Reminiscences, with a twist!

My palate is always ready for a fish dish. I am like a cat when it comes to fish – I can eat loads of it J Its very rewarding to know that my son is following me in that path – he is like a cat too when he eats fish J I love seeing him gobble the fish happily!

Having been brought up in different parts of Kerala and part of summer vacations in Chennai, fish had been one of the highlight of our weekend lunches.  We have always had an abundance of fish varieties in the places we lived. Since both my parents worked, we used to prepare fish only during the weekends. But how I used to wait for a Sunday to eat the delicious fish curry (we call it meen puli) and pan seared fish steaks prepared by my mom. 

Though we made this about 2 weeks ago, I didn’t get a chance to post the details until today. My idea was to jot it down while on a journey last week for a wonderful purpose (I hope to tell you all about it sometime soon). However we were on such a hectic schedule that I couldn’t manage even thinking about something other than keeping my son from getting bored/tired/cranky.

With all the thoughts about the wonderful Sunday lunches from my childhood, here I am finally, with a few lines about the whole fish we cooked. Being a mega fan of a lot of cookery shows in a lot of languages, taking my inspiration from there, I wanted to try roasting a whole fish, with a slightly different marinade – that’s the twist to the weekend fish dishes. So my husband got me this large black pomfret which weighed almost about one and a half kg - the oven part was managed by my husband – so I shouldn’t take the credit of this dish all for myself J

Doesn't it look beautiful!

So I made incisions on this big black beauty and marinated it. My hubby reminded me to make diagonal slits so that the marinade reaches inside the flesh. It will reach only the bone if you make a vertical slit.

Recipe

For the marinade

Green Chilli – 3 nos.
Shallots – 10 nos.
Onion – 2 medium sized ones.
Garlic – 1 full pod.
Coriander leaves – a few.
Rosemary herb – dried – a few.
Pepper corns – 4 nos.
Salt to taste

Grind all the above and make it into a fine paste.

Preparation

• Wash the fish, make incisions and marinade it with the paste.  Leave it aside for about an hour minimum.
• Preheat the oven.
• In a grill pan, apply oil; keep the whole fish in it.
• Use convection mode with the pan in the low rack about 15 min on each side at a temperature of 170 to 180 degree Celsius. Convection mode (if you have that in your oven) can save a lot of energy, though your food may not brown like it does in a grill oven (without convection). For a crispy crust – after the 3/4^th of the fish is cooked, keep the pan in a high rack with a grill mode for about 5 min on each side. This way you could brown you fish well and get that crispy crust.
• Pan searing is also a great technique, just need to ensure that the whole fish is inside the pan so it gets cooked well on all the sides. Also ensure the pan is well oiled.

Serve it with mash potato or hot rice/curry. For all those cats out there - you can choose to eat it just like that too ;)

Garnishing note: With a beautiful twist, this dish will sure raise your spirits and make you confident to prepare it for your family/guests. This passionate dish is for you, Nans - thank you for always encouraging me to try out different recipes and cooking styles.

Ada Dosa, with love :-)

I have been thinking of posting something since morning, but I have this weird issue in opening my laptop on a weekend (some might call it laziness ;)). In the evening, my son asked me to open the laptop – I thought it must be for him and that he would want me to put a cartoon for him – but when I opened the laptop, he switched it on and left to play with his toys. And that’s when I actually started scribbling – thanks to him :-)

Though I felt like jotting down something, with the myriad of recipes out there, I was at sea when it came to writing about one. There are a lot of memories associated with the traditional recipes that mom and grandmom prepared at home. Finalizing on one of those was a daunting task. My thoughts then wandered to what my family would love to eat – especially my two and a half year old. As I said in my first post, it is a challenge keeping him motivated to eat and not be bored with his snack boxes. A mom has to be creative while being conscious of her kid’s health. It was then that my mind reeled back to my school/college days. My mom used to prepare this Ada dosa when I returned from a tiring day (to be read as lazy day) at school/college. It used to keep me going energetically for the rest of the evening activities (well, mainly playing or should I say only playing) and up until dinner time (our dinner time then being 0930 pm). And that’s what I wanted to prepare as an evening snack for my son – something that will tickle his interest when he opens the snack box (against the usual chapathi and peanut butter roll) along with keeping him full till he reaches home at 7pm.

When someone says just Ada, people might confuse it with the sweet dish Ada (made with jiggery, coconut and cardamom inside a thick layer of rice paste and steamed). This is the famous South Indian tiffin that I am talking about, made from a variety of lentils and rice.

Ingredients

• Raw rice – ½ cup
• Boiled rice (I used the Palakkadan matta rice)  – ½ cup
• Urad Dal (Black Gram) – little less than ¼ cup
• Toor Dal (Pigeon Peas Split) – ¼ cup
• Moong Dal  (Green Gram split) – ¼ cup
• Channa Dal (Bengal Gram) – ¼ cup
• Green Gram whole – ¼ cup
• Fenugreek seeds – little less than ¼ tea spoon
• Cumin seeds – ¼ tea spoon
• Red Chilli – 3 nos.
• Asafoetida – a pinch
• Curry leaves – 5-6 leaves (optional)
• Coriander leaves – few (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Onion – 2 medium sized ones. 

