Grilled Prawns

Garlic Flavoured Prawns sitting with the marinade

 Ingredients

• 6-8 large prawns cleaned thoroughly but without removing the shells. Cut open the shells along the back of the prawn to remove the vein and also to help the marinade to get into the flesh
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic (garlic is the strong flovour in this one)
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of french mustard paste. If you cannot get this, make a paste of the mustard at home with a little water and use this
• 2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves or parsley leaves
• ½ tsp of white pepper powder (use black if you do not have white pepper powder)
• Salt as per need
• 1 tbsp of lime juice

Mix together the ingredients and add the lemon juice at the end. Apply this mix on the prawns and gently push the marinade under the shells too. Let this marinate for an hour in the refrigerator.

Prawns in the spicier marinade

Ingredients

• 6-8 large prawns cleaned thoroughly but without removing the shells. Cut open the shells along the back of the prawn to remove the vein and also to help the marinade to get into the flesh
• 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp of Kashmiri chilly powder
• 2 tbsps of vinegar made from toddy
• ½ tsp of white pepper powder (use black if you do not have white pepper powder)
• Salt as per need

Mix together the ingredients. Apply this mix on the prawns and gently push the marinade under the shells too. Let this marinate for an hour in the refrigerator.

Grilling

• Grill the prawns on either side for 2-3 minutes each. Apply the extra marinade as you grill them. You can use a coal grill or use a normal tawa/griddle after applying a little bit of oil on it.
• If you are doing it on a tawa or griddle, once the prawns are grilled, arrange them on a wire mesh/rack and hold them over the flame for a few seconds. This will give it a sligtly burnt garlic flavour. This is not required if you are using a coal grill.

Do not overgrill the prawns since that would make it very dry and rubbery.

The finished product - the garlic flavoured one

The spicy prawns

One more picture of the garlic flavoured prawns

Spicy prawns

Serve with lemon butter sauce

To make the lemon butter sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp of butter (Amul butter)
• 4 tbsp of fresh thick cream
• 1 tsp of lemon juice or more as per your taste
• A little bit of cornstarch
• A little bit of white pepper powder
• A little bit of italian seasoning (optional)

Method

• Melt the butter on low heat
• Add the fresh cream to the butter and keep stirring till everything is blended well
• Add a little bit of cornstarch and cook for a couple of minutes
• Add the lemon juice, white pepper powder and Italian seasoning. Keep stirring all the while.
• Serve warm with the grilled prawns as a dipping sauce.

Clear seafood soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fish stock (see my note below on how to prepare this)
• 1 tsp of finely chopped garlic cloves
• ½ tsp finely chopped ginger
• ¼ tsp of white pepper powder (use black pepper powder if you do not have white pepper powder)
• 1 tsp of cornstarch mixed with 4 tbsp of fish stock (add more cornstarch if you need a thicker soup)
• Salt as per need
• ½ tsp mixed italian herbs (optional)
• ½ cup of seafood and vegetables (boneless fish pieces, prawns cut into small pieces, shredded onion etc.)
• 1 tsp of salted butter (Amul Butter)

Method

• Take a sauce pan and melt the butter on low heat
• Add the chopped garlic and ginger. Sauté this for a minute (do not let it brown)
• Add the fish stock, pepper powder and the mixed Italian herbs
• Add the cornstarch. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for a minute and then lower the flame and let it cook for 4-5 minutes
• Add salt and the solid seafood and vegetables.
• Serve hot

Important Note

When you make any kind of soup, the stock is the most important ingredient. If you make a good stock, you can make a great soup.

Making of the fish stock.

When you buy fish, plan beforehand if you are planning to make fish stock or not. The fish with firm flesh and large bones like black pomfret, king fish, Indian Salmon, Silver/White pomfret etc. are very good for making the fish stock. Use the portions around the center bone (which is generally discarded if you make boneless fish fillets) and small pieces of fish like the tail end etc. to make the stock.

Prawns Stock

When you buy fresh prawns, use the cleaned shells of the prawns (after discarding the head portion) instead of fish to make the stock. Clean the shells thoroughly and then follow the same method. The shells will substitute the fish pieces in this case. You will definitely have some scum formation in this case which needs to be removed periodically. Use this stock again for making soups or for adding to prawns recipes instead of water. You can also add a little of this stock when making prawns biriyani or prawns fried rice to get a richer flavour.

