Mushroom Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of my favorites and I never seem to get my appetite filled with these. I am not sure if its becasue of the lightness of the dish or because it tastes so good..I can keep eating bowls of fried rice before I realize I am full...I often overeat and go "What is things made of?"..Sadly, I do the same thing when I make it!! Can't relate to this?? hmmn...Maybe its just me? 
So, I do try to make a lot of different varieties of fried rice each week..and mushrooms are sooo good for this because of the earthiness, the asian flavor, and the beautiful natural color it gives to the rice.. This version of mushroom fried rice combines mushrooms and celery without overpowering the dish with other veggies..
And thank god this is one of the rare lunch boxes my kids dont bring back home.. :) I am sure there are many moms here who can relate to this!! Come on!! Pls dont tell me your kids finish their lunch boxes! I'll be heart broken :P :)

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 2 1/4 cups
Red Onion - 1 large, thinly diced
Mushrooms, brown/white - 25-30, thinly sliced
Celery - 2 stalks, thinly sliced
Chilli-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 1-2 Tbsps
Pepper - 1 tsp (or to taste)
Salt, to taste

Instructions:

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker with the mentioned amount of water and a tsp of oil and salt. Let it cool and separate the cooked rice gently with a fork.
2. Heat oil in a wok or kadai in a high flame and add onions and saute until golden. 
3. Add mushrooms, celery and salt and let the veggies cook and soften.
4. Now add pepper, chilli-garlic paste and toss together until mixed.
5. Add the cooked rice and gently mix. Adjust salt, pepper to taste. 

Tips:
Adding salt to the veggies makes it cook faster and remember to do this whole thing in high flame so that the veggies dont lose their color and end up looking pale.
I use Kikkoman chilli garlic paste and that's my go to sauce for several dishes. You can try any brand that is your favorite. This paste is optional if you are primarily making the dish for kids as it could make the fried rice a little spicier. 

Salmon Cakes with Aioli dip

We recently went to the REI members event where they had a few finger foods and one of them were these yummy looking tiny crab cakes that were out of the world..So I came back home totally wanting to make something similar..I dint have crab at home but had some left over salmon from making fish puttu the other day. So I decided to make salmon cakes instead..
This is a healthy and utterly delicious recipe that just will make your taste buds very happy!!

Ingredients:
Salmon, cooked, shredded - 1 lb
Onion, large, finely chopped - 1/2 no
Bell Pepper, finely chopped - 1/2 no
Eggs, slightly beaten - 2
Garlic powder - 1tsp
Worcestershire sauce - 1Tbsp
Hot sauce - 1/2 Tbsp (or to taste)
Old bay seasoning - 1/2 Tbsp
All purpose seasoning - 2 tsp (opt)
Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
Pepper - 2-3tsp
Mayo - 2 Tbsp
Butter - 1/2 Tbsp
Olive oil -
Salt, to taste

For Garlic Lemon Aioli Dip:
Garlic pods, crushed - 2
Mayo - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
Salt - 1 pinch
Pepper - 1 pinch
Capers - 1 Tbsp (optional)

 

Method:

1. Roast salmon in very little oil in a flat pan until completely cooked and slightly golden on both sides. Remove from pan, cool and shred into small pieces once cooled.
2. In the same pan, add butter, 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and add the onions and bell peppers, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder and all the seasonings, salt, pepper and let it cook until soft and slightly golden. Once done, remove from heat and let cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix together salmon, onion mixture, beaten eggs, bread crumbs and Mayo. Adjust seasonings per taste if need be. 
4. Heat in low flame about a tbsp of olive oil in a flat pan or griddle.
5. Take equal amounts of the mixture (I used an ice cream scoop for this) and make them into balls and then flatten them out a little like biscuits about 3-4 inches in diameter and place them in the oil one by one. 
6. Slowly brown both sides of the cake until completely firm and well done. 
7. Remove from heat and serve hot with garlic lemon aioli dip or tartar sauce. 
8. For the dip, mix all the ingredients together and adjust seasoning.

P.S : I used leftover salmon in this case. You can precook and refrigerate the fish for more than a week and use it when you need it. You can prepare the mixture and store it for a few days ahead before making the cakes as well.
Breadcrumbs substitute:  If you dont have breadcrumbs, you can use ritz crackers or any salt crackers or toasted bread to bind the ingredients together.

Onion Bhajji

Ingredients:

Onions - 2 large
Besan/Gram flour - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 6 Tbsp
All purpose flour - 4 Tbsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 2 Pinch
Salt to taste
Orange food color, Optional
Cornmeal, Optional
Water

Method:

1. Cut onions into thin round slices..The thinner the crispier!
2. Mix all the above ingredients with water to make a thick batter like consistency.
3. Heat oil in a wok/kadai and when oil is hot enough to fry slowly drop the bhajjis and deep fry.

These bajjis came out very crispy. To experiment, I added cornmeal to a little bit of the batter at the end with left over onions and it turned out good. It was crispy with a grainy texture. You can make single thick onion rings with it!!

I used to call this last set of bajjis that my mom used to make with left over onions, KachaMucha bajji (Haphazard bajji) :)