NonVeg

Fish Caldinha

14 Comments / Fish, NonVeg / By


This recipe is sent to me by Sheetal. Before any of the people who know this dish bash me for picture of entirely different dish than the authentic “Caldinha” , I request to read my introduction.

Some background of Caldinha in Sheetal’s words – “There is a Goan fish curry which is mostly made by Christians as it is something that came from Portuguese influence. It is called Fish Caldinha pronounced Kaldeen. I had never tasted it in GOA but I learnt it from my Mother-in-law specifically as the Atlantic fishes like Sea Bream or Salmon taste very nice in this gravy. What I like about it is its simplicity. This curry goes very well with these Atlantic fishes as the Atlantic fish are sweet in nature”.

I read the recipe and for some reason, I wanted to try it when I bought the salmon the following week. Even though Sheetal had mentioned it was a gravy dish(which I had overlooked), I interpreted it as a dry side dish. Since I wanted to cook it immediately, instead of clarifying my doubt with her, I just went ahead and tried it. We both absolutely loved the dish. Then the next day I asked Sheetal for clarification. She sent me the pictures of the dish which I have posted below.

I thought I would try it again and then post it here. But because of the “tomato disease” here in US and also some other health issues, I have stopped buying tomatoes. So I decided to post this anyway with whatever pictures I had so that I can refer to the post when I need in future.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup onion finely chopped
1/2 tea spn garlic finely chopped
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1″ stick of cinnamon
1 small green chilli finely chopped.
1/2 tomato finely chopped.
2 small pieces of salmon or a small sea bream or a small Atlantic mackerel or  prawns
1/2 cup freshly made coconut milk(optional)
Oil
Salt

Method:
Apply sea salt to the fish pieces and keep it aside for 15-20mins.
Heat oil and fry onion till they are translucent. Add garlic, green chillies, cinnamon(whole or powder) and fry for a min. Add cumin powder, turmeric, tomato. Fry for a minute and then add the fish. Add a little water, just enough to cook the fish. Add coconut milk(if using) and cook till fish is done. (I just cooked it till all the water was absorbed and fish was done).

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 20min

PS: Adjust the ingredient quantity depending on whether you are making gravy or dry dish.

Clams in dry masala (Kalva/Tisre/Khubbe sud sud sukke)

35 Comments / Clams, NonVeg / By

Tisre sud sud sukke
Now that’s a funny name!!!. Sud-sud (or sad-sad as some people say) in Konkani means loose and it looks very weird when I am writing it in English :). Sukke is a dry dish which usually has coconut. Kalva, Tisre, Khubbe are 3 different types of clams.

There are some people in your life, with whom you get attached/attracted very fast. One such person whom I totally adore is V’s maternal grandmother. She is 80+ years old, but she is so full of energy that I always get lots of inspiration from her. She was a great cook, but don’t cook these days because she cannot walk so much. But she still loves to learn new dishes, talk about them, give me new dishes. She knows I love to cook, so whenever we call her, she has one or the other recipe ready for me. She even collects them from newspapers to give to me.

This time when we were in Bangalore, we went to meet her. She wanted to give me so many recipes – some new, some age old. (I think V was very jealous because I was getting more attention than him 🙂 ). This recipe is one age-old recipe she gave to me.

I cooked this while I was in India. This was the first time I cleaned clams on my own. I left one shell with the clams to give it a “restaurant style food” look. You can discard both the shells or use one as I did. Anyway while eating, the shell is discarded, but according to me, it’s a lot of fun to eat the clams with shells (only some clam fans will understand what I am saying). I simply loved this dish.

This is my entry to Sig’s JFI tamarind. Thanks Sig for extending the deadline, I was having a brain block thinking what to send. I just realized today, this may be the best entry from me.

Ingredients:
5 cups clams-with-shells or about 1 cup without-shell-clams
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
A pinch turmeric
1 tea spn chilli powder
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of tamarind soaked in water
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and fry onion till they are translucent.
Add coconut and fry for a min. Now add the clams, cook for 2-3mins.
In a bowl, mix chilli powder, turmeric, tamarind, salt. Add this to the clams mixture. Cook till clams are done. Serve hot.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 15mins

Spicy egg

47 Comments / Egg, NonVeg, Rice items / By

Spicy EggFinally I have found a hobby that is becoming bigger addiction than blogging or cooking. I have been knitting a lot these days(Check what I am upto at my art blog). I am enjoying it thoroughly, so I am spending very little time in kitchen.

For both of us, eggs fit in any meal of the day. I get bored of eating same dish very soon, so I experiment with it. I usually make dal/gravy and some spicy egg side dish and our dinner gets ready in no time. I prepared this a couple of days ago and we loved it.

