Goan Fish Fry

Tastiest fish fry ever...We have been to Goa with you our daughter once till now..we went with her cousin !! She and her enjoyed every bit of it. 

In the Goan cuisine, Rawa fish fry finds a very important place. On one of his trips with his friends,  hubby got this goan fish fry masala for us. This is a dish that he prepared for us and of course was a hit.

Below are the methods and ingredients. If you are not able to find the masala in stores wherever you are, you can actually prepare it yourself, recipe is available here . 

Ingredients:

- Basa Fish - 2 cutlets, you can use fillets too if you don't want to deal with the bones. But the cutlet holds the shape better.

- Karma Goan Fish fry Masala - 5 tbsp

- Semolina and poppy seed mixture - a bowl

- Salt - 1 tsp for marinade

- Oil - to shallow fry

 Method:

- Marinate the fish with masala and salt for 30 to 40 mins

- Coat the fish in the poppy seed and semolina mixture and put it the fridge for 20 mins. This will help bind the mixture to the fish.

- Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying the fish

- When hot, fry the fish until brown. 

- Serve hot with Kashundi sauce or mustard sauce.

Sambar

Sambar...a lentil-based stew mixed with vegetable and tamarind juice. This is a stew very famous in the south of India. Goes very well with idli, dosa, rice or any south Indian delicacy. I personally like it hot with rice. 

Now the question, does my daughter like it? She liked it as a small kid when she was 5-7 years old. Now her taste has changed. As a 10 year old, she does not like 'anything Daal'....😆- This is in her words. But this stew is very very healthy so she finds this in my menu plan at least once a week. 

Ingredients:

- Toor Dal - 1/2 cup

- Tomato - 1

- Garlic - 3-4

- Ginger paste - 1 tsp

- Hing / Asafoetida - a pinch

- Salt - 1.5 tsp

- Sugar / jaggery - 1 tsp

- Curry leaves - a bunch

- Pepper corns - 5-6 

- Oil - 2 tbsp

- Sambar Masala - 3 tbsp

- Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

- Veggies of your choice (I have used pumpkin, okra, raddish and drumstick)

- Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

- Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

- Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp (This can be easily prepared by soaking tamarind in hot water)

 Method:

- Wash Toor dal and throw away the water. Wash till the water is clear.

- Put dal in a pressure cooker, add garlic, ginger, tomatoes (cubed/halved), a pinch of salt, turmeric.

Cook in low flame. Switch the flame off after 2 whistles. Do not open the lid of the cooker.

- In a wok add oil

- When hot add pepper corns, curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing and let it splutter.

- Then add all the veggies and let it cook, stir occassionally.

- In 5-7 minutes add the sambar powder and a little water (this is to prevent the masala from burning).

- When veggies are cooked, add dal from pressure cooker into the wok and mix well.

- Add salt and jaggery and the tamarind pulp.

- Let is come to a boil. Add coriander leaves and serve hot with rice, idli or dosa.

Doi Begun

 Begun or eggplant is one of my favourite veggies. I love having it fried, in curries, in mixed veg stir fries or in bhartas (mashed eggplant). However, everyone in the family including you hate Begun.

Someone asked me once if there was only one veggie in the world you could eat for the rest of your life what would it be - and pat I gave the answer - Eggplant. 

This curry that I am talking about today is Doi Begun (eggplant in a yogurt gravy). One of my favourites and goes amazingly well with hot rice. I have used small eggplants (Indian or Thai) for this curry. You can use any just make sure you cut them into right size pieces.

Ingredients:

- Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

- Mustard oil - 2 tbsp

- Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

- Curry powder - 2 tbsp

- Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

- Ginger Paste - 1 tsp

- Onion Paste - 1 tbsp

- Tomato paste - 2 tbsp

- Salt - 1 tbsp

- Sugar - 1 tsp

- Yogurt - 1 cup

- Vegetable oil (or any white oil of your choice) - 1/2 cup

Method:

- Halve the small eggplants and marinate well with the turmeric and 1/2 tbsp salt.

- Heat 1/2 cup white oil in a wok.

- When the oil is hot, add the eggplants and fry them well, set aside.

- In the same wok add the mustard oil and let it heat.

- When hot add cumin and mustard seeds.

- When they splutter add ginger paste and onion paste, fry well until raw smell is gone.