Ingredients

• 2 litres of water.
• Fish pieces (mostly bones with some small pieces of fleshy portions of fish) - should be at least 250 gms or more
• Take two onions and quarter them
• Take a large carrot, clean and cut them into big pieces
• ½ tsp of white pepper powder
• Salt as per need

Method

• Boil the water, add the fish pieces and reduce the flame to low. Let it simmer for a while. Scoop out any scum that may come to the top. If you clean the fish bones/pieces thoroughly you may not see any scum.
• After about 15 minutes, add the onions, carrots, pepper powder and salt.
• Let it simmer for about 45 minutes more
• Take the pan off the stove and strain the liquid into another vessel
• Gather all the onions (will be very soft by now) and the carrot pieces and also the fish pieces.
• Remove as much of flesh as possible from the fish pieces/bones
• Cut the carrots into smaller pieces. Store these in the freezer to be used when making soups.
• Once the strained liquid has cooled, freeze it. You could convert them into ice cubes and store them in a container so that it becomes easy to use it later.
• The stock and fish pieces thus stored can be used whenever you need it and it can be kept in the freezer for a couple of months at least.

Egg Roast in Kerala Style

Egg Roast is a famous Kerala egg dish. It is usually a bit on the spicier side and enjoyed with palappam or porottas or chappatis.

Ingredients

• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 4 large onions sliced very thinly
• 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste, coarsely ground
• 1 large tomato finely chopped after removing the skin by blanching the tomato in boiling water for a few seconds. Use ripe tomatoes so that they are not sour.
• 1½ tsp of coriander powder
• 1½ tsp of Kashmiri chilly powder
• 1 tsp of garam masala (Grind 1” piece of cinnamon, ½ tsp of aniseed, 3 cloves, 2 pods of green cardamom)
• 1 tsp of black pepper powder (reduce this amount if you want a less intense flavour of the black pepper)
• 4 dessert spoon of vegetable oil
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• Salt as required
• ½ cup of water

Method

• Take a kadai and heat the oil
• Once the oil is hot, add the ginger garlic paste and sauté it for a couple of minutes on low flame
• Add the sliced onions and sauté the onions till they turn golden brown (slightly on the darker side)
• Move the onions to one side of the pan and add a little more oil if needed, so that there is sufficient oil in the center of the kadai. There should be at least 1 tbsp of oil at the center of the kadai
• Mix the masala powders into a thick paste by adding a little water
• Add the masala powder mix to the oil and sauté the masala for a minute
• Now mix together the onions and sauté for a couple of minutes more
• Add the curry leaves and then the tomato
• Sauté on medium heat till the oil seperates. This could take a few minutes.
• Add the water a little at a time, so that you have a thick gravy.
• Add salt as per need
• Add the boiled eggs after putting gashes on the eggs
• Cover and cook for 5 minutes

Serve with palappam, Kerala porotta (Malabar Paratha) or chappati.

Spicy Onion Salad (Sarlas in Malayalam)

This is a very simple salad famous in some parts of Kerala, India. Locally this is known as sarlas (സര്‍ളാസ്). It is also known as sallas (സ‍ള്ളാസ്) in other places. This goes very well with items like cutlets, fish fry etc. There are also variations to this. There is one variation which uses coconut milk. I will post that sometime later when we make them at home.

I prepared this last weekend to go along with the chicken tikka that I had made.

Ingredients

• 2 large onions thinly sliced lengthwise
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• 1 large tomato chopped into very small pieces
• 2 tbsp of vinegar
• 2 tbsp of salt
• A pinch of black pepper powder (optional)

Method

• In a bowl take the sliced onions and add the salt.
• Using your hands mix the onions and salt well and start squeezing the onion. Continue this for a few minutes, till the onions become crushed and the onion juices have come out
• Now squeeze dry the onion and transfer it to another bowl. Discard the water.
• Add the green chillies, tomato and the vinegar and mix everything well
• Add a pinch of black pepper powder (optional)
• Usually no more salt needs to be added. Taste and add salt if needed.

Serve this with cutlets, fish fry etc.