Ingredients:
3 boiled eggs
1/2 cup onion
8-10 curry leaves
1 tea spn chili powder
1/8 tea spn  shahjeera
1/2 tea spn ginger-garlic paste
3 cloves
1″ cinnamon
1/4 tea spn coriander seeds
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and fry 3-4 curry leaves, shahjeera, ginger-garlic paste, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds, onion till onions turn slightly brownish. Add salt and chili powder. Fry for a min and grind to a smooth paste(do not add water).
Peel the eggs. Put 3 deep cuts into each egg, take care not to break the egg. Stuff the paste into the slits.
Heat oil in a pan and slide the eggs into it. Add any remaining paste and curry leaves. Close the lid and keep it on a medium heat. After few minutes, open the lid and slightly stir the eggs, cover the lid again. Fry for another few minutes. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 20mins

Egg curry (Motte/thatthi paladya)

23 Comments / Egg, NonVeg / By

While going through Bunt/Nadvar’s special recipes, I came across this recipe of motte/thatthi(eggs) paladya(I think it is a type of gravy, not sure). I have heard a lot about Nadvar/Bunt non-vegetarian dishes. So I gave it a try. I changed the recipe according to our taste. Check at the end of the recipe for the changes I made.

This gravy turned out to be very aromatic. Fenugreek seeds give a very nice aroma to the gravy. Addition of curry leaves enhanced the aroma. I served it with hot rice. These days, I use 25% boiled rice(I use rosematta or palakadan matta rice) to 75% white rice(sona masoori). I have started including boiled because it is good for health. Since boiled rice is a bit hard and we are not used to this type, I mix 75% white rice with it which gives softness. With this proportion, rice takes a bit longer to cook but tastes great. I want to increase the proportion of boiled rice slowly, lets see how that goes.

Ingredients:
4 boiled eggs
2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut
1/2 tea spn coriander seeds
1/2 tea spn cumin seeds
1/4 tea spn fenugreek seeds
A pinch turmeric
4-5 red chilies
Ghee/oil
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup tomato(optional)
4-5 curry leaves(optional)
1/2 tea spn chopped garlic
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and fry coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chilies, turmeric, garlic and 1/2 cup onion. When onion turns translucent, add 1/4 cup tomato and fry for few minutes. Grind to a paste along with coconut.
Cook the ground paste with remaining 1/4 cup tomatoes. When it starts boiling, slip in the halved boiled eggs and salt. Cook for about 5 mins. Take off the heat.
In a pan, heat ghee and fry remaining 1/4 cup onions and curry leaves. When the onions turn brownish, add this to the cooked gravy. Close the lid.
Serve hot with rice.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 20mins

PS: Changes from the original recipe –
– It didn’t include tomatoes, but had 1 cup coconut. To reduce the coconut, I added tomatoes to the paste and some more in the gravy.
– Curry leaves are my additions. I thought it gives more aroma, so included them.
– It had raw eggs instead of boiled ones as I have mentioned. When the gravy is cooking, recipe called for breaking the eggs directly into gravy and letting it cook there.

Mackerel in dry coconut masala(Bangade dhoddak)

53 Comments / Fish, NonVeg / By

This post was originally published on Sept 12 -2006. I am reposting it with updated pictures which I clicked this time.

This is a dish loved by all the Konkanis who like Mackerel. This dish gets its amazing taste by the method it is prepared. Everybody at our native grows turmeric during monsoon. Basically it is grown for the aromatic turmeric leaves which are used in many traditional dishes. I must admit, some people absolutely hate this aroma. The leaves are even added to milk, while boiling, to give the distinct aroma. If people cannot stand the aroma, they use banana leaves. Few dried leaves are used when fresh ones are not available. That too taste great.

The traditional way of doing it is, spread the leaves in kadai, pour the masala with kokum, tirphal/teppal and fish pieces on the leaves. Then cover the masala with one more layer of leaves. Cover the dish with an plate. Spread some hot charcoal(ingalo) on the plate and cook on a low flame. Most of the time, instead of charcoal, a round ‘sheni‘ – which is a very common combustible material, is used. In this way, the dish gets cooked from both sides and retain the aroma.

Since it was not the season this time, aayi used few dried leaves and few fresh banana leaves for making this. It was out of this world. We ate this dish after a very long time and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ingredients:
10 pieces mackerel(bangde)
1 cup fresh/frozen coconut
10-12 red chillies
1″ piece ginger
A pinch turmeric
2-3 kokum pieces
4-5 teppal
Banana/turmeric leaves
Salt

If kokum is not available, use tamarind. If teppal is not available, this dish can be prepared without it. But the leaves are necessary, if none of the leaves are available, do not attempt to make this dish since you wont get the actual taste of it.

