Posts by OCS | Saute Fry N Bake

Shepherds pie

Preparation Time : 35 minutes

Cooking Time : 20- 25 minutes

Serving : 8- 10 members

Description

Shepherd’s pie , an authentic English dish which is believed to have originated from Scotland, Ireland and other northern England regions. Traces of pie recipes that have been found show that it was prepared as a meal in the middle age of 1700 ‘s . This dish is ideal for home cooks like us to rustle up a meal with left overs to result in a comfort food for the family or host a gathering . It also has in its flavour the fact that it is no more than an easy assembly job , and is prepared in advance , making it ideal for entertaining large groups when the pressure is mounting and time and energy declining . Having a lot of fish left over from the previous days fish curry , I ended up making this shepherd’s pie . The original recipe of shepherd’s pie fish mix demands for a white sauce with fish but I have indianised the fish filling with our every day ingredients and religiously followed the original recipe for the potato mash . The final dish was to die for and yum , one main reason being the potatoes were organic potatoes from our farm at kodaikanal . This dish served as an eye opener and let me know that one’s individuality shines through the variations they lend to the food , and the way they disregard tradition to play around with our local ingredients .

Ingredients

ingredients	Quantity
boneless fish	1/2 kg
gingergarlic paste	1/4 teaspoon
chilli power	1/4 teaspoon
turmeric powder	a pinch
salt	to taste
oil	1 tablespoon
onions	3 small chopped
green chillies	1 chopped
pepper powder	to taste
coriander leaves	few
potatoes	750grams peeled and chopped
milk	50 ml
butter	50 grams
grated cheese	50 grams

Method

Boil cleaned fish with ginger garlic paste,chilli powder ,turmeric powder and salt to taste .break the boiled fish to flakes with a fork and set aside.
heat oil in a non stick pan ,add onions ,green chillies and saute to a light brown in colour .
Add the fish flakes and toss well.season with pepper powderand garnish with chopped coriander leaves .toss well and set aside .
Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender .mash the potatoes with milk and butterUntil smooth.season with salt .
Pre heat the oven to 180 degree celsius.pile the fish mixture in a one litter capacity greasewd baking dish ..spoon the potato mash
On top and smooth with a spatula.trace a pattern into the potato mach with the tines of a fork and sprinkle with grated cheese .( i omitted the cheese to avoide
A few calories at least ).bake for 20-25 minutes or until you get a golden crust on top.

Coconutty crispy fried prawns

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 4-5 minutes for each batch deep fried

Serving : 2-3 members

Description

Coconutty crispy prawn fry . On one of my daughters visit here at my place , it was prawns for lunch . I decided to make a dry , deep fried dish something like a batter fired prawns as i didn’t want to break a sweat in the kitchen . But my gal wanted me to make some thing new , though she does not even touch prawns . She googled and decided on two dishes . I went through both and loved the idea of coconut being used to crust the prawn and stuck to this recipe . The original recipe demanded for Japanese paco bread crumbs , not having the ingredient substituted it with bread crumbs . Felt the recipe to be too bland with just coconut , bread crumbs and seasoning . So I added a few ingredients to the liking of our Indian palate , re – imaging them as new , exciting versions of themselves . Deep fried one prawn and checked . It needed some thing more as it felt too dry . Came up with a creamy dipping sauce and then it was bang on , creamy enlobed with a crunch . i can eat this dish every single day of the year . My gal changed my mood of not wanting to be in the kitchen and it turned to be a kitchen , houseful of cooks + relaxed holiday cooking resulting in a never before experience of cranking up the fun in the kitchen :-)) .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Prawns	20 cleaned with tail ( I have done it with out the tail as it was removed accidentally )
Coconut	1/2 cup grated
Green chillies	6
Garlic flakes	3
Ginger	1 inch piece
Small onion	1/2 hand
Coriander leaves	few
Bread crumbs	1 cup
Eggs	2 beaten with salt and pepper
Oil	to deep fry

Method

Coarsely grind , ginger , garlic , green chillies , coriander leaves and small onions . Mix it with the grated coconut and bread crumbs .
Season with salt . Taste and adjust the coarse mixture and set aside . Dip each prawn in to the beaten egg and immediately roll over the coconut mixture , making sure it is coated well all around the prawns .
Do the same with all the prawns and place on a plate lined with parchment paper or foil . Heat oil to deep fry . drop prawn gently and fry in medium heat , until both sides of the prawn turn golden brown in colour .
Drain and serve immediately with spicy Tatar sauce .

