Quick Vegetarian Rice Noodles Pad Thai Style

I love Soth Asian cuisine, It's tasty, delicious, very easy to cook and if you prepped already then very fast to put it on the table. Thai cuisine is one of my favorite cuisines too. I had rice noodles package at home and made various varieties of noodles. This was I made it at Pad Thai style but didn't had sprouts at home and didn't want crunch of peanuts also so that's the only two things from Pad Thai is missing otherwise its perfect in taste with sweet, sour, spicy taste going on.





Ingredients : 

6 oz. Thick Rice noodles - uncooked
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp tamari sauce (or soya sauce)
4 tsp. Rice vinegar
2 tsp Lime juice
2 tsp. Oil
1 carrot cut in thin slices
1 red onion cut in thin slices
1 Soya chicken cut in pieces (you can use your favorite protein)
Few strings of fresh cilantro chopped
Lime wedges,  Chopped peanuts if you want

Method : 

Make Rice noodles as per the package instructions. Generally, you have to put it in boiling water for a few minutes and take it out.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, tamari, vinegar, and lime juice.

In a nonstick pan, add oil and add carrots, onions and cook till its soft.

Add soya chicken and cook it for 2 minutes.

Add noodles and sauce mixture and mix it till everything is nicely coated with sauce.

At this time you can add egg and cook it on the same pan, at one side. I didn't do it.

When it's mixed, shut off the gas.

If you like you can bean sprouts, peanuts, and cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Hibiscus Iced Tea

Do you love the Hibiscus flower? If you are in a warm climate then you can see year-round but here it's only in summer so when you see the leaves start to come, you can feel the spring is in the air and when comes spring, then comes summer. And in hot summer days what better than iced tea to cool down. When you make it with hibiscus flowers, it's good for your body also.

This tea is good to prevent hypertension, lower Blood pressure, reduce blood sugar levels, keep your liver healthy, for girls,  it helps with menstrual cramps, help with depression, aid digestion and help with weight management. It's rich in Vitamin C, contains minerals such as flavonoids and has laxative properties.

It's not good for pregnant or nursing moms and if you already have low BP, don't try this. 

Here you can find it in the farmers market otherwise there is always Amazon.

Ingredients : 

1/2 cup  Dried Hibiscus Petals

8 cups of water

1/4 cup Honey or as per your taste

As per taste Lime juice, Ice cubes and few mint strings (optional)

Method

Take a pan and add water, add few dried Hibiscus petals in it. It will change color in a few seconds. 

Once the water starts boiling, switch off the gas and let hibiscus do its work. You can add basil leaves, mint leaves, lemongrass, ginger at this point. 

Let the tea steep for 15-20 minutes. 

Mix it Honey and Lime juice till its nicely mixed. 

You have it either warm or ice cold. If you are serving a crowd, have extra honey and lime juice on the side so people can adjust it as per their taste. 

Eggplant Parmesan

Somehow Eggplant is my favorite, I can have it any variety of eggplants in any cuisine. Either typical Gujju way like this , or some Tikka Masala style. Or Chinese style.    Or Italian Eggplant Rollatini.

Give me in any way and I am happy. Today's recipe is another most favorite for vegetarian is Eggplant Parmesan. you can use chicken if you are eating chicken. For this, I served it as dinner so did it the way Olive Garden serve it, on a side of Whole Wheat Spaghetti in just olive oil, salt, and black and red pepper flakes. But if you want, you can just make eggplant and have it too.

You can make a sandwich too. Recipe for the sandwich is here.

To make this you can peel the eggplant first. To make the crust, I have eggs and breadcrumbs but if you don't eat eggs, you can use buttermilk too.

Ingredients : 

2 Big Eggplants peeled and thinly round sliced
2 Eggs Beaten
4 cups Italian Seasoned bread crumbs
3 cups Shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 Cups Marinara Sauce
1/2 tsp. dried Basil

Method : 

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Dip eggplant slices in egg and then in bread crumbs.

Place in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes on each side.

In a baking dish, spread sauce on the bottom.

Place one layer of eggplant slices, sprinkle with the mixture of Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheeses.



Pour sauce over it and repeat the layer again.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

To serve you can have it as it is with garlic bread or to make a full meal, add a side of spaghetti, cooked in Just olive oil, Parmesan cheese, Red pepper flakes.

Eat Your Greens

 A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table
The Veg Hog.

Easy 5 Ingredients Cannoli

Cannoli and Tiramisu are my favorite desserts. I make tiramisu now and then but never tried cannoli to make it home. Now my son started to like cannoli and he was after me to make this so got the readymade shells. I was not in a mood to make it from scratch. I don't have the patience to fry those shells and then wait for it to cool down so I can stuff it. So I took the easy way out.

This is by far easy cannoli cream recipe. Just need a few ingredients and cream is ready. If you have leftover cream, you can use it to make it stuffed french toast also.

So let's get cooking.



Ingredients :

6 Cannoli shells
2 cups Ricotta
1 cup Whipped cream, you can either use whipped cream or powder sugar also
3/4 cup Mini chocolate chips, I didn't have mini so I used regular
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract

Method : 

Take your ricotta and put it in a big strainer and take any extra water out. Leave it for 30 minutes so all the water is out.

In a bowl, add ricotta, whipped cream, vanilla extract, chocolate chips and mix it.



Take your shells out from the box.



Put the stuffing in the plastic ziplock bag, cut it that much so the chips can get out.

Stuff it first from one side and then stuff on the other side.

Done with all and add extra chocolate chips on both sides.

If you have a fancy nozzle, use it so it will look nice.

Enjoy it right away. you can not store it for a long time since the shells are made from dough, it will become soft.