And one last picture

Dal Makhani

Ingredients

• Whole black lentil (Sabut urad dal) - 250 gm
• Ghee/Oil - 4 tbsp
•  Asafoetida (Hing) - one pinch
• Onion chopped - 1 large
• Tomato chopped - 2 medium
• Chilly powder - ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder - a small pinch
• Coriander powder - ¼  tsp
• Everest garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt to taste

Make a coarsely ground/crushed paste of the following

• Green chilly - 1
• Jeera - 1/2 tsp
• Garlic crushed - 10 cloves
• Ginger crushed - 1" piece

 Method

• Soak the black lentils for 30 minutes in water. (3 cups of water for 1 cup of dal). Drain the water.
• Pressure cook the lentils with 3 cups of water for about 12 minutes (or until it is done). Bring the pressure cooker to full pressure and then lower the flame and let it cook. After about 12 minutes switch off the flame and then let it cool naturally. Once the pressure is completely released, check if the dal is cooked. If it is not, cook for a few minutes again. Open and mash the contents in the cooker slightly.
• Heat a pan and add the ghee/oil
• Add the  asafoetida
• Add the crushed ingredients and saute for about 2 minutes
• Add the onion and saute till they turn translucent
• Add the turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and garam masala (Everest garam masala)
• Add the chopped onions
• Saute till the masala is cooked
• Add the ingredients of the cooker
• Add water if required (the gravy should be of pouring consistency)
• Cook for about 10 minutes
• Add salt and coriander leaves
• Add a dollop of butter before serving (in that case add a little less salt in the beginning)

This tastes best when it stands for a couple of hours at least after cooking. Serve with hot naans.

Usually people also add one/two tablespoons of kidney beans (rajma) along with the black lentils. You can also add 3-4 tbsp of fresh cream after cooking.

This has been cooked by my wife who is a vegetarian and this is a favourite dish of many vegetarians. This is a very popular Punjabi dish.

Chicken Cutlet

Ingredients for chicken preparation

• 300 gm of boneless chicken breast
• ½ tsp of Kashmiri red chilli powder
• ¼  tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp of lemon juice 
• Salt as per taste

Cut the chicken into small pieces. Wash and clean them and then pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Marinate the chicken pieces with the given ingredients for 2 hours. After 2 hours squeeze the chicken dry (remove as much water as possible).

Other ingredients 

• 1 large onion finely chopped 
• 1 tbsp of ginger finely chopped.
• 1 tbsp of garlic finely chopped
• 2 green chillies finely choped
• ½  cup of chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp of chopped mint leaves
• ½ tsp of coriander powder
• 1 tsp of meat masala (optional)
• 1 tsp of cooking oil
• Salt as per need
• 1 large potate boiled and drained and mashed (add salt to this as needed)
• 1 egg broken into a bowl and beat lightly (add a bit of salt too)
• 2 cups of bread crumbs
• Oil for deep frying the cutlets

Method

• Take a pan and heat 1 tbsp of oil.
• Add the chopped onions, ginger, garlic and green chilly. Sauté the onions till they turn translucent.
• Add the coriander powder and the meat masala and sauté the ingredients for a couple of more minutes. Take the ingredients off the pan and cool it.
• Take the chopping attachment of a mixer grinder and add the chicken pieces, cooked onion mixture, mint leaves, coriander leaves and mince everything finely.
• Take the mixture into a bowl and add the mashed potato.
• Knead the whole mixture after adding a little more of spices (chilly powder, coriander powder & meat masala) if needed.
• Make lemon sized balls and flatten the balls.
• Dip them in the egg mixture and coat them with the bread crumbs.
• Deep fry the cutlets till golden brown.
• Serve hot with onion salad (will post the recipe of the onion salad later). It can also be served with any other slightly tart and spicy sauce like tartar sauce.

You can actually make different varieties of the cutlet by varying the spices and ingredients according to your taste.

Mackeral (Fish) Cutlets

Cutlets are snacks that are not difficult to make and tastes really nice. Great as starters or as a quick snack in the evening.

I had bought mackerals and marinated them to be fried. My wife fried a few but my son ate very little on that day. So back it went to the refrigerator. Before leaving from office, I asked my wife to boil a large potato and keep it ready for me. And after I reached home, got into the kitchen to make the cutlets. And then I realized I had no bread crumbs. Not to worry any way. I had brown bread at home. Sigh of relief.

Ingredients for fish preparation

• 3 large mackerals (bangada in Marathi, Aiyla in Malayalam) - approximately 500 gm.

Fish marinade

• 1 tbsp of red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice (juice of half a lemon)
• Salt as per taste

Method: Preparing the fish

• Clean the fish and make gashes on both the sides
• Mix the fish marinade in a non-metallic vessel and apply this to the fish.
• Keep the fish marinated for about 30 minutes.
• Shallow fry the fish in a pan for approximately 5 minutes per side.
• Once the fish has reached the room temperature, carefully debone the fish.

