at 23:27

Spicy Marinated Fish Fry

Ingredients:

 400g-Fish (I used Herrings. You can use sardine, mackerel, or any other fry that you like to eat fried like Rahu, katla, maybe even prawn should taste good I should imagine)

2-tablespoon lemon juice

1-tablespoon ginger paste

1-tablespoon garlic paste

1-teaspoon chili powder

1-tablespoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

4-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.    Clean the fish and slash them on both sides

2.    Make a paste of the spices and add lemon juice and salt

3.    Marinate the fish with the spice paste for 10mins

4.    Heat oil in pan

5.    Fry the fish individually, both side should be brown and crispy

6.    Serve with white rice and wedges of lime as starter

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at 23:25

Kalo jeera diye makha makha Aar Mach (Giant river-catfish cooked with nigella seed in spicy thick gravy-very Bengali, very Noakhaila, very my didon dish)

Ingredients:

8-pieces Aar Mach. Washed and clean

¼-teaspoon kaloo jeera

1-teaspoon red chili powder

1-teaspoon turmeric

1-teaspoon cumin powder

1-teaspoon ginger paste

2-green chili, slit length wise

1-bay leaf

Salt to taste

3-tablespoon oil to fry the fish

2-tablespoon to cook

Little coriander leaf, sliced

 Method:

1.    Marinate the fish with bit of red chili, turmeric, salt and the fry until light golden on both sides and cooked well. Do not deep fry

2.    While fish is frying, take all the spices in a bowl, add little water and make a little watery paste

3.    Now when the fish are fried, keep them aside

4.    In the same pan heat more oil

5.    Add bay leaf, kalo jeera and green chili and fry a little

6.    Add the spice paste and cook until oil has separated

7.    Now add the fish and try to turn them so that spice mix is rubbed all over

8.    Fry little and add little water and cook until oil separates

9.    Add little more water ( little extra than the gravy you want to keep but not much as this dish is suppose to be little on the dry side) and cook until desired consistence achieved

10. Add coriander leaf and cook for another 2 mins

11.  Serve with hot boiled rice 

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog. I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

 

at 23:27

Sunday Saga Still Continues- Shorshe Ilish (Hilsa Cooked in a Mustard Paste Gravy) --- a quintessentially Bengali Dish!

Ingredients

6-pieces of Ilish / Hilsa

3-green chili, slit length wise

2-teaspoon mustard seed (I used black) or use 2 –teaspoon mustard seed powder (read instruction of soaking on the pack before using)

1-teaspoon turmeric powder

1-teaspoon red chili powder (I used Kashmiri chili, as I do not eat hot. So use as per your taste)

½-teaspoon of kalo jeera/Nigella seed

Salt to taste

3-tablespoon mustard oil (if you do not have, then use any oil really)

 

Method:

1.    Add 1 green chili and salt with the mustard seeds and make a paste ( do not make paste without the chili and salt, otherwise it might turn bitter) and keep side

2.   Marinate the fish with turmeric, chili and salt

3.   Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the fish and keep aside

4.   Heat more oil and add kalo jeera and let it fry

5.   Add the mustard seed paste, salt ( if needed) red chili and fry until oil separate

6.   Add the fried fish and fry little more, combining the paste with the fish

7.   Add little water and cook until fish is cooked and oil have separated from gravy

8.   Add green chili and sprinkle some mustard oil over the cooked fish

9.   Serve with white boiled rice

 For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog . I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

at 22:47

Basil and Almond Pesto layered baked Fish: Rich and Crunchy and Christmassy

Basil and Almond Pesto layered baked Fish

As promised, I am posting the second fish recipe that I had made last night. Well, although I said that it is an Italian dish, today’s after thought is that I am not sure. The reason being, I really made a pesto (paste) taking the idea from Italian dish but gave it a twist to suit my taste. Can this be still called Italian? Maybe a fusion is more appropriate. Whatever, the taste was great- rich with fish oil, crunchy from the bake and the taste of basil and almond works wonder. What I liked about it is the intricacy and texture of the recipe. I tasted the fish, little sharpness of the chili, bittersweet taste of the basil leaves and then the sweetness of almond. Not to forget, the rich and creamy taste of grated parmesan. It came out really nice, taking consideration that I just made it up with whatever I had in the fridge.

Here is the recipe……hope you like it. Although in all honesty,  it was little oily for my taste ( I am totally oil less food person)  but I know R would have loved it. I did not use that much oil, but as I used Salmon which is very oily (good source of omega 3, the heart friendly oil) and then with the parmesan together with olive oil made it oily. However if you use any other fish I am sure the effect will be different. But taste and texture wise, it was awesomenesssss!

Ingredients:

Handful of Basil leaves, chopped
1- Clove of garlic
1- Green chili or more depending on taste
1-teaspoon pine nut
5/6-almond roasted
Just little, really little bit of roasted cumin (10 cumin max maybe!!!)
1-tablespoon lemon juice
Salt to taste
Grated parmesan as per taste
Red Chili flake as per taste
Olive oil
4- Salmon steaks. Use any fish you like

 Method:

1.   Leaving aside the parmesan, salt, lemon juice , olive oil and red chili flake, grind rest of the ingredients to a paste

2.   Add the lemon juice, olive oil and salt to the paste

3.   Season the fish with salt ( little bit though)

4.   Add parmesan and chili flakes with the paste

5.   Oil a baking tray and arrange the fish

6.   Cover top side of each steak with the paste

7.   Bake the fish on 180c ( fan oven) for 20 mins or until done

8.   Serve with green salad and boiled potatoes

at 21:17

A Thai Christmas Warmer: Fish with Mango and Coconut Milk

Fish with Mango and Coconut Milk- A Thai Dish

It might be some time before I write part 2 of my kolkata trip. Specially with Christmas just around the corner, with lights all around, insane shoppers, carol singers at Tesco, red coats and jumping kids, I am tempted to give in to the festivity. So Kolkata trip will be back later, for now let me enjoy Christmas. I will buy and decorate my tree tomorrow and do bit of shopping (insane of course) for loved ones (for those who are here in London, and those still staying in Kolkata will be forgotten!!!!!!! ). However, as of today, I am doing bit of cooking, keeping with the Christmas spirit.

I am making two fish dish-one Thai and one Italian dish. Both the fish dishes are very easy and very very quick. If you are thinking what to eat during the Christmas breaks, it might be interesting to cook oriental one day and Italian the other among of course the usual Christmassy cooking.  Both the fish dishes goes well with white rice, Pasta, noodle or on their own making them versatile. Moreover, if you are treating people, this might bring interesting twist as fusion food along with traditional Christmas roast and Brussels sprout. Who says we cannot deviate –  I would! Well, I did!

Ingredients:

4 fish steak. I used salmon. You can use Sea bass, sea bream or any sweat water fish

3-tablespoon Thai red curry paste
Handful of coriander, chopped
150ml of coconut milk
3-tablespoon of sweet chili sauce
1 red Thai chili, chopped
¼-teaspoon red chili flake (optional)
6-8 Thai Basil
2-teaspoon of rice wine vinegar
3-teaspoon of fish sauce
1 Mango (sweat and sour mango), deseeded, peeled and sliced  
1-tablespoon oil
Salt as per taste

 Method:

1.   Place the fish on a board and marinate with thai red curry paste

2.   Heat oil and add the remaining paste

3.   Stir and add sweet chili sauce, fish sauce  and fry for a while

4.   Add the fish and fry them for a while

5.   Add rice wine vinegar

6.   Add the mango

7.   Add coconut milk and cook

8.   As the  gravy reduces and mango softened, add the basil and coriander, red chili flake

9.   Season as per taste.

10.               Serve hot sprinkled with chopped red chili and with rice, paste or on its own as side dish

 

at 16:42

Makha Makha Aloo Chingri (Prawn cooked with potatoes)

Another very simple yet very tasty recipe with prawn. This one is lovely with steamed rice or roti. The days you do not have time for an elaborate cooking yet want to eat something nice, try this one.

Ingredients:
230gm prawn
2-small onion, thinly sliced
2-potatoes, small dices
½-chili powder ( or paprika incase you do not like your food hot)
½- turmeric
½-ginger powder
½-cumin powder
1-tablespoon oil
Salt to taste
 

Method:

1.       Heat oil
2.       Add the diced potatoes in the oil and fry for 5/8 mins
3.       Add the onion and fry until both potatoes and onion is cooked
4.       Add the prawn
5.       Add chili powder, turmeric, ginger , cumin and salt
6.       Fry until spices are mixed well and fried
7.       Sprinkle oil in case sticking at the bottom
8.       Add water and cook for 10/15mins or until the gravy is thick
9.       Serve with steam rice or roti
 

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 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