 4 tbsp Garam Masala (whole) • 4 tsp Garam Masala Powder • 50 gm Butter • 4 tsp Garlic (chopped) • 1 cup Onions (sliced) • 4 tsp Ginger (chopped) • 3 tsp Red Chili Powder • 1 tbsp Coriander Powder • 5 tbsp Oil • 2 tsp Turmeric Powder • 2 cup Curd (yogurt) • 3/4 cup Tomato (chopped) • 4 Bay Leaves For the marinade : • 1-1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder • 2 tsp Ginger (chopped) • 2 tsp Garlic (chopped) • 1 tsp Garam Masala Powder • 1 tsp Turmeric Powder • 1 cup Yoghurt • Salt For garnishing: • 1/2 gm Saffron (dissolved in 1/2 cup milk) • 2 tbsp Rose Water
How to make Chicken Biryani:
• Put all the ingredients of the marinade in a bowl and mix well. • Add chicken pieces to it and leave for an hour. • Now boil water, add 1/2 of the whole garam masala, bay leaf, and rice in it. • Cook the rice until 3/4 th is done, drain and keep it aside. • Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan and add remaining whole garam masala. • Allow it to crackle, add sliced onions and cook it till light golden brown. • Add 1 tsp of the remaining garam masala and all the remaining ingredients, including tomatoes, but excluding rice. • Cook for 5 minutes, combine marinated chicken with it. • Cook until chicken is tender. • Place alternate layers of chicken and rice. • Now sprinkle saffron, remaining garam masala powder and butter in between the layers and on the top. • Carefully end it with the rice layer topped with saffron & rose water. • Cover and seal it with an aluminum foil. • Cook it further on low flame for 10-12 minutes. • Chicken Biryani is ready to serve.

Chinese Steamed Fresh Garlic Scallops

You may or may not have tried this at a chinese restaurant before, but it's SO easy and very worth trying at home. The garlic-y sauce that ends up in the bottom of the shell after cooking is great poured over noodles or rice as well.

Ingredients:
4-5 scallops, opened and cleaned (your fisherman will be glad to do this for you)
10 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 mung bean thread bundle (they're usually tied in small fist sized bundles), soaked and soft
Canola oil, for frying

Method:
1. Heat some canola oil until approximately 375 degrees and fry half of the minced garlic. It helps to have a sieve to pick up all the garlic pieces when they turn golden brown. Approximately 30 seconds.
2. Mix the fried garlic with the raw garlic and add the half teaspoon of salt. The reason that I'm frying half of this is because the fried garlic becomes sweet and has a more mellow garlic-y flavour. And then the raw garlic adds a sharper, more pungent flavour to the scallops. This may seem like a lot of salt, but this salt is going to season all the scallops.
3. Spoon the garlic mixture on top of the scallops.
4. Place a few threads of mung bean noodles onto each scallop.
5. Place these scallops into a plate and then into a steamer. (I use a wok with a rack over the water). Steam for no more than 10 - 12 minutes, depending on the size of your scallops.
6. Serve hot.

Nem Nuong (Grill Pork Patties/Meatballs)

Ingredients:
2 lb pork (little fatty)
2 tbsp white sugar
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, minced in food processor
2 tbsp fish sauce
salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:
1. I use 2 butcher knives to chop up the pork into a mince. The reason for this is that I found that when I made gyozas, I took the easy way out and bought ground pork. The meat ended up being somewhat dry and the texture was flat. When I made it with pork that I minced myself, the texture of the pork was moist, "bouncy", and much less flatlining.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and keep in the fridge overnight to marinade.
3. Form the pork into either meatballs, flat meatballs, or patties, as you like.
4. Fire up the barbecue and grill until the meat is cooked (depends on the form that you shaped the nem nuong into)
5. This is great served as a salad roll filling.

Singaporean Curry Laksa

I basically cheated for this recipe by using packaged mix, but to my surprise the result of using this mix was even better than any laksa I have ever had in a restaurant! Some people prefer their laksa to have half vermicelli and half yellow oil noodles (almost like ramen consistency), but I prefer it to be all vermicelli.

Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk
1 package of laksa packaged mix
Water, according to amount on package directions
Vermicelli, cooked according to instructions
1 handful of bean sprouts
1 chicken breast, boiled, sliced into thin strips
2 eggs, boiled, peeled and cut in half
4-5 fried tofu puffs

Method:
1. Prepare the laksa soup base according to the package instructions (mix in the water and coconut milk)
2. Cook the tofu puffs in the soup base for approximately 2 minutes, or until tender
3. In the meanwhile, prepare your bowls with the vermicelli. Top it with the chicken breast slices, bean sprouts, 1/2 an egg and 2-3 tofu puffs in each bowl.
4. Ladle the hot soup over the noodles and serve

Tomato Egg and Beef on Rice

This dish is a staple in a cantonese family. It literally takes 15 minutes to cook up a whole batch for the family. The only way I can imagine eating this is over hot steamed rice.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
2 tomatoes, cut into bite size chunks
4 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 lb beef, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup water

Method:
1. In a wok, heat up some canola oil until it is smoking
2. Pour in the eggs and scramble. Just as it comes together, begin to "cut" the eggs with your utensil so that you get small bite size chunks of egg
3. Remove the eggs from the wok
4. In the same wok, add a little more oil. Add in the beef and stir fry until the beef is slightly undercooked.
5. Remove the beef from the wok
6. If there are beef bits in the bottom of your wok, you may want to clean it out before proceeding. If it's not too bad, you can continue on to 7.
7. Add a teaspoon of oil to the hot wok. Add the garlic and tomatoes and stir until the tomato begins to lose its skins.
8. Add in the water, ketchup, and sugar. Mix and taste. If the tomatoes are slightly too sour, add in a little more sugar to balance the flavour.
9. Mix the egg and beef into the wok with the tomato mixture and boil on low for 2-3 minutes, or until the beef and egg heats back through.
10. Season with salt to taste and serve with steamed rice.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Ingredients:
4 cups of leftover rice
1 cup kimchi, chopped to 1/2 inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon korean chili paste
oil
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs, beaten
salt, to taste

Method:
1. In a large wok, heat canola oil on high until hot. Throw in the chopped kimchi
2. Stir fry for 3 minutes, or until kimchi softens
3. Add in the garlic, sugar and korean chili paste and mix to combine. Be sure not to burn the garlic
4. Add the fried rice in. Press the rice with the back of your mixing spoon to flatten out any lumps. This may take a few minutes.
5. Stir fry until the rice is dark red and softened.
6. Pour the 2 beaten eggs into the rice and stir immediately and toss the wok so that the eggs coat the individual grains of rice.
7. Serve steaming hot
8. Optional: garnish with some shopped green onions