Ingredients for the cutlet

• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
• ½ a cup of coriander leaves finely chopped
• ½ a tsp of finely chopped ginger
• 1 green chilly finely chopped (optional)
• ½ a tsp of Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp of cooking oil
• Salt as per taste
• 2 cups of deboned cooked fish (200 - 250 gm). Chop the fish finely. (mackeral in this case)
• 1 large potato boiled and skin removed
• 1 egg
• 2 cups of fine bread crumbs
• Sufficient oil for deep frying the cutlets

Method

• Heat a saucepan and add 1 tbsp of oil and once the oil is hot add the onion. Sauté the onion for a couple of minutes and then add the chopped ginger and green chilly. Sauté till the onions turn slightly brown.
• Add the chilly powder and sauté further for a couple of minutes
• Add the deboned fish and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the coriander leaves.
• Add salt as required.
• Take out the mixture and let it cool.
• Drain water off the potato and mash it thoroughly.
• Mix the potato and the fish mixture. Knead it for a few minutes to make sure that everything is mixed properly. Add salt if required.
• Make lemon sized balls of the mixture and then flatten it to form a shape of your liking (round, diamond etc.). The thickness should be around 1cm.
• Break the egg into a bowl and beat it well and add a little salt.
• Dip each of the cutlet into the egg mixture
• Take the bread crumbs in a flat plate and coat the cutlet with the bread crumbs.
• Deep fry the cutlets till it is golden brown.

Serve with sweet and spicy tomato sauce.

Unfortunately I could not make proper bread crumbs. So I just chopped up brown bread slices and the crumbs were really large pieces. This is why the appearance is not as good as it would have been, had I used proper bread crumbs. But they tasted yummy.

Tips

• If you do not have bread crumbs you can prepare it easily at home. Trim the edges of a few slices of white bread and keep them in the sun so that they become hard and brittle. Powder them finely using the chopper jar of a mixer grinder.
• Instead of shallow frying the fish, they can be cooked with a little water. In that case, make sure that water is completely drained off before deboning them.
• You can also use any other fish for this. Fish like kingfish etc. would make the job easier since you can debone them very easily. The taste of course would be slightly different depending on the kind of fish used.

Enjoy your cooking.

Prawns Gassi

This is one Konkani/Mangalorean dish that I love. Simple to make and yet very delicious. Again, I hope this recipe is authentic. However if some friends from the Konkan coast could give their seal of approval or give the correct version of the recipe, it would be really nice.

Ingredients

• Prawns - 500 gm (weight after cleaning and deveining)
• One medium sized onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp oil (coconut oil preferred)
• 1 sprig of curry leaves (optional)
• Salt, as per taste
• Pulp extract of 1½ tbsp of tamarind (take a lemon sized tamarind ball and add it to a bowl of lukewarm water. Strain it after about 15 minutes)
• Prawns stock/water, 2 cups

Masala Paste

• Roasted whole Kashmiri red chillies - 10 to 15 (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
• One medium sized onion thinly sliced
• 2 tsp of roasted whole coriander (you can substitute with coriander powder)
• ¼ tsp of fenugreek seeds
• ½ tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 10-12 black peppercorns
• 1 cup grated coconut (half of one medium sized coconut)
• 8-10 garlic cloves

Grind the above into a fine paste using a little water.

Method

• Clean the prawns and mix it with salt and set aside for a while (15-20 minutes)
• Take a pan and add the oil
• Once the oil is hot, add the curry leaves (optional)
• Add the chopped onions and sauté till the onions turn slighly brown
• Add the ground masala and fry it on medium heat till the whole mixture turns brown and the oil seperates from the masala
• Add the tamarind extract as needed (keep tasting it so that you do not add too much or too little)
• Add 2 cups of prawns stock or water
• Once the mixture boils, add the prawns and salt and reduce the flame
• Cook the prawns for about 5 minutes

Prawns stock

• If you are buying fresh prawns, keep aside the shells, except the head, while cleaning them.
• Wash the shells well and add them to a pan with 3-4 cups of water
• Boil the mixture and then turn it to simmer and let it simmer for at least an hour
• Remove the scum that may form at the top
• Strain and you have the prawns stock. If you have excess stock, store them in the freezer and use them as required for soups and other preparations of prawns.

This goes well with white rice or naan.

