Indian style Chinese noodles

Noodles - my favorite dish and Chinese - my favorite cuisine. When I decided to make noodles for lunch my mom and sis looked bored cause according to them Chinese delicacies taste plain !!! I decided to make it the way they like - hot and spicy .So here goes an Indo-Chinese dish - Spicy Garlic Noodles .
Ingredients:
Plain noodles -200gms
Onions - 2 Medium -thinly sliced
Carrots -3 to 4 - thinly sliced
Capsicum-3 - thinly sliced (to make it more colorful , you can use colored capsicum )
Ginger Garlic paste -1/2 spoon
Tomato ketchup - 1 to 2 spoons or as per taste
Soy sauce -  2 tea spoon
Ajinomoto ,salt - as per taste
Oil - As required

Chili paste:

In a bender, grind 2 green chillies ,2 small onions (sambar vengayam) and 2 garlic cloves .

Method:

• Boil the noodles(with a pinch of salt and a little oil added to the water) till the noodles becomes soft. Oil prevents the noodles from getting sticky.

• Drain excess water , wash noodles with cold water and set it aside.
• In a pan or wok , add oil and once it smokes add the onions .
• Sauté the onions for 3 mins and add ginger garlic paste.
• Sauté for another 3 mins and add the chili paste.
• Once the raw smell (smell from ginger garlic paste) vanishes add the sliced carrots and capsicum and keep tossing on high flame(else they get burned ).
• Add soy sauce,ajinomoto,salt and then the boiled noodles.
• Finally add tomato ketchup and mix well.
• Toss for 2 more minutes and serve hot :)

Spicy Garlic Noodles ready to eat :)

Tips and suggestions:

For authentic Chinese noodles:

• Avoid tomato ketchup .
• Instead of chili paste use chili sauce.
• Replace ginger garlic paste with crushed garlic(3 to 4 cloves).
• Add 1/2 tea spoon of vinegar .
• Use vegetables like purple cabbage,spring onion etc.

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Total preparation time: 45 minutes

Carrot Tomato Curry

Off late I've developed a new interest- COOKING :) Initially I cooked with a recipe written out neatly - not missing even a single item. But cooking is not supposed to be that way- ' its imagination ' said my friend and he was absolutely right! Voila-let your imagination cook :)

Most of the dishes that I've tried so far are based on trial and error method and here we have one example - Carrot Tomato Curry (side dish for chappathi,roti and dosa)
Reason for choosing carrot and tomato - only those two items were available at home;)
Here we go...
Ingredients:
Carrots : 6 -7 diced and boiled.
Tomatoes: 2 diced , 2 peeled and blended to make a paste.
Onions : 3 -4 Chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Sugar 1 pinch
Oil - 3 table spoons
For masala:
In a blender mix
Corriander leaves(1/2 cup),
Curry leaves(1 cup),
Garlic - 2 to 3,
Cumin(jeera) - 1 tea spoon
Fenugreek (vendhayam) -1/2 tea spoon
Red chilly-1
Small onion -1

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan
• Add mustard seeds ,followed by onions.
• Saute till the onions turn golden brown.
• Add the carrots and masala and mix well.
• Leave the pan closed on low flame for 3 mins (for the carrots to cook in case its hard)
• Add the chopped tomatoes , tomato paste and a pinch of sugar
• Add some salt and pepper 
• Leave on low flame till the curry becomes thick as shown below.

Once the curry becomes thick,remove from flame and garnish. Hot carrot tomato curry is now ready to be served with chappathi,roti or dosa.

Tips and suggestions:

• Along with carrot other vegetables like beans,cauliflower or peas can also be added
• If the you like it dry,then chop 2 more tomatoes and avoid the paste.
• Green chillies can be added for more spice :)