Veg Fried Rice

Ingredients

Basmati rice: 1 cup

Chopped carrot: ¼ cup

Chopped beans: ¼ cup

Chopped capsicum: ¼ cup

Chopped spring onion: ¼ cup

Minced ginger and garlic: 2 tsp

Slit green chili: 2

Soy sauce: 2 tsp

Vinegar: 2 tsp

Oil: 2-3 tsp

Salt: To taste

Sesame oil: 1 tsp

Hot sauce: 2 tsp

Coriander leaves: 1 tsp

Method

Cook Basmati rice and spread the rice on a plate and allow it to cool.

Heat oil in a pan and add beans and carrot stirring for 3-4 minutes. Add capsicum, spring onion, ginger, garlic, green chili and salt and cook till the vegetables are just tender and it took me 2 minutes. Add the cooked rice, soy sauce and vinegar to the pan and sauté for 30 seconds. 

Remove from the heat, add sesame oil and hot sauce and stir well.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Pesto Sauce

Pesto is commonly used in Italian pastas and trust me, no other substitute can match its taste. Basil leaves is one of the main ingredients. Pesto sauce is supposed to have originated in Genoa, northern Italy. Traditionally, it consisted crushed garlic, basil leaves and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo.

Ingredients
Basil leaves: 1 cup
Pine nuts: 3-4 tsp
Garlic: 2-3 pods
Grated Parmesan cheese: 5-6 tsp
Grated Sardinian pecorino cheese: 2 tsp
Rock salt: ¼ tsp
Extra virgin olive oil: 5-6 tsp

Method
Wash the basil leaves gently in plenty of cold water. Make sure that the leaves don’t break or get crushed while washing. Allow the leaves to dry on a towel. 

A friend told me that a marble mortar and a wooden pestle is used to prepare authentic pesto. And many of us use the same back home to crush ginger-garlic, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and other spices in small quantities. And there comes the advantage of having a marble mortar in the kitchen.

Crush garlic and pine nuts in the mortar till they are creamy. Add salt and dry basil leaves, a few at a time, and rotate the wooden pestle delicately against the sides of the mortar. Make sure you never beat the leaves. The delicate rotation of the pestle helps in extracting the essential oils from the basil leaves which are not broken, but are rubbed against the walls of the mortar. Rub the leaves till the sauce is mixed well and basil becomes a fine paste. Slowly add Parmesan and Sardinian pecorino cheese and mix with the pestle. Lastly, add extra virgin oil and mix well till all the ingredients blend well. Use the sauce for any cooked pasta. 

Note: Though grinder can make the sauce in a few seconds, taste definitely changes. 

If you are not using the sauce immediately, store in the refrigerator in a glass container by covering it with a layer of olive oil.

Sweet Corn Salsa

Summer is here and it’s time for some yummy salads. And recently, I had salsa at a friend’s place and found it very tasty and healthy. Salsa is nothing but a sauce or a dip. It is often used as marinade meat and chicken. The word Salsa is a Spanish term which means sauce. So nobody calls it as salsa sauce which would make it redundant! Mexican Salsa is famous and there are many types of salsas. I particularly love Mango Salsa, Pineapple Salsa, Corn Salsa and Carrot Salsa.


Sweet Corn Salsa

Ingredients
Chopped tomatoes: 1 cup
Sweet corn: ¼ cup (cooked if desired)
Chopped fresh green onion: ¼ cup
Chopped coriander leaves: ¼ cup
Chopped red bell pepper: ¼ cup
Chopped fresh oregano: 1 tsp
Vinegar: 1 tsp
Pepper powder: ¼ tsp
Hot sauce: ½ tsp
Salt: To taste

Method
Grind ½ cup of tomatoes in a food processor with chives, coriander, oregano, vinegar, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Grind till the mixture is coarsely pureed. Add bell pepper and grind well. Transfer to a bowl and add sweet corn and the remaining ½ cup of tomatoes. Taste and add more vinegar, salt, pepper and/or hot sauce, if desired.