Nepalese Food

Having failed at ordering Dosa (the place was closed) and hungry on a Saturday night, PS and I decided to check for a good deal on her Taste Card. There aren't many places in Oxford that take the card on a Sat night, but we found Kadai and Naan, an Indian/Nepalese place. Since I was craving noodles, we decided to try our luck with their Paneer Noodle dish. We were pleasantly surprised by a delicious dish that almost mimics Indian-Chinese fusion. The noodles were fried with chillies, garlic, onion and we're assuming some soy sauce and chili oil. Intermixed with the noodles were perfectly fried cubes of paneer. The mixture may sound strange, but it was one of the best dishes I've had in a while. We also ordered the Chicken Kadai, which resembles an Indian curry, but with slight variations on the herbs and spices. If you love Indian food and want to try something similar with a twist, definitely give this place a go.

Kadai and Naan
209 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1XF

Cantonese Tomato Beef

I was left with several parcels of tomatoes the other day when a friend went on a month-long research trip to California. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." But when life gives you tomatoes, make...?" Feeling slightly nostalgic for my mother's cooking, I opted to make a Cantonese dish consisting of tomatoes and beef. Traditionally, this mixture is served over rice, but I decided to make it with vermicelli noodles because I had no rice in the house, and I love noodles. My version of this recipe is quite bastardized and randomly whipped together, but it turned out pretty good nonetheless!

(2-3 servings)
3-4 cloves of garlic (depending on garlic tolerance)
250g beef mince
~330g sliced cherry tomatoes (more or less depending on your taste; regular tomatoes are alright too and actually more traditional)
soy sauce (to taste)
1 tsp sugar
375g vermicelli (i.e. rice noodles)
dash of sesame oil
2-3 eggs (depending on # of servings)

Stir fry the garlic in a bit of oil for about a minute. Add the beef mince and fry until about 75% of the beef is cooked. Add the sliced cherry tomatoes and squish them to get all the water out. Add in soy sauce and sugar and let it simmer for a couple minutes. Give the mixture a try and add more sugar and/or soy sauce depending on how sweet or salty you want it.  Stir in the vermicelli, sesame oil, and more soy sauce if needed. Mix well for another two minutes. Keep tasting and adjusting the ingredients to your taste buds. In another pan, fry up some eggs. Put the noodles in dishes and top each serving off with an egg.

This recipe is quite ad hoc, so feel free to play around with it. There's really no way of messing up as long as you keep tasting and mixing in things little by little until the flavor suits you!