Baked Salmon with an Indian twist

Salmon is considered to be a health food by many because of its omega-3 fatty acids. A lot of health benefits are associated with its consumption. This is one of my favorite fish, here in Canada. However, I don't buy it often because it is too expensive. Whenever, I did buy salmon, I generally prepared it in a Continental style but was very surprised to know that our Indian spices also go very well with this fish. I had this dish at my friend's place and really liked the preparation. So, decided to share it with you all.

Preparation Time : 40 minutes + marination time

Serves : 4

Ingredients :

4 medium sized salmon steaks

3 tbsp of fish fry masala

salt to taste

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tsp of mixed Italian herbs

2 tbsp of fresh chives finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

• In a bowl, combine fish fry masala, salt, lime juice, Italian herbs and chives together.
• Pour in 1 tbsp of olive oil to form a thick paste
• Apply this paste or marinade on both sides of the salmon steaks.
• Let this rest in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
• Grease a baking tray lightly with olive oil
• Preheat the oven to about 400 degree F and bake the fish for about 15 minutes on either side.
• Serve hot with some nutty couscous salad.

Note: If you don't have fish fry masala, you need to combine 2 tbsp of red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, 1 tsp of cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp garlic powder together. Combine this with the rest of the ingredients mentioned above and make a marinade for the fish.

Patrani Machi

These past few days, I have been simply trying out recipes from other blogs and from other food websites. I am really amazed to find a lot of interesting recipes on some blogs. Also, I have come across some familiar recipes with a simpler way to prepare them. One such recipe is Patrani Machi. My eldest sister's mother-in-law used to make this recipe all the time when I used to visit my sister at Colaba, Mumbai. I simply loved this dish, but I always found it to be very tedious to make it at home on my own. Firstly, finding banana leaves, then wrapping the fish in these leaves, then tying them up with a thread and finally steaming then. I found it easy to go to sister's place and eat it rather than prepare it at home :)

Last week, I was browsing through hypercity website...this is a hypermarket in Mumbai which I normally visit when in India. I found the simpler way of making Patrani Machi on their website. They suggested making it with ice-berg lettuce. When I read the recipe, my husband immediately told me that it would not taste nice with the lettuce leaves. But, I decided to give it a try and made this recipe with Halibut fish. It came out so good that one could not find any difference between the traditional way of preparing this and using ice-berg lettuce to prepare it. I took a few pictures of the dish just before baking it. Then, when it was ready to take out from the oven, we were so excited to eat it that I simply forgot to take any pictures. However, I had a few last pieces remaining and took a quick picture of it. The picture might not look appetizing but believe me, this dish is a must try. It takes only 15 minutes for preparation and 30 minutes for baking the fish.

As hyperCity has removed the recipe from their website...I am typing out the same for all of you who are interested in making this quick and easy dish.

Ingredients:

6-8 pieces of boneless skinless halibut (about 2 inch size)

8-10 big leaves of Ice-berg lettuce

oil

for the green chutney:

7 mint leaves (optional)

half a bunch of coriander leaves

3 - 4 cloves of garlic

a small piece of ginger

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

3 green chillies

1 tsp cumin seeds

11/2 tbsp grated coconut

1 tbsp lime juice

salt to taste

Method:

• Grind all the ingredients for the chutney in a mixer to a smooth paste. Add a little water while grinding if required. The consistency of the chutney should not be too thick or too watery.
• Apply this chutney to the halibut pieces of both sides and wrap this halibut fish in ice-berg lettuce leaf. One leaf per fish. Fold the leaf around the fish so as to make a packet as shown in the picture above.
• Follow this procedure for all the pieces of halibut
• Grease a baking tray with oil.
• Place the lettuce wrapped fish in the tray and sprinkle a little oil on top of it.
• Bake this in the oven for about 30 minutes till the fish is cooked completely.
• You could serve this with rice and dal.

Note: The lettuce can be eaten or can be removed and kept aside. But the lettuce tastes equally good. I used halibut for this recipe but any white fish could be used for this recipe.

Sea-food platter

Some days back, I made this beautiful sea-food platter for dinner and so decided to share it with you all. The platter consists of balsamic tilapia, panko fried tilapia and stir fried shrimps in white wine along with sweet potato mash and some roasted vegetables. All these recipes are put up on the blog individually.

Balsamic Tilapia

I came across this recipe while browsing on the net through google and decided to give it a try. I was not very sure if balsamic vinegar would work well with this fish but, was very surprised to see the final result. It was very light and delicious.


