Noodles Salad Thai Style

Today I was badly craving 'Phad Thai' but did not have all the ingredients, so decided to make a salad style, with whatever was available. Checked my fridge and found tofu, carrots and cauliflower. From my garden I picked some fresh coriander and spring onions. Added a few other assorted ingredients and a delicious noodles salad was ready! It turned out really nice and we relished it with mixed berry juice.

Ingredients: 1 cup boiled noodles, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 cup assorted veggies (I had only carrots and cauliflower but beans, capsicum, broccoli or any other veggies could be used) cut length wise, 1/2 cup cut tofu/paneer, 1/2 cup well roasted and crushed peanuts, 1 tbsp tamarind pulp, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and chilli flakes as per taste, fresh coriander and spring onion leaves for garnishing.

Method: Heat 1 tbsp oil, fry garlic and add the vegetables, stir fry for a couple of minutes, add tofu and mix, add tamarind pulp, sugar, salt, chilli flakes and mix well. Turn off the fire. Add noodles, half peanuts, lime juice, half coriander and spring onion leaves, remaining olive oil and toss well. Leave it aside for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Before serving heat in the microwave for 2 minutes and garnish with remaining coriander and spring onion leaves, and peanuts. Dig in!

Friendship Cake

Neeti & Ritu: I am a little lazy! This story should have come on Friendship Day ideally but then we do not need special days to remember our friends! And Ritu, reconnecting with you after so long pepped me up to write this.

Some of my fondest memories of cooking are with Neeti. we were in college and used to spend almost all time together. either i was at her place or she at mine. our parents too had given up on us. whenever we were night staying at each other's place it was a nightmare for that mom. we used to hijack the kitchen and cook whatever our heart desired. our cooking expeditions generally started around midnight when all others had slept and lasted the entire night. 

mostly we used to bake cakes, vegetable pulav, vegetable soups and cookies. 

listening to vividh bharti and akashvani dilli, giggling over day's events, bitching about other girls and dreaming of a bright future, we used to cook to our heart's content and then finish everything so as not to leave any traces for mom to discover in the morning. after that we used to be so full that we HAD to go for a morning walk.

one night we baked a cake and decided to share it with our friend Ritu. Ritu was our other partner in crime and life could not have been complete without her. 3 of us together have often sent our parents' BP high ;) we realized we couldn't eat this cake without her and decided to fetch her to my place so the 3 of us could eat it together. 
4 in the morning we jumped gates(so not to make any noise) and walked 3 kms to Ritu's place. again jumped gates at her place and knocked on her bedroom door (thankfully her room was in the front of house so there was no need to wake others up). she woke up and when she saw us, she was furious because we had disturbed her sleep. and then she asked us so sweetly to get the cake to her place if we were keen to share it with her. she would not walk to my place!!!
and Neeti and I did not even blink! we again walked back 3 kms to my place, jumped gates, picked up the cake, jumped gates again, walked another 3 kms (haff haff haff...) and shared the cake with Ritu. after walking 12 kilometers our appetite had returned too. 
that cake tasted SO delicious. i do not have the picture but i will share the recipe:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 1 cup

Milkmaid tin: 1(400gms)

Butter: 1/2 cup

Baking powder: 2 tsp

Baking soda: 1 tsp

Vanilla essence: 1 tsp

Salt: 1 pinch

Water as required

Mix flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add vanilla essence, butter and milk maid and beat as much as you can. Neeti and i used to take turns beating the cake. Add water if it is too thick. Transfer mixture to a buttered dish and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degree celsius. YUMMY! You can add cocoa powder to make a chocolate cake or any other flavour that you like. Instead of water and soda you can also use coke/limca. It is a fool-proof recipe and comes out great every time.

Just last week I spoke to Lata Bhaabhi and it delighted me no end when she shared she still bakes that cake! Thanks Bhaabhi!