Kerala fish curry

Ingredients 

Fish 250 gm.                                Onion sliced 1 medium

Ginger finely diced 1 tbsp.         Garlic finely diced 1 tbsp

Methi seeds 1/2 tsp.                   Curry leaves a few

Coconut milk 400 ml.                  Kokum or lime juice 1 tsp

Salt to taste.                                 Turmeric powder 1tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp.                      Coriander powder 1 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp.                                      Green chillies slit 2 small

 preferably coconut oil

Method

Wash and marinate fish with a little turmeric and salt for 15 to 30.mins. 

Heat Oil in a pan and add methi (fenugreek) seeds. 

Add onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. Add a little salt and cook till onions are soft. Add the turmeric, chilli and coriander powders and saute for 2 mins.

Add a little water and bring to boil. Add the fish and kokum or lemon juice.

 When the fish is cooked, add cooconut milk and bring to a boil. Turn off immediately and serve with rice or dosa.

Pot rice using hot sauce

An easy one pot dish that I made with a hot sauce picked up from my recent trip to Chicago. You can make this with mushrooms, tofu, chicken or any other meat or vegetable of your choice. 

Ingredients:

1 cup rice soaked for 1 hour

1 big onion sliced - about 1 cup

5 to 6 garlic cloves finely chopped

Hot sauce 2 tbsp

Roasted bell peppers finely chopped

1 tomato finely chopped

1 cup sprouts - I used moong or green gram

2 tbsp cream

Coriander 2 tbsp finely chopped (you could use a herb of your choice)

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic. Fry till the onions are browned. 

Add tomatoes and cook till soft.

Add the hot sauce, Stir in and then add peppers and any other vegetables/meat you like.

Cook for a minute and add the sprouts and rice and stir well.

Stir in the cream and cook for a minute.

Add 2 1/2 cups of hot water and cover and cook for 10 -12 mins. This can be also done in the Instapot if you have one.

Serve with a crisp salad or chips.

Fruit Cake

This recipe is from my brother-in-law Anirudh and is made with bread instead of flour. What a wonderful way to use up old bread. He baked it for my birthday, and it goes best with coffee on the side. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried fruit - mixture of very sweet fruits like raisins and less sweet ones like currants

Enough alcohol (dark rum/whiskey) to submerge the fruits fully. I add Angostura and orange bitters for extra taste. Adding something like Grand Marnier also does wonders.

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of almonds powdered

1 cup of white bread crumbs (have a little more ready if the cake mixture gets too runny)

0.5 cups of cashews broken (or walnuts depending on taste)

0.5 cups of slivered (thin sliced) almonds

Zest from 1 navel orange

Juice from that orange

0.5 cups of butter, room temperature 

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of shahjeera, slightly crushed.

3-4 cloves, powdered 

0.5 piece of star anise, powdered

0.5 teaspoon of cinnamon

0.25 teaspoon of dry ginger powder 

0.25 teaspoon of coriander powder

0.25 teaspoon of nutmeg 

Method:

Preheat oven at 180C/350F

In a dry bottle, add fruits and sugar and soak them with the alcohol for at least 24 hours. Don't soak the nuts.

Mix the dry ingredients including spices

Beat the butter and eggs for a couple of minutes. Pour into the dry mixture 

Add zest and orange juice 

Add the dry fruit mixture to the mix.

Fold/mix everything. The mixture should be between chapati dough and idly batter. Add more bread crumbs if too runny, add orange juice if too dry. At the end, this consistency is what matters. You can increase or decrease ingredients you like but work to get the final consistency right.

Bake it in a buttered, deep dish for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Reduce the heat if the oven is small. Reduce the heat and bake for longer if the top is baked but the inside isn't.

Drizzle some whiskey or rum over the hot cake (optional and definitely avoid if children will eat). Note that not all the alcohol evaporates even without this.

Best eaten the next day.

Punjabi chole

 

Chole Bhature is a family favourite. But the chole have to be made in the authentic Punjabi style. After multiple tries, have come up with this recipe which we all love. Taken a shortcut on the ingredients here - the ones that need to be used while cooking the chickpeas are mentioned in the method.

Ingredients

Chickpeas soaked and boiled 1 1/2 cup

Onions 2 chopped finely 

Tomatoes 2 puree

Turmeric 1 tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Cumin powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 2 tsp

Chole masala 1 tsp

Carom seeds 1/2 tsp

Ginger 1 tbsp chopped finely 

Garlic 1 tbsp chopped finely

Tamarind 1 inch soaked

Dry mango powder 1 tsp

Kasuri methi 1 tbsp

Bay leaf 1

Method

Soak chickpeas overnight. Add baking soda 1/2 tsp, 2 black cardamom, 1 tea bag, 1 inch stick cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, double the quantity of water and 4 cloves and pressure cook for 3 whistles.  Throw away the whole spices and tea bag. 