Ingredients Tartar sauce

Ingredients	Quantity
Mayonnaise	1/2 cup
Red Chilli sauce	1/2 teaspoon
Onion	1 big chopped
Celery	1 1/2 tablespoon chopped
Lime juice	3 drops
Salt	to taste

Method

Mix all the above ingredients together .Taste and adjust .
Serve along with hot coconutty crispy shrimp.

Notes

You can use Japanese paco bread crumbs instead of normal bread crumbs .Helps to give a better crispy texture .

Spicy chilli fish

Preparation Time : 20 minutes + marination time for 1/2 an hour

Cooking Time : 15- 20 minutes

Serving : 3-4 members

Description

Spicy chilli fish . Fish is the most loved source of flesh at moms place but getting fresh fish in Coimbatore is not possible . So fish was always prepared the authentic way as a fish curry ( meen charu ) and a fried fish . Once in a while if we manage to get fresh fish from some where a fish cutlet was made , that’s it . At hubby’s place its just the opposite about fish .point one we get fresh fresh fresh fish here and experimenting part oops its the same here to . The first time I gave this dish a try was when manchurians were the in thing in all the restaurants . At hubby’s place we make cauliflower and chicken manchurian , so I decided to do the same with fish one day . My mother – in – law hates anything made with sauce and hubby dear sticks on to his mothers habits ( back then , now there’s nothing he says no to :-)) ) so the fish dish had to be eaten by my father – in – law , brother – in – law , co – sister and myself . Not wanting a gravy made a semi dry dish with a change of few ingredients .served and waited for the verdict . My father – in – law liked it and he made sure my mother – in – law and hubby had a taste of the dish . Finally my co – sister and myself were left with an empty bowl which we both licked out clean :-))

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
fish pieces (Boneless cubes )	1/4 kilograms
maida	1/2 cup
corn flour	1/ 2 cup
Egg whites	2
pepper	1/2 teaspoon
Salt	to taste
Oil	to deep fry + to sauté the sauce

Method

Marinate fish with maida , corn flour , salt , egg white and pepper . Set aside for half an hour .
Heat oil and deep fry to a golden colour . Drain and set aside .

Sauce ingredients

ingredients	Quantity
Capsicum	1 cubed
Onions	1 big cubed
ginger	1 tablespoon chopped
garlic	1 tablespoon chopped
green chilly	1 tablespoon chopped
light soya sauce	4 tablespoons
tomato sauce	5 tablespoons
chilli sauce	1 tablespoon
Sugar	1/4 teaspoon
Vinegar	1/4 teaspoon
Chilli powder	1 teaspoon
corn flour	1 tablespoon
Red food colour	a pinch ( optional )

Method

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil ( the same oil that you deep fried the fish in – gives more flavour to the dish ) in a pan. Sauté Onion , garlic, ginger , capsicum and green chilly for a minute .
Add soy sauce, chilly sauce , vinegar and tomato sauce to it.top with red chilli powder and sugar . Bring to boil . Taste and adjust . The sauce should be high on hot , sweet and tangy taste at the same time .
Finally add corn flour mixed with water to it and stir well. Once it starts to boil, simmer and add the fried fish pieces . Toss well and simmer for a minute letting all the flavours infuse together .
Garnish with spring onions and celery chopped . ( I didn’t do so as I was out of stock ) . Serve hot with anything and every thing .

Meen pollichathu

Preparation time : 30 minutes + marination time of 2 hours .

