Maroi Nakuppi ga Khajing Kanghou (Chinese Chives and shrimps fried)

Maroi Nakuppi is an important part of Manipuri cuisine, we use it as an alternative to onion esp for tempering in vegetarian dishes and many people from the older generation prefer this than onion. This recipe is an age old recipe and one of my all time favourite, my mother makes it really well like more other things but since I love to eat, this was one of the first things I learned to make on my own. Its easy to make and taste really good. If you are in Delhi you can buy it from the INA market and if abroad most Asian food and grocery stores sells it. In Sweden I buy it from the Asian store which is a bit expensive but during summer we get the locally grown chinese chives which is not only cheap but taste far better.  I am looking forward to next month when we will get it in the local market. The ingredients bellow will serve about 2 people. 

Ingredients:

1. A small bunch of chinese chives or about 250 gm.

2. 2-3 green chillies 

3. Few garlic cloves 

4. Shrimps ( I used the dried shrimps, soaked in water for 10 mins and drained , one can always use the fresh ones as it tastes better)

5. 2 tbsp mustard oil.

6. Turmeric powder

6. Salt to taste 

Steps:

1. Take a frying pan and put it on medium heat, add the mustard oil and once it is smoking hot add the crushed garlic and chopped chillies. Fry for 2-3 mins and add some turmeric powder and stir it well.

2. Add the shrimps and mix it well, fry for another 5 mins on medium heat.

3. Add the chopped chinese chives and mix well. The chives gets cooked real quick so continue cooking on medium or even low heat. Mix it well with the other ingredients. 

4. Dried shrimps are normally salty so don't add a lot of salt. If you are using fresh shrimps you can add little more salt. Taste and remember never to cover it while frying this will retain all the moisture and make it a bit soggy. 

Serve hot with steamed white rice and with some eromba will be really good. 

To eat or not to

Last summer I decided to stop having chicken not completely but cut down as much as possible, I allowed myself to have a chicken dimsum/wantons that I made myself at home but other than that I mostly ate fish, lentils and vegetables. Summer in Sweden is awesome for vegetarians we get all kinds of greens and greens I like starting from hangam (mustard leaves), leibak kundo (purslane),  amaranth, methi leaves and many other varieties of greens we eat in Manipur.

One of the most interesting greens I found was leibak kundo, a vegetable not commonly known to even fellow manipuris. My mother once made kangsoi with some nga ayaiba (smoked fish) and I still remembered the taste, from my days in The Hague I knew that it is available in Turkish vegetable  stores but here I buy it from stoles owned by people from Arabic speaking background. One can even make kanghou with come potatoes and leibak kundo but kangsoi taste the best.

It is much easier to stick to a meat less diet in summer but I do need my daily does of fish and Sweden is Salmon heaven  :) thanks to the neighbouring country Norge we get both farmed and wild caught salmons but also several varieties of sea food.  I was anyways never a fan of meat and since the only meat I ate was chicken it was easy to give it up and for some weird reason whenever I used to cook chicken it used to taste horrible so I stopped cooking chicken long time back. My husband makes really yummy chicken but I normally eat just the gravy.

With summer on the way I plan to continue my meat less diet and some interesting recipes will be uploaded soon.

Purslane (Leibak kundo)

Balestrand- Norway (Norge)

Balestrand- Fjord town

 Last summer my husband and I went to Norway, it was a well planned trip and me being the super planner /organiser I managed to find some awesome deals. Before I go any further I must mention that Norway is super expensive BUT if you dig and do your research one can manage it and stay within budget. Now summer in Norway is a busy time, flocked by tourist from all over the world finding accommodation within your budget could be a challenge (even Airbnb) and the only reason we choose Balestrand was because it was the only place we could find a decent hotel within out budget, fortunately it was a blessing in disguise, our Norway trip was spread over 10 days and Balestrand was the last leg of our trip.

We started our trip from Oslo, it took us just about 6 hours by bus from where we live the Swebus tickets were cheap and the bus comfortable. I will write about the Oslo-Bergen-Balestrand journey in another post.

If you plan to go to Balestrand by public transport that is by the Express boat and if you don't have a car it is best to buy the Norled Fjordcard, we bought the 5 days Fjordcard each costing 995 NOK ( 1250 NOK 2017 summer price) but it is an awesome way to explore the Fjord towns in Sognefjord. We bought the Fjordcard from Bergen and made full use of it. We visited  few other fjord towns and loved every part of the explore Sognefjord tour.

 Food in whole of Norway is expensive, I personally don't like burgers or Mcdonalds food but even the cheapest burger in Mcdonalds or Burger King will cost 99 NOK, so we decided to stick to normal food by paying a little extra. In Sweden I can except to have a decent meal in 100 SEK, I am not talking about donor kabab or falafel but a proper meal say a buffet in a good (not so fancy) restaurant, sometimes we can have lunch even in 65 SEK say at the small Thai-Chinese takeaway food kiosk/restaurant but in Norway that is just not possible. A decent meal will cost 200 NOK or more. So while selecting Hotel accommodation I was careful to book in hotels which included breakfast, in fact the hotel we stayed in Bergen (amazing location)  included even dinner.  So it is important to check what all are included in the price and select hotels carefully.

 Balestrand is a very picturesque town with just about 1500 inhabitants, perfect for a quite and soul searching trip. The view of snow capped mountains and the fjord was not just serene but had such a calming effect on me, the town is also know for some landmark places like the Kvikne hotel, the wooden structure with the view of the fjord I am sure will make anyone fall in love with this place.

Kvikne hotel

View from the balcony....breathtaking...oh yes

 The sunset was late and the sunrise early but when the view is as beautiful as this I was more than happy that the days are very long and nights short or rather very short. We stayed at this hotel called Mintnes and had the most amazing view from the room. The three days went so quick that I immediately regretted spending three days in Oslo. Norway just took our breath away and of all the countries I have visited I have to admit that its the most beautiful and wonderful of all. The mountain, fjord and nature everything was breathtakingly beautiful. I am a mountain girl, I feel most at peace and home in the mountains but the combination of the snow capped mountains + water made me  wishing for a trip to Norway every summer, we do plan to visit Norway as often as possible and we are yet to explore and visit more amazing places.

This does not need any caption

Growing Malabar spinach - Balcony garden