Chinese Curry Noodles

My husband and I live only a three minute walk away from a Chinese grocery store and so have found ourselves trying all kinds of new dishes. I have had a request for this recipe so I am posting it here for you!
The recipe is one I've come up with so there aren't definite measurements.

You will need:
-Chinese style instant noodles (the Wai Wai brand)

-Shrimp (the tails removed) or pieces of chicken.
-Butter
-Garlic cloves
-Sesame or Vegetable Oil
-Soy Sauce
-Red Pepper Flakes
-Honey/Brown Sugar
-Lemon Juice
-Chicken stock
-Vegetables (I like to use onions, carrots and celery but you can choose your own)
-Curry Powder
-Salt to taste

Add whatever else you would like. Egg and water chestnuts are good Chinese ingredients.

First, fill a medium sized bowl or pot with the hottest water from your tap. Take about half a package of noodles and let sit in water until needed.

-Put some butter in a frying pan on high. Cut the garlic and add to the melted butter. Add shrimp.

At this point you can add the sesame oil,  soy sauce, red pepper flakes, honey and lemon juice. However, these are not mandatory and you may skip out on them if you like.

Cook shrimp until liquid in pan has all but disappeared. Remove from heat and put in bowl.







-Put chopped up veggies and, in pan, fry with a minimal amount of oil. Add about 2 teaspoons of honey. Fry until onions are translucent or until veggies are JUST tender. Not too much or else they become too limp.

Add shrimp back into the pan of veggies.
-Pick noodles up from out of the water and hold above the sink until drained. Add the noodles to the pan along with the chicken stock, curry and salt. I like to put a lot of curry in but decide how much you want by tasting it. (if the spices don't mix in well with the noodles add water) Fry just long enough to heat noodles. Make sure the noddles are not too dry. Half a package of noodles will make enough for about five people.

Remove from the heat and enjoy!

Spinach Fritters

A writer has to be healthy, right? Well, I don't know about you but spinach isn't one of my favourite vitamin-packed foods. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried this recipe - and actually liked it! It's slightly spicy (but not overly-so) and makes a fairly easy side-dish. I have my own small twist on the recipe.

Lentil Spinach Fritters

3/4 of a cup cooked lentils - drained (You can use a can of lentils if you want to make things easier)

3 1/2 cups spinach - chopped

3 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoons green onions

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 Tablespoon cilantro - chopped

3 Tablespoons Flour (or more)

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 garlic clove

Directions below.

1st you want to process the lentils in a food processor with about 3 tablespoons of water. I don't have one so I use a blender.

Chop the spinach into small bits and add it to the lentils.

 Next, add the  green onions, cilantro and other ingredients.

 

Now, this is where I add my own twist. In the original recipe you do not process the other ingredients, you just mix them with the lentils. I, however, found that the fritters did not cook as well when that was done. You can just mix the other ingredients in if you like but I prefer to blend them so the batter looks like this:

 Add extra flour or water until you are satisfied with the batter's consistency.

Next, add oil to a heated pan and fry the batter like pancakes until they are light brown.

I am sorry that this picture is so low quality, it makes the fritter look burnt, but it is actually dark green.

Serve them warm with sour cream. 

Enjoy!

If you opt for the un-processed spinach it'll look like this: