Tapioca and Sardine Curry, A Kerala Speciality

Known as "Kappa-Meen Curry" in God's own country- this is by far the best breakfast, lunch or dinner I have eaten when I'm in Kerala. Its made on most days as a late morning breakfast at my father-in-law's farm, north of Calicut in a place called Thalayad, for the workers who work on the coconut plantation. This breakfast is often eaten along with a chutney that's spicy and tangy.
Don't leave Kerala without trying this dish, and its made with a variety of fish curries other than sardine curry.

Seafood Pasta by Julia Mily

Please welcome another one of my favourite dishes! I've ordered it in so many restaurants and tasted so many variations, but this one cooked by Julia at our home was the best. I want to post many recipes of dishes made by Julia who's recently arrived from Munich for 3 months, and seems to be spending a lot of time cooking wonderful meals for us. It really should be the other way around, but we're soon going to make up for it and cook her favourite dish in India so far -Butter Chicken!

The trick to cooking this dish is that the pasta has to be done or at least almost done when you start making the seafood sauce, as once the seafood sauce is ready the pasta must go in immediately.

Ingredients
500 gms of mixed seafood (we had frozen shrimps, mussels, baby octopus and squid)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh garlic paste
1 stock/soup cube
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 dry red chilli or 1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
3 large tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 tablespoon white wine
1 packet spaghetti

1. Cook Spaghetti in water with salt and few drops of olive oil and drain.
2. Heat the olive oil and stir in garlic. Add one dry red chilli or half teaspoon of red chilli flakes and stir for 2 minutes or so till the garlic cooks but not browns.
3. Add the seafood and stir on a high flame 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste
4. Lower the flame and add the white wine and stir.
5. Dissolve the stock/soup cube in some water and add to the dish.
6. Add tomatoes and stir. Keep tossing for 5 minutes. The tomatoes don't need to cook too much
7. Add parsley and stir.
8. Add cooked spaghetti toss thoroughly. Add more Olive oil and stir if the spaghetti is too dry.

* This dish tastes much better If you have the option of using fresh octopus, mussels with the shells on, gambas and fresh bits of sea fish.

Tuna Fish Salad

Here's a simple and wholesome summer salad. Potatoes added to this salad make a nice change from the regular recipes available. Serve chilled.

Ingredients
1 small can tuna, drained
2 medium potatoes boiled
3 fresh tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic, chopped fine or ground
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
paprika to taste
Salt to taste

Method

Boil the potatoes, skin and crumble into large pieces. Chop the tomatoes into large pieces.
In a large bowl, combine the tuna, onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, parsley, garlic , salt and pepper. Add the boiled potatoes and tomatoes. Mix well and refrigerate until chilled. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.

Doi Maach, Fish in Curd, A recipe from Bengal

My mother often makes this curry at her home in Delhi. The CR Park fish market is a 10 minute walk away and the fish used for this curry called "rahu" is always available.

There are so many ways to make doi maach but this is Chitra Ghose's recipe and my favourite one so far.

1/2 kg pieces of Rahu
1/2 Tablespoon mustard oil for frying the fish
1/2 teaspoon each of red chilli powder, turmeric and salt to rub on fish pieces.

2 tablespoons ghee
1 bay leaf
2 cloves, 2 green cardamom, 1 small piece cinnamon coarsely ground in a mortar pestle
1 medium onion chopped fine
2 medium onions blended into a paste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1/2 cup curd blended with 1 cup water at room temperature
salt
pinch of sugar
6-8 slit green chillies

Method

Rub the fish pieces with a little red chilli, turmeric and salt. Set aside 10-15 minutes.
Fry them in hot mustard oil till slightly brown.
Drain and keep aside.

Heat ghee, add bay leaves and the coarsely ground whole spices- cloves, cinnamon and cardamom
Immediately, add the sliced onions and fry till soft and a bit brown.
Add the onion paste, ginger and garlic pastes and fry for 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle water if the masala catches.
Pour the blended curd into the pan and stir. Add salt and a pinch of sugar.
Add slit green chillies.
Layer the fish gently into pan and simmer for 10-12 minutes or till fish is done and oil comes to the top.

Best eaten with hot rice and baingan and/or kaddu bhaja ( grilled brinjal and pumpkin)

Chitra Ghose's Bengali Food

Meet Chitra Ghose, one of Delhi's renowned Bengali food caterers who also happens to consult with the ITC group for their Bengali cuisine. She made a fabulous meal for me recently in Delhi and while I don't have the recipes with me I thought I should feature some of the things I ate.

That evening she made small karelas fried with onions and very little masala, Lau Bori ( Lauki with urad dal baris), baked bekti with mustard sauce, Moori Ghonto (fish head); all this eaten withsteaming hot plain rice. We ended the meal with delicious mishti dohi from C R park market.

To order food from Chitra Ghose, you can contact her at
Tel: 011 29240213, or Mobile: 98106 78663











Fish Head











Baked Bekti with mustard sauce












Lauki cooked with Baris

Mussel Curry with Coconut Milk

This is the first time I'm making mussels at home. I found cleaned and shelled mussels at Lusitania Frozen Foods- the cold storage where I buy a lot of the meats I cook, and couldn't resist buying mussels. Lusitania has more branches all over Bangalore. They are known for their quality meat, pork and various cold cuts, and also for their very courteous and friendly staff.

I used a simple coconut curry recipe that goes like this.

