Saucy Fish?!

No....there's nothing 'Saucy' or cheeky about this fish preparation....the name suggests Sauces as the main ingredients....that's all! A super quick 15 minutes (if you dont consider the marination time) recipe from start to finish....

Ingredients :
Bhetki Fish fillets : about 8-10 leftover irregular pieces after preparing the fillets for making fish fries...

Chopped Onions
Finely chopped capsicum - 1/2
Finely chopped coriander leaves/Dhonepaata - for garnishing
Sugar - 1 tsp

For marination :

Worcestershire sauce - drizzle to coat all the pieces
Soya Sauce - about 1.5 tbsp
Chili Vinegar - 2 tbsp
Chili flakes - 1 tbsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Garlic paste - 1tsp

Salt
Pepper

Olive Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure :
1.Add all ingredients under 'Marination' and coat all the fish pieces well and marinate, preferably, for an hour..

2. Transfer the marinated fish along along any juice into a microwaveable container, preferably with a cover/lid. Microwave in Low power (whatever is the minimum power) for 8-10 minutes. Check the "done-ness" after 5-7 minutes and decide. Keep it covered after switching off the power. Make sure it's not overdone....fish becomes fibrous....
3. In the meantime dry roast the chopped capsicum on a hot tawa on high for a minute or so ...to give a smoky taste
4. Caramelise finely chopped onions by adding a little bit of sugar while frying the onions in a little oil.
5. Garnish the microwaved fish with caramelised onions, dry roasted capsicum & finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with steamed rice, butter rice, bread or just some potato wedges and salad.

Chicken-Spinach Frittata in Microwave

A one pot meal containing meat , greens, eggs! Frittata is the answer to Mealtimes blues especially so because my kids LOVE eggs!

And more often than not, I skip the oven top followed by grill mode of making frittatas and go for the one shot microwave mode!!!!

Ingredients :

Eggs - 3-4

Chopped onions

Boneless chicken pieces cut into bit sized pieces or shredded. If marinated in lemon/vinegar + salt + pepper + ginger + garlic, makes things easier....

Spinach - 5-6 mini bunches, washed, drained and chopped

Baby corn - sliced into thin discs.....as many

Chopped coriander

Garlic 8-10 cloves, finely chopped

Salt

Pepper

Chilly-Oregano powder

Any other herbs (fresh/fried) of choice

Chilli flakes

cheddar cheese - 1 cup.

Any other veggies or ingredients like capsicum, spring onions, carrots, beans, Mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli etc etc can be used after sauteing / blanching in salt water

Procedure:

1.Heat some oil in a wok/kadai and throw in a tej pata, followed by crushed pepper corns and chopped/sliced garlic. Add the marinated chicken pieces. When the chicken is almost done, add the sliced babycorn and fry them along with the chicken. Fry on medium to high heat till browned and crispy. 

2.Simulaneously, in another wok/vessel, with/without oil, throw in the chopped spinach along with a pinch of salt and sugar and turn on the heat to high/medium and cook without any cover. Let the spinach give out the water and continue till the water dries up but the spinach is still moist.

3. Beat 3-4 eggs till fluffy. Add some fresh cream of milk or milk. (optional) Add salt & pepper and herbs of choice. I added chili - oregano mix. Mixed well

4. In a microwaveable flat bottomed container, make a bed of spinanch, top it up with fried chicken-babycorn. Pour the beaten egg on it.

5.Put it in microwave (HIGH) mode for 10-15 minutes (depending on the microwave). The bottom should have set and the top should still be slightly runny. 

6. Sprinkle the grated cheese. And put it in Micro+Grill mode for around 10 minutes or till the cheese melts and browning starts. In microwave, though, the browning is quite minimal despite cooking on grill mode.

7. Take it out, garnish with chopped coriander. 

I served it hot with potato wedges, sliced tomatoes.

But basically can be served with anything...bread, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, salads or just as it is....

Bhaape Chingri ....Steamed Prawns

in a grated coconut-mustard gravy

'Bhaape' means steamed in Bengali. And Chingri is of course Prawns
A recipe so simple to assemble and cook and also fast if instead of the traditional steaming, microwave is used...which I do. But my Ma insists, that the taste of the authentic 'Bhaapaano' or steaming is far far more superior to our short-cut microwaving. Coming from her, and that too about culinary methods and expertise, I cant even dream of arguing...but time being a major constraint, I have to make do with the second best....