Cooking time : 15 -20 minutes

Serves : 2-3 members

Description

Meen pollichathu . A dish I came to know on my holiday trip to the back waters of gods own country , kumarakom , Kerala . Just loved the rustic appeal to this dish of using the banana leaf to steam fish . The aroma of the banana leaf blends into the fish and it creates pure magic Which is incredibly light , and just as delicious as its deep fried counterpart . Did experiment a lot over this dish , got 60 percent near it but not 100 percent . Again on my visit to meet my beloved friend Sindhu Krishna in Trivandrum , we had lunch at travancore heritage hotel in kovalam and got to taste meen pollichathu once again . This time it was an explosion of flavours on the plate , tasted even better than what I had in kumarakom . Some how managed to get the recipe from the chef and realised that I didn’t sauté the ground masala for marinating the fish . Following this new recipe , gave it a try and wolla it worked pitch perfect . From then on I religiously follow this recipe for meen pollichathu . From kumarakom to kovalam … Some how I managed to get the right recipe and its always gratifying and popular with every one … and is treat for health freaks as its steamed and yummy yum .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Cleaned Fish	500 grams , ( you could use whole medium sized fish or big slices of a fish . I usually like using Kari meen / black spotted pearl fish )
Small onion	1 cup
Ginger	1 inch piece
Garlic	1 pod
Turmeric powder	5 grams
Dry Red chillies	7
Salt	to taste
Curry leaves	few
Coconut oil	1/2 cup
Vinegar	1/4 cup
Banana leaves	3 to 4

Method

Clean fish .Grind small onion , ginger , garlic , turmeric powder , dry red chillies , salt to taste along with vinegar to a paste .heat oil , fry the ground masala until oil floats on top and raw smell has gone . Cool completely .
Apply all over the fish and set aside to marinate for at least 2 hours .apply coconut oil over banana leaves and place over high flame on both sides for the banana leaves to become pile able .
place the marinated fish over the pile able banana leaves , sprinkle few curry leaves and pack the fish tightly into a parcel .
Set aside to marinate for another one hour or more .steam in low flame for 15 -20 minutes ( I used my idli steamer ) and serve hot .

Squid fry

Preparation Time : 25 minutes + marination time of 2 hours

Cooking Time : 3 minutes for each batch deep fried

Serving : 3-4 members

Description

Squid fry . Squid is some thing I got to know very recently .. After my sister – in – law had shifted to ramnad ( a coastal town near rameshwaram , in Deep South Tamil Nadu ) I always heard wired stories about squid , each time I heard some one talk about it . So me wanting to experiment with it or eat it was out of the box thing . Through out Last month , the fish market at my place was over loaded with squids and on my every visit , seeing people go head over heels over squids .. i was wonder struck .The fisher man kept insisting me to buy and give a try as its available only during a specific season once a year . Still I just didn’t get convinced enough . Then finally one fine day having my friend meera aboo thamby come over for lunch to my place , made up my mind to give a try and got some squid . ( Because she and her entire family are a carnivorous bunch ) While cleaning the squid I was shocked to see whole tiny fishes come out of the squids !!!! But once cleaned and cut , they were the cleanest looking white rings with no foul smell . Searched the world wide net for a simple recipe that would be apt for a beginner and stuck to this one which is simple yet fun dish . But I had my doubts as the recipe was asked in particular to cook the squid only for about 3 minutes but the wired stories I got hear were like you have to pressure cook squid and its got a chewy texture to it . Stuck to the demanded recipe and followed it religiously . Tasted it with fear …. But it tasted so delicate and yum .serve these deep fried squids as finger food on its own as a starter or as an accompaniment . Made it once again for my father – in – laws birthday . My mother – in – law thought it was paped ( vadagam ) :-)) . Very hesitantly ( as he already had an experience of having tasted a badly prepared squid dish before ) my father – in – law tasted it and surprisingly he just loved it . So never ever under estimate any ingredient unless and until you have experimented with it . For me it served as a lesson learnt for life to expand my culinary repertoire .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
oil for frying	2 cups
buttermilk	1 cup
all-purpose flour / maida	1 cup
salt	to taste
ground black pepper	1/2 tablespoon
dried oregano	1 teaspoon
squid, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch rings	1/2 kg

Method

Pour buttermilk into a medium bowl and add in the squid rings . set aside to marinate for 2 hours . In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Dip squid rings into the seasoned flour.
Heat oil in a saucepan or deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place the coated pieces in the hot oil, and fry in small batches for three minutes , turning if necessary, for even cooking. When evenly browned,
Remove to paper towels to drain, and continue with the rest of the squid. Serve hot immediately .

