India- Land of Street Food
Indian Chinese is quite popular and combines the two cuisines to form one which has a tantalizing tone to it. This fusion has been there for a while now and we Indians just love it. With all the street food available, everyone has a favorite. I would hands down chose this, which brings back fond memories from my days back home.
One thing my cousin and I share is the love for food. The days before I got married, was something I will never be able to forget, who will right?? Mine was filled with laughter, food, company, tears and a lot of emotions. I stayed at my aunt’s place for sometime, which was a lot of fun and cannot be duplicated ever. My cousin and I would hold hands, talk for hours, walk on the foot path engrossed in our conversation not once being bothered by all pedestrians or the buzzing traffic around us. The best part we looked forward for was the food we were going to eat after our walk. A street vendor famous for his Indian Chinese was right up our ally so there we went, to order a plate of hot, steamy HAKKA noodles with hot and sweet tomato sauce drenched all over it. That ten rupee(25 cents) plate of goodness was every bit enjoyed.
It was amazing how our personal chef for the evening whipped up some noodles right in front of us, in his huge iron wok. He would be sweating by the burning hot wok, people surrounding him, the sizzle of the fried vegetables, the smells of soy and vinegar, it was a treat for your senses. Yes, something I will never forget.
The appetite we had in those young days(not long ago;)) is not be underestimated. My aunt would remind us not to eat junk when we stepped out, but did we listen??NOOO. After our rendezvous with the street vendor, we would go home to aunt, who would wait to serve us our dinner. With our tummies full and completely satisfied palette, a guilt of not listening was greater. We would eat our second dinner and enjoy it also, my aunt being a great cook, helped with that. Slyly giggling and thinking we cheated her, little did we know, that she knew it all the while…
Cheers to our good old days..
HAKKA NOODLES
Ingredients:
Noodles – 1 lb Wheat or Egg noodles( I used the thin egg noodles)
Onion – 1 thinly sliced
Vegetable – carrots, red cabbage, bell pepper(all julienned or sliced to 2 inch thin long strips)
Scallions – 3 stems chopped (optional- I skipped it as I didn’t have it on hand)
garlic – 3 pods finely diced
ginger – 1 inch grated
chili sauce – 3 tbsp( here I’ve used Maggi hot and sweet, you could use sriracha, if you use sriracha, just use 1 tsp and add some kind of tomato sauce to balance the sweet and spicy)
Soy sauce – 1 tbsp (I used tamari, dark soy sauce)
vinegar – 1 tsp
pepper – 1/2 tsp( freshly ground)
Oil – 2 tbsp
Method:
1. Boil the noodles in according to the instructions in lightly salted water and a tsp of oil till slightly under cooked or al dente, probably around 3-4 minutes. Drain and drizzle 1 tsp of oil on the noodles so they don’t stick together.
2. Prepare the sauce by mixing the chilly sauce, soy sauce, vinegar. Add 3 tbsp water and mix well.
3. In a wok or any pan add oil and let it heat up, add garlic and ginger making sure not to burn it, fry for half a minute and then add onion. After a minute of frying the onions add the vegetables and fry.
4. Once the vegetables are cooked yet crispy, add the sauce and mix.
5. Add the noodles and scallions, heat and mix it through very well and serve with sauce and pepper on top.
ENJOY!!