Noodles with Spicy Chicken Pakoda

Spicy Chicken Pakoda is one of the most popular street-food item of Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Other mouth-watering delicious street-foods include:

• gup-chup (alias gol-gappa, hot pani-puri),
• chicken egg rolls (hot and spicy chicken in a wrap),
• kachodi chat,
• dahi wada-aloo dum,
• hot guguni (yellow peas curry)

School lunch-time or end of the school day - The parents can be late to pick up the kids, but the street vendors promptly position themselves near the school entrance. No matter how much you try, you can never avoid the enticing smell of the goodies. You will succumb to it irrespective of how hygenic or unhygenic it is. Irrespective of how often how your dad has tried to explain and convince you to avoid eating it. Your's truly used to do so. Even in spite of the fact that her mom is a wonderful cook and can recreate the exact same taste at home! :)

Fast forward to the present day - These items are in the first list of items to eat on India trip. Some things never change!

Noodles (Makes 3 servings)

Ingredients

Oriental style noodle (I used Tomoshiraga Somen) - handful
Canola oil - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 3
Large onion - 1 cut into thin slices
Green Beans - 12 pieces cut at an angle into small pieces
Carrot - 1 cut into long pieces (optional)
Ajinomoto - 1/4 tsp
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
Worchestire sauce - 1 tsp
Green chilli sauce (I used Chings brand) - 1 tsp

Step 1

Boil water. Add an handful of the vermicelli. Let it cook al dente. When cooked, put it in a strainer and wash it with cold water. Keep it aside so that all the water is drained from the vermicelli.

Step 2

Heat canola oil. Cook onion till it is just cooked. Don't let it turn golden brown. Keep it aside.

Chop green beans at an angle. Cook it while keeping it crunchy. Keep it aside. You can keep it in the same container as the onion since you will mix them all together.

You can also add carrot cut into long thin slices. Cook it while keeping it crunchy (similar to the green beans above). Keep it aside. I did not use it.

Heat a few drops of oil. Break the eggs into the pan and stir it so that the 3 eggs are mixed up. Stir it occasionally and finally break them into small chunks. Keep it aside.

Step 3

In the hot pan, add the boiled vermicelli. Add the cooked onion, cooked beans and scrambled eggs and mix. Add ajinomoto along with soya sauce and worchestire sauce. Add green chilli sauce (I used Chings brand). Use more if you like it more hot. Mix well. Caution - Do it slowly so that you don't mash up the noodles.

Spicy Chicken Pakoda (Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 lb, cut into small pieces
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Flour - 4 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Sweet Paprika - 1/2 tsp (I used McCormick's brand)
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Fresh ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Shan Tandoori Chicken BBQ Mix - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp or as per taste

Step 1

Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside for 30 mins.

Step 2

Deep-fry the chicken pieces. Drop the chicken pieces one at a time into the oil.



To serve as a snack, garnish it with fresh onions and a pinch of rock salt (optional). Or combine it with fried rice or noodle and savour as a meal.