Fish Casserole

I find it rather cute that the word casserole can apply to the dish in which it is cooked and also to the dish itself. The container meaning is that it is cooked in or on an oven and also used for serving. The dish meaning is that it is a stew which is slow cooked. I know everyone knows all this, but it is fun to write. 

For this recipe of a fish casserole, I had about 10 one inch thick fillets of Beckty. Red snapper or cod will do well too. Wash the fish well. marinade with salt, fresh pepper powder and lime juice. I marinated for about 6 hours. 

Make about a cup of usual vegetable stock. 

At the the time of cooking, peel, wash and cut chunkily about 2 red carrots. Slice finely 2 red onions. In a tbsp warm meted butter add 2 bay leaves and the onions and allow them to turn transparent and pink. To this add the carrot. season with salt and pepper remembering that you had coated the same seasoning onto the fish. After about 2 minutes add the vegetable stock cover with a lid and let it simmer for 10 minutes. take the lid off and gently place the fish in one by one. The cooking time will now be only 4 minutes. The fish will become soft and creamy. Add to teh fragrance with a sprig of thyme and dramatise with a spoon of capers. In this picture, I added parsley instead of thyme, but please keep thyme handy. Works better.

Your fish casserole is ready to enjoy. The flavours are subtle, gentle and romantic. Bread will be a perfect accompaniment. 

Grilled Sweet Potato, Carrot, Spring Onion Salad

Soak a handful of kidney beans overnight. In the morning boil them keeping a crunchy yet soft feel. 

I used two longish sweet potatoes, scraped them clean and peeled them. Make slanting fat pieces. Par boil them for 2 minutes or so. Do the same for one carrot. Drain out the water and rub olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Now grill them at high heat in the oven for about 6 to 8 minutes. Set them aside.

Scoop out the flesh from 2 luscious tomatoes. Slice them round. Pan roast with salt and pepper.

Take about 6 spring onion bulbs. Cut them lengthwise. Apply a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and pan roast them too.

For the dressing, take 6 tbsp yogurt, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and 2 tbsp lemon juice. Fold everything in, Please don't beat too much. 

In a large salad bowl, place washed drained crisp salad leaves like aragula and lettuce randomly. Place the sweet potato, carrot, onion bulbs, tomato rings gently on the leaves, layering as you go along. Blob onto the bowl dollops of the dressing. As you serve yourself, ensure you are getting a bit of everything. It is lovely, I assure you.

Peshawari Vegetable

Did you know that foods eaten by denizens of ancient civilizations namely Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were a part of the umbrella cuisine called 'Peshwari' food? Dishes that belong to Pakistan, parts of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber area all really add up to 'Peshawari' cuisine.This cuisine emerges out of history, religion, geography and stories of these lands. I am sharing a vegetarian dish, a gorgeous way to enjoy one's vegetables and I am calling it "Peshawari vegetable'. I also want to boast that the final result is fabulous. Please get to it. 

Cut the florets from a cauliflower, take a bowl of peas, chop all the three coloured peppers, one each in small pieces and cut one carrot in small pieces. Golden fry all the vegetables. This is your vegetable kitty. Next take half a fist of cashews and fry them to golden also. To this add a 100 grams of small cubes of 'paneer'. Place all of this in a bowl.

Next take a fist full of cashew nuts. For this step I use broken ones as it works out a bit cost effective. Make a paste with a little bit of water.

Then take 2 onions, slice them and fry them to pinkish brown. Once cool, blend them into a paste. 

In a cup of water dissolve 3 tbsp yogurt. Set aside.

Grate a 100 grams 'paneer'.

In a warm wok take a tbsp oil and a tbsp butter. When warm, add finely chopped garlic and ginger. Quantities could be 5 pods of garlic and 1 inch of ginger. Once it sputters, add the cashew paste and the fried onion paste and stir well. Time to spike up things with a tsp of 'garam masala' powder, salt to season, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp or a bit more of red chilly powder. Mix well with a spatula and allow the mix to cook for about 2 odd minutes. Add the grated 'paneer' and toss again for another minutes.Pour in the cup of yogurt water. This makes the gravy. Once this simmers, add that bowl which is waiting and ready. 

Once the vegetables acquire a crunchy yet cooked texture, add 2 tbsp fresh cream and a dash of lime. Enjoy with crisp 'parathas'.

Fennel And Peppercorn Flavoured Dry Chicken

Ranadive Aunty shared this recipe. She says it is a dry chicken recipe with 'Badishop' which is none other than fennel. Made me think that this chicken can be cooked anytime of the year given that it is flavoured with the perennial herb, the Fennel. Indigenous to many lands especially around the Mediterranean and also in other dry lands, the Fennel boasts of many many many helpful values. Why, even H.W. Longfellow wrote a few words about the Fennel tree. May I quote him just a little bit...

Above the lower plants it towers,
The Fennel with its yellow flowers;
And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers
Lost vision to restore..

To the recipe. Marinate about a kilo of chicken in a tsp salt, chilly powder, turmeric each and one and a half tbsp of ginger and garlic paste and 3-4 tbsp yogurt. You need about 3 hours of marination. 

Slice longitudinally 4 red onions and take about 4 whole chillies. In a warm pan, dry roast 1 tbsp whole peppercorns and fennel seeds each for about 2 or 3 minutes in medium heat. Once cooled, powder the mixture.

Next in a warm wokin about 2 tbsp oil, fry the chicken until golden brown on all sides. Keep aside. 

In the same wok, add 1 or 11/2 tbsp ghee. You can use oil instead. Once warm, throw in 6-7 peppercorns, 4 green split cardamom seeds, 6 cloves, 1 inch bruised cinnamon stick. Once these crackle, add the onions till light pink. Now add the green chillies and about 10 leaves of curry leaves. Now it is time to chop up 1 large tomato and put that in. In a minute or so, spoon in a tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala powder, a dash of chilly powder if you like it zesty and salt to season. After another two minutes add the chicken pieces. Toss and turn the chicken in the seasoning and keep at low heat covered until the chicken is cooked. Once the chicken is tender, in high flame add a tsp and a half of the peppercorn and fennel powder and a few fresh leaves of curry leaves.

Hunan Chicken

Hunan cuisine is rated to be one of the really popular cuisines of Chinese cuisine. The history of this cuisine dates back to many centuries and eras. Hot spicy flavours, fragrant aroma and deep colours are the trademark nuances of the cuisine. One very interesting concept of Hunan cuisine is that the menu changes with the season. Winter months will find a hot pot on the table so as to help tackle the body chill. Yet again in summer a typical menu would be a platter with a selection of cold meats with chillies.

In India, we often find a Hunan chicken on a Chinese menu. I don't much care much for Indianised Chinese gravies but I do make an exception for this one. I guess I enjoy using Sherry, fresh ginger root and fragrant fresh peppercorns to toss up the chicken. 

At first grind 4/5 tbsp peppercorns. Then in a large bowl mix a tsp honey, 2-3 tbsp soy sauce, salt to season, 2 tbsp dry sherry and 1 tsp pepper powder. This will be good for about 3/4 kilo of boneless cubed chicken pieces. Gently coat the chicken with the whole sauce. 

Now chop really finely to get a tbsp each of fresh ginger and garlic. Take about 5 stalks of spring onions and chop finely. Next take a tsp full of red chilly flakes. In 2 tbsp warm vegetable oil add all of the above and stir for about a minute. Then add the chicken with its whole marinade and allow the chicken to cook for about 10 minutes at medium heat.

On the side blend in 1 tbsp black bean sauce, 2 tbsp rice vinegar and 1 tbsp sesame oil. Pour this in to the chicken. At high flame stir. Add half a cup of warm water for gravy and allow it to simmer for only a minute.

You are done.

Vegetable Manchurian

Did you know that Manchuria is a region in now North East China. And the people who live there are called Tungusic people. The Tungusic people inhabit Eastern Siberia. They are not the Mongols. The Manchu people are the largest clan of the Tungusic people. The red tasseled hats belong to the Manchus. 

Interesting read, all of the above. But I could not establish if the Manchurian gravy could be dated back to the Manchu culture of food though the namesake is too much of a coincidence. I am finding it rather romantic to imply a connection. -)

For the recipe, I used one green cabbage, two plump red carrots and about one and a half green peppers. All of the vegetables have to be chopped really finely. Honestly, I used a chopper. To this mix, add one and a half tbsp corn flour and 4 tbsp flour. Wheat flour should do. Now add one finely chopped green chilly, salt and pepper to season and heartily mix it all. Make balls your palm. Here is where I am sharing my trick. When I make the balls, I squeeze out the extra juice in a bowl so that the balls hold out. Save the juice. Lets call it the magic juice just for a lark. 

In a deep wok, warm vegetable oil. Fry each ball till they turn golden on all sides. Gently place them on a kitchen towel for the extra oil to drain out.

Now to the gravy. You will need to finely chop one or two green chillies (for kids add the green chillies whole), one and a half handful of spring onions, two inches of ginger root with skin and about ten cloves of garlic. In about three tbsp of sesame oil which has been warmed, add the above. Separately and before hand mix three tbsp tomato ketchup, 3 tbsp soy sauce and one and a half green chilly sauce in a bowl. Once you have sauted the ginger-garlic-spring onion-chillies, add the sauce blend. Now add a cup of water and the rest of the strained magic juice. It is time to slowly put in the balls, one by one. Allow to simmer for atleast two minutes. If you need further thickness, mix a tbsp corn flour in a cup of room temperature water and add to the above. 

Allow a bubble or two. Enjoy with fried rice. 

PS: Wonder if the Gobi Manchurian perfected by Black Cadillac and Pub World and Konaark even existed in Manuchria! I am sure NOT. But I am also sure that all good Bangaloreans, gourmet food proponents or not swear by beer and yummilicious Gobi Manchurian coloured with orange tandoori colouring....Aha, those days!

Peas Puree As A Flat Bread Stuffing

In most Kolkata homes winter day refrigerators are stocked with a steel box filled with this rich green pasty peas mix. I reckon some of the steel has been replaced by Tupperware but the heritage of the peas puree continues. Another heritage that continues in Kolkata which I find rather refreshing is that people still drop in unannounced adding to the everlasting romance of the city. And they are not disappointed because with a cup of tea there is a magical serving conjured up of "motorshutir kochuri" aka "matar ke puri" aka "fried bread stuffed with peas puree"....

So, Bengalis, I know you do not need this recipe. All others, please do stock up with this stuffing and enjoy your winter breakfasts and make the kiddy lunchboxes healthy and interesting. Peas are loaded with good vitamins and remember to inform your kids that peas are botanically regarded as fruits because they have seeds. I just love this little trivia. 

For the recipe, I used 2 kilos of peas and shelled them. Then I blended them with 2 green chillies and 1 inch of grated ginger in the mixer with only half a cup of water. Allow the puree to be a bit coarse and not too pasty. In a warm wok, add 2-3 tbsp oil. In the warmed oil add 11/2 tsp asafoetida and 2 tsp cumin powder. In a bit add the peas puree. Keep stirring at medium heat. In 5 minutes or so, add salt and red chilly powder to taste. I also add a smallish dash of sugar. Now the trick and the hard work is to keep stirring until the puree is cooked and takes on a dark olive colour. If you taste it you will not feel a raw taste. This means you are ready. I would advice about 15 minutes of stirring time. If you are mad at someone put that person on the job. Allow the puree to cool. 

In little wheat dough balls, make a well. Spoon in a chunk of the puree. Close the opening with the help of the dough sides. Roll them out into rounds. You can either deep fry them or pan roast them. While pan roasting them you may add just a dash of oil to lend a tasty glaze. Okay honesty blaze...we cheeky Bengalis make our dough with white flour but then they say Digene sells the most in Kolkata!!! Enjoy!