Fish Molee

Fish Molee (Fish in Coconut Milk) ഫിഷ്‌ മോളി

This is a typical Kerala dish which is very simple and yet mouth-wateringly delicious. This is not spicy and so even children will enjoy this. This goes extremely well with appam, white bread and rice. If you search the internet for this recipe you will find at least 4-5 different variations of the same recipe. I have tried most of them and also the method that my father uses to cook this. I am describing below the basic recipe which in itself is complete. I shall also explain the variations you could try. After all, cooking is about being creative and finding a taste that you like most. So try the different variations and settle down for what you like most.

I was not able to find out how this dish got its unique name.

Ingredients

1. Fish Fillets - 500 gm. You can use fish fillets or a whole fish like a pomfret (silver or black) or a pearlspot (karimeen) etc. Use any fish with white flesh (preferably sea water fish) without a very strong flavour of its own. In the above dish I have used Basa fish fillets.
2. Onion - 1 cup. Two large onions thickly sliced.
3. Ginger - 1 tablespoon. Cut into thin juliennes and slightly crushed.
4. Garlic - 10 cloves. Cleaned and slightly crushed.
5. Green Chilly - 3 No. Slit lengthwise and deseeded. Use more green chilly if you want to make this spicy.
6. Curry Leaf - 1 sprig.
7. Tomato - 1 No. 1 large tomato cut into 8 wedges.
8. Turmeric Powder - ¼ teaspoon.
9. Vegetable Oil - 2 tablespoon. Use coconut oil for more authentic taste
10. Thin Coconut Milk - 200 ml. Second extract of coconut milk if you make this yourself.
11. Thick Coconut Milk - 100 ml. First extract of coconut milk if you make this yourself.
12. Salt To Taste

Method

• Heat the oil in a flat pan. Tha pan should be big enough to accomodate the whole fish. If you are using fish fillets, the pan should be able to hold all the fillets in one single layer.
• Add ginger, garlic, green chillies, onion and curry leaves in that order and saute them till the onion turns translucent. After adding each ingredient wait for 5-6 seconds before adding the next one.
• Add turmeric powder and saute for a few seconds more
• Lower the heat and add the thin coconut milk. Add this slowly and if required remove the pan from the fire while doing this. Make sure not to curdle the milk.
• Add salt as per taste and then bring the gravy to a boil and then lower the heat.
• Add the fish in one single layer in the pan.
• Add the tomato slices
• Pour the gravy over the fish using a spoon and then cover and cook it for 3 minutes on low heat. Do not stir the dish. You may gently shake the pan or keep pouring the coconut milk over the fish pieces every now and then. You can also turn the fish over after about 3 minutes taking care not to break the fish into pieces.
• Add the thick coconut milk and mix it well by gently moving the pan in a circular motion. Let it stand for a minute and then remove from fire.
• Garnish with curry leaves and slit green chillies.

Recipe Variations

• You can marinate the fish pieces with a little bit of salt, turmeric and chilly powder and then shallow fry the fish on both the sides, until it is half done. And then add this fish to the gravy.
• You can cut the onions to square pieces of about 1 cm x 1 cm in size
• You can cut the tomato across its length into thick slices.
• You can add two 1" cinnamon sticks and two green cardamoms into the oil before adding anything else.
• You can add 1 teaspoon of vinegar as seasoning before taking the dish out.
• You can also add half a teaspoon of black pepper powder along with the turmeric powder.

Notes

• This dish should have thick gravy once finished. Therefore add just enough thin coconut milk to cook the fish. You can also add ground cashew nut paste to make the gravy thick or add corn flour mixed with a little coconut milk or a little bit of rice flour mixed in coconut milk. Any such neutral thickening agent can be added.
• It would be a good idea to apply a little salt to the fish and keep it aside for about 15 minutes. This way the fish will absorb enough salt making it tastier. If you follow this, make sure not to add excess salt into the dish while cooking.
• It is a good idea to prepare this dish in advance. Give the fish pieces at least an hour to absorb all the taste.
• While making the coconut milk, use warm water instead of cold water. After adding the water, knead the coconut gratings for a few minutes before squeezing out the milk.

Kollam (Quilon, Kerala) Fish Curry

Here is another fish curry recipe from Kerala. This one was made by me after watching the recipe the previous day on the TV in a Malayalam Channel. It was cooked by a house-wife from Kollam for the TV channel. So I guess this is an authentic recipe of the area. This is a speciality of Kollam (Quilon) District in Kerala and you have to try it with the large pearl spot fishes that you get over there. I was trying it for the first time and it came out quite well.