Method:
Grind coconut, turmeric, ginger and red chillies to a very smooth paste (with very little water).
In a heavy bottomed pan or non stick pan, spread banana/turmeric leaves.

Add the masala, slightly crushed teppal, kokum pieces, salt and fish pieces. Mix gently.

Spread banana/turmeric leaves on top.

Cover the lid.

Spread some lighted charcoals on top.

Cook for around 15-20min on a very low flame.

Serve with rice.
(Prepare this dish at least 2-3 hours before serving).

Serves : 4
Preparation time : 30 min

Egg curry with kasoori methi

26 Comments / Egg, NonVeg / By

I bought a big batch of kasoori methi sometime ago. Initially I was really hesitant to use it and now, it is one of the herbs that I am using very frequently. I just love the fragrance of these dried methi leaves.

This recipe is from my reader Roopa Rao. She had sent this to me about a year ago. I read it half for the first time and thought it was similar to what I cook. But while going through my old mails, I found this again. One of those days when I was lost thinking what to cook for a quick lunch, I tried this. It turned out to be very delicious. She had mentioned kasoori methi is optional, but it enhances the taste. I would suggest, do try it with methi, it brings the dish to a whole new level. Thanks Roopa for the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 boiled eggs
2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut
3-4 green chilies
1/2 tea spn garlic
1/2 tea spn ginger
2-3 strands coriander leaves
2 cloves
3-4 peppercorns
1″ cinnamon
1/2 tea spn poppy seeds
1/4 tea spn cumin seeds
1/2 cup slitted onion
1/2 tea spn chili powder
1/2 tea spn coriander powder
A pinch turmeric
1/2 cup tomato
1 tbl spn cream
1 tea spn kasoori methi
Oil
Salt

Method:
Grind coconut, green chilies, ginger, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, poppy seeds, coriander leaves.
Heat oil and add cumin seeds. Add onion and fry till onions turn brownish. Add ground masala and fry for 5-6mins till raw smell goes off.
Add chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric and fry for few more minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and fry for few more minutes (salt helps in cooking tomatoes faster). Add little water to bring it to a thick gravy consistency.
Pour in cream and cook for few more minutes. When it starts boiling, add the eggs slitted into half. Add kasoori methi. Cook for few more minutes.
Serve hot with jeera rice or chapathis.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins

Stuffed eggs

23 Comments / Egg, NonVeg / By

We both are big egg fans. We can take them in any form(except for uncooked versions), anytime. I just cannot have the same dish each time, so I keep collecting all possible recipes for egg. But I have few which I like to cook again and again. If they are simple to make, I love them more as it gives me some time to relax on weekdays.

This is a recipe which my sister-in-law R gave me. We were having our usual voice chatting and she said she had prepared stuffed eggs. She sent me the recipe and ever since I tried it, I have made it many times. I somehow forgot to post it here.

Those who do not like or do not wish to eat egg yolks, can discard them and just use other stuffing. It tastes great any way. Change the stuffing according to your choice.

Ingredients:
4 boiled eggs
1/4 cups onion
1/4 cups tomato
2-3 strands coriander leaves
1/2 tea spn garam masala
1/4 tea spn chili powder
A pinch turmeric
Oil
Salt

Method:
Peel the eggs. Cut them into half. Take out the yolks, taking care not to break the white part.
Heat oil and add onions. When they turn translucent, add tomatoes, salt. Cook for a minute. Add all other masalas, crushed egg yolks, finely chopped coriander and mix well.
While serving, stuff the white parts with the above stuffing and serve.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins

Yogurt chicken

29 Comments / Chicken, NonVeg / By

Chicken has become a very rare sight at my home. But whenever I cook it, I make sure to cook a new dish with it, so that I have enough recipes when I need them. This is one such dish I cooked a while ago.

Frying chicken in ghee/butter before adding it to a dish gives it a very unique taste, something I learnt very recently. I love the sweetness from onions, yogurt and spicy taste from chili powder in this. Fresh ginger and garlic gives it a strong taste. A very simple, yet tasty dish.

One thing I need to learn yet is, I can’t remember the measurements in weight. When I am buying chicken, I go for the smallest pack and make more than one dish with it :(.

Ingredients:
8-10 chicken pieces
1/2 tea spn garlic
1/2 tea spn ginger
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 tea spn coriander powder
1/2 tea spn cumin powder
1/2 tea spn chili powder
Ghee
1/2 tea spn garam masala
Salt

Method:
Heat ghee and fry chicken pieces till they get slightly brownish. Take them out.

