Goan Green Chutney stuffed Pomfret Fry

Pomfret is something I havent cooked often. Earlier had always either tawa fried or microwaved (with a blob of butter) simply marinated (ginger-garlic-lemon-salt-pepper) pomfret pieces. 

This time thought of trying something different. Hence the internet hunt ....which yielded a simple stuffed pomfret recipe in which most of the ingredients were available at home.

Ingredients :

* Whole pomfrets - 4

* Juice of 1 lime

* Salt to taste

* Sooji/Semolina/Rawa for rolling/ dredging (optional)

* Wheat flour for dusting/sprinkling (did not use)

* Refined oil for pan frying

* Turmeric - 1 tsp

* Freshly crushed black pepper - 1 tsp (not in original recipe)

* For the green chutney

   - A large bunch of fresh coriander leaves

   - 2 sprigs fresh mint leaves-optional (I did not use)

   - 1 medium onion peeled and roughly chopped

   - 1 tbs fresh tamarind paste (I used juice of 1 big lemon)

   - 7 cloves fresh garlic

   - 1 " piece of ginger

   - 2-3 fresh green chilies

   - 1 tsp cumin seeds

   - 4 tbsp grated coconut (I used 1/2 a medium sized coconut )

   - A large pinch of turmeric

   - A pinch each of Cinnamon & Clove powder (I used 1/2 inch cinnamon stick & 3-4 pieces of cloves)

   - A large pinch of sugar to taste - optional (I used 1/2 tsp)

Grind the above chutney ingredients into a thick paste with minimum water

Procedure :

1. The fish is to be cleaned and slit into pockets. I got this done from the fishmonger

2. Rub the pomfrets and their cavities with lemon juice, salt , turmeric and freshly crushed pepper and marinate for 15-20 minutes.

3. Now stuff the cavities with the green chutney and cover the whole pomfrets in a thick paste of green chutney (as per the original recipe, only the cavities were stuffed with the green chutney)

4. Marinate for 15-20 minutes (I marinated for more than an hour)

5. When ready to fry, roll each pomfret in sooji and then dust/sprinkle wheat flour on either side. I only rolled in rawa and skipped the flour sprinkling.

6. Heat oil in a skillet / pan and slide in the pomfrets one by one into the heated oil. Cook each side for at least 5 minutes or till evenly cooked and crispy. 

Serve with tomatoes, onion and a squeeze of lemon and chopped corinader. Also potato wedges & salad as the original recipe mentioned .

Ilish Machh Begun Diye ....Patla Shorsher Jhol

A light mustard gravy of Hilsa Fish with Brinjal

A trip to Kolkata during Ilish season always and always culminates with a Big Box of raw Ilish smeared with Oil, Salt and Turmeric, wrapped to Perfection in foil and again re-wrapped in cloth napkin, plastic to prevent the leakages. A hundred NOs and objection will fall on deaf ears of the FATHER who despite being all of eighty is determined to make a trip to the fish market to buy this delicacy for his fish loving daughter. The daughter, despite the vehement NOs and the sulk expressing her displeasure in having to carry this 'additional burden', will beam with joy as well as an exasperated smile directed at the stubborn FATHER, once she reaches her destination and opens the layered packing (perfected by who else but the MOTHER). 

Seeing the freshness of the fish, the utmost desire would be to replicate her MOTHER's perfect 'patla shorsher jhol begun diye' (a light, low on spice gravy of fish with brinjal pieces).... 

Ingredients :

Ilish - 1kg + is the ideal size (a smaller sized Ilish would be more suitable for Ilish Machh Bhaja)

One medium sized brinjal cut into semi-circular slices 

Mustard Oil

Kalo jeera

Turmeric

Red chili powder -depend on the heat tolerance

Kashmiri Mirch for the colour - 1/2 tsp

Mustard paste (made with a mix of yellow & black mustard seeds, green chili and salt) passed through the sieve to retain only the smooth paste.

