Sea Bream fry kerala style

Sea bream is a common fish of the Atlantic. I have seen it in the supermarket many times but only got the courage to try it after Jasmin chechi recommended it few weeks ago. Sea bream got a soft  white flesh with little bones which makes them a favourite among kids.

Ingredients:

Sea bream- 1

Curry leaves - few

Oil- To shallow fry

lemon juice- From 1/2 medium sized lemon

For the marinade

Chilli powder- 2 tablespoon

Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tablespoon

Shallots- 3

Black pepper- 1/2 tablespoon

Garam masla- 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves- few

Salt- to taste

For Frying/decoration

Carrots- 2 medium sized

Onion- 1

Green chillies- 2

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients under the marinade and put in a food processor make a fine paste out of it. Add lemon juice to the mixture and keep aside.

 Clean the fish by removing scales, gills and all the visceral organs. make lots of gashes all over the fish and wash very well. I use turmeric powder and salt to wash the fish to get rid of the "fishy" smell to an extent. marinate the fish with the prepared marinade and keep it in the kitchen couter for atleast 2 hours.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan just enough to shallow fry the fish. Add curry leaves to the oil once it is hot and place the fish over the bed of curry leaves. Fry the fish gently in low flame for a maximum of 10 minutes turning the fish halfway through. Remove the fish and keep in a kitchen towel to drain the oil.

Add the chopped onions, carrot and green chilies to the oil used to make the fish fry and sauté until it gets cooked. Add this to the fried fish.

Beef Barbeque Kerala Style

We are enjoying a well deserved beautiful summer here in UK this year. BBQ and summer goes hand in hand in UK. Last weekend of ours  ended up with an amazing bbq at our friends place. The social gathering and talk around Kerala politics given some extra spice to the bbq party.

Here is my contribution for the bbq.

Ingredients:

Beef steaks- 1 kg (thinly sliced beef brought from Tesco)

For the marinade:

Black pepper- 1 tablespoon
Dried Red chillies- 10 nos
Bird eye chiliies (kanthari mulaku)- 5 (according to heat tolerance)
Shallots (small onions)- 5 nos
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tablespoon
Fennel seeds- 1 teaspoon
Garam masala- 1 teaspoon
Salt- to taste
Oil- 1teaspoon

Preparation:

Wash beef and use a fork to make holes all over the steak and keep aside. Put all ingredients for marinade in a food processor and grind very well into a fine paste. Mix the marinade with the beef steaks and  put it in a freezer bag and refrigerate overnight.

 

The beef is ready for the bbq grill. I want to apologise you for not posting a picture after the bbq was actually done. I will definitely get one next time. Hopefully next year!!!! or you pray for the weather to stay like this for at least two more months!!!!!!!

Meen Mutta fry/ Paningil ularthiyathu

Last week we paid a casual visit to nearest Tesco superstore and find this unusual item in the fresh fish counter which said "Herring Roe". It resembled to the fish roe and we grabbed the 200gms which was left. It taste awesome and resembled sardine row. The secret behind this recipe is to keep it simple.

 

Some facts about fish roe(cut and paste from a website!!! he he)

Nutritionally, fish eggs are very high in anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fats.
It is one of the few food sources of Vitamin D (others include chicken eggs and fatty cold-water fish).  In fact, the Omega-3 fats and the Vitamin D in roe even work together, because Vitamin D is fat-soluble, so the healthy fats help your body absorb and use it.
Roe is also rich in Vitamin B12, one of the most important micronutrients for mental health and brain development. Like other seafood, it contains a substantial amount of selenium, a micronutrient otherwise hard to get, except from Brazil nuts. Magnesium, iron, and even a little bit of calcium round out an already impressive set of nutrition facts.
Before humans even had names for these vitamins, people in traditional cultures already knew how powerful roe was. Fish eggs are one of the most potent traditional “superfoods” for fertility, and Weston A. Price observed many cultures going to extreme lengths to feed roe to their pregnant women. Now, even the USDA is recommending that parents include it in their babies’ diets, although they would probably do better to recommend it for everyone.