Ingredients:

1 Tilapia fillet

Marinade:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp minced garlic
2 dashes of Tabasco
salt to taste

Method:

• Put all the marinade ingredients in a jar and shake it well.
• Pour this marinade on the fish covering it nicely and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 2 hours
• Heat oil in a non-stick pan and shallow fry it on both sides till it slightly golden brown in colour.
• Serve hot with sweet potato mash or any side dish of your choice.
  

Panko fried Tilapia

I wanted to try out different marinades for Tilapia. I had heard a lot of Panko breadcrumbs. These are basically Japanese breadcrumbs and have a nice crunchy effect. So, this is what I did with it...


Ingredients :

2 Tilapia fillets
1 tbsp light mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp of oil
Method:

• Clean and dry the tilapia fillets and keep aside.
• Combine the mayonnaise and the mustard together. Add thyme, garlic powder, chilli flakes to it and rub this marinade on the tilapia fillets.
  
• Let this rest for about 2 hours in the refrigerator
• After 2 hours, bring them to room temperature.
• In a plate, combine Panko breadcrumbs with salt and pepper.
• Roll the tilapia fillets in the panko breadcrumbs. Ensure that they are coated with breadcrumbs on all sides.
• Heat oil in a non-stick pan and shallow fry these panko coated tilapia fillets till you get a nice golden colour on both sides.
• You could also bake them in the oven for about 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.
• Serve hot with any side dish of your choice.
  

Stir fried Shrimps in white wine

This is one of my own creation. I got some nice big shrimps from the Chinese market some days back and wanted to do something different with it. So, I simply combined a few ingredients together and the result was just too good. So, thought of sharing this interesting shrimp recipe with you all....

Preparation time : 15 mins + 2 hours marinating
Serves : 4

Ingredients:

20 big shrimps (heads removed & de-veined)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (you could add more depending on your spice intake)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp dry white wine
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

• Clean the shrimps but keep the tail on.
• Combine all the ingredients together and mix it with the shrimps and let it rest 2 hours in the refrigerator
• In a pan, heat some olive oil. Then fry the shrimps on both sides, till you see the colour changing and the shrimps curling up slightly.
• Alternatively, you could also grill them on the barbecue or on a grill pan.
• Serve hot with any sides.
  

I am sending this recipe to Spicy Tasty's Sizzling Summer Contest - Grilled food recipes.

Clams in a Spicy Coconut Gravy (Kubhe Sukhe)

I love clams which also known as "Kubhe" in Konkani. During my visit to the Chinese market, I purchased them and decided to make this dish the mangalorean way. I have watched my mom make it and it is really very delicious. This dish can be eaten with rice and dal (lentil soup).

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

500 gms of clams

1/2 cup of freshly grated coconut

3-4 cloves of garlic crushed

6-7 curry leaves

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

to grind to a paste:

2 bedki mirchi (chilli)

2 madras mirchi (chilli)

1 medium onion chopped and shallow fried

1 tsp cumin seeds roasted

1 tsp coriander seeds roasted

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

5 peppercorns roasted

1 tsp tamarind pulp

2 cloves of garlic chopped

salt to taste

Method :

• Boil the clams in 1/2 cup water adding some salt to it till the clams open up.
• Put all the ingredients in the blender and add some water and grind to a fine paste
• In a pan, heat about 2 tbsp of oil and fry the coconut nicely till slightly brown. Then put it in the blender and crush it slightly and keep aside.
• Heat some oil in another pan. Add the mustard seeds, crushed garlic and curry leaves and then add the ground paste and fry nicely.
• Then add the boiled clams to this paste and mix it well. Add salt if required.
• Then add the coconut to it and mix it well.
• Serve hot with rice and dal.

Stuffed Pomfret in Green Masala

I am a big fan of pomfrets. During my visit to the Chinese market, I got 2 of them and decided to make this recipe using one of the pomfrets. This tastes so delicious and can also eaten as a starter or with rice and dal.

This is a typical Maharastrian delicacy.

There are several versions of making this recipe. However, this is my own version of making stuffed pomfrets and it tastes really yummy!!!