Baked sweet Romano peppers filled with cheesy prawns

Preparation Time : 20-25 minutes

Cooking Time : 30-35 minutes

Serving : 3-4 members

Description

Baked sweet Romano peppers filled with cheesy prawns . These sweet Romano peppers were gifted to me by my friend meera aboo thamby , all the way from U.K . I have seen these peppers only in magazines and on the telly . These peppers were there in my fridge for quite some time and I nearly forgot about it . 2 days back with my cleaning spear found these and made up my mind to use them .Not knowing how it would taste or what to cook with it ???
Did ask baby ( meera ) what she does with it ? Her answer was she uses this instead of capsicums in every thing possible . I just didn’t have the heart to use these lovely peppers for sides , wanted them to line our stomaches as a main course or a meal in itself . Came up with an idea of stuffing and baking the peppers . To be on the safer side made up my mind to stick to the white cheesy sauce as it always raises eye brows where ever served . Had prawns in hand so made a filling with prawn and cheesy white sauce . A million doubts in mind while prepping for the dish like should I marinate the peppers with salt and some Harissa ? Will the peppers be hot or bland ? What flavour will it have ? Will this cheesy sauce go well with it ? Or should I opt for a pesto sauce ? I just pushed away all these doubts , cleared my mind and stuck to my guts of the first choice and went ahead . Half way through , I am being invited to my in – laws place for lunch as its my father – in – laws birthday . Went for lunch with this dish and my father – in – law just loved it . Do you need a better reason to celebrate these all in one meal that helped to leave a mark in your memory and sure to spark conversations there after . The peppers were soft and sweet ( dum me !! its called sweet pepper and i had so many doubts about the flavour and taste ) with the cheesy prawn sauce topped looked rustic and had the wow factor written all over it . Every bite just oozed out with a burst of flavours and did keep my self reminded that my heart doesn’t burst because of this fatty culprit :-))

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Butter	50 grams
Flour ( maida )	1 tablespoon
Green chillies	2 chopped
Tomato	1 chopped
Milk	1 cup
Dried oregano	1 /4 teaspoon
Mushrooms	1 packet sliced ( optional , tastes good with and without the mushrooms . )
Prawns	1/2 kg cleaned
Onion	1 big chopped
Garlic	1 teaspoon chopped
Crushed pepper	1 teaspoon
Cheese slice	4
Crushed chilli flakes	to taste
Salt	to taste
Mozzarella cheese	to garnish
Mixed dried herbs basil thyme oregano dill	a pinch each ( optional )
Sweet Romana pepper	2 ( cut into equal 2 portions horizontally
deseeded and washed or red bell peppers / capsicums	2 cut at the top with the stem to get a lid , de - seeded and washed

Method

Cook cleaned prawns with salt and pepper to taste . ( I pressure cook it for one whistle with very little water ) . Heat butter , sauté onions to brown .
Add the sliced mushrooms ,green chillies , garlic and tomato . Top with cooked prawns ( if any water is there in the cooked prawns pour it along ) ,
chilli flakes and toss well . Add flour and cook till raw smell goes for a few minutes .
Add milk , keep stirring to get a saucy consistency . Add cheese slices and oregano . Remove from heat . Cool down to room temperature.
Deseed and wash the sweet peppers or red capsicum . Fill in with prawn filling and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 10-12 minutes .
Remove top with grated mozzarella cheese and dried mixed herbs (optional ) and bake again until the cheese melts . Serve hot with garlic bread or as it is .

Meen paal curry

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 – 20 minutes

Serving : 3-4 members

Description

Meen paal curry is an authentic dish of the tirunelveli region . This same dish is addressed in different names by the neighbouring districts as meen Aviyal in nagarkovil and as meen sothi in tirunelveli by the Hindu communities . Meen paal curry is a common name among the Muslim community of the Tirunelveli region . Every community and region has a slight variation of their own to this dish but the main ingredients being fish , coconut milk and lime . I first got to taste this dish at my father – in – laws elder brothers place . Mumthama ( my father – in – laws elder brothers wife ) is an excellent cook and there are so many dishes that I learnt from her , including this dish . This dish is lightly spiced with the coconut milk flavour being the most dominant along with tartness of the lime . From the time I learnt to make this dish , I make it a point to make this dish when I have guests at home ( mainly mom’s side guests ) . My cousin brother moheen and his wife zuvariya were here for a day when they were newly wedded , moheen was head over heels with this dish and he did ask zuveriya to take note of the recipe . These every day home style preparations interests me a lot . Traditional recipes , in particular that offer insights into communities that devise them and yield secrets about people’s past . The magic of Indian home cooking that can not be eaten at restaurants are treasured gifts from our ancestors .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Cleaned fish	1/4 kg , ( I have used anchovy / nethili here , you can use any other fish )
First extract of coconut milk ( thick )	1 cup
Third extract of coconut milk ( very thin ) or water	1 cup
Coconut oil	4 tablespoons
Cumin seeds	1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds	1/4 teaspoon
Ginger grated	1/4 teaspoon
Small Onions	1 hand full chopped
Green chillies	8 to 10 slit
Curry leaves	few
Salt	to taste
Lime juice	2 tablespoon or to taste
Coriander leaves chopped	few to garnish

