Back After a While

Hello Again!

Its been a while since I posted. All the while I have been cooking but transferring the recipes to my blog required more discipline than I have, unfortunately. However  a couple of friends have been asking repeatedly for me to post some recipes so I decided to start again.

For Christmas instead of making my huge buffet of food I decided to go small and gourmet.  I decide to serve baked Chilean sea bass over lemon rice, with a coconut sauce topped with a mash of potato and cauliflower. I garnished the dish with two different sauces. One was a beetroot and coconut with yogurt sauce and the second was a tomato ginger sauce.

I basically made a deconstructed Fish Mollee. Fish Mollee is a dish from Kerala in India.Everyone enjoyed the dinner.

So here is the recipe for the different elements on the dish. The measurements are for two plates.

The 3 Sauces

Tip: After  using the sauce for this dish you can use the leftover sauces with other dishes.

1. Fish Mollee Coconut Sauce.

Ingredients

4-5 White pearl onions chopped 

1 sprig of Curry Leaves

2 Green chillies sliced

1/2 inch piece of ginger finely julienned

Mustard for seasoning

1 cup of Coconut Milk

Salt for tasting

2 pinches of Turmeric powder

I tsp of lemon juice

Oil

Directions

Heat the oil in saucepan.

Put the mustard in and heat till it splutters.

Now add the curry leaves, sliced green chillies and julienned ginger and fry till they start to slightly brown.

Into that add the chopped onions and saute till onions are translucent.

Once onions are done add, the turmeric powder and saute till the onions are well coated. Make sure to not burn the turmeric.

Add the coconut milk to this mixture. Stir well till mixed well.

Let the mixture come to a slow boil on medium heat. As soon as sauce starts to boil, turn the stove off. Add the salt to taste. 

Once the sauce cools, puree it in a blend so that there are no pieces in the sauce. Two to three pulses of the blender should puree the pieces. Once you take the sauce out of the blender add the lemon juice, mix well and keep aside.

2. Tomato Ginger Sauce

Ingredients

2 tomatoes chopped

1 medium onion chopped 

1 sprig of Curry Leaves

2 Green chillies sliced

1 inch piece of ginger finely julienned

Mustard for seasoning

Salt for tasting

1 tsp pinches of Turmeric powder

1 tsp of red chilli powder

1 cup of water

Oil

Directions

Heat the oil in saucepan.

Put the mustard in and heat till it splutters.

Now add the curry leaves, sliced green chillies and julienned ginger and fry till they start to slightly brown.

Into that add the chopped onions and saute till onions are translucent.

Once onions are done add the tomatoes and saute till they are soft and mushy.

Add the turmeric powder and chilli powder and saute till the onion, ginger and tomato mixture is well coated. 

Add the salt to taste. 

Add water and let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes. Make sure to not let the sauce get burnt and stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once sauce is thick and and the tomatoes and onions are well cooked, take off the stove and cool.

Once the sauce cools, puree it in a blend so that there are no pieces in the sauce. Two to three pulses of the blender should puree the pieces. 

3. Beetroot Pachadi - Beetroot in a coconut and yogurt sauce

Ingredients

1 small can of beetroot

1 sprig of Curry Leaves

2 Green chillies sliced

Mustard for seasoning

A pinch of cumin seeds

1 cup of grated coconut

Salt for tasting

1/2 cup of yogurt

I tsp of lemon juice

Oil

Directions

Heat the oil in saucepan.

Put the mustard in and heat till it splutters.

Now add the curry leaves, sliced green chillies and fry till they start to slightly brown.Keep aside

In a blender, grind coconut with the cumin seeds into a fine paste.

Into the coconut add the beetroot and puree till no pieces.

Add the fried curry leaves and chillies into the blender and pulse till well blended.

Now add the yogurt and pulse till well mixed.

Once you take the sauce out of the blender add the salt and lemon juice, mix well and keep aside.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients

1 cup of rice - For this recipe I used jeera rice

I dry red chilli

10 pieces of split cashew

1 tsp of turmeric powder

3-4 curry leaves.

1 tsp of mustard seeds

Salt t taste.

3-4 tbsp of lemon juice.

3 tbsp of oil

Directions

Soak rice for 15 minuted before cooking.

In a deep pot add the oil and the dry red chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves.

when the mustard starts to splutter. add the turmeric powder and cashews and saute till slightly brown. Keep an eye and do not let the cashew burn.

Next add the rice and the water. For one cup of rice soaked for 15 minutes, you should add 1 and 3/4 cup o water.

Add the salt and cover the pot. Cook on medium. Once the water reduces, turn the flame to low and keep the pot covered. The rice should cook in the steam. You do not want soft rice. So make sure to fluff the rice with a fork.

Potato and Cauliflower mash

Ingredients

One small potato cubed

3-4 florets of cauliflower cut into small pieces

Salt to taste

A pinch of turmeric powder

A pinch of chilli powder

1 tsp of oil

Directions

Put the cubed potato in the microwave for 2 minutes so that it is semi cooked.

Now in small pan add oil and saute the microwaved potatoes till they are slightly browned.

Add the cauliflower and fry. 

Add the turmeric, chilli powder and salt and let cook on  low flame till slightly mushy.

Chilean Sea Bass

2 pieces of Chilean sea bass. You could use any other meaty white fish such as cod or haddock.

I used a cast iron pan to sear the fish and then bake it. 

Season the fish with salt and pepper.

When the pan is hot, add 2 tsp of olive oil.

Now put the fish in and let it sear on one side. Flip it and sear the other side. This should not take too long. 

