Recipe of the week:

Spicy Stir-Fried Noodles

Cooking Time : 10 mins.
Preparation Time : 10 mins.

Serves 3 to 4.

Ingredients
100 grams rice noodles (dried rice vermicelli)
6 to 8 basil leaves
3/4 cup paneer (cottage cheese), cut into cubes
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 to 2 green chillies, finely chopped
1/4 cup french beans, thinly sliced
1/4 cup carrots, cut into thin match sticks
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup peanuts, roasted and chopped
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the garnish
6 spring onions (including greens), chopped
2 tablespoons red cabbage, sliced

How To Proceed
1. Place the noodles in a large bowl.
2. In a pan, boil about 1 litre of water with some salt. When it comes to a boil, pour the water over the raw rice noodles. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes or till the noodles are soft.
3. Drain and keep aside.
4. Heat the oil in a pan, add basil leaves and saute for a minute. Drain and keep aside.
5. In the same oil and saute the paneer. Drain and keep aside.
6. Heat the same oil again, add the garlic, green chillies, french beans, carrots, mushrooms and celery and saute for 2 minutes.
7. Add the rice noodles, peanuts, soya sauce, sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and 4 tablespoons of water and toss well.
8. Serve hot garnished with spring onions and red cabbage.

Handy tip(s) :
1. Prepare this recipe as close to serving time as possible as it is not a good idea to re-heat it.

My sister in law is a huge fan of Sujatha. I'm starting to catch the bug. This week Anandha Vikatan had a good article in his Katradhum Petradhum. Similarly, AV also had an interesting article from actor Kamal Hassan in his weekly Love pannuda mavane. I generally don't read this column, because I think it is juvenile, but then this week's column made a good read. (I don't know why the column's title doesn't match the content, though)

Also read one of Sujatha's not-so-old novel 'Anithavin kadhalgal'. The story was good.

I'm having trouble with my nine-month old baby. He is refusing rice. Wonder what to do. Anyway, if there are any experienced parents around, pls enlighten me.