Method

Heat coconut oil in a board kadai . Add fenugreek seeds , cumin seeds and curry leaves . Once the fenugreek seeds crackle top with green chillies .
Sauté For a few seconds until the flavour of the green chilli arises and colour changes .Top with ginger and onions . Once the onions are translucent pour the third extract of coconut milk ( very thin ) or water and mix well .
Bring to boil and add the fish with salt to taste and cook until fish is cooked 3/4 cooked .Add the thick coconut milk . Mix well adding lime juice . Taste and adjust seasoning .
Top with chopped coriander leaves . Simmer until oil separates and floats on top . Serve hot as a side dish along with white boiled rice or with appams .

Notes

make sure the thin extract of the coconut milk is very thin or else the curry tends to split .
To be on the safer side use water .Add more green chillies in case you want a more spicy curry .

Meen pathiri

Preparation Time : 30-40 minutes

Cooking Time : 25- 30 minutes

Serving : 4 -5 members

Description

Meen pathiri . An authentic Malabar recipe that I first tasted at moms place , when we had a new cook appointed from Kerala . Her version was a bit different as she had made a filling with onions and tomatoes separately and placed a whole piece of fried fish in between two rice flour pathiris and then steamed them . Tasted yum but was a bit difficult to eat the fried fish with the bones on it . After that again once at my friend sulus place where she had made it with prawns filling . It was to die for . Breaking my head about a healthy snack to be made for Iftar … Meen pathiri just sparked bright in my mind which is a great healthy eating option . Browsed through the net for a good recipe and took note of a few but re- checked with my saviour buddy sulu ( from class two till date in my kitchen its like that except I was her saviour in maths and physics :-)) ) again and got more tips and tricks as an added bonus for my first try with meen pathiris . I have made bite size individual pathiris but you can follow the same recipe and make medium pizza sized single ones cut and serve or make crescent -half moon shaped ones as well . Made up my mind to make crescent shaped pathiris but swapped my mind to medium sized nibble ones as was not very confident about the rice flour dough not breaking while folding into a moon shaped pathiri . Religiously followed sulus instructions and wolla it was absolutely pitch perfect with a wow factor written all over it . My friend meera aboo thamby , her son athik And her nephew Seyad went bonkers eating the meen pathiris because of the marvellous pairing of contrasting flavours . Was a bit nervous about serving the meen pathiris to hubby as we never ever add fish on the menu through out the holy month of ramadan . But brunches have a way of surprising when you least expect it as hubby also enjoyed it a lot .

Ingredients To Marinate The Fish and fry

Ingredients	Quantity
Cleaned fish	1/4 kg ( sheer fish )
Red chilli powder	2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder	1 teaspoon
Lime juice	a squeeze
Salt	to taste
Oil	to fry

Method for fish fry

Marinate in the cleaned fish in red chilli powder, turmeric powder , lime juice and salt for an hour at least and then shallow fry it in vegetable oil.
Don’t let it get too brown and crispy….. the idea is to just cook the fish, not deep fry it. Drain, and remove the bones and skin and shred the fish.

Ingredients For the filling

Ingredients	Quantity
Onion	1 medium size chopped
Small onions	2 hands chopped
Tomato	1 small blitzed in a food processor
Green chilies	5 chopped
Ginger Garlic Paste	1 teaspoon each
Red chilli powder	1 teaspoon
Coriander powder	1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder	1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric	1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves	3 sprigs chopped
Salt	to taste
Coconut Oil	3 tablespoon

To dry roast and powder

Ingredients	Quantity
Coconut grated	1/2 cup
Shallots	4 small ones chopped
Fennel seeds/Saunf	1 teaspoon

Method for Fish Filling

In a non – stick kadai or a heavy bottom pan, dry roast the ingredients specified above, all together on very low heat till the coconut gives out its aroma and starts turning brown at the edges.
Take off the flame and pulse in a dry grinder to powder it coarsely. No water is to be added and set aside .
Heat oil and saute onion and green chillies. When the onion becomes transparent, add ginger-garlic paste . fry to crisp and then add the coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala and turmeric powder.add the blitzed tomato at this point , cover and cook for 5 minutes or till the tomato looks pulpy .
Add salt. Stir and sauté till the whole mixture gives out oil and moves as one mass in the pan. Add the fried shredded fish to the onion mix and stir together on medium heat.
When there is just enough moisture in the fish masala as needed for the filling, add the coarsely ground coconut, finely shredded curry leaves, salt and mix well. Taste and adjust as needed. Remove from flame and keep aside.

