Carrot and Baby Corn Stir-Fry Recipe

This recipe is from Das Sreedharan's Easy Indian, and he is right, it is easy! The book is a good mix of really simple recipes like this one and ones that require a bit of practise, like Indian dumplings. Even then, the entire book has recipes with easy-to-get ingredients and something all Indian kitchens stock up on anyway.

Though there is nothing much that's unique or different about the recipe, the combination was quite new to me, something I hadn't tried before - carrots and baby corn! The crunchiness of the baby corn offset the soft cooked carrots and the simple masala mix gave it a nice twist.

Carrot and Baby Corn Stir-Fry Recipe

What I Used:

Carrots - 1 cup, cut into long thin pieces
Baby corn - 1 cup, quartered into long pieces
Onions - 1/2 cup, chopped into thin long slices
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala or curry powder - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Fresh cilantro / coriander leaves - to garnish (optional but highly recommended)

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onions and fry until soft and transparent.

2. Add the chilli powder and salt and fry for another 30 seconds. Then add the chopped carrots and sprinkle some water on the it. Cook closed for about 5-7 minutes until the carrots are cooked through. Make sure to check in between to ensure that they don't burn and the carrots don't get too mushy.

3. Increase the heat to high and add the baby corn, stirring continuously until the vegetables mix well. Lower the heat, mix in the garam / curry masala and adjust salt if required. The baby corn should still be crunchy so remove from fire about about 2 mins.

4. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with steamed rice or wrapped in a chapati / roti.

Fried Rice with Baby Corn Manchurian

I am a huge fan of Indo-Chinese food. Though I hadn't tried any of the recipes before, one day I had this obsessive need to make gobi manchurian. I set out to the wet market but to my huge disappointment, they were out of cauliflower. A bit disappointed, I headed over to the supermarket to get milk, and there in the chiller was a packet of baby corn. A particular evening in Hyderabad flashed through my memory and I knew the answer. Baby corn manchurian!

I also needed the quintessential ingredient for Chinese cooking - Soy sauce. There were about a dozen varieties in the supermarket and I picked one which I thought would be closest in taste to the one and only kind available in India - Sil Soy Sauce!

Here is the simple meal I made. It came out mild and tasty.

Fried Rice

Serves 2

What I Used:

Cooked Basmati rice - 2 cups

Chopped carrots - 1/2 cup

Chopped beans - 1/2 cup

Chopped onions - 1/2 cup

Capsicum - half of a medium sized one

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Soy sauce - 2 tbsp

Pepper - 2-3 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and lightly saute the onions till translucent.

2. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.

3. Now add the carrots and beans and keep frying till the vegetables are half cooked.

4. Next add the capsicum and pepper and mix well.

5. Increase the heat to maximum and pour the soy sauce in, stirring continuously. Keep stirring for 10-15 seconds and then lower the heat.

6. Add the cooked rice with required salt and mix well. Let it fry for another 3-4 mins and then remove.

Baby Corn Manchurian


This is a dish I have only tried in restaurants. I have never tasted a home-made version so I was a bit apprehensive. I followed my sister's recipe for Gobi Manchurian and that I have tasted and verified is yummy! So I am just replicating her recipe here, for easy reference, with slight changes in quantity.

What I Used

(Serves 2)

Baby corn - about 10-12, cut into half.

For the batter

Cornflour - 2 tbsp

Maida - 4 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Crushed shallots - 2-3 (optional)

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt

For the gravy

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Capsicum - 1/2 of one, cubed

Onion - 1, cubed

Soy sauce - 2 tbsp

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Cornflour - 1 tsp, mixed in half cup water

Spring onion - to make your dish look prettier and smell nicer - optional

Salt - add ONLY after checking because the soy sauce has salt in it!

How I Made It:

1. Make a thick batter with all the ingredients. Add the halved baby corn in this and deep fry till golden brown. Set aside on a kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

2. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the ginger garlic paste for about 10 seconds. Add the onions and saute for another minute. Then add the capsicum and saute for another minute. Its important not to brown them and retain the crunch.

3. Increase the heat to maximum and add the soy sauce mixing well for about 30 seconds. Lower the heat, add pepper powder and the fried baby corn pieces. Mix well.

If you want a dry dish to serve as an appetizer, or just prefer it that way, you can stop at this stage and serve it. If you want some gravy then proceed to step 4.

4. Pour in the cornflour+water mixture and stir well. Don't let it boil. Cornflour tends to thicken the gravy so remove once you have mixed it in.

5. Garnish with some spring onions and serve hot.

This goes over to AWED - Chinese event hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar.