Chinese Bell Pepper and Corn or Chinese Chilli Corn

I've always wanted to post about my culinary exploits... I must admit that I'm extremely fascinated by the folks at the numerous cooking blogs like Aayi's recipes, Dalitoy, as well as youtube channels such as Show me the curry and Wah re wah.

This post is kinda like a tribute to them...

I have learned cooking mainly by observing my mom and the rekdiwaalah's of Mumbai. Although I had never cooked a lot as a kid, or even when I started working, it came to me quite naturally when I tried it for the first time after coming to the US for my graduate studies. I would just try standard stuff initially, like chhole, pav bhaji, daal rice, batata bhaaji, rajma... the works... The problem however, was it tasted the same day in day out.... and when you are with a group of boys...also cooking for the first time.... u get the same stuff week in week out....

So I started experimenting.... most of my initial experiments failed.... but the few that succeeded were extremely tasty... (tasty, by my definition is something I would love to have a second helping of.... and I do not crave for everyone to find it tasty, if I like it.... that's all that matters)

To cut a long story short... some of my experiments became crowd pleasers.... and that inspired me to learn more from the cooking blogs and the video shows...

The following is a dish that all the vegetarians in my family love...

I've tried it about 10 times now... and can now make a "tasty" side dish that tastes like indian chinese :P


Chinese Chilli Corn/ Chinese Bell Pepper and Corn
Serves 4 (as a side dish)
Ingredients

1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell pepper

(Note that this is just the current avatar of this dish... and it tastes yum... although you can substitute with green bell peppers/capsicum)

1 11 oz can of Green Giant corn niblets (You get it in bulk at costco... and other places too, I'm sure)

3 pinches of ajinomoto (absolutely essential to make Indian chinese)

5-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped (You can add more, another indian chinese essential)

2-3 chillies (cut along their length)


1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
Salt to taste

1 tsp of green chilli sauce (I use Chings' Secret)
2 tsp of soy sauce
a dab of tomato ketchup
a dab of sriracha sauce

The above sauces are as per taste, I personally do not make any strict measurements.

1-2 tbsp cooking oil (vary based on how health /taste conscious u r)

Fresh coriander (for garnishing)


Preparation

Heat the oil in a wok... you can use any non stick pan, with enough volume to cook one can of corn with 2 bell peppers, without spilling.

Put 1-2 pieces of garlic in the oil, when they start turning brown, the oil is ready, add the remaining garlic and chillies and stir-fry.

When the garlic is fried nicely (it turns brown), add the bell peppers, stir-fry
Based on how you like ur bell pepper (over cooked or slightly crisp) stir-fry for 4-6 minutes on a medium flame.

It will reduce a lot in volume, losing the water it naturally contains...

To hasten this process, add a bit of salt and 2 pinches of ajinomoto. Mix thoroughly.

When the bell peppers are cooked as per ur liking, add the sauces (chilli, soy, tomato and sriracha).Add red chilli powder and some more salt. Stir-fry

When the sauces are evenly mixed, add the corn (you may or may not add the water in the can, which is sweet. Adding the water (stock) makes the dish less spicy).

Let the corn cook for sometime on a high flame, this will evaporate any water and the sauces and stock will combine to make a glue like gravy(sauce). Reduce the flame to medium and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Add one more pinch of ajinomoto. Stir-fry.


Garnish with chopped coriander.




And Chinese Chilli Corn is ready...best served when hot, as a side dish, with fried rice or noodles... or as an appetizer.

Bubble Bath

It's been a long time....But I don't want to talk about that in this post

Ever since I was a kid, I had this strange fascination for bubble baths and bath tubs... Maybe the effect of TV... Maybe I saw the tub at someone's place... I don't exactly know... but I would crave that someday I will have a house big enough... so that the bath room will be big enough to have a bath tub... strange ambition right? But I think, as a kid I thought of having a bath tub as a status symbol (by the above train of thought)....

As a kid... I used to play in this small tub.... u know it was so small I don't think all my dinner plates would fit into them now...but when I was a kid... I could sit in it... cross legged... and have water come up to my waist... and if I bent over I could get my head in too... I must have been 3 or 4 years then....but that was a cool activity :)...

...That and a hose pipe... (which we employed to fill a big tank, the municipality water in Mumbai being as fickle as it is....) dark green in color... it often became symbolic of summer....

Now, I suffered from asthma as a kid... and somehow my parents would always worry that I'd catch a chill, if I took a cold water bath... so it was warm water day in day out....

But summer would change the rules... it was so warm outside... and we, my sis and I would need a wash every evening, after play time.... and the hose pipe was a double-whammy... more fun after play.....Isn't it strange... that as kids... small utensil tub and a simple hose pipe... can bring us so much fun.... and now... as grownups we need a million diversions to give us a semblance of happiness...

When I first came to the US, I was pleasantly surprised to find a bath tub in every apartment I stayed (except when I was at Google)... but I would somehow never take a bubble bath... maybe because I was sharing my apartment with roommates... maybe coz... I felt it to would be perceived as slightly panzoid to harbour such wants....
nevertheless, when I moved into my own apartment in San Jose, I made it a point to take a bubble bath at least once a week... (usually on the weekend...) listening to some soothing lounge music...During this time...I had stocked up several "Bath and Body Works" samplers... as well as some aroma therapy ones....

As I soak myself in a warm, sweet smelling bubbly bath, my mind clears up, I lose most of the stress of the previous week, and I'm both calm and energized to take on the world for one more week...

But I guess...more than all that.. it kind of brings back a lot of childhood memories... and a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

I'll end with one of my favorite PJs on this topic...

For his final project in a statistics class, a student decided to conduct a
Survey. So it wouldn't be a boring project, he chose to find out peoples'
Favourite pastimes.

The teacher required that he sample at least 100 people, so he started out
His project visiting a fairly large apartment building near the university.

He knocked on the first door and a man answered. "Sir, what is your name
?" asked the student "John", replied the man.

"Sir, I'm doing a school study and would like to know what is your
Favourite pastime ?"

"Watching bubbles in the bath," came the reply.

He liked the esoterical answer and continued down the hall, until he came
To the next door, when he asked again. "Sir, what is your name?"

"Jeff !", said the second man.

"Sir, Would you please tell me your favourite pastime?"

"Watching bubbles in the bath,! " was the answer.

Quite amused and confused he went on to ask a good number of people in the
Building and all of them had the same pastime "watching bubbles in the
Bath".

He left the building and walked across the street where there were several
Row houses to continue the survey.

At the first house, he knocks and an attractive college girl opens the
Door. Our surveyor starts again - "What is your name?"

"Bubbles"