Ingredients :
Medium sized prawns - 1 kg
Mustard paste - 1 small bowl
Tomato - 1, chopped
Potato - 1 medium sized, diced into small cubes and sauted after being smeared with a pinch of salt & turmeric
Grated coconut - 1
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp or more
Kashmiri Chili - 1 - 1.5 tsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 2-3 chopped 
Coriander Leaves for garnishing
Mustard oil (a must to give the zing) - 3 tbsphe aut

Procedure :
If following the authentic steaming method....carry out the following steps in a steel container with a tight lid. If following the microwave menthod, use a microwaveable glass/ceramic container with a lid.
1. In the container mix all the ingredients listed above except the coriander leaves and pour the (only) mustard oil liberally.
2. Cover the container.
3a) Steaming - place the closed container in a bigger wok/saucepan. The bigger container should be filled with water upto 1/2 the level of the closed container.If a pressure cooker is being used, 2-3 whistles should be fine for the cooking to be completed..And in a regular steamer/wok, steam it for around 35-40 minutes

3b) Microwave the mix prepared in (1) for 7-8 minutes
4. Garnish with chopped coriander (dhonepaata) and serve with steamed rice.

Note :For added pungency / flavour of mustard (which we Bongs LOVE), drizzle about 2 tsp of mustard oil (kaancha tel) after completion of cooking and before garnishing.

Paneer Tandoori

( Cottage Cheese marinated in curd and grilled )

I had this paneer preparation at a friend's place. And upon asking her the recipe, she said, just marinate the paneer cubes in curd, mixed with ginger-garlic & all masalas...grill it for 5 minutes and the Paneer is ready! It sounded simply simple....

So when I bought Paneer this week, thought of making this preparation. The Paneer cubes were diced and I was about to mix the 'masalas' into the curd, when something just didnt feel right! It was quite late (as I had presumed it'll be a fast to cook recipe, I had started just about 1/2 hr prior to dinner time...), so couldnt really call her up to enquire about the detailed recipe....

Well, kept the paneer back into the fridge, placed the curd in a cheese cloth (I use a big, clean piece of Dhoti as a Cheese Cloth ;) ) and hung it overnight.

[As you realise, the paneer had to be postponed to the next day and for that night's dinner had to fry some sausages !]

Next evening resumed the process and thereafter it was quite simple indeed!

Ingredients :
A. Basic
* Paneer - 300 gm
* Hung Curd - around 500 gm (made from Curd made out of 1.5 litres milk approx)
* Capsicum diced - 1 big or 1 & 1/2 small
* Tomatoes diced - 1 big
* Onions - Diced - 2
* Green Chilli - 3-4 slit longitudinally

B. Spices
* Ginger - 1 tbsp
* Garlic - 1 tbsp
* Haldi/Turmeric - 1 tsp
* Dhania / Coriander powder - 1 tsp
* Jeera / Cumin powder - 1 tsp
* Red Chilli pwder- 1 tsp
* Kashmiri Chilli pwder - 1 tsp
* Black pepper pwder - 1/2 tsp
* Kasuri Methi - 1 tsp (soaked in warm water)
* Sugar - to taste
* Salt - to taste

Procedure

1. Prepare the hung curd by folding curd in a cheese cloth or thin muslin cloth and hanging it for 4-5 hrs for the water / whey to drip out. I placed the cheese cloth with curd folded in it on my bigh plastic strainer and placed the strainer on a tall steel container.

2. Mix all ingredients at 'B' with the hung curd and beat the curd-masala mix well with a spoon.

3. Marinate the paneer cubes in the above prepared Curd-masala mix for 2 hrs minimum (I kept for exactly 2 hrs for lack of time)

4. If you have a Tandoor Oven or an OTG, use either of these, for best results. I used my Microwave Oven with Grilling mode, as my OTG is out of order and I dont have the other one. (I'm seriously planning to buy the Tandoor Oven)

5. Spray some oil in an ovenproof container. Place half the quantity of diced capsicum, onion and tomatoes and sprinkle some salt and chilli powder. With a spoon turn them around in the container to coat them with the oil. I microwaved these using the Microwave + Grill mode, for 3-4 minutes.

6. Pour the marinated Paneer into the container. Garnish with the remaining capsicum, onion and tomatoes. Spray some oil on top. Again microwave using the Microwave + Grill mode, for 7-8 minutes. Then, again on ONLY Grill mode, let it cook for another 4-5 minutes.




