Foil Baked Fish n Vegetable

Once again, it is time for Know your Kolkata Food Blogger's event and this time it is the turn of Antara Ray who blogs from http://antypasti.com. As like other bloggers from Kolkata Food Blogger's friend, I am yet to meet her in person, but what I like about her blog is there are recipes which are very easy and super quick. e.g. This baked fish recipe is so easy, yet so flavourful, I could not imagine the end result would be this good. Here is the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• Basa Fish Fillet - 3
• Potato -2, sliced
• Carrot - 2, sliced
• Green peas -1/2 cup
• Corn - 1/2 cup
• Black pepper - as required
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp.
• Salt - as required
• Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice 1 tbsp.
• Garlic - chopped, 1 tbsp

Marinate the fish fillet with lemon juice for 30 minutes
Lay out two layers of foil on a baking tray. Now arrange potato & carrot slices onto it. Put other vegetables as well. Sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar.

Place the marinated fish on top of vegetable. Sprinkle chopped garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and vinegar over the fish again. Sprinkle red chilli flakes at the top.

Wrap up the sides of the foil around the fish so that the cooking juices should not come out of it. Now place the fish packets onto the baking tray and bake at 180 degree C for 15 minutes. The time may vary depending on your oven so keep checking,

  Let it stand inside the oven for 5 more minutes before you take it out of the oven.
Serve by opening the top of the foil with a drizzle of lemon juice.

For more easy and quick  recipes, please visit Antara's Blog.

Pomfret Goan Curry

Last time we visited Goa, apart from Sun, Sand and Beach, what fascinated us most is the Goan Fish Curry. It is almost a staple food of Goa, served along with rice, the flavor and smell of coconut milk is just awesome. I tried it many a times at home, the only variation I made is, I saute the fish over high heat for 2 / 3 minutes before putting it into the curry.

Ingredients

• Medium sized Pomfret Fish - 3
• Coconut Milk - 1 Cup
• Tomato Sauce - 2 tbsp
• Onion Paste - 2 tbsp
• Green chilli paste - 1 tsp
• Kashmiri Mirch Powder - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - 8-10 
• Whole mustard - a pinch
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Salt and Turmeric - as required.

Lightly fry the fishes with a pinch of salt and turmeric and keep aside.

Add some more oil to the pan and add the whole mustard and curry leaves. Now add the onion paste & green chilli paste and fry well. Add the tomato sauce, salt, chilli powder and turmeric and continue stirring with a sprinkle of water , if needed.
Add the coconut milk and mix well with the masalas over very low heat.

Add the fish pieces and cook covered till the fishes are cooked thoroughly.

Sprinkle 1 tsp of sugar and some whole green chilli and serve with plain rice.

Baati Chorchori

Once again, a traditional Bengali dish, bati chorchori can be cooked over low heat with any vegetable of your choice and a handful of shrimps.

Ingredients 

• Shrimp - 250 gms, cleaned
• Potato - 1
• Patol / Pointed Gourd - 3
• Pumpkin - 1 slice
• Brinjal - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Onion - 1
• Coriander Leaves - 1 handful
• Green Chilli - 3
• Salt and Turmeric - as required
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Mustard oil - 3 tbsp.

 Chop all the vegetables into cubes and mix together.

Add salt, turmeric, shrimps and mustard oil to the chopped vegetables and put everything into a deep kadai.

Add 2 cups of water and put the kadai over heat. Cover it with a heavy lid and let it simmer over very low heat. Continue cooking for 15 minutes or till the vegetables are done. Vegetables should be a bit overcooked to make the mixture gravy like. Once vegetables are cook add the sugar and mix well.

Once it is done, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and a spoonful of mustard oil. Keep covered for 10 more minutes before serving. Serve with plain rice or roti.

Jeera Ilish - Microwave

I was in a hurry and wanted to cook something in a jiffy. So, marinated the hilsa with masalas for 15 minutes, put everything in a microwave safe bowl and micro for 8 minutes. My dish is ready.

Ingredients

• Hilsa - 10 pieces
• Jeera / Cumin Powder - 2 tbsp.
• Mustard Oil - 3 tbsp.
• Bay leaf - 3
• Green chilli - 4, chopped
• Salt and Turmeric - as required
• Kashmiri Chilli Powder - a pinch

Marinate the fish with salt, turmeric, chilli powder,cumin powder, bayleaf, chopped green chilli and mustard oil for 15 minutes.