Then put it into an 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. In the last few minutes in the oven, add a small dab of butter to each piece of fish. Take the fish out and cover with a foil while preparing the plate.

Assembling the plate

This is how you wish to make your plate look. You have the different parts of the dish and you can be the creator of the plate. I chose to stack. 

I molded the rice using a small dish and then putting it on the plate.

I then put the fish on top of the rice.

Next I poured the Fish Mollee Sauce on the fish 

On top of that I put the Potato and Cauliflower mash.

I garnished the plate with the Tomato and ginger and Beetroot sauce. 

Aloo Baingan - A match made in heaven?

One of my favorite vegetables is eggplant. And then there is Mr. Spuds. I love him. Whatever be his form, I delight in it. Potatoes and me have an unbreakable bond. So the combination of two of my favorite vegetables brings unspeakable satisfaction to my taste buds. This is a simple curry and a good variation from the regular eggplant recipes.

Aloo Baingan

Dal - So simple yet so tasty

I was going through my pantry and noticed that I was almost out of moong dal (split yellow lentils). Since dal is staple in my house, I quickly scanned my shelves and noticed that I had some green gram dal. So I decided to combine the two. I was not sure what to expect but the result was a tasty combination and the dal made everyone at the table lick their fingers. Since I have been away from the blog for so long, I felt this was a worthy recipe to share after so my hiatus.

Dal

Chicken Biryani

In response to the request that I received from my friend Katja, I would like to post my Chicken Biryani recipe. It is based on a family friend's recipe. Every Id (Muslim festival of Id-ul-Fitr) our friend Hamza would come over to our house and make his special biryani. This was such a special treat. Recently I went back to India and my parents and I visited Hamsa. He still has the same smile and warmth. His wife and daughter cooked amazing food for us. My friend Giulio loves this recipe. Whenever I see him, which is not too often, I prepare this recipe. Now Katja wants the recipe for her husband Nelson who tasted my biryani once and now wants it made at home. So here goes.

Chicken Biryani

Easy Shrimp dish

I went home and shared with my kids the news of my blog. I looked into their shiny eyes and saw myself reflected as a superhero. I feel the weight of that responsibility and carry it carefully everyday. I felt that familiar burden when I presented them with my big news. They looked at me as though I was the next food network queen. I am a huge fan of the food network channel. I do not compare myself to any of the stars but there are days when I will throw my spices into the pan with an Emeril "BAM" or saunter like Bobby between the counter and stove with a crooked smile or smack my lips like Paula or improvise like Rachel. I have pretended to be in their shoes and it is fun.

As I look out of my office window and see the bright sun, I find it hard to believe that we are going to be pounded by snow tomorrow. I already know what I want to make tomorrow. A snowy cold day demands a warm, heartfelt dish. Tomorrow night we feast on Khichidi and fried eggplant. Um mm. So good. Khichidi is a comfort food made in India and I used to like it a lot during rainy days. It is a rice and lentil preparation that is so easy to make but so wholesome and tasty.But that is tomorrow

Today it is going to be shrimp. I have this really simple shrimp recipe that takes minutes to prepare and is so delicious.

Spicy Shrimp 

Chicken Vindaloo - a gem from Goa

Now that I started this blog, I feel compelled to write something. Do I try to be funny, philosophical, serious, informative or will I be annoying if I am any or all of the above? How do I know? I've never done this before. One thing I do know is that it has gotten me thinking. What prompted me to start this? Why do I want strangers or friends knowing what I'm thing or cooking? Is there a part of me that is an exhibitionist? Its not like I am blogging about books or movies or something along the same vein. I am blogging about how I feel and what I cook. Both pretty personal things in my opinion. I need to examine this a bit more. Maybe I have turned the curve and am completely comfortable in my own thoughts and opinionated enough to not care much of what others think of me. Or I am just vain and want to force my views on others. Either way I am putting myself out there without considering the consequences.

Now to the meat of this blog. What do I feel like cooking today? I look out and there is enough sun for it to be bright in spite of the cloudy sky. I shared my thoughts on starting a blog with one of my colleagues. She recently married someone of Indian origin - back from the exciting land of Goa. So I feel the desire to eat some really spicy Chicken Vindaloo. I do not cook my Vindaloo with potatoes in it. I feel it is a betrayal to the original dish to add potatoes to the recipe. A lot of restaurants serve it with potatoes. It also dilutes the spiciness of the curry according to me.

I like to use boneless breasts as they cook so much faster. Also since I am a working mom, I use shortcuts and use spices that are already ground and available in stores. Why would I go that extra step when I can avoid it? Kudos to those who do it but its not for me. So I have detailed my recipe and the ingredients that I use for it. I do not follow recipes strictly. My cooking is based on my taste. What is below is what should be used but you should do what tastes right to you.

Chicken Vindaloo

The start of something new

This is new. I am anxious. Am I doing the right thing? Will I be able to sustain this? Juxtaposed with this anxiety is a sense of exhilaration, of assumption that this will be great. This remains to be seen. As with all I do, there is no limit. I jump in head first, feet first, completely immersed.

I love to cook. Over time, I have noticed that my cooking is influenced by the day, by the weather, by who I am cooking for and largely by what I am feeling currently. This blog will feature things that I have cooked for my family and friends and my thoughts which lead to the dishes being created. I do not guarantee that you will love my dishes nor do I guarantee that they will be original. But I do guarantee that some of you may feel like I do and hence may consider some of the dishes.

This is a journey that I do not know the destination for and I would like to believe that it will not be a short one.

So here we go...