200 grams of cleaned and shelled mussels
8 small madras onions
3 teaspoons heaped fresh ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 cup coconut milk from 1/2 freshly ground coconut
salt
juice of half a lime
fresh coriander leaves

Soak the mussels in salt water for half an hour and drain
Grind the onions, ginger-garlic, turmeric, coriander,cumin, red chilli powder into a paste
Heat oil, add masala paste and fry till the masala cooks and the oil leaves the paste
Add coconut milk and stir. Add mussels.
Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes.
Garnish with lime juice and fresh lime juice.

Eat this with plain boiled white rice !

Red Bell Pepper Delight

Today was a Red Pepper bonanza ! I have recently found a new love for red peppers. They're a bit sweeter than the green and yellow ones and have a versatile taste that I find interesting in both Indian and western recipes. Todays veggie with lunch was a sauteed red pepper, tomato and onions. Here's how I made it. I used my home made chilli oil but you could use normal olive or any other oil for this.
So, here's what we had for LUNCH

2 red Peppers, sliced
2 Onions sliced fine
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon Chilli oil/ Olive oil
salt and pepper
Chopped parsley

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of chilli oil in a pan. If using normal oil, add 4 cloves of chopped garlic
2. Add onions and stir till they are pink
3. Add red peppers and tomatoes and stir over high heat till red peppers are somewhat cooked but still crunchy (5-8 minutes)
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Garnish with chopped parsley

And here's what we had for DINNER

Red pepper and Tuna Pasta
Take leftovers of Red pepper veggies as shown above.
Mix with a 1 small can (185 grams) of light weight tuna fish
Boil some pasta/drain and immediately add a little olive oil
Combine with tuna and vegetables while still warm
Leave out the tuna for a vegetarian pasta
Serve with your favourite wine

Chitra Ghose's Prawn Malai Curry

Chitra Ghose is a close friend in Delhi. She and my father Mickey Patel, worked together in advertising for many years. My father was an artist, and Chitra was often the inspiration for many of his cartoons and caricatures because of her flamboyant style and impressive bouffant. She has claimed to have had this hairdo before Sharmila Tagore! Chitra retired from advertising and started a catering business in Delhi for her exquisite Bengali cuisine. Someone from ITC happend to have tasted the food and as a result she is now a consultant chef for the ITC group.


750 grams small prawns, cleaned and de-veined
2 tablespoons mustard oil
1 bay leaf
3 green cardamom
2" cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 onions ground into paste
1 tablespoon ginger and garlic paste
milk extracted from one small coconut
Salt to taste

Dissolve in a little warm water
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
pinch of turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1. Rub salt and turmeric on the prawns. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the prawns for a minute. Remove prwns with a slotted spoon.
2. Add Bay leaf to heated oil, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves.
3. Add the onion paste and fry for 6-8 minutes. Add ginger-garlic and fry for another 10 minutes.
4. Add the powdered masalas soaked in a little warm water. Keep stirring and cook till oil leaves the masala.
5. Add the coconut milk and cook on low heat.
6. Add prawns and cook for only 2 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon powder

Bengali Fish Curry

I can't remember who gave me this recipe but amongst the many bengali fish curries I've eaten I must have really liked this one to have made a note of it ! Many more bengali recipes will follow !

Ingredients
1 kg. fish- Rahu is best
Grind together:
2” piece ginger
4-5 garlic pods
2 medium onions
Grind together:
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 piece cinnamon

2 large potatoes cut in circular halves (optional)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons mustard oil
2 teaspoon Ghee (clarified butter)
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Method

Clean the fish and rub with a little salt, turmeric and red chilli powder. Smoke some mustard oil and fry the fish pieces lightly and keep aside.

For the Curry: Heat the mustard oil till it smokes and then lower heat.
Add turmeric and chili powder moistened with water. When it starts leaving the oil, put in the ginger, garlic and onion paste.
Keep stirring this on a low fire till the paste cooks. This should take 10 minutes. You can sprinkle water if it catches on the bottom of the pan.
Then add the cumin, coriander powders.
When the oil separates form this masala, add the bay leaves. Then add 1-½ cups of warm water and stir till the gravy becomes smooth.
If you choose to add the potatoes then add them now and cover dish. After 10 minutes, gently place pieces of fish in the gravy. Add salt and sugar.

Lastly, add the ground whole spices and 2 teaspoons of ghee.

Roasted Spicy Fish

Ingredients
2 whole pieces of fish (pomfret) or 1 kg fish fillet pieces
1 Green Pepper
A few coriander leaves
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
6 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp of malt vinegar
1 tbsp Olive oil / any oil

Method
Chop the green pepper and coriander leaves small.
Add all the spices, vinegar and oil and mix together. Add salt. Smear on the fish and marinate for an hour.
Grease a baking dish, cover the marinated fish in foil and bake for 1/2 an hour.
Sprinkle with lemon juice.

Note:
If you don't want to bake this, you can just grill it in a non-stick pan.

Fish curry

Ingredients

1/2 kg of fish
2 tomatoes
6 cloves garlic
150 ml Tamarind water
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
300 ml. Yogurt
2 tbsp of Oil
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 tsp salt
Coriander leaves
Juice of one lemon

Method
Clean and cut fish into pieces.
Slice tomatoes.
Mash the garlic cloves and mix into the tamarind water.
Add the ginger and mix well.
Put the chili, turmeric and yogurt in a bowl and whisk it.
Marinate the fish in this for 1/2 an hour.
Heat oil, add fenugreek seeds until brown - if you want the curry really spicy, add some chopped green chilies - then add fish and marinade and coriander leaves, and salt.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add tamarind water and tomatoes.
Simmer until tomatoes mix in.
Add lemon juice and serve with hot rice.
Serves 4