Heat remaining ghee and add garlic, ginger, onions and fry till onions turn slightly brownish. Now add coriander powder, cumin powder, chili powder and fry for 30secs. Add the tomato pieces, salt and cook till tomato is slightly tender. Now add chicken pieces, yogurt and cook till the chicken is tender and all the water evaporates. Sprinkle garam masala, mix well for around 1mins. Serve hot.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins

Shrimps green curry

17 Comments / NonVeg, Prawns(Shrimp) / By

I am a great fan of shrimps and crabs. Even though I absolutely love my aayi’s dishes with these two, I like to try out any new dishes that comes my way. So while going through a Kannada magazine, this dish caught my fancy.

Uttara Kannada or North Kanara is a beautiful district in Karnataka state. My native is a part of this district. So obviously I get fascinated when I read something about this place. Since this place is very close to sea, seafood is very popular among many people here. I am constantly in search of these dishes as I feel I don’t know anything about non Konkani sea food dishes from Uttar Kannada. I covered most of the Konkani sea food dishes on this blog but I am yet to find others. So when I saw this dish, under the heading “Uttara Kannada Special”, I was very interested. I gave it a try immediately. We absolutely loved this.

Ingredients:
15-20 shrimps
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 tea spn chopped ginger
1/2 tea spn chopped garlic
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 1-2 pieces of tamarind
3-4 green chilies
3/4 cup coriander leaves
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and fry onion, ginger, garlic, green chilies till onions turn slightly brownish. Grind these with coconut, coriander leaves and tamarind.
Heat oil and fry shrimps till they turn whitish. Now add the paste, salt and cook till the gravy thickens and shrimps are completely cooked.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 15mins

Chicken Vindaloo

69 Comments / Chicken, NonVeg / By

I got many requests for this dish in last few days. Since I rarely cook chicken for us, I was waiting for a good time to cook it. Last weekend, I had invited my ex-colleague and friend Cindy and her husband for dinner. I knew she likes Indian food. I wanted to cook something different than what is available in Indian restaurants here. It took me a very long time to decide on the menu as I wanted something very flavorful but not very hot. I made few wrong choices that day, cooked few dishes that were very Indian and may not be liked by everyone, I learnt that, we can’t just reduce the chilies in any dish and expect it to work. Some dishes taste good only when made very hot(According to me, this is atleast true with most of the coconut based chicken dishes). But this dish soon became center of attraction. They both loved it and I became an instant fan too.

According to Wikipedia,

The term Vindaloo, derivative of the Portuguese “vinho de alho”, and also called Vindalho or Vindallo, refers to a popular Indian dish. It was first brought to Goa by the Portuguese and became a Goan meal often served during special occasions. The traditional Portuguese dish was made with pork preserved in red wine or red wine vinegar and stewed with garlic, but later received the Goan treatment of adding plentiful amounts of spice and dried chilis. Restaurants often serve this dish with chicken or lamb sometimes mixed with potatoes. Traditional vindaloos do not include potatoes, the discrepancy arising because the word “aloo” means “potato” in Hindi.

It took about 1hr for me to search this recipe. All the Vindaloo dishes from popular chefs in India, included potato (aloo) in it and I knew that was not the traditional way to do it. So I read at least 20 recipes before deciding how to make this dish. I simply loved the taste of this dish. I served it with parathas and yellow rice.

Ingredients:
1/4 kg chicken
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 tea spn ginger paste
1/2 tea spn garlic paste
1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
1/2 tea spn coriander seeds
1/2 tea spn cumin seeds
1/4 tea spn fenugreek seeds
1 tea spn vinegar (I used distilled vinegar)
1 tea spn chili powder or 4-5 red chilies (increase the amount of chilies if required)
3-4 strands coriander leaves
Oil
Salt

Method:
Grind together ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, red chilies, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds to a smooth paste. Apply this paste and salt to the chicken.
Heat oil and fry onions on a low heat till the onions turn dark brown and crispy(It may help to deep fry the onions in oil to speed up the process). Take them out on a clean kitchen towel to remove all the extra oil. Grind to a paste along with vinegar. This is the dark paste that gives the color to the dish, I removed the onions a tad bit early, so they were not crisp and the color of the dish remained light. Add this to the chicken(Add a little water if gravy is too thick). Leave it aside for 30mins.
Heat a little oil in thick bottomed pan. Add the marinated chicken with all the marinade. Cook till chicken is tender and gravy is thickened. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Serves : 2
Preparation time : 40mins(excluding marination time)

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