Serve HOT with Parathas or Naan. We had them with Phulkas.

Breakfast in a jiffy!!

Running late in the morning? ....well, happens to me quite quite often....on most occasions, I have this tremendous urge to skip breakfast altogether or just gulp down a cupfull of tea with a Marie. But there are days when, the stomach grumbles in protest and asks for something filling.

This is for such late yet hungry mornings....when cooking up in a jiffy is the name of the game....
Bread and Microwaved Poached Egg with my personal touch!!! ;))

Total time would be less than 10 minutes even if you count the time taken to chop the onion and chilli.

Ingredients :
*Egg - 1
*Wheat bread - 1 slice (as per your requirement)

A. To be added to the egg
*Finely chopped onions - 1/2 small onion (I keep 3-4 onions chopped in an air tight container in the fridge)

*Chopped Green chilli - 1

*Ginger paste/juice - 1/4 tsp
*Salt to taste
*Pepper - 1/2 tsp
*Chilli flakes - a pinch (optional)

Procedure :
1. Put the bread slice/s in the preset toaster.

2. Break an egg in a small microwaveable bowl. Take care not to break the yolk

3.Garnish the egg with all ingredients at 'A'

4. Microwave for a minute (maximum). You may cover it with a microwave proof plastic cling film.

5. Butter the toast. (Optional....these days I resist the temptation and refrain from buttering the toast!)

The breakfast of Bread and Poached Egg is READY and you're done in less than 10 minutes flat!!

Brown Bread, Egg and a cup of Darjeeling Tea...
that's a quick and healthy breakfast for me!!!

So here it goes to the Blogevent 'SHOW ME YOUR RECIPE' EVENT hosted by Divya Vikram of DIL SE... !!

The logo of the event is....

Bhetki Hariyali

My Ma introduced me to this dish...she had first tasted it at a Wedding Feast (Biye Baari). She being the great cook she is, made this awesome fish preparation abiding by the instructions of her taste buds!

Much later, after marriage, when I was the one who had to do the cooking whenever friends or relatives came over, instead of just placing my 'order' to Ma, I improvised Ma's green fish recipe, made it microwaveable and hence easier, faster and hassle-free.

This dish has never failed to score brownie points whenever it has been on the menu when I entertained and its ease of preparation makes it one of my favourite recipes.

Ingredients:
A. For the marinade :
- Vinegar : 4-6 tbsp
- Ginger : 1tbsp
- Garlic : 3/4 tbsp
- Chilli flakes : 1 tsp (or depending on your spice preference)
- Black Pepper (freshly crushed) :1 tsp
- Salt : 1 tsp

B. Other Ingredients
- Bhetki fillet - 750gm
- Coriander leaves - 2-3 big bunches
- Green chillies (1 or 2)
- Pudina leaves - 1 small bunch
- Pearl onions - abt 10-15 (I didnt have pearl onion, so I used normal onions, diced)
- Cream - 2 tbsp (optional)
- Capsicum : 1 big or 2 small- diced

Procedure:-
Fish
- Mix all the items at 'A' of Ingredients to prepare the marinade
- Now marinate the washed and cleaned fish fillets. For my convenience, I marinate overnight and cook in the morning. In case of hurry, 1/2 hours marination is sufficient.
- Grill or pan fry the marinated fish fillets. (This is an optional step and may be skipped)

Green Sauce Paste :
- Wash and roughly chop the coriander and mint leaves.
- Put them in a Mixie. Add a dash of sugar and salt, one or two green chillies. Make a smooth paste.

Assembling to bake :
- In a non-stick pan, stir fry the pearl onion and diced capsicum
- In a microwave proof deep container, spray/smear some oil.
- Arranged a layer of the fried pearl Onion and capsicum (keep a small quantity aside) in the cooking container.
- Pour half the quantity of green sauce paste on the fried pearl onions.
- Arrange the grilled / fried fish pieces.
- Cover with the remaining green sauce paste.
- Garnish with the remaining sauted diced onion/pearl and capsicum and a dash of cream (cream is optional).
- Bake it in microwave mode for 7-10 minutes.
The fish is ready to eat.

Note: Sorry about the awful formatting in this post...Blogger has been extremely non-cooperative...So till I reformat this post, please bear with me...
I had forgotten to click a pic of the Pudina/mint leaves. And this picture was taken from Google images