Tips: Lot of people grinds onion along with rice and lentils. If the batter is not completely used in one go, there would be a pungent smell from the onion by the next day. Hence I prefer to finely chop them and add them every time to a little quantity of batter taken separately in a bowl. If you prefer it to be mixed with the batter, you can grind onions before making the dosa and mix it with the batter.

Preparation

Soak all the above overnight.

   

Tips: a) Especially if it is red matta rice that you are using, you would need to soak it for a few extra hours than normal raw rice. 

b) Good to soak rice and rest of the lentils separately.

Grind them into a coarse batter. You should be able to feel the grains’ rough texture in your hands. Ada Dosa is also called karu muru dosa in Malayalam due to its texture.

Tips: a) My mom and mom-in-law always remind me to grind rice and lentils separately due to the different time both takes to grind. Red rice will take some extra time to grind. 

 b) Good to leave the batter overnight in winter (not in the refrigerator) for those who like it fermented.   During summer, it is enough if the batter is kept outside for about 4 – 5 hours for it to be fermented.  

Recipe

• Heat a pan. 
• Put a little oil (about ½ a tea spoon) and spread it all through the pan. 
• Pour a scoop of batter and spread it in a circle (like a dosa/pancake). Scoop quantity depends on your preference of the thickness of dosa. 
• Pour a little ghee at this stage (optional).
• Once the dosa is crisp, you can flip it to the other side and keep it till that side is crisp. (Instead of flipping, you can also keep a lid and cover the dosa if you don’t want it to be too crisp). 

For my son, I packed the Ada dosa with a little ghee and sugar mix. Traditionally it is served with Avial (a dish made of vegetables, coconut, curd). Those who like a chutney alongside, here is a simple, quick coconut chutney recipe:

Ingredients for grinding

• Coconut (grated) – ½ kernel 
• Green Chilli – 3 nos.
• Coriander leaves – few
• Roasted Gram – 2 tea spoons (optional)
• Salt to taste

Ingredients for tempering

• Oil – 1 tea spoon
• Mustard seed – ½ tea spoon
• Curry leaves – 5-6 leaves
• Cumin Seeds – ¼ tea spoon
• Urad dal – ¼ tea spoon
• Red Chilli - 1 no

Recipe – Grind all the ingredients mentioned above ‘For Grinding’ to a fine paste. Heat a pan. Pour the oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add the rest of the ingredients in that order. Pour this onto the chutney paste. Serve with hot Ada dosa.

Garnishing note – A healthy tiffin – Ada dosa with love - this one is for you, Aryan :-)

Warm Sunday Lunch

So here I am with another post – I wasn’t sure I would be able to post another one so soon - Thank you all for going through the earlier post, for the comments, for all the wishes J It has given me the courage to try another post.

As mentioned in my first entry, there are some good cooks in the family. The next dish from the bachelor’s den is a recipe I learnt from one of those cooks – my mom’s younger sister. With all the energy that I got from my friends’ positive responses for my brinjal dry fry, I wanted the next attempt to be really appealing. So I decided it to be the delicious butter chicken my mema (mom’s younger sister) had made. From my frequent visits and stay in Chennai, I had tasted a lot of her delicious savory dishes. Though a mute spectator while she cooked, I remember being very eloquent about it when I tasted the dish.  

When I finally cooked this, it turned out to be my friend cum ex-roomie’s favorite and I am posting this recipe today for her. This time I have some pictures of the dish as I made it again today (technically it is already Monday, so should I say yesterday?) for my son and myself. Most of you who knows my hubby and me will be aware of our love for chicken, however since he was away on a team lunch today; I required only half a kilo of chicken ;)

Couldn’t stop myself from mentioning about the utensil and a main ingredient before going to the recipe – I love cooking in clay pots – I think it gives an intimacy to the food. Back then, I used a normal pan. With a diet conscious family, butter is a bit of a luxury these days; so I have not really been that generous with it this time.

