Soya Chilli Masala

We sometimes leisurely go for day trips when ever time permits and when ever we want to escape from daily rushing-huffing. This time, we went to Hastings, east Sussex. We have been to Brighton earlier which itself is a nice place to have great sea-views, but Hastings is even more relaxing, meant for a family day-out.

And as we intend to do small train journeys, so a two hours of train ride sounded good for us. Views across Hastings Country Park and Hasting pier are relaxing. This place even has many fish and chips outlets, a typical sea- town and also a fabulous play area for kids which stretch along the promenade.

There are many areas for picnic as well and benches to sit. But our surprise was Hastings Country Park, views across the sandstones cliff –east hill is splendid. They have recently mended the park area, putting up great amount of greenery and also some wooden benches to sit and relax. It even has a separate place for barbecues, and one can have a long walk along the East hill till Fairlight village area if nothing comes to mind, although when we visited many walking paths were closed due to land-slides.

And we kind of liked the funicular –railway to the top as well, as taking steps to the top of cliff sounded exhausting for us.And of course one can spend some time near promenade or beach as well. Although I must say it’s a pebbled beach not a sandy –beach that one always expects to be in.

 If you don’t mind pebbled beaches, you still can have a picnic there, catching up with sea-views and listening to the crashing sea-waves sound. All in all, a nice way to spend a leisurely family day over there.

Coming to the recipe. We have been making soya chunks in many different ways. This stir/fry as we really like to eat is sort of a fusion between Chinese and Indian ingredients and that's why called it-  Chinese Soya Chilli Masala. Chinese Soya is spiced a little more with red pepper powder and cumin powder, not much but a slight hint of it. This turned up a semi-dry preparation for us and we liked it with rotis.We also made a side of a salad- Baby spinach, apple and rocket salad, dressing we used was honey-vinaigrette.

Chinese Soya Chilli  Masala
Recipe requirements
About 3 cups of soaked soya nuggets
2 medium size potatoes
1 medium size onions
 2 tsp of ginger paste
2 tsp of garlic paste
Half of a medium size tomato
For the chili masala sauce
4-5 tsp of Soya sauce
3 tsp of Tomato ketchup
 2 tsp of Tamarind sauce
 1 tsp of Honey
 2 tsp of Chili sauce
 1 tsp of red pepper powder
½ tsp of cumin powder
 1 tsp of Salt or as per taste
Coriander leaves
½ tsp of corn flour
3-4 tbs of cooking oil

Method
Soak soya nuggets in ample water for about 4-5 hrs.Once, they soak up entire water and have become soft, squeeze out the soaked water. Now wash them in running water and again squeeze out the excess water.
It would be nice if you can cook the soya nuggets/chunks in advance. Put the entire amount in pressure cooker, add in 1 cup of water and cook for two whistles. Open when the pressure subsides.
Now chop potatoes in to cubes.
Heat up a fry pan, add in cooking oil. Add in finely chopped onions, sauté them for about a minute. Now add in garlic and ginger paste. If not using paste, then you may use freshly grated ginger and garlic.
Keep on stir/fry for about 3-4 mints. Now add in cubed potatoes. Sprinkle salt, red pepper powder and cumin powder, all over them and keep on stir/fry fry 7-10 mints. Add in finely chopped tomatoes.
Now add in all the sauce- soya, chili, tamarind and honey to it. Or better mix all the sauce in a bowl and then add it to the above. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning if required. Sprinkle about 6-7 tbs of water all over it so that the gravy doesn’t become dry or potatoes gets stuck in the pan.
Now add in cooked soya nuggets. Let it cook for about 10-15 mints at medium flame or till potatoes are thoroughly cooked and all the sauces have mixed thoroughly with soya nuggets and potatoes.
Dissolve corn flour in half cup of water. Once the potatoes and soya nuggets are cooked, add in corn flour mixture .Stop cooking and take it off from the hob.

Serve hot and garnished with coriander leaves. This goes well with Chinese fried rice or noodles. But then we even had it with rotis and baby spinach, apple and rocket salad.

Happy cooking friends