Lemon Pepper Shrimp-Pork Hakka Noodles

Culinary Joint Venture: 


Bongs and Chinese food have an almost age old connect. Chilli Chicken and Hakka Noodles being all time favorites. Be it the special eating out during Durga Pujo, or a lunch grabbed with the girls during a shopping spree, or even a dine in at China Town, Chinese foood has almost a soul calling with the Boing broood. So no wonder there are days, when I have a craving for Chinese food,and everything else seems bland and boring. 


I had thawed Tilapia filets to be cooked in shorshey bata(mustard sauce) for dinner, before going out for the jog-walk session. It was supposed to be a typical Bong dinner. However by the time, I got back from my 4.5 mile session, I had a very familiar craving: a craving for Kolkata style Chinese food. That was a pang which could not be satisfied by ordering  a take out from the neighbourhood Chinese eatery. It was a distinct taste. The chinese breakfast at Central Avenue, or the sweet and sour pork from Jimmy's Kitchen, in Park Circus, or the huge spread in China Town, the mind was on a trip down the Chinese culinary lanes of Kolkata.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp-Pork Hakka Noodles

 It was just a  few days earlier, that I had come across a fellow blogger's post on Pork Hakka Noodles. I had loved the way, the cooking directions were doled out. It somehow sounded to me, that it was that Kolkattan taste, which my heart was longing for. So the tilapia went back to the freezer, and out came the pasta. I had run out of egg noddles, hence used angel hair pasta for my version of Pork Hakka Noodles. And Deb's suggestion to whip up Lemon Pepper Shrimp seemed like the ideal combo. Where was all the tiredness after the uphill walking we had been into. It was almost as if someone had given us a shot of extra strong energy drink. It was gonna be a Chinese dinner. 

Lemon Pepper Shrimp:    

courtesy: Deb 

Lemon pepper Shrimp

Ingredients: 
Shrimp: 250-300gm
Soy Sauce: 3/4 cup
Minced Ginger: 2 tbsp
Minced Garlic: 2 tbsp
Canola Oil
Salt
Corn Starch
Pepper
Chopped cabbage:  handful
Capsicum/Bell pepper: cut into thin slivers
Lemon juice: 3-4 tsp

Procedure: 
Saute the minced ginger garlic in canola oil. Dont let the garlic burn.

Then add 3/4 cup of soy sauce to the ginger garlic mixture. Mix well.

Blend two teaspoon of corn starch in half a cup of water, and add it to the sauce pan where you have the ginger and garlic, along with 2 tsp of lemon juice.

Season with salt and 2 tsp of pepper. Keep the sauce aside.

Dredge the shrimps lightly in corn flour and salt. Saute in a pan, until reddish brown in colour. Keep the shrimp aside.

Saute the chopped cabbage and capsicum slivers in canola oil, with salt and pepper. Ensure that the veggies retain the crunch. take them out of the pan.

Toss the fried shrimps in the pan along with the sauce, and some lemon juice. Cook it till the sauce sticks to the pan.

Do a taste test.

Turn off the heat.Garnish with the veggies.

Pork Hakka Noodles: 
Recipe courtesy: http://finelychopped-k.blogspot.com/

Pork Hakka Noodles

Ingredients: 


Bacon: thick cut bacon in 3 slices: chopped
Sausages: 4-6: cut into rounds
Egg Noddles/ Angel Hair pasta: 400 gm: Boiled al dente with a dash of canola oil added to the boiling water.
Egg: 3: scrambled
Canola Oil
Cabbage: chopped: a handful
Mushrooms: chopped
Capsicum/Bell Pepper: cut into slivers
Chopped Ginger: 2 tbsp
Chopped Garlic: 1 tbsp
Soy Sauce: 1/4 cup
Chilli-Gralic sauce/Chilli Sauce: 1/5cup(or lesser according to heat preferences)
Pepper: 1 tbsp
Ajini no moto: 1 tsp
Salt: To taste
Vinegar: 1 tablespoon

Pork Hakka Noodles

Procedure: 

Saute the meat in canola oil in a large pan, till the pan gets a fair share of bacon grease. 
Add in the minced garlic and minced ginger. Saute for sometime more, ensuring that they dont get burnt. 
Add in the sauces to the oil, and mix well.Cook the meat well, as it tends to take some time.
Move the meat to a side of the pan. add in the boiled noodles to the other side of the pan, add a dash of salt and a tbsp of pepper and a tsp of ajinomoto on the noddles. Mix well. 
Mix in the noodles, meat and the veggies. The veggies should retain their crunch, so do not over cook them. Do a taste test, and add in some more sauces, if it tastes too bland. 
Add 1 tbsp of vinegar to dissolve the seasonings better. 
Lastly mix in the scrambled eggs before serving. 




So next time you are craving for Kolkata style Chinese food, you know what to whip up. Bon appetit!