Me at Spar - “Mayunk! Look new flavour of soup from Knorr!” (Eyes shining!:)
Mayunk - “Haan toh le lo!”
Me - “Okie! I see few more also! Sab le leti hoon!”
Mayunk – “Whatever! Let’s go and bill!”
Then one evening, as we often do, we decided to have soup. I went to get the packet that said Chinese Chilly and started to read instructions. I don’t know why inspite of making soups and magi umpteen times, I still read instructions every time! It sounded really different from the standard soup recipe that’s printed. So I looked again and Voila! I realized that it’s not soup, but a fairly new product launched by Knorr called Knorr – Make - A - Meal.
Us, being, us and having no qualms about trying something new, we made another trip to supermarket to get the required samaan to actually Makethe Make-A-Meal. Soon we were back loaded with veggies and a pack of non-Magi noodles.
The recipe is fairly simple (if it gets simpler than this, even Cubby would be able to cook now!;). You cut whatever veggies you want (typically baingan or bhindi doesn’t go too well with Chinese) in small pieces. I usually pick onion, capsicum, carrot, French beans, baby corn, cabbage (for noodles) and spring onion (absolute must!).
Take a little oil in a kadhai (wok if you please;) and sauté the veggies in it on medium flame. Cover it for l’il time to let them become soft, but not over cooked or soggy. Just so much that its not kaccha but still crunchy. Alternately you can steam em a bit before cooking. That would mean even lesser oil. Once done add water as given in the instructions (its 450ml me thinks), add the Knorr Make-A-Meal powder and keep stirring till it boils and reaches the consistency you want and let it simmer for 2mins. Add spring onion at this stage for best results.
Non-veggies can of course add meat of their choice instead of ghaasphoos! : )
Your Chinese gravy is ready as quick as that. It is as good as any small Chinese restaurant which serves Indianised Chinky khaana.
Knorr MaM (I am lazy) is available in four or five flavours. We have had Chinese Chilly, Chinese Sichuan (shezwan), Sweet and Sour and none of these have disappointed. We have a mancuhrian pack at home but it involves some extra mehnat of making those Manchurian balls, so is languishing on my shelf.
K MaM (lazier) costs between Rs.25 to Rs.30 a pack and can serve 2 to 4 people depending on how much you eat. So its quite cost effective too.
So on a lazy Sunday instead of having Magi, try and rustle up a Chinese MaM at home. You have no idea how it feels to make something you have only been eating at restaurants and that too with minimal effort especially if you aren’t the kind who rustles up tasty meals on the go! :p
Since I have told you how to make the gravy (ahem!) I don’t quite feel like leaving without teaching you how to make noodles (aur phir review bhi bahot chhota ho jaayega;).
Of course this isn’t the best, but indeed the easiest way of making em. Since I add veggies to the gravy, I add only onion, cabbage (shredded) and spring onion to my noodles. So here goes!
Boil the noodles al dente (yaani kaccha bhi nahi aur poora cooked bhi nahi). Add a little oil in the water that you boil in so that they don’t stick to each other and kadhai. Drain them and hold them under running cold water for a min or so. Keep them aside. Heat some oil in the kadhaai, add onion and sauté. Then add cabbage and do the same. Once done add salt, mix well and add the noodles. Make sure everything gets mixed properly (don’t try to toss the noodles like they do on those thelas! They are professionals!:). If you want add soya sauce or any other you like and you are set.
Aur appetizer ke liye Knorr ka soup hai hi! :p
Knorr MaM contains MSG which is harmful when had in large quantities. Kids below 1year to be kept away from it completely.
As for the title, I think it means Let’s Eat in Chinese! : )