Posts filed under '15-30 min meals'
Seafood Chowder
Here is a recipe for Seafood Chowder that will make for a very filling one pot meal.
Kind of food: Main course/ Appetizer/Soup
How long: 20 – 30min
Makes: 2-3quarts
Pots and Pans: One stock pot
Ingredients:
1 Lb Shrimp (uncooked)
1 Lb Tuna
1 Lb Orange Roughy
1 Lb Salmon
1 Lb Scallops
1 medium Onion
1 Tbsp garlic crushed
2 large cans of fat free chicken broth
1 Stalk Bok choy
1 Pint heavy cream
1 Pint evaporated milk
Salt and pepper according to requirement
1 tsp Paul Prudhommes Cajun Spice
1 stalk celery
2 Lbs red potatoes peeled & cubed into small pieces
How to make:
Cut fish fillets in 1-1/2 inch cubes. Saute onion, and celery in fat until tender. Do not brown them. Add broth, bok choy, potatoes and seasonings. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 10 minutes). Add fish and other seafood and simmer about 5-10 minutes. Add undiluted evaporated milk and cream. Heat gently to blend flavors and do not boil. Boiling chowder may curdle it. Adjust seasoning. This chowder can be thickened using corn starch if desired.
Serving Tips: Sea food chowder can be served with ciabatta bread/french baguette. It can be served in bread bowl for a very fancy appeal.
How to make a bread bowl: Warm up a Kaiser roll or any bread roll that is at least 10″ in diameter in a microwave for 10 seconds or in a oven covered with foil to make it soft. Using a sharp knife make an incision one inch from the outer edge and atleast one inch deep. Follow this incision and draw it into a circle one inch deep. Tear open the inner circle that you drew with the knife and scoop out as much bread you want to create a deep bowl.
Ingredients credits: Steve Callahan
Add comment July 7, 2009
One-pot Wholesome Rice and Beans
This post is a recipe idea for a one-pot meal for the whole family. It is a very simple and easy recipe that will come quiet handy on beat up days when there is not much energy left for time consuming recipes. Large peppers (abundant in anthocynanins) are used in this recipe. This recipe has enough protein, carbohydrate and nutrition from beans, rice and vegetables (onion, tomato and peppers). These peppers impart a very smoky flavor without imparting too much heat. Any large pepper that will not impart heat will do fine for this recipe. So if you have left over roasted pepper, or canned whole chillies or jalapeno use those for this recipe. MTS is all about efficient and creative methods in cooking, so this post about an idea for a recipe that leads our readers to whip up many such efficient and creative culinary creations.
Kind of food: Main course/ Side dish
How long: 30 min
Makes: 5 cups
Pots and Pans: One large pot with lid
Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp chooped garlic
1-2 green chillies (Anahiem or Banana peppers – basically the large ones)
2 cups rice
1 tbsp salt (or to taste)
4 cups water
1 cup canned beans (any beans)
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup cilantro (corainder leaves) chopped for garnish
How to make
Place a heavy bottomed deep skillet / pot on medium heat.and warm up the oil on medium heat for a minute. While the oil is warming up chop the garlic, onion, and chillies and add it to the pan as when you are done chopping each of these. Sprinkle a little salt to help onions cook faster. After the onions a slightly tender (about 2-3 minutes) add the rice and saute it till the rice turns opaque (takes about 4-5 mins). Now add water and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil (about 5 min). In the mean time drain and rinse the beans and chop the tomato and cilantro. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the tomato and beans, cover and cook for exactly 7 min on medium heat. Turn of the heat and do not open for another 10 min. Open it after 10 minutes, fluff up the rice with a fork. Garnish with fresh cliantro and serve hot.
Make it Fast, Fun, and Facile! – Sri
Serving ideas
This wholesome rice can be served as such with salsa or used as a side or main dish to accompany grilled chicken, fish or a curry or raita.
This basic method of cooking flavored rice is very handy and works really well in large quantities for parties.
This rice also travels well in a lunch box.
Tips, tricks and alternatives
You could use 2 cups of frozen vegetable for added nutrition.
1 comment April 20, 2009
Wholesome noodles with a whole lot of choices for flavors
Noodles can be quiet tricky in being a family pleaser as they tend to have a redundant taste over and over again. Here is a recipe idea with several choices for each layer of flavor and nutrition while making noodles. This post is published in an attempt to get MTS readers to go on for a long while before you run out choices for crowd pleasers. All permutations and combination mentioned in this post make for wholesome meals with adequate protein + vegetables + good carbohydrates.
Cold noodles
Kind of food: Appetizer/ Main course
How long: 20 min
Makes: Serves 4 adults
Pot & Pans: One large pan and wok or two pans
Ingredients
1 Tbsp cooking oil
Choices in noodle – rice sticks, rice noodles, egg noodles, whole wheat spaghetti, angel hair pasta, ramen noodles
Choices in veggie combination
A total of 2 cups of a combination any of the following vegetables
1/2 cup finely chopped onions (scallions for cold noodles)
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers (or other colored peppers)
1/2 cup chopped matchstick carrots (available pre-cut in the produce section)
1/2 cup shredded cabbage (green or purple or napa)
1/2 cup thawed green peas/mushrooms/ water chestnuts/babycorn
Choice of protein – 1 /2 lb seafood or chicken (sliced thin) or 1/2 lb tofu or 4 eggs (boiled and cut into wedges or scrambled) or 2 cups bean sprouts
Choice of sauce -
1. Microwave 3 Tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 cup soy sauce , 2 Tbsp rice vinegar (or any other vinegar) , 2 tsp chili garlic sauce and 2 tsp brown sugar. Add stock to get desired consistency.