Ingredients For The rice paste

Ingredients	Quantity
Rice flour( iddiappam flour )	2 cups
Water	1 1/2 cup
Salt	3/4 teaspoon
Cumin powder	1/2 teaspoon
Coconut grated	1/2 cup
Small onions	5 to 6
Garam masala powder	a huge pinch

Method

Pulse grated coconut , cumin seeds and small onion in a food processor just to get a corse mixture and set aside . Mix rice flour , salt and garam masala powder together .heat water and bring to boil .
Add the rice flour and Stir with a fork to get a crumbly mixture where the rice flour has taken all the water into it . Remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.
Add the coarsely ground coconut mixture and Knead it into a soft sticky dough with the help of wet hands .

How to assemble and steam

Grease a plastic cover that is cut into a one large piece or use parchment paper . Place a big orange size rice flour ball , cover with another greased plastic cover or place another parchment paper over it and roll it with a rolling pin to get a wide pathiri , the thickness should not be too much.Remove the top paper carefully.
Use any round shaped cutter size of your choice and press as many circles as you can . ( i could make 3-4 circles to a time ) Place 2 tablespoons of filling on one pathiri leaving a half inch trim along the edges. Place another pathiri on it and then press down on the edges with your fingers to seal the edges .
I made a pattern , all around the edges by pinching both the pathiris together . Cover the whole meen pathiri with foil / parchment paper tightly or with banana leaf and then steam in your steamer for about 10-15 minutes.
( I steamed them in my iddli steamer , you could use your rice cooker . ) Remove the meen pathiris from the steamer and serve hot .

Notes

You can follow the same recipe and substitute fish filling with prawn filling , mutton filling or chicken filling . Vegetarians can do the same with paneer , mushroom or soya chunks filling .
Traditionally banana leaves are used to steam the meen pathiris .. I used foil paper which is more handy as you can just steam it again when ever wanted to be served hot .
You can store these steamed meen pathiris along with the foil paper on in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator and steam again when ever required to be served hot .
you can also use any large vessel half filled with water. Placing a colander or a steamer basket over the water when the water boils reduce heat to medium. Place the foil paper covered meen pathiris in the basket, cover it and cook for 7-10 minutes . Once cooked serve hot .

Fish curry nellai style

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 -25 minutes

Serving : 5-6 members

Description

Fish curry or meen kolazlambu as we call this curry at home . This is an authentic fish curry recipe fresh and fragrant, that I learnt from my mother -in – law . Very simple to make with easily available ingredients at home . My mother – in – law is very particular about one thing when it comes to making a perfect meen kolazmbhu . The masala and coconut should be ground in a traditional ammi / sil patta ( pistol and mortal ) . The curry is so velvety when the masala paste is ground in the ammi . My mother – in – law always adds whole dry red chillies instead of the powder . I suppose that always helps to add more colour and flavour to the curry . She asks us to follow another trick while grinding in the ammi . While grinding always pull the pistol towards you and then roll back from where you started . Never pull and push bake in the same motion as the stones being moved in the same direction will generate heat and that spoils the masala paste and the kolazmbhu taste gets affected . You can taste the skill that goes into making an authentic home style masala paste and thats how it should be made too . Every morning the sound of grinding in the ammi was a regular sound at home back then . I used to love to grind in the ammi as it helped me burn some calories . Now a days even when there is a power cut no one is ready to use the ammi . I still have a ammi which was gifted to my mother – in – law by her mother at home . It’s sad that the busy hassle and fast pace of life today leaves way to fade away our tradition , authentic dishes and utensils .
Meen kolazmbhu Nellai style

