Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Prawns curry



Prawns cooked in thick and a bit spicy coconut-tomato gravy. An absolute favorite at my home, served with bhakri either tandalachi or jondhlyachi!!, plain boiled rice aani dahi kanda!!

Whenever my mom use to cook this dish, we could make out that we are having prawns curry for dinner right from our rooms …..Yeah the aroma! It just use to tickle our tastebuds & we use to be hungry before dinnertime!! My brother use to taste it even before dinner! The dish being his all time favourite .Mom use to make two types of prawns curries –I am giving one of the recipes with full details while for the other one you just need to substitute tomatoes with amsool , curry leaves, mustard & coriander seed powder & the newer version is ready

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Prawns de shelled & de veined
1 cup grated coconut
1 finely chopped onion

1/2 cup coriander finely chopped

1tsp kolhapuri kala tikhat masala

1/2 turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala

2big ripe red tomatoes chopped

1/2 tsp ginger parlic paste

Oil to cook
Salt as per taste

Procedure:

  1. Mix grated coconut, tomatoes, ginger garlic paste & coriander in a blender& grind to a very smooth paste.
  2. Heat oil in a pan & fry onions till they turn golden brown.
  3. Add prawns and fry for 2 – 3 minutes (till the prawns become white in color, this enhances the aroma & taste of the curry).
  4. Now add turmeric powder, garam masala & kolhapuri kala tikhat masala mix it well & fry it for a minute or so.
  5. Now add the coconut tomato paste.
  6. Finally add salt and sufficient water to make the desired consistency.
  7. Cook until prawns are completely done.
  8. Serve hot with bhakri & hot steaming white rice.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Baked Fish


Fish, especially saltwater fish, is high in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are heart-friendly; it has less fat content and so nutritionist recommend a regular diet of fish compared to all the other meats.

Fish can be prepared in a variety of ways, including curries, baking, frying, and grilling.

Ingredients:

2 Fresh medium sized trout’s (de scaled & cleaned)

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp ginger garlic paste

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp freshly crushed pepper

1 small potato cut into rings (medium thick)

7-8 cherry tomatoes

2tsp chopped onions

1 lemon cut into rings

2-3 strings of coriander

Salt to taste

  1. Choose an appropriate size baking dish into which you can fit the trout and still have room of about half an inch around the fish.
  2. Mix the ginger garlic paste, chili powder, salt & lemon juice & spread it evenly on the fish including the inside & let it marinate for 1 hour in the fridge.
  3. Now arrange the fish, potato rings, cherry tomatoes, lemon rings, and onion in the baking dish.
  4. Sprinkle freshly crushed pepper, coriander leaves & some salt.
  5. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in a 325 degree oven until done. If not sure whether its done check it with a fork.
  6. Serve Hot .Outstandingly Delicious & yet easy to make!!!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Dahi wade


''Dahi'' means yogurt in Marathi and ''wade'' means round flat dumplings made from udit dal.Combine it together & u get today's recipe the soothing dahi wade!!

Dahi wade is a very cooling dish and I usually make a lot of dahi wada's during the summer. Most of the times I make medu wade’s/ udit wade’s the previous day & dahi wade’s of the left over batter in the evenings or the next day!!
The usual menu that goes along with dahi
wade’s in my kitchen is by teaming it up with something spicy either bhel or ragda puri/sev puri .This time we had medu wade & rassam in the morning & dahi wade’s for dinner a special sunday treat!!

Ingredients for the vadas
2 cups udad dal soaked for about 3-4 hours
salt to taste

Oil for frying

Procedure

  1. Grind the udad dal into a fine paste, do not add too much water to it.The batter should be thick.
  2. Now add salt to it &Fry the wadas
  3. Put the wada’s immediately in a bowl of cold water & leave them in water for 5- 10 minutes then squeeze the water out & put them in the dahi mixture.


For the dahi mixture

Ingredients:

1 can of stirred yogurt

1/2 tsp of cumin powder

1/4tsp black salt

2tsp sugar

Salt to taste

1/2tsp red chili powder for garnishing

1/2tsp cumin powder for garnishing

Chopped coriander for garnishing (optional)

Procedure:

  1. Take 2-3 cups of dahi and churn a little till all lumps are broken or best is get 1 can of stirred yogurt.
  2. Add cumin powder, sugar salt & black salt to it & mix it well.
  3. Now add the squeezed wade’s to this dahi mixture (wada’s should be dipped in the dahi mixture) & let it marinate in the fridge for atleast a minimum of 4 hours!
  4. Ideal way to do is do this in the mornings & serve it in the evenings or for dinner during summers!

Lemon Rice

I remember the times when I was working in India, my mom used to have all food cooked and ready by the time I was home.

Well, now that I am no longer privileged to have readymade meals all cooked & served waiting for me being all grown up married & so far away from home – I always tend to cook recipes that don’t require me to chop a lot or to have a constant eye while cooking. This lemon rice is one such dish and I got this recipe from a Bachelor friend of my hubby. Its so easy all you need is some left-over cooked rice and everyday ingredients in ur kitchen. Most of us one time or the other would have made this recipe. Nothing new about it.

Here's my version of simple yet delicious Super Fast lemon rice!


Ingredients:

Juice of 1 big lemon
Cooked Rice-2cups
Oil-1 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Fresh Green Or Dry Red Chilies 2 /3
Mustard -1/2 tsp
Cumin -1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Chopped coriander
Fresh grated coconut
Roasted groundnuts
Cashew nuts
Sugar 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Procedure:

  1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the Mustard when it starts to splutter, add the Urud Dal.
  2. When the Dal turns light brown put in the cumin.
  3. Now add the chilies, Curry leaves and turmeric Powder and turn off the heat completely. Immediately, add lemon juice and salt, Stir well.
  4. Now mix the rice gently in the seasoning until the rice turns yellow.
  5. Now add the cashews, groundnuts & stir well.
  6. Mix well for equal distribution of the seasoning and garnish with chopped coriander.
  7. Serve it with Papad/Chips& mango pickele, tastes yummy.
  8. It’s a great dish for breakfast or a quick meal after a long day but you can carry it for ur picnics as well