Green chilies

Procedure :

1. The Ilish pieces and the brinjal pieces need to be smeared with turmeric and salt

2. Pan fry the fish v.v lightly

3. Lightly fry the brinjal pieces

4. In a kadhai, take a tbsp of mustard oil and heat till smoking hot.

5. Throw in kalo jeera (kalonji) and some green chilies

6. Add a paste of turmeric-red chili-kashmiri mirch into the oil and fry for a minute

7. If a thick strong mustard gravy is desired, use the mustard paste without passing through a sieve. I wanted a light gravy. So I passed the paste through a sieve (chhankni) and added water. Now pour either the thick mustard paste or the watery mustard paste into the kadhai. 

8. Cook on medium flame. Once it comes to a boil, slide in the brinjal pieces. 

After the brinjal is almost done, add the fish pieces into the kadhai and cover for a minute or till it comes to a boil. Add water as per the desired gravy consistency. Let the gravy come to a boil. Throw in a few slit green chilies. Take the kadhai off the gas.

9. Serve with steamed rice

Tangy Herbalicious Prawns!!!

An impromptu recipe which I hope I can remember correctly! But actually there isnt much to remember in this recipe of Prawns except the fact that I dunked in a lot of fresh herbs into it and the final product reflected the freshness of herbs blended beautifully with the buttery fresh prawns with minimum spices....

Ingredients :

750gms cleaned shelled de-veined  prawns.

1 bowl full of chopped coriander and some (for garnishing)

1 bowl full of curry leaves

1 mmedium sized capsicum chopped
8-10 garlic cloves

1 diced onion & 1 finely  chopped onion
1 chopped tomato

freshly crushed peppercorns

chilli flakes

juice of 3 lemons

rock salt

a pinch of sugar
chopped green chillies & whole green chilies

potatoes cut as in french fries. 

white sesame seeds - 2-3 tbsp

rice flour (optional) - 2-3 tbsp
Oil
Tej Pata -1 

Procedure
Prawns :
1. Marinate the prawns in lemon juice, rock salt, crush pepper for 1/2 hr - 1 hour.
2. Lightly saute the prawns. Keep aside.
3. In a kadai / wok, heat oil and throw in a Tej Pata, a tsp of crushed pepper corns and finely sliced garlic cloves. Also add the diced onions & chopped onions and a pinch of sugar for caramelizing . Fry till the onions turn translucent.
4. Add the chopped capsicum and fry on medum to high heat.
5. Now add the 2 bowls of fresh herbs - curry leaves and  coriander leaves. Stir them around. The aroma of fresh herbs is mindblowing!!!!
6. Add the chopped tomato and stir it around on high heat.
7. Add rocksalt.
8. Now add the sauted prawns and add salt, pepper and chili flakes as per your taste.
9. Stir briskly on high heat till prawn is done but ensure it's not overcooked. Squeeze a lemon, mix it around and garnish with the leftover chopped coriander.

French Fries with a crunchy twist:
1. While frying and stirring the herby prawns, marinate the sliced potatos lemon juice, salt, chili flakes and (slightly moistened) rice flour and abot 1-1.5 tbsp white sesame seeds (Til) .
2. In a frying pan/wok, heat oil and fry the potatoes on medium to high heat.When it's almost done, sprinkle some more white sesame seeds on the almost-done-potatoes. To minimise oil consumption, while frying potatoes, the potato slices may be blanched followed by being chilled in freezer.

Serve the herbilicious prawns with rice and garnish with the crunchy crispy french fry kind of potato fries!!

Prawn Masala

The main course of last Sunday's Lunch....

Ingredients :

Large prawns – 1.5 kgs

Onions – 1 large

Tomato – 1

Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp

Garlic cloves 3-4 chopped

Garam Masala whole – 2-3 green elaichis; 1 no. 1” cinnamon stick, 3-4 cloves

Bay leaf/Tej pata – 1

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Turmeric / Haldi – 1 tsp

Kashmiri chili – 1 tspn

Jeera powder  - 1.5 tsp

Amchoor powder / Chaat Masala – 1.5 tsp

Red Chili powder – 1 tsp (optional)

Salt to taste

Sugar- a pinch

Green chilies – finely chopped

Coriander leaves – a handful ..finely chopped

Potatoes – 2 large cut into small cubes

Oil – white oil for sautéing prawns & potato; mustard oil for the cooking

Procedure :

1.       Wash, clean, de-vein prawns and marinate in a pinch of haldi & salt for 15-20 minutes followed by light sautéing.  Keep aside

2.       Cube the potatoes and after smearing with a pinch of haldi, salt & chili powder, fry them . Keep aside.

3.       In the kadai / wok, heat 3-4 tbsp of mustard oil and add the bay leaf 7 whole garam masala; followed by chopped garlic and chopped onions. For caramelisation, add a pinch of sugar and fry on medium-high flame.