 

 

Ingredients:

Fish roe- 250gms

Onion - 1 big

Green chillies- 3 big

Oil- 2 tea spoonful

curry leaves - few

Preparation:

Chop onion and green chillies and keep aside. heat oil (I prefer coconut oil) in a non-stick pan and add curry leaves once the oil is hot.  Add  chopped onion and greenchillies and sauté until the onions start to change colour. now add the fish roe( Cut to an inch size pieces)and salt along with some water and cook on low flame. Open the lid after 5 minutes and sauté the roe mixture until the water evaporates and fish roe gets fried slightly. Can add few more curry leaves by this time. Switch off the flame and  enjoy hot.

 

 

 

Okra (ladies finger) Mezhukkupuratti(upperi)/ Bindi stirfry

Another favourite from "God's own Country". During a casual conversation over the phone with my mum the same old question came up. Mum- "what you cooking today?"  Me- "not sure. Thinking of cooking some veggies" and had a quick look inside the fridge. "Prav brought a bowl of okras for a pound yesterday. Have to cook it today otherwise it will go to the bin". Mum - I make mezhukupuratti couple of days ago with a recipe slightly different from our usual one" and she went on giving me the recipe.
NB: All this conversations was in Malayalam. I am not good at tying monglish. excuse me for this.

Ingredients:

Okra (ladies finger, Vendakka)- 3 cups sliced (wash okras and cut "head and tail" and discard them. Thinly slice the remaining part).
Onions- 1 big (thinly sliced)
Coconut oil- 3 tablespoon
Turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves- as required

To Cursh:

Garlic- 3 cloves

Dry chillies- 4 (or according to your heat tolerance)

Shallots (small onions)- 6

Preparation:

 

Crush all ingredients listed under "to Crush" using your preferred method. I used a pestle and mortar myself but the small jar of mixie is adequate and long you use the pulse mode just for few seconds. ( use can also use store brought crushed chillies).

 

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add the crushed ingredients together with some curry leaves and sauté well. Add sliced okra and onions once a nice aroma come out the shallots and garlic. Add salt and turmeric and mix everything very well. Cover and cook. After 10 minutes open the lid and stir continually until the okras become crispy. 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy with a bowl of rice.

Tomato Pulissery (Thakkali Morucurry)

Dear friends,

Welcome to my blog.I am starting with a very simple recipe which anyone can make with minimal ingredients. Pulissery is one of my all time favourite. My mom make it with naadan vellarika and it tastes wonderful. I started using tomatoes to make puliserry recently and the simple reason is the easy availability of this beautiful vegetable.

 

Ingredients:

Tomatoes- 3 or 4 (medium sized as shown in the pic)
Yogurt- 1 glass

For Grinding:

Scrapped coconut-  1 cup full

Green chillies- 1 medium sized

Jeera (Cumin seeds)- half teaspoon

Garlic- 1clove

Chilli powder- 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder- 1 teaspoon

Shallots- 1 (or 1/4 onion)

For tempering:

Cocunut oil (preferred)- 2 tablespoon

Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon

Thinly sliced shallots- 1 spoonful

Dry chillies- 3 or 4

Curry leaves as needed

 

 

 

Preparation:

 

Cut the tomatoes to 4 to 8 pieces and add them to a heavy bottomed pan with some water just to cover the tomatoes. Cook this over medium heat until the tomatoes are half mashed.

 

Meanwhile put all ingredients listed under  "grinding" in the small jar of the mixer grinder with some water and grind it into a fine paste(You can use a food processor instead of mixer). Add the ground

 paste to the cooked tomatoes and allow them to boil in a low flame. Switch off the flame and keep it aside until it cool down. Add yogurt to this mixture and stir well (I used Tesco brought low fat yogurt). Add salt according to taste.

 

In a small non-stick pan add 2 tablespoon of oil as your choice. splutter mustard seeds and then add sliced shallots, dry chillies and curry leaves. Don't let them burn. Add this mixture to the prepared curry. This will go very well with a bowl of rice.

 

 

 

I hope you guys will enjoy my first post.