- Add the curry powder and tomato paste and fry well for 4-5 mins. Add 1 or 2 tsp  water if it seems too dry.

- Add remaining salt and sugar and fry till oil separates.

- When oil separates, add yogurt on low flame and mix fast and well. Let it simmer.

- When cooked (oil separates again) add eggplants and 1/2 cup water. 

- Let it boil, let water reduce to desired consistency.

- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.

Oats Muffin

What better than muffins to take to school for lunch. Even better if they are healthy. This has been in my daughter's lunch box numerous times. She has eaten this as an after school snack with a cup of warm milk (with chocolate powder of course!) so many times. I just hope when she reads this post, it ignites all those memories.

 Ingredients:

- 1 cups rolled oats dry roasted and ground to powder

- 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 cup oil

- 3 tbsp milk

- 1 tsp vanilla essence

- 1/2 cup sugar

- Raisins/Sultanas - a handful

- 1 tsp baking powder

Method:

- Mix all dry ingredients together.

- In a bowl take 2 eggs and mix in the sugar and oil.

- Beat well.

- Add in the dry ingredients little by little and mix well.

- Add in the vanilla essence and milk and give it a good mix.

- Once the mixture is in right consistency (can make ribbons) add in the sultanas.

- Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line muffin tray with wrappers.

- Fill each muffin spot halfway through.

- Sprinkle some oats on top.

- Add in chopped almonds and walnuts if you want to. I did not on this one as it was for your school (hence nut free).

- Bake for 20 mins.

- Let cool and they are ready.

Peas Pulao

Something she (my princess) has taken to school a lot of times in Hyderabad. She did not love it. But has eaten it whenever I packed it for her, good girl you see... she is not particularly fond of rice in her lunch box and I used to pack this occasionally.

Ingredients: 

- Leftover rice - 1 bowl

- Cashews - 4-5

- Frozen Peas - 1/2 cup

- Jeera - 1 tsp

- Salt - 1/2 tsp

- Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

- Oil - 2 tbsp

- Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:

- Heat oil in a wok

- Add in cumin

- When splutters add in cashews and fry till golden brown

- Add peas and fry till cooked

- Add rice, Salt, ghee and pepper. Mix well. 

Bengali Mutton Curry / Picnic Mutton

This pic above is from a parar (suburb's) picnic in Kharagpur which me and my daughter attended. We were there in Jan 2021 when hubs had just travelled to Sydney for the first time. Don't know if she remembers the taste. I have cooked Mutton curry at home a lot of times but it misses the taste of wood which is used to light up to cook this at picnics around West Bengal.

Ingredients:

- Mutton - 1 kg

- Chopped Onion - 2 big ones

- Cinnamon - 1 stick about index finger long broken into small pieces

- Cumin - 1/2 tsp

- Cardamom - 2-3

- Cloves - 2-3

- Mustard Oil - 1/2 cup

- Potatoes - 2 each cut into 4 pieces

For Marinade:

- Mustard oil - 1/2 cup

- Tomato Puree - 1 cup

- Ginger - 2 tbsp

- Garlic - 1 tbsp

- Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

- Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

- Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

- Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

- Marinade the mutton with the items and leave overnight or at least 5 hours.

- Heat mustard oil in an iron work.

- Put in the potatoes. Add salt and fry till golden. Keep aside.

- To the same oil add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cumin.

- Add onions and fry till brown.

- Add the marinated mutton and fry till it leaves oil.

- Keep frying for 20-30 mins more once it starts leaving oil.

- At this point transfer the mutton into a pressure cooker and add potatoes and seal it.

- Cook for 4-5 whistles on medium flame. Leave it for 30 mins and open the cooker lid after that.

- Serve piping hot with rice.

Cheese Sandwich

On her birthday here is a simple cheese sandwich recipe that she loves. Happy birthday to the 9 year old big girl!! This birthday was the one we spent in isolation. The pandemic is not over yet.

We have postponed your bday party to the next Saturday. 

Ingredients:

- Whole-wheat Bread - 2 slices (cut off the sides)

- Cheese slice -1 

- Butter - little

Method:

- Apply butter on the breads.

- Put the cheese slice in between.

- Toast on the sandwich maker or the iron pan

And ready to eat with your choice of fruits and berries. :D