4.       When the onions are golden brown, add the ginger-garlic paste, followed by chopped tomato. Cook till the tomatoes are reduced to a pulp and then add the tomato sauce.

5.       Mix the dry powdered masala with drops of water and add the paste to the wok. Cook on high heat with sprinkles of water if required. Continue till the oil separates. Check  for salt and tanginess. This dish is meant to be tangy in taste.

6.       Now add the potatoes followed by the sauted prawns. Sprinkle some water , if too dry.

7.       Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.

8.       Check for the spiciness …if you want it hotter and spicier , add chopped green chilies.

9.       Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

We had it with steamed white rice!

Fried Jumbo Prawns in roasted tomato-cheese-garlic sauce, with Cinnamon Rice

My 'fishwallah' got me Jumbo Prawns (around 11 prawns weighing 2 kgs) one weekday morning. I was ecstatic but the joy and anticipation had to be shelved till weekend arrived.
Bored of the usual 'Malaikaris' (Prawns in Coconut milk) and 'Bhaape chingris' (Prawns steamed in mustard sauce), wanted to try out something new. And hence this experimentation.....

But a warning....it was a high on calories dish. Used Oodles of butter and also cream and cheese.

Ingredients : what I used ...

A.For the fried Prawns                                         1. Jumbo Prawns - 2 kgs (11-12 prawns)

2. Lemon juice of 2 small lemons
3. Salt
4. Pepper
5. Chilli flakes
6. Butter for frying

B. For the sauce
1. Tomatoes - 3 large sized
2. Onion -1 large
3. Grated Cheese - I used 2 cubes of processed cheddar
4.Garlic cloves - 5-6
5. Cream or full cream milk - 1 cup
6. Salt
7. Pepper
8. Basil leaves
9. Chilli flakes
10. Butter

C. For the cinnamon rice

1. Normal Sonamasuri rice we eat....basmati will add to the taste - 2 cups
2. Butter - 50 gms
3. Bay Leaf - 1 or 2
4. Cinnamon sticks - 5-6 long ones broken into smaller pieces
5. Nutmeg powder - a pinch
6. Sugar - a pinch
7. Salt to taste

Procedure : in the sequence i made.

Prawn Marination

1. The prawns were washed, cleaned and deveined the previous night
2. Marinate the prawns in lemon juice, salt, pepper and chilli flakes for 1/2 hour.

Making the Sauce :

3. I roasted the tomatoes over gas flame after slitting them at the top . Roasting/Grilling over charcoal will obviously add to the flavours.

4. In a wok, took a teaspoonful of butter, added chopped onions and the roasted tomatoes chopped and a pinch of sugar for caramelising. When the onion & tomatoes were nicely browned, took them off the wok, cooled and made a paste.
5. Then in a wok, again took a teaspoon of butter, added the onion-tomato paste, chopped garlic and mixed well

6. On low flame, added milk while stirring, followed by chopped basil leaves, followed by grated cheese.

7. To increase the tartness of the sauce, the lemon juice the prawns were marinated in , may also be added at this point

8. Finish off by adjusted the salt and sugar and a generous sprinkling of freshly crushed black pepper and chili flakes.
The sauce is ready.

Cinnamon Rice (I made it in Rice Cooker but can be made in the microwave too)
9. In a wok, take 2 tbsp of butter and when hot, add the bay leaf, broken cinnamon stick and a pinch of sugar

10. Add the previously washed and drained rice. Fry on high heat.

11. Add a pinch of nutmeg powder, followed by salt


12. Transfer to rice cooker. Add 4 cups of water (for 2 cups of rice). Add a tsp of lemon juice and set in on for cooking. For microwave, the ratio of rice:water should be slightly less than 1:2 i.e for 2 cups of water 3 1/2 cups of water.

The Star of the show : PRAWNS

13. Fry the lemon-salt-pepper-chilli flakes marinated prawns in butter.

Sit down for a divinely tasting, immensely high calories lunch!!