Add 2 cups of water to the marinated fish and mix well. Now put this into microwave.

Micro on high for 5 minutes. Then stir with a spoon and again micro on high for 3 more minutes. Keep on the standing time for 10 minutes. Serve with plain rice.

Basa in Spicy Pineapple Sauce

Basa fillet drizzled with spiced pineapple and pepper sauce. Ideal for a relaxed Saturday night cook-in.

Ingredients

• Vietnamese Basa - 4 boneless fillets
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Garlic - 3 cloves, minced
• Fresh pineapple Puree - 1 cup
• Whole black pepper - 1 tbsp.
• Whole Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Start Anise - 5
• Kaffir Lime leaves - 3
• Rock Salt - to taste
• Whole Red Chilli - 1

Cut the fish into 2-inch squares. Pat dry and season with salt and pepper and set aside. Lightly fry in little oil in a pan until golden on both sides and cooked through.

To prepare the sauce, gently sauté the onion and garlic in oil until translucent but before they turn brown.

Add the pineapple puree and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the Jeera / cumin seed and whole black pepper, increasing the heat until the sauce is reduced by half.
Drop in the star anise and whole red chilli and simmer for one minute.

Season the sauce with rock salt and pepper and add the fried fishes. Stir carefully so that the sauce is evenly coated over the fillets.

To serve, place some fillets onto a plate, then drizzle the sauce over it. Garnish with whole red chilli.



Punjabi Aloo Paratha

This is in continuation of our  'Know your Kolkata Food Blogger Event' .. and this time it is Amrita.. who blogs from 'Sweet n Savoury' .While browsing through her blog I stopped at this incredible Aloo Paratha recipe..and immediately decided to give it a try. Received the best compliment from my son, who said, he feels like he is in Delhi, enjoying breakfast at some roadside dhaba. :-) So far, whenever I made aloo Paratha, it is something like everywhere it is roti and thin layer of potato at the centre. But Amrita taught me how to spread the potatoes evenly. Let's see how. 

Ingredients

• Boiled potatoes - 4
• Finely chopped onion - 2 tbsp
• Grated ginger - 1 tbsp.
• Chopped green chillies - 2
• Chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp.
• Jeera powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Garam masala 1/4th tsp
• Amchur powder - 1 tsp
• Prepared atta dough

  In a bowl mash the boiled potatoes and add onion, ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves, jeera powder, salt, garam masala and amchur powder. Mix them well.

Now take a handful of the atta dough and make a small round roti.Take a handful of the potato mixture (equal to the quantity of atta dough taken ) and put in the center of the roti.

Now cover it with flour on both sides and make a round shaped roti again .

Roll it to a roti once again. Now add a good helping of ghee on the roti and spread it with a spoon.

     Fold the dough from the edges to the center into a square shape .

Now add more flour and roll it into a square paratha.

  

 This double rolling of the dough (first round shape and then square) ensures that the filling has reached all the corners well.
Now put it on a preheated tawa and fry on both sides till done. Serve hot with Dahi / Curd and pickle.

Spanish Omelette

A terrific breakfast recipe for the whole family when you have less than 15 minutes to serve.

Ingredients

• Eggs - 4
• Potato - 2, peeled and sliced
• Onion - 1, sliced
• Tomato - 2, sliced
• Green peas - 1/2 cup
• Green chilli - 2, chopped
• Grated Cheese - 2 tbsp
• Olive oil for frying
• salt and pepper - as per taste

Add olive oil to the pan. Then add the onion slices and fry for 30 seconds. Immediately add the potato slices and fry over low heat.

When potatoes are half cooked, add the tomatoes and green peas with a sprinkle of water and continue cooking. Both potatoes and peas should be well cooked and soft but not mashed.

Remove from heat and let it cool down.
In the mean time, whisk all four eggs with salt and pepper. Add the cooled vegetables into the beaten eggs. You may add a spoonful of milk to the mixture as well.

Add some more oil to the pan. Then pour the egg vegetable mixture onto the heated pan. Sprinkle grated cheese over the eggs and let it cook over very low heat.

Cover and continue cooking till the egg is set well at the top.

Cut into wedges and serve with butter or jam toast and tomato sauce.