Meen vevichathu

About 14 years back ,when I first came to U.K in 2006, we lived in a little village called Ipswich. Life was a bit boring and dull  there, as I was new to the place and didn't have any friends.There were hardly any malayalees or Indians  around and I had trouble understanding british accent, so I used to be a bit hesitant to step outside on my own.  

When boredom hit me real hard, I decided to venture out on my own and it was during one of my casual walks that  I met Marina chechi. She was from Kottayam and was a great cook !  She  made this Kottayam fish curry/meen vevichathu for one of the dinner parties at her place. She confessed before dinner  that she messed up with kashmiri( milder) chilli and hot chilli powder and ended up adding hot chilli powder  instead of kashmiri chilli and gave us all a heads up !

My husband was in for a real treat..he can’t handle too much red chilli..he sweats like crazy ! As soon as we started eating, he started sweating nonstop . He was sweating profusely at one end and she was handing him tissues one after the other..it was hilarious ! So if you are attempting this recipe and can’t handle spicy, please make sure u used kashmiri chilli instead of normal chilli.

Ingredients

Fish – 500 gm ( I used pomfret/ avoli)

Shallots/ cheriya ulli – 4- 5 number

Fenugreek seeds – one small pinch ( 1/8 tsp)

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Ginger crushed – 1 tbsp

Garlic crushed – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 3 tsp or according to your spice level( more  u add  better the colour)

Turmeric powder - ½ tsp

Coconut oil – 2 tbs                                                                         

Kudam puli – 2 petals
Fenugreek powder - 1/8 tsp ( a pinch)
Water as required

salt

Method

In a chatti/ clay pot or pan add coconut oil and sputter mustard seeds.

Once it sputters add fenugreek seeds and saute until its light brown.

Add thinly sliced shallots and fry for 4-5 minutes until light brown.

Add crushed ginger and garlic and saute for a minute or so , or until raw smell goes.

Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and fry the powders until raw smell goes( sprinkle some water if it’s sticking to the bottom of the chatti)

Add water, salt,kodum puli, curry leaves and let the gravy boil for 2-3 minutes.

Add the fish pieces and cook for 5-8 minutes until done. Add a pinch  fenugreek powder and remove from fire.

Drizzle some coconut oil in the end.

Leave it untouched for few hours before serving

I usually make it the overnight and boil it again next day  before serving.

Fish Molly/ Kerala fish molly/ fish stew

Back home fish was a daily affair, the only dilemma we had was which fish to buy .The fish here lack that flavour we grew up eating with. From eating it daily we went down to eating it only maybe fortnightly. 

One cold January morning during our normal grocery shopping weekend, we came across this Asian shop which sells fresh Indian fishes. It was quite an accidental discovery and we were very thrilled. The options were also  quite impressive. Being fish lovers, me and my hubby were like kids in a candy shop. We usually end up buying a lot more than we need and some weekends I would prepare three different dishes with fish ! Anyway we have been buying regularly from that shop and enjoying our fish ever since. When I found some fresh Pomfret last week, I bought it with the plan of making this fish molly, a Kerala special fish curry. I paired it up with Appams and it went down as a treat for us.

I really wonder how this curry got the name Fish molly. Molly is a female name quite common in Kerala, perhaps it was one Molly who developed this recipe :)

Ingredients

Pomfret / kingfish / or any firm fleshed fish – 500 gm

To marinate

Salt

Pepper – 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Lime juice – 1 tbs

Cinnamon stick – 1 small

Cloves – 3

Cardamom - 3

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Bay leaves – 2 ( fresh or dry)

Onion ( medium) – Thinly sliced

Tomato – 1

Ginger minced – 1 1/2 tsp

Garlic minced – 1 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – 2-3 sprigs

Oil preferably coconut oil

Very thin Coconut milk - 1 cup (  if using tinned coconut milk dilute 1/4 cup  coconut milk with 3/4 cup water)

Thin coconut milk – 1 cup (½ cup tinned coconut milk with ½ cup water)

Thick coconut milk – ½ cup

Fried onions – 2 tbs (optional)

Method

• Marinate the fish with ingredients mentioned under to marinate and keep it aside for ½ an hour.
• In a pan add some oil and shallow fry the fish on  medium flame until ¾ th done by flipping both sides, takes about 7 minutes.
• In another pan add some oil and sputter fennel seeds.
• Add in cinnamon sticks, bayleaves, cardamom and cloves and when nice aroma comes out add the sliced onions and  few curry leaves.
• Saute the onions until soft.
• Add minced ginger and garlic and fry until raw smell goes.
• Add very thin coconut milk and few  curry leaves let it boil.
• Add the fish along with thin coconut milk and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Finally add the thick milk and chopped tomatoes when it starts to boil remove from fire.
• Garnish with fried onions. 