Ingredients

• Fish - Pearl spot (Karimeen) - 2 large ones. Since I did not have any stock of pearl spot fish at home, I used a fish called Kolaan (Long billed half beak). You should be able to use any other fish like seer fish, pomfret etc. and get a similar result.

Masala for frying the fish

• 1 tablespoon of coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon of red chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• Salt and water as required

Ingredients for the gravy

• 4 tablespoons of oil
• 2 sprigs of curry leaf
• 2 green chillies slit lengthwise
• 1 cup of shallots crushed
• 1" piece of ginger cut into juliennes and then crushed
• 15-20 garlic cloves crushed
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 1 large tomato cut into 8 pieces lengthwise (cut the tomato into two and then cut the two halves into two and then cut into two the four quarters)
• ½ teaspoon of red Kashmiri chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ¼ teaspoon of fenugreek powder
• 1½ tablespoons of coriander powder
• 2 cups of coconut milk (first extract)
• 3-4 pieces of kudampuli (Malabar Tamarind)
• Salt as required

Method

• Clean the fish and make gashes across its length on either sides.
• Make a paste of the above masala (masala for frying the fish) by adding a little water and apply this paste liberally over the fish and set aside the fish for 20-30 minutes in the refrigerator
• Take a large pan and add the cooking oil
• Once the oil is hot, shallow fry the fish on both the sides, until they are half-cooked (2-3 minutes per side on medium heat would do)
• Remove and drain the fish
• To the same pan and oil add the crushed garlic and ginger. Sauté the ginger and garlic.
• Add the crushed shallots and sauté them till the raw smell goes away
• Add the sliced onions and sauté them till the onions turn translucent
• Add the tomato pieces and the slit green chillies
• Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, black pepper powder, fenugreek powder. Sauté for a couple of minutes
• Add the coconut milk, the curry leaf and the Malabar Tamarinds. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce the flame to a simmer
• Add salt as required
• Add the fish pieces. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Flip the fishes once without breaking them apart.

Let the dish stand for 2 hours and then use it along with rice/naan etc.

This dish should have a thick coconut gravy with the taste dominated by coriander and black pepper.

Kerala Red Fish Curry and Tapioca (Kappa)

I love fish. I love fish in any form. I love them in the water, happily wagging their tails and darting from one place to another. I used to enjoy going to the big canal near my house. Go and sit on the steps. Dangle your feet in the water. And in a few minutes you will find fishes of varying shapes and colours sizing you up. Then the braver ones get closer. At some cue, they will jump at your toes and start nibbling them. They start eating you alive. And it is a funny feeling. Thank God there are no pirahnas in there. You wriggle your toes and the fishes scurry away.


My wife would run away from the fish. She was brought up in a city and did not have any encounters with them. Moreover she iss from a Brahmin family who essentially were vegetarians. But then I got lucky and she agreed to marry me. Poor little girl had no idea what she was getting into.


I would take her out to the vegetable market. I will then guide her towards the fish market as if I did not even know that it existed. I know we are near the fish market by studying her nose. It acted like a proximity sensor for me. I would act innocent and will be wondering aloud "How the hell did we end up at the fish market?" I would then go onto buy some fish. She would be standing far off. She would run away from the kitchen screaming when I bought in fish. So I would get live crabs and let them loose in the house. She would be jumping up and down the bed, screaming her head away. I would then go about cooking the fish and the crabs and the mussels and eating them while she would nibble on grass (spinach and such) and vegetables. She would recoil at all the crackling noises that I generate while attacking the cooked crabs.


Time heals everything. Well slowly (it took a while) my wife gathered the courage and mental stregth to confront the creatures of the water. She actually astounded me by going into the fish market. And not only that. She would poke a finger into the fish to see if it was fresh. Not satisfied, she would actually open the side of the fish to study the gills.

These dishes have been cooked by my wife. Though she is a vegetarian, she has learned to cook non-veg stuff and cooks them very well, without even tasting them. So I do not have to spend time to cook these things now. Also she has mastered most of the Kerala dishes, though she is not a Keralite. Examples are below.

I consider myself very lucky that she is my life partner.


Kerala Red Fish Curry


This dish is supposed to be very hot. But you can adjust the degree of hotness according to your taste by using Kashmiri Chilly powder and by avoiding the green chillies. This also goes very well with steamed white rice/brown rice. This dish also has slight variations in different parts of Kerala.

