at 13:16

Shadharon Bhapa Chingri (Simple Steamed Prawn)

Ingredients

200gm prawns
½-teaspoon red chili powder
1-tablespoon mustard oil
Salt to taste

 

And nothing else, just as the name suggest! Are you worried about the taste? Don’t be. The salty and sweet taste of prawn mixed with the hotness of chili and sharpness of mustard oil makes an amazing combination.

You will be surprised how less ingredients people in villages use to cook their daily meal, retaining the original taste of individual ingredients used. I have picked up this recipe from one of my many visits in the villages of Bengal and since then it is regularly made in my house and my mother and R adores it for its simplicity.

 

Method:

1.       Mix all the ingredients together really well. You can also break the prawn  like mash if you like

2.       Put the mixture in a steel box and stream in a hot water

3.       Or put in on baking tray and steam in oven or micro oven

at 00:24

Thai Green Curry Chicken

                      Thai Green Curry with chicken

I had one of the longest day and wanted to eat something warm yet quick. Hence, Thai green curry chicken. It is easy to make, smells wonderful: a perfect blend of texture and aroma!


Ingredients for green paste

Ingredients for green paste

2- Green chili
1- Inch ginger or galangal
2-teaspoon garlic
1-Onion/shallot
1-lemon leaf
1-tablespoon limejuice
1-teaspoon coriander seed
1-teaspoon cumin
1-tablespoon chopped coriander
3-tablespoon lemon grass (2 long lemon grass stick cut in 3-inch length)
1-teaspoon shrimp paste (optional)
½ -teaspoon of black paper
Pinch of turmeric


Thai Green Curry Paste

 Ingredients for Curry
 800gm Chicken cut in to small pieces
2-tablespoon fish sauce
2-tablespoon soy sauce
1-carrot cut to big sizes
½-teaspoon sugar
10-Mushroom each cut into 4 pieces
2-thai red chili deseeded and sliced
500ml coconut milk
Handful of Thai Basil (optional)
2-tablespoon oil
Salt to taste

Cooking in  Progress

 Method :

1.  Making the green paste: Put all ingredients in blender and make paste. Make sure that lemon grass is mixed really well; otherwise, the fiber from the lemon grass can spoil the paste. If not sure, whether the lemon grass will churn well or not, then leave the lemon grass out and use them whole. use as much green paste as needed for the curry and rest freeze for use later

2.      Heat oil and fry the chicken.
3.      Add fish sauce and soy sauce
4.      Add 4/5 tablespoon of green paste.
5.      Add the lemon grass in case if you have not churned it already
6.      Cook the chicken for 10mins
7.      Add carrot and mushroom
8.      Add coconut milk and little more paste ( add paste according to your taste) and cook until chicken is well cooked
9.      Add little salt per taste ( careful as you will be using fish and soy sauce and both of them have salt , sugar and lemon leaf
10.  Add red chili and basil and stir a little
11.  Serve with steam rice.


Ready to be served

at 11:35

Salmon pan-fried in coriander coconut paste

I realise that it is dangerous to call a recipe mine, but this really was born out of desperation using ‘whatever was there in the fridge’. Also, this is the first recipe of Salmon that I cooked back in 2008 when we moved to UK. I never eat Salmon before, so it was like, a true use of trial and error method in cooking. And bingo! Since then it is a smashing hit at home. I love it!

Later I found a similar dish by Anjum Anand where she uses pistachios and garlic for the recipe. Although, my recipe do not have garlic or pistachios but I tried her’s and it is yummy!  Go ahead, and add 5/10 pistachio and 1/2 garlic pod in this dish like Anjum Anand’s, if you like. or you can just stick to mine!

And, I will like to call this my recipe, J keeping in mind that any similarity to any other dish is purely unintentional and hey hey, don’t genius’s think alike?! Ha ha ha!

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 15 mins, 10 mins marinating
Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients for paste:

4/5-tablespoon grated coconut

5/6-tablespoon chopped coriander (a bunch really)
1-teaspoon of black mustard seed and little extra for frying 
½-teaspoon of cumin seed
1-inch ginger
1- green chili (increase quantity depending on taste)
5/6 tablespoon lemon juice

 Ingredient for cooking:

3-Fillet of Salmon cut into bite size if you like or leave them as they are (you can use any fish you like even Hilsa)

1-tablespoon lemon juice
Salt to taste
2-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.    Marinate Salmon with salt and lemon juice and keep aside
2.    Put all the ingredients for paste together  (except lemon juice) and make a paste using a blender or mortar pestle or the traditional  ‘pata’ ( Bengali word)
3.    Heat 1 tablespoon  oil in a pan and add the extra mustard seed
4.    When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the paste, add salt and fry it a little or until the paste is semi dried. Add lemon juice
5.    Marinate the Salmon with the fried paste for sometime
6.    Add rest of the oil in a frying pan and heat.
7.    Pan fry the marinated salmon
8.    Serve with roti or rice or just as starter

at 19:39

Pan Roasted Chicken with ginger and garlic accompanied with chili lime oil and served with Sharon fruit Salad

Serves: 2 to 3 for dinner as mains without any sides

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins to roast chicken and mix the salad at the same time

Ingredient:

Roast Chicken

2 -Chicken legs/Breast (I have used breast)
4- Garlic cloves (you can reduce the quantity as per your taste.  We love the smell of garlic)
2-inch ginger
½ teaspoon Black pepper
2- Tablespoon of limejuice
1-tablespoon of oil
Salt to taste

Chili  Lime Oil:

2-tablespoon sun dried tomato oil (you can use any white/olive/vegetable oil too)
2-tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of chili flakes


Sharon Fruit

Mix Green and Sharon Fruit Salad

 Sharon Fruit Salad:

1- Pack of green leafs (spinach, butter head, lettuce, and rocket)
1- Sharon fruit (you can use any fruit like apple, pear, pineapple, raw sweet and sour mango, sweet mango, pomegranate to name the few)
1- Tomato
½- cucumber
1 cup canned, washed chickpea or garbanzo beans
1-tablespoon roasted almond flakes
1-tablespoon pine seed (optional)
1-tablespoon sweet chili salad dressing (fat free)
1-tablespoon of vinaigrette (fat free)
Salt and black paper to taste


Pan Roasted Chicken

Method:

1. Wash chicken and slit them across.  Paste/grate the ginger and garlic. Marinate the chicken with ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, black paper and lemon juice. Keep aside for 10 mins while you prepare the salad
2. Heat a tawa/skillet on low flame (as low as possible). Add 1-tablespoon of oil and spread all over. Place the chicken over the pan
3. Cover and let it cook. Covering will help the chicken cook fast. Lift and turn the chicken occasionally.
4. If the chicken sticks sprinkle, little water as and when needed. However, do not overdo as the chicken might become soggy and lose the crispness of roasted chicken.  The chicken should release oil. If it does not then I always sprinkle water and avoid the temptation of giving oil .Trust me the taste remains the same. Nevertheless, if you are not as fastidious about oil as I am, then, go ahead and add more oil. It should take around 15 mins but might vary depending on the gas oven/electric oven etc.
5. Meanwhile slice Sharon fruit, tomato and cucumber in to small pieces. Tear the leafy greens or leave them just the way they are.  Add all the ingredients of salad and mix well. Careful not to put too much force as it might crash the fruits and the salad will become too soggy.
6. For chili oil, mix lime juice and chili flake. Add oil and keep side to use later.
7. After 15 mins or so, take the cover off. At this stage, the chicken should be almost cooked but not that brown.
8. Roast east side of the chicken until golden brown. In my gas, it takes about 5/8 each side.
9. Once the chicken is cooked to golden brown, take if off the tawa/skillet and let it settle for 5 mins. This process will prevent the chicken from becoming too chewy. Cut the chicken diagonally
10. Plate up with salad and sprinkle the chili oil over before serving