Ingredients

Chicken pieces – ½ a kilo

Marinade

Turmeric – ¼ tea spoon
Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon
Lemon juice – ½ tea spoon
Salt to taste

Gravy

Butter – 1 ½  tablespoon
Onion – 2 medium sized – finely chopped
Green Chilli – 2 nos.
Garlic well crushed – 1 full pod (I love garlic in my dishes)
Ginger – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Green cardamom – 2 nos
Tomato – 1 medium sized – finely chopped
Coriander powder – 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder – ¼ tea spoon
Garam masala – a pinch
Chicken masala – 1 tea spoon
Cashewnuts – 10 to 12 nos – crushed into a powder
Coriander leaves – finely chopped

Recipe

• Wash the chicken. Once the water is completely drained out, marinade the chicken with salt, turmeric, red chilli powder (it will give a great red color to your dish if you add a little Kashmiri red chilli powder) and lemon juice. Keep it aside for about 30 minutes (great if you have time to keep it aside for about 2 hours).
• Heat the stove, keep a pan – once it is hot, add the butter.
• Sauté onion, green chilli, ginger, garlic paste and cook for a minute. (Add a pinch of salt to quicken the cooking process, at this stage).
• Add green cardamoms and the masala powders and sauté well till the raw masala smell goes off.
• Once onions become translucent, add chopped tomatoes. Let it cook till tomato starts releasing the oil.
• Add chicken pieces and let it cook in medium heat for about 10-12 minutes (careful about the heat if you are cooking in a clay pot – it could stick to the botton of the pan if the heat is too much, so don’t wander away).
• Add the cashew powder (I ground the cashews in a mixer – you can also use cashew paste – to make a paste, soak and grind the cashew nuts). This makes the gravy thicker. 
• Add coriander leaves and take off the heat.
• Add one tablespoon of butter, if you would like to be generous with it. 

         

         Serve hot with rice, roti. 

           

Garnishing note – This easy to make recipe makes a warm Sunday lunch all the more appealing – a great dish to impress your family/friends/guests J A great weekend has just gotten over. 

A beginner’s dish

Ever since childhood I have been teased for being a foodie, more so because the quantity of food I ate wasn’t directly proportional to my growth -  ‘”Where does all that food go?’’, Manasu nannavanam, ennale phalam undaavu (you should have a good heart, only then food shows its benefits) etc etc. However I must say I am very proud of the fact that I love food and have been able to dust these comments under the carpet and continue to live to eat J

I started this blog so I could share some of the experiments I have done in my kitchen and some of my views about the cuisines I have tasted. This is my first stab at writing something, so pardon me if you feel the flair is missing – I hope to improve with my posts.

Must admit, I wasn’t so much of a cook when I was a child – actually hadn’t even entered the kitchen except to eat. At home, mostly mom cooked or when she wasn’t around, grandmom cooked and I was happy to just enjoy whatever food was sent my way. I had an eye for detail though and was able to quickly pick what will be a special dish when cooked. There are some great cooks and dishes in the family and I have drawn a lot of inspiration from them. More about it in my future posts.

Cooking became a necessity when I moved out of my parents’ house and hence I began – with very simple rice, dal, poriyal (upperi as you say in Palakkadan Malayalam). When I received positive responses from my room mates, my next attempt was to venture into non veg dishes like butter chicken mainly to impress my friends ;) After marriage, with a foodie husband, we have explored a lot of new cuisines and tried a lot of it at home. Now as a mother of a two and a half year old, my challenge in cooking is to make creative dishes day in and day out.

I would like to share with you the first ever dish I remember making when I moved out of my parents’ place . While usually beginners go for an appealing dish, my first dish was Vazhuthananga upperi (brinjal dry fry). One might think why brinjal of all the veggies – I still cant remember, so don’t know why; my best guess is that was the only veggie available at home when my urge to cook kicked in.

So here is the recipe – well, that’s how I made it then J

Ingredients 

Oil – 1 tea spoon

Mustard seeds – ½ tea spoon

Cumin seeds – ½ tea spoon

Curry leaves -  5 to 6 no

Crushed chilli – 2 no

Finely diced onion – medium size – 1 no

Salt to taste

Turmeric – a pinch

Coriander powder – 1 ½ tea spoon

Brinjal – violet ones, medium sized – 3 no

Garam Masala – ¼ tea spoon

Coriander leaves

Recipe 

• Heat a pan, add oil.
• Add mustard seeds when the oil is hot.
• When mustard starts to splutter, add cumin seeds and curry leaves.
• Add onion and sauté. Add a pinch of salt now to let the onion cook faster. When the onion starts to turn translucent, add the crushed red chilli and sauté for another minute.
• At this stage, add coriander powder, turmeric powder and mix well.
• While this is getting cooked, wash and chop the brinjal into small pieces. Put the cut brinjals into a bowl of water (you can add a pinch of salt to the water too). The vegetable turns brownish red and bitter if not put into water immediately after cutting due to oxidation.
• Once the raw smell of coriander powder goes off, add the brinjal pieces and mix well. Once the brinjal is sautéd add a little of the same water that the brinjal was put in.
• Add salt – careful while adding salt now as there was a pinch of salt added earlier.
• Mix well and let it simmer in medium heat.
• Once the brinjal is cooked well, garnish with coriander leaves and garam masala powder and serve hot. 

 Can be served as a side dish for rice, roti.

Garnishing note – Bit of a dull veggie you would think, but brinjal can be an amazing beginner’s dish as my experience says – see it even ended up being the star in my first ever blog post J