Ingredients

• Coconut Oil - 3 tablespoons. Use any other cooking oil if you are not comfortable with using coconut oil for cooking.
• Mustard Seeds - ½ teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - ¼ teaspoon
• Curry leaf - 2 sprigs
• Green Chilly - 2 slit lengthwise
• Ginger - 1" piece, thinly sliced
• Garlic - 10-12 cloves, cut into two pieces each
• Shallot - 1 cup, sliced thinly
• Chilly Powder - 2 tablespoons
• Turmeric - ¼ teaspoon
• Kudampuli (Malabar Tamarind) - 3-4 pieces
• Salt as per taste
• Fish Fillets (Kingfish, Pomfret, Indian Salmon, Sardine, Mackerel etc.) - ½ kg

Method

• Heat a pan and add the oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds
• Once the seeds splutter, add the ginger and garlic and fry for 1 minute
• Add the curry leaves
• Add the sliced shallots and fry till they are translucent
• Add the green chillies
• Mix the chilly powder and tumeric powder with a little water to form a thick paste. Add this to the pan. Fry the masala for about 2 minutes
• Add a cup of water.
• Once the mixture boils, add the fish and the malabar tamarind and salt.
• Reduce the flame to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes
• Take off from the stove and let the dish stand for 5-6 hours before using it.

Information & Tips

• You can find what Malabar Tamarind is here. This is usually available in Kerala Stores (for those who stay outside of Kerala) and is available in most of the shops in Kerala. If you cannot find this, you can substitute this with kokum or tamarind pulp. But the taste will not be the same. This is one of the most important ingredients of this dish, that gives it its signature flavour.
• Shallots are also called small onions, sambhar onions etc. and are widely available in South India. You can substitute it with normal onions.

Tapioca (Tapioca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

• Tapioca - 1 kg
• Coconut oil (or any other cooking oil) - 3 tablespoons
• Mustard seeds - ½ teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - ½ teaspoon
• Curry leaf - 2 sprigs

Coarse Paste

• Curry leaf - 2 sprigs
• Coconut - ½ of one coconut
• Sliced shallots - ½ cup
• Sliced Ginger - 1" piece
• Green Chilly - 2

Grind this to a coarse mixture without water. It should have the consistency of grated coconut.

Method

First Part

• Clean the tapioca and cut into small bite-sized pieces. Clean it thoroughly.
• Boil water in a pan and add some salt to it. Add the tapioca pieces and boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water off.
• Add fresh hot water again and boil the tapioca till it is cooked. Drain off the water completely.

Second Part

• Heat oil in a pan and once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.
• Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the curry leaves and then the coarsely ground coconut mixture. Saute this for 3-4 minutes on medium flame.
• Add salt and then turmeric.
• Then add the tapioca and turn the flame to low heat
• Mix everything well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Serve with the fish curry made earlier.

Sheep's Brain Masala

Recipe (Serves 2-3 people)

• 2 sheep's brain cleaned and washed thoroughly
• 2 medium sized onions chopped coarsely
• 1 large tomato chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• ½ teaspoon of red kashmiri red chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of meat masala
• ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons of curd
• 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves
• Salt as per taste

Method

• Take 2 cups of water, add a little turmeric powder and salt and put the washed & cleaned brains to the water. Boil the water till the brains are cooked and the water is almost absorbed completely. Once cooked remove the brains from the liquid and keep it aside
• In a pan, add the oil and when the oil is hot add the ginger garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the onions and saute till they turn slightly brown (do it on low heat and this will take a while)
• Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, meat masala and the black pepper powder. Add a couple of spoons of water to prevent the masala from burning. Cook on low fire for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomato and cook till the oil separates from the masala.
• Add the curd and mix well. Saute for a couple of more minutes.
• Add salt as per taste.
• Add the cooked brains and break them into small pieces. Toss them gently around.
• Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves. Cover and cook on sim for about 5 minutes.
• Remove from the fire, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

This goes well with roti/chappati or naans.

Tips

• The brain of the sheep is covered with a thin transparent layer. Remove this layer carefully. Once done, wash it tharoughly and you are done with the cleaning of the brain.
• After adding the brains and breaking them into smaller pieces, toss the pan when you want to mix everything together. If you use a spatula then you are likely to mash everything up, because the brains will be very soft.