Ingredients to be ground to a smooth paste

Ingredients	Quantity
Coriander powder	3 tablespoons full
Red chilli powder	2 1/2 tablespoons full
Turmeric powder	1/4 teaspoon
Cumin powder	1 teaspoon
Coconut	1/4 cup

Method for Smooth paste

Grind all the above mentioned ingredients together to get a smooth masala paste
Grind coconut separately to a smooth paste

Other ingredients

ingredients	Quantity
Cleaned fish	1/2 kg
Small onions	1 1/4 hands + 6-7 to season chopped into two
Tomatoes	2 medium sized chopped ( my mother- in - law just squeezes the whole tomatoes into the tamarin water )
Green chillies	2-4 slit
Tamarind	lemon size ball , soaked in 1 cups of water and pulp squeezed and strained
Salt	to taste
Sesame oil ( gingely oil /nalla ennai )	1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds	1 teaspoon
Curry leaves	1 strand

Method

Mix tamarin pulp water , ground masala paste , salt to taste , chopped small onions 6-7 , tomatoes and green chillies together . Add 2 cups of water and mix well .
Taste and adjust . Heat sesame oil in a heavy bottomed board vessel . Add fenugreek seeds , cumin seeds , chopped onions and curry leaves . Once the fenugreek seeds crackle And small onions are brown and crisp ,
Pour the tamarind masala water base . Cover and Bring to boil . Once the raw smell has gone and the green chillies are boiled and changes its colour . Add the cleaned fish pieces .
Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes by just rotating the vessel once in a while making sure the gravy coats and covers all the fish in the curry . ( do not use a spatula to toss or mix the fish into the curry as the fish pieces might break ) .
Dilute the coconut paste with little water . Pour into the curry and mix well . Lower the flame and cook further for another 4-5 minutes until oil separates and floats on top . Remove from heat and serve hot with white boiled rice , iddli , dosa , appam , chappathi …

Asian style grilled fish

Preparation Time : 15 minutes + marination time of 2 hours or 24 hours

Cooking Time : 5-10 minutes in the grill or 15-20 minutes in the oven

Serving : 5-6 members

Description

Asian style fish grill . A fish grill which is an all in one combination dish with spicy , sweet , sour and salty blend together . At home we grill mutton and chicken a lot but never fish . As all are fussy about fish . Once when I grilled fish , was over loaded with complaints saying that the grilled fish smelled fishy . So from then on just stooped grilling fish . But now a days once in a while I do grill and cheat saying its pan roasted . This Asian style grill was done at home for lunch when my friend meera aboo thambys hubby dropped in for lunch . He being a health fanatic , had to make a menu where food must taste as good as it looks and should be healthy to . so i ended up with a menu of soup , salads and grills . This menu was a big hit , What more do you want when a guest is pleased and happy with what you have cooked .

Ingredients

Fish -1/2 kg ( any type of fish , I have used sheer fish )

To Garnish : Handful of thinly sliced onions and wedges of fresh lime

Ingredients Marination sauce

Ingredients	Quantity
Light soya sauce	4 tablespoons
Oyster sauce	1 tablespoon
Fish sauce	1/4 teaspoon be very careful using fish sauce as it is very salty . The soya sauce we are using also has a lot of salt .. So beware
brown sugar	1 teaspoon
cloves garlic, minced	4
lime juice	1 tablespoon
chilli flakes	to taste
Salt	to taste

Method

Stir all marinate sauce ingredients together until sugar dissolves. Place fish fillets in a flat-bottomed bowl and pour half the sauce over. Turn the fillets in the sauce. (Reserve the rest of the sauce for later.)
Allow fish to marinate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours in advance (just cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to cook).
Heat the grill . Lightly brush the grill with a little cooking oil, then grill the fish for 5-10 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily and the inner flesh is no longer translucent.
Heat up remaining sauce and use as a dip, glaze, or to spoon over the fish as you eat it. Note that this sauce is very strong-tasting, so you only need a little bit at a time. If you find it too strong, you can dilute it slightly with a splash of water and some fresh lime juice. If you find it too sour, add a little more sugar.
Can bake in the oven as well by Placing marinated fish in a covered baking dish along with the marinade. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degree celsius for 15-20 minutes, or until fish flakes easily and the inner flesh is no longer translucent.serve hot with sliced onions , lemon wedges and marinate sauce .
If your fish slices are too thin you can spread tin foil or banana leaves over the barbecue – again, oil the surface where the fish will be cooking to make turning easier.