Chilly Fish

Last weekend some of our friends came over all the way from Colombus.I knew how they all loved fish and so prepared this chilly fish and shrimp fried rice to go along with it.The recipe is from Mrs.K.M Mathew’s Malayala Pachakam.

Chilly Fish

I’ve used King fish here,but you can use any fish of your choice.

Here’s the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Fish pieces – 1 kg
(If you are using whole fish,clean it and make some slits over it.This will help the masalas to penetrate inside)

Red Chillies – 6
Chopped Onion – 2 cup
Chopped Garlic – 1/2 cup
Grated Ginger – 1 tsp
Chilly powder – 1 tsp
Finely chopped Tomato – 1/2 cup
Tomato Ketchup – 1/4 cup

1 cup of Fish Broth(Soup prepared by cooking some fish pieces adding salt and water)
(I ‘ve just used water instead of fish broth)
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Ajinomotto – 1/4 tsp(Optional-not recommended for regular use)
Corn flour – 1/2 tsp

Capsicum diced – 1/2 cup
Chopped Celery – 2 tsp
Chopped Spring Onion Greens – for garnishing
Salt – to taste
Peanut Oil- as needed

For Marinate:-

Soya Sauce – 3 tsp
Chilly POwder – 2 tsp
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt – to taste

Prepare a marinate by mixing all these together.

Method:-

Apply the marinate on the fish pieces and allow it to stand for 2 hrs preferrably in a refrigerator.Then deep fry it in Peanut oil.( I didn’t have peanut oil,and so i used vegetable oil itself).
Heat little oil in another pan and fry the red chillies till brown.Remove them from pan,and pound them to a coarse powder. Keep it aside.In the remaining oil,add onion,ginger and garlic and saute them until onion turn translucent.Now add chilly powder,chopped tomato and ketchup and saute them till oil starts to seperate.Mix fish broth,vineger,corn flour, ajinomotto and salt together and pour the mixture into the sauteed masala.Allow it to boil for a while,and when the gravy starts to thicken throw in capsicum and celery.Simmer for 2-3 minutes.Now add the reserved red chilly powder ,and mix it well.

Arrange the fish pieces neatly in a serving powl.Pour the prepared sauce over it.Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot.

Chilly Fish served with Fried Rice

Chicken In Lemon Sauce

This recipe is from my treasured recipe series- Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khana Khazana- a collection of 8 books.I got this book at a reduced price,while we were in Bangalore.I’ve tried many recipes from it and they were all just perfect.

Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khana Kazana Series

Yesterday there was a potluck party at my husbands office,and he suggested cooking some non veg item.All of his colleagues are Americans and as they are very sensitive to spicy food,I had to look out for some mild non-spicy dishes.Finally I chose this Chicken in Lemon Sauce ,Indianized version of a Chinese dish and it was a big hit there.

Chicken In Lemon Sauce

Here’s the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Boneless Chicken Breasts- 4 or 5
Green Capsicum – 1 small sized
Red Capsicum – 1/2 small sized
Yellow Capsicum -1/2 small sized

Chicken & Capsicum pieces

Lemon Juice – 3 tbsps
Corn starch – 6 tbsps
White Pepper Powder – 1/2 tsp
Sugar – 3 tbsps
Star Anise – 1
Lemon Rind(grated) – 1 tsp
Chicken Stock – 2 cups
Garlic – 2 tsp (Optional)
(This is not in the original recipe.I’ve added it,as I love the garlic flavour)
Ajinomoto – 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Salt – to taste
Oil – 2 tbsps + to deep fry
Water – as needed
Method:-
Clean,wash and drain chicken breasts and cut it into small pieces.Marinate chicken in 1 tsp of lemon juice and salt.Blend 2 tbsps of cornstarch in 1/2 a cup of water.
Halve,deseed and cut capsicums into 1 inch sized pieces.Heat sufficient oil in a wok,roll marinated chicken pieces in remaining cornstarch and then deep fry it until crisp and light brown.Drain onto an absorbent paper.Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a wok or a pan,add capsicum pieces and stir fry briefly.Add pepper powder,ajinomoto,sugar,salt,star anise,lemon rind,chicken stock and bring to a boil.Stir in blended cornstarch and cook on medium heat till sauce starts to thicken.Add fried chicken pieces,and simmer for a couple of minutes.Stir in the remaining lemon juice and serve hot.

It goes very well with fried rice.

This is my entry for Tony’s Weekend Mela.

Fish Manchurian

Fish Manchurian-another excellent Indo-Chineese dish from Shynee.Fish lovers must try this,it goes well with almost anything be it roti,fried rice whatever.Even kids will love it.

Fish Manchurian

Thanks a bunch for this one,Shynee .I blindly followed her recipe with cat fish fillets and it goes like..
Ingredients:-

Fish fillets cut into small pieces- 250 gms
Ginger-Garlic paste – 25 gms of ginger + 10 gms of garlic
Chopped Garlic – 15 gms
Green Chillies chopped -4
Red Pepper sauce – 2 tbsp
Soya Sauce -1 and 1/2 tbsp
Tomato Sauce – 2 tbsp
Corn flour -3 tsp
All purpose flour/Maida – 3/4 tbsp
Egg-1
Milk – 4 tbsp
Spring Onion -a bunch
Pepper powder -1 tsp for the batter +1 tsp for marinating fish pieces
Salt – to taste
Oil – for deep frying fish pieces+ 2tsp for sauteing

Method:-

Mix together pepper powder and salt and marinate fish pieces in it for 10 mts.Then cook the fish pieces adding 3 tbsps of milk.As Shynee suggested I microwaved it for 7-8 mts.Reserve it for later use.
Beat egg well,slowly add all purpose flour and corn flour into it ,beat it again to a smooth batter.Stir in pepper powder,ginger -garlic paste,1 tbsp milk and salt.(Consider the`saltiness of Soya sauce while adding salt).Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan ,dip each cooked fish piece into the reserved batter ,and then dip it in the oil.Fry all sides well till brown.Transfer it into a tissue paper and keep it aside.
Heat 2 tsp oil in another pan and saute chopped garlic,green chilly an spring onion till everything turn translucent.Mix in all the sauces and cook for a minute.Now add fried fish pieces and mix it well .Egg-cornflour mixture can also be added into it ,if you like the gravy to be thick.Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and serve it hot.

A lunch for my toddler

Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice

The harmonious integration of color, taste, and appearance made Chinese Cuisine popular all over the world. The choice of various ingredients, seasonings and the heating mechanism used in chinese cooking gives such a great perfection to all the senses.People in different countries add their own flavours and spices to Chinese food to customize it to their own taste. Fried rice ,with Gobi Manchurian as its side,is one of the tastiest and popular dishes in Indo-Chinese menu.I’ve got a real passion towards Chinese dishes,whatever it be.This is my favourite recipe of Chinese Fried rice and it’s always been a hit in my home.

Ingredients:-

Cooked & Cooled rice – 2 cups(Usually short grain rice like Sona Masoori gives a better look..) Choped onion- 1/2 cup Diced vegetables(Carrot,Green Beans)- 1/2 cup Green Peas -1/4 cup Chopped Capsicum,Celery & Spring Onion- 1/2 cup Whole dry chillies slit-3 Soya Sauce -2 tsp Green Chilly Sauce – 1 tsp Pepper powder – 1 tsp Vinegar – 1 tsp Ajinomotto -a pinch(I do not recommend using this for home cooking eventhough it enhances the taste.As everyone knows,its really really bad for health.)You can also use Bouillon cubes instead of Ajinomotto which is available in grocery stores.Bouillon cubes are not bad for health.You can get this even in health stores. Salt – to taste Olive Oil/Salad Oil – as needed

Method:-

Heat oil in a pan and add onion and red chillies.Add all the diced vegetables and green peas and saute well.Add soya sauce,chilly sauce and salt to it.Stir for few minutes.Now add ajinomotto,capsicum,celery and spring onion and cook till vegetables are tender . Cook utill all the water evaporates.Finally add cooled rice to it and mix well on high heat.Add pepper powder and vinegar and again stir well.Garnish with Spring Onion greens.You can also add scrambled egg along with this. If you have got all the ingredients ready,the process won’t take more than 10 minutes.You can follow the same procedure for chicken or beef fried rice,but it takes more cooking time.Serve it along with Gobi Manchurian.An excellent fusion cooking recipe of Gobi Manchurian is available in Hooked On Heat. Posted by Annita

Szechuan Vegetable Noodles

Szechuan Cuisine is one among several regional Chineese Cuisines.Hearing about Szechuan ,people immediately think of hot ,spicy dish with a bright attractive red color.But the fact is that Szechuan dishes are not that hot compared to Indian food.Many among them are not at all spicy.
Szechuan cuisine is a style of cooking originated from Sichuan , a province in central-western China with its capital at Chengdu.Sichuan is also known as the “Land of Abundance”,which is one of the major production bases in China.The climate is often heavily wet,cold &foggy .It is the Szechuan red peppercorns ( “huajiao” means flower pepper in Chinese) that gives Szechuan dishes its distinctive taste.This is inexpensive and are available in different Chineese groceries.
My recipe is an Indianized version of Szechuan Noodles.As i don’t have Szechuan peppercorns with me,i normally use red chilly paste in all Szechuan dishes i prepare.But experts says this cannot be used as an alternative for Szechuan peppercorns.Anyway I didn’t get a chance to try it.
Here goes my recipe …

Ingredients:-
Cooked Noodles – 4 cups.
Add noodles to boiling water adding 1/2 tsp of oil into it(this will prevent noodles from sticking together).Cook it for 5 minutes.Immediately washed the noodles in cold running water for 4-5 times.Drain well using a strainer and keep aside.
Vegetables(Carrots,Green Beans) cut into thin slices – 2 cups
Diced Onions – 1
Diced Capsicum- 1/2(If you want you can add red peppers,yellow peppers etc according to your choice & taste)

Veggies Needed

Sun dried Tomatoes(Optional) -3
Vinegar – 2 tbsp
Soya Sauce -1 tbsp
Red Chilly sauce – 1 tbsp
Whole dried red chillies – 3 -4
Red Chilly paste -1 tbsp(You can buy it ready made from Grocery stores or you can prepare it by mixing kashmiri red chilly powder,salt & Vinegar)
Oil as needed
Salt to taste

Method:-

Heat oil in a pan and stir fry onions and capsicum for sometime.When it starts to change its color add vegetables and tomatoes into it.Stir it well .Add Whole red chillies,and red chilly paste into it.Then add all the sauces and salt.Be careful while adding salt,as soyasauce may be salty.Then slowly add cooked noodles into it and mix it thoroughly.Add vinegar and keep it in high heat for 3-4 minutes stirring continuously.Serve hot when its done.

Szechuan Veggie Noodles

Usually for Chineese dishes they do all the cooking in a large pan and applying high heat tossing continuosly.Thats why we don’t usually get the same restaurant taste for Chineese dishes when we do at home.