Preparation Time : 20 minutes + marination time

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

1 big pomfret

to grind to a paste:

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

4 mint leaves

2-3 peppercorns

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp tamarind pulp

1 tsp lime juice

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 tbsp freshly grated coconut

4 green chillies chopped

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

Method :

• Clean and dry the pomfret. Remove the head and the inside part properly till the fish looks white and clean. Then delicately make a slit from just below the head till the tail on the right side of the pomfret so that it forms a pocket for filling in the masala. Turn the fish and repeat the same procedure on the other side of the pomfret.
• Marinate the pomfret in 1/4 tsp turmeric, salt and 1/2 tsp lime juice and keep aside for about half an hour.
• Grind all the above ingredients to a paste. The paste should neither be too thick or too thin.
• Apply this paste to the marinate fish and leave it in the refrigerator for about 3-5 hours.
• Heat 3 tbsp oil in a frying pan. Fry the fish on both sides on high flame till it is golden brown in colour for just 1 minute on each side.
• Then put this fish in a preheated oven at 400 degree F for 15 minutes. Sprinkle some oil on top before putting it in the oven.
• Serve hot with lettuce and lemon slices.

Mangalorean Style Surmai (King fish) Curry

King fish or Surmai is one of my favorite Indian fish. While in India, I used to cook this quite often as this is one of my husband's favorite dishes.

Last week I went to a Chinese market in Canada and found this fish there. I couldn't wait to come home and cook it. Needless to say that everyone enjoyed and relished it !!!

I have learned this recipe from my mother. A bowl of hot steamed rice with surmai curry simply tastes amazing.

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Serves : 4

Ingredients :

6-8 Surmai fish pieces

1 tbsp vinegar

salt to taste

a small bunch of coriander leaves finely chopped

3 tbsp oil

to grind to a paste:

1 meduim onion chopped

3 whole dry kashmiri chillies

2 whole dry madras chillies

2 whole dry bedki chillies

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 cup coconut milk or 1/2 coconut freshly grated

5 peppercorns

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp tamarind paste

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt

For tempering:

1/2 onion finely chopped

a few curry leaves

Method :

• Marinate the fish with salt and turmeric and keep aside for 10 minutes.
• In a mixer, grind all the ingredients as mentioned above to a fine paste with little water.
• Take some oil in a frying pan and fry the marinated fish on both sides and keep aside.
• Take another pan and heat some oil in it. Then add the curry leaves and the finely chopped onion and fry nicely.
• Then add the ground masala and fry it well for about 5 minutes
• Then add enough water to the masala to make it a gravy (not too thick or not too thin) like consistency
• Bring this to a boil. Then add the vinegar and again bring to a boil. Check seasoning.
• To this add the fried fish pieces and cover and cook for 3 minutes.
• Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves
• Serve hot with steamed rice.

Fried Tilapias

I am a great fan of sea-food. I love all kinds of fish but my favorite one is king fish. Being in Canada, it is very difficult to get king fish or any kind of Indian fish. So, then I came across tilapia. This is a very tender fish which requires a lot of care while cooking it. It easily breaks while frying so one has to be very careful while handling it.

I had never worked with tilapia before and was wondering whether it would go well with our Indian spices. So I gave it a try and it turned out to be very delicious. Now, it is my all time favorite fish in Canada. So here goes the recipe for all the tilapia lovers...

Fried Tilapias

Fillets of tilapia marinated with Indian spices.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 5 minutes

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

3 big fillets of fresh or frozen tilapia

1 cup of Italian bread crumbs

2 tbsp of oil

For the marinade:

1 tbsp of red kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp of turmeric powder

1 tsp of cumin powder

1/2 tsp of garlic paste

1/2 tsp of ginger paste

1 tsp of vinegar

1 tsp of lime juice

salt to taste

a few drops of water

Method:

• Take a small bowl and mix all the marinade ingredients together.
• Rub the marinade over the tilapias and let it rest for 10 minutes
• Pour the Italian bread crumbs on a plate and spread it out
• Roll each marinated tilapia in these bread crumbs and shallow fry on both sides on medium heat for not more than 5 minues.
• Serve with some lemon wedges.

Prawns in Coconut Gravy

A nice blend of Indian spices with some creamy coconut milk and delicious prawn makes a thick mild gravy.




Preparation Time : 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serves : 3

Ingredients :

20 Medium sized prawns cleaned, shelled and de-veined
1 large onions cut into cubes
3 tbsp of oil
3 cloves of garlic peeled1 small green capsicum finely cut
1 tsp of crushed red chillies1 small green chilli slit into half
1 cup coconut milk
1 tomato finely cut
salt to tastecoriander for garnish

Method:

• First marinate the prawns with some turmeric and salt and keep aside for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, take a pan and add some oil to it
• Then add the onions and the garlic and fry nicely till the onions are pink
• Then add capsicum and continue to fry.
• Once it is fried well, add the crushed red chillies, green chilli, salt and prawns. Mix well
• Then add the coconut milk and the tomatoes.
• Cover and cook for 5 minutes till the prawns are cooked
• Garnish with corriander leaves
• This gravy goes well with steamed rice