In a kadhai or deep pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add carom seeds and  bay leaf. Add ginger and garlic. Add chopped onions and fry till brown. Add pureed tomatoes and cook well till oil separates. Add all the masala powders and tamarind and kasuri methi. Drain the chickpeas - retain the water. Add drained chickpeas to the fried paste and mash a little. Add the water based on required consistency. Add salt to taste. Cook the chole for 10 mins on low flame. Garnish with fried chillies and chopped coriander. Serve with bhature, puris or rotis.

3 bean salad

 The family has decided to have salads for dinner. So every day we try a new one.  Among all the ones made so far this has been a great hit.

 Ingredients

• Kidney beans         1/4 cup soaked overnight
• Black eyed beans  1/4 cup soaked for an hour
  
• French beans         250 gm washed and cut into 2" pieces
  
• Garlic                     10 - 12 cloves finely chopped
• Almonds                 8-10 roasted and slivered
• Sesame seeds       1 tbsp toasted
• Oil                         1 tbsp
  

For the dressing

• Olive oil                   2 tbsp
• Chilli flakes              1 tbsp
• Mustard paste         1 tbsp 
• Apple cider vinegar   1 tbsp
• Brown sugar            1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method

1.   Pressure cook the dry beans for 2 whistles
2.  In a pan, take some oil and fry the chopped garlic till dark brown. Keep aside
3.  Add the cleaned and cut French beans to the same pan and cook till just done
4.  Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl.
5.  Add all the other salad ingredients. Mix well and enjoy
   

 

Khatta Meat - A speciality of Jammu

A slightly tangy mutton curry that the family loved. Base recipe is from Recipes from Mum but made a few changes in the original.

Ingredients:

1 Kg mutton

4 to 5 Onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp Ginger, finely chopped
1/3 cup Mustard oil
1 tbsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 -3 bay leaves

1 to 2 tbsp Kashmiri chilly powder
4-6 tbsp Amchur (dry mango powder)

2 big cardamom

3 to 4 cloves

1" stick cinnamon

3 green chillies

 

Roast and powder

1 tbsp cummin seeds

2 tbsp Dhania seeds 

2 tbsp Saunf 

1 tbsp Methi seeds

Method:

• Wash the mutton pieces well. Apply half the salt and turmeric and cover and keep aside.

• Peel and chop the onion, garlic and ginger.  

• Use a thick-bottom pan for cooking (a 5 litre pressure cooker can do). The meat needs to be turned often, and cooked for at least an hour on a slow flame. 

• Heat your pan and pour in the mustard oil and heat till it smokes. 

• Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and onions and sauté for about two minutes till they turn transparent.

• Now add the mutton, remaining salt and turmeric, and the bay leaves. 

• The meat now needs to be cooked for one hour. Make sure the flame is at its lowest setting, and give it a stir gently every five minutes or so to make sure it does not start burning from the sides.

• About half an hour into the cooking, the oil will start separating from the sides. At this point, add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook. Keep a closer watch, and turn the pieces more frequently so that they are braised evenly.

• Once it is well cooked, and almost dry (takes 45 to 50 minutes) add the dry powdered spices, red chilly powder and amchur. Stir constantly to coat the pieces well with the spices.

• Cook for at least 5-7 minutes after the amchur has been added.

• After an hour, check to see if the mutton is cooked through. Add about two cups of hot water (depending on the thickness of the curry you like), stir well and bring to a gentle simmer. Add green chillies and kasuri methi. Cover and allow the curry to cook for another five minutes or so.

• If the mutton is still rare, pressure cook it after adding the water for one or two whistles.

• After cooking with the water, check for spices and add more salt/ red chilli/ amchur powder, if needed.

 Serve with rotis or rice

Tomato pickle

This is my mother's famous tomato pickle or chutney as some people call it. It's a favorite of many in the family and extended family. Have this on the table, and you can get away with an unpopular vegetable.

Ingredients 

1/2 kg tomatoes
4 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 " ginger
8 to 10 cloves of garlic
2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil

Method

Wash and chop tomatoes finely. Put 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder and keep stirring. Add crushed ginger and garlic after 3 mins.  Keep stirring and cooking till oil separates. Dry roast mustard and fenugreek seed. Make into a powder and add to the tomato mixture. Add remaining oil and cook for 10 to 15 mins. 

Store in the refrigerator.