Or 2. Microwave 3 Tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 2Tbsp soy sauce , 1 tsp chili garlic sauce and 2 tsp brown sugar. Add stock to get desired consistency.
Or 3. Microwave 3 Tbsp Soy sauce, 2 Tbsp bean paste, 1 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp chili garlic paste. Add stock to get desired consistency.
Or 4. Microwave 3 Tbsp Tomato ketchup, 1/4 cup soy sauce , 2 Tbsp rice vinegar (or any other vinegar) , 2 tsp chili garlic sauce and 2 tsp brown sugar. Add stock to get desired consistency.
Or 5. Microwave 3 Tbsp Hoisin sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce , 2 Tbsp rice vinegar (or any other vinegar) , 2 tsp chili garlic sauce and 2 tsp brown sugar. Add stock to get desired consistency.
Note: The need to microwave the sauces is to make sure all the ingredients mix thoroughly. So warm up the ingredients for the sauce for a few seconds and do not boil the sauce.
Choice of herbs- 1/4 cup fine chopped cilantro or mint or basil (optional)
Additional flavors – 2 Tbsp ginger and garlic chopped fine + optional- 1 tsp green chili (Thai or Anaheim) chopped fine
Warm noodles
How to make:
Prepare the noodles as per package directions and drain completely. Note: Some noodles like rice sticks just need to be soaked in hot water, so make sure to follow packet directions.
While the noodles are getting done chop and dice vegetables, meat and herbs. If using chicken, tofu or seafood stir fry these with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce and chilli garlic sauce until cooked in a hot pan/wok with 1 tsp oil.
For warm noodles: Remove the chicken, tofu or seafood from the pan and add the veggie mixture, ginger, garlic and green chili (if used) and continue to stir fry on high heat for 2- 4 minutes. Add the sauce of your choice. Toss in the noodles. Stir fry for a couple more minutes while tossing in the protein choice. Take it off the heat, and mix in the chopped herb (cilantro or mint or basil)
For cold noodles: To the drained noodles add 1 tsp of vegetable oil to prevent it from clumping. Warm up one tsp of hot oil and cook the ginger, garlic and green chili. Add this to the sauce of your choice and garnish it with the herb of your choice (cilantro or mint or basil). Serve the noodle on a platter and spread the veggie mixture and then the cooked protein mixture on top as two layers. Serve the sauce on the side.
Make it Fast, Fun, and Facile! – Sri
Tip,tricks and alternatives
Children love the idea of noodles, so varying the flavor and texture of noodles (and the choice of the noodle itself) will help win many a meal time battles 
. Also, cold noodles are perfect for road trips and for picnics.
1 comment April 12, 2009
Indo-Chinese gravy
Chinese cuisine adapts itself to the host country around all parts of the world. Hence Kung Pao chicken from a Chinese restaurant in India tastes significantly different from the Kung Pao chicken made in a restaurant in the US.
Ingredients:
Egg white (from one egg)
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp – Corn flour
3 Tbsp – Oil
0.5 lb – Chicken or shrimp or tofu and/or mixed vegetables*
1 Tbsp – Paste of ginger and garlic
2 Nos – Green chilly (finely chopped)
1 cup – Onion (sliced very thin)
1 cup – Green bell pepper (capsicum) – sliced very thin
1 tsp – Black pepper powder
1/4 cup – Soy sauce
1 tsp – Ajinomotto (optional)
1 cup – Warm stock or very hot water
1/4 tsp – Sugar
2- 3 Tbsp – Chopped scallions (spring onions)
How to make:
Marinate chicken (or substitute of your choice) in a mixture of egg white, 2 Tbsp corn flour, salt, 1/2 ajinomotto (optional) and salt for 20 minutes. In the mean time chop the onion, bell peppers, green chilly and measure out the stock, soy sauce, ginger and garlic paste and other ingredients.
In a hot wok add oil (2 Tbsp) and stir fry the marinated chicken or tofu or vegetable of your choice and stir continuously 2-3 minutes until cooked. Shrimp (prawn) cooks very fast and will cook in 1 – 2 minutes. Empty the contents of the wok and put the wok back on high heat. In the mean time, get the stock warmed up in a pot on low heat. To the same wok add 1 Tbsp oil, paste of ginger and garlic. Stir it for 20 secs and add onions, green chillies, black pepper powder and green bell peppers. Stir this continuously for 1 minute. Add the warm stock (or hot water), soy sauce and salt (if required). In the time this mixture comes to a boil, make a paste of 1 tsp of corn flour and 1/4 tsp sugar in water without any lumps. Add this paste to the boiling gravy and then add the cooked chicken (or substitute of your choice). Add the scallions and remove the gravy from heat.
Credits: Chefs at Temple Bay Resorts, Chennai, India.
Make it Fast, Fun, and Facile! – Sri
1 comment April 6, 2009
From the chef’s pantry – Episode 3
This week’s contribution from the chefs at Temple Bay resort, Chennai towards the MTS series on chef’s pantry includes a recipe for mixed vegetable korma and the secrets to a wonderful North Indian style curry.
Add comment April 1, 2009