Chilli fish with step by step pictures

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Good time surely flies... before I blinked my eyes two weeks of holiday just flew past! sigh..No more late nights or alarm free mornings :( but I think to appreciate and enjoy the holiday we need to earn the break or it won’t be this fun. Anyway I am glad that I got back into the mood of blogging during this break and I actually took an effort to take pictures of things I cooked. I am not sure how long that is going to last though.

Coming to today’s post, chilli fish is one of my favourite dishes. I have been making this for a long time now, especially when I have friends over but like many other recipes it never found its way to blog. It’s such a hassle free recipe with no deep frying bit but still tastes awesome.Talking about the  step by step pictures eventhough I managed to click all the steps they are not really good ones as my helper (hubby) got so impatient and ditched me after taking 1-2 pictures so I  had to click most of it with one hand  :)

Ingredients

 For marinade and frying 

Boneless fish - 500 gm

Maida/ Plain flour - 6 tbs

Cornflour - 3 tbs

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Salt

Pepper - 1 tsp

Water - 1/4-1/2 cup

Egg -1

Oil for shallow frying 

For sauce

Onion - 3 medium (cubed )

Spring onion – 5 ( chop whites and green and keep them separate)

Capsicum/ pepper - 1

Green chillies - 2( cut diagonally )

Minced ginger – 2 tsp

Minced garlic – 2 tsp

Tomato sauce/ tomato ketchup – 5 tbs

Soya sauce - 4 tbs

Chilli garlic sauce - 2 tbs

Oyster sauce ( optional ) – 1 tbs

Salt 

Cornflour - 2 tbs

Water - 5 tbs

Method

• In a bowl add Plain flour, cornflour, salt, pepper, ginger garlic paste, egg and water and make a batter ( thick enough to coat the the fish) 
  
  
  
• Dip the fish in the batter and shallow fry them in a pan adding oil flipping the sides until they are golden brown for about 5 minutes on each side. Drain it on paper towel / kitchen tissue and keep it aside.
  
  
  
  
• In the same pan add minced ginger, minced garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.  
  
•   Add cubed onions and chopped green chillies and sauté until onions are soft.  
  
• Add spring onion whites and saute for a minute or so.
  
• Add tomato sauce.  
  
• Add soya sauce.
  
• Add oyster sauce.   
• Add chilly garlic sauce and cook for few minutes until oil starts to separate. 
  
• Add chopped capsicum and stir for 1-2 minutes.  
  
• Now add the fried fish and coat it in the sauces and cook it covered for 3- 5 minutes.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Finally dissolve 2 tbs of corn flour in 5 tbs of water and pour this to the paneer and mix well. 
  
• Cook for another 1-2 minute and  sprinkle the sprinkle the spring onion greens turn of the flame.            
  
                                                            

Enjoy !                                                                                                                                               

Fish Kolambu/ Meen Kolambu

I cannot stress myself how much I am missing blogging and cooking these days. Since its Christmas holidays here I am at my own liberty now and I have been telling myself that I should make an extra effort to seize this opportunity and update the blog as much as possible and tada..here I am with the a spicy fish curry I have been cooking over and over again for a long time.

I was introduced to this fish kolambu   many years ago from Chennai. I went there for a short trip and food was definitely the best thing I enjoyed the most.  I went crazy exploring the cuisine and one thing which I loved the most was this fish kolambu. I remember trying to recreate it after the trip and in spite of being novice the kolambu tasted great, but back then I was not a blogger and like many other recipes I didn’t save the recipe anywhere and completely forgot about it and never made it again. Couple of month’s back I was in the mood to make a different fish curry and I came across this fish kolambu in vahrehvah. The recipe was quite simple and I had all the ingredients handy and after many moons I made it again and I have to say it brought back all those reminiscence of Chennai! I have been making this curry for quite some time now and every time I postpone clicking the picture for next time. Even today was not a great day to click it, it’s so dark outside and lighting was so poor but now I don’t fuss much about photography, lighting or styling. In fact I have lost touch in styling it and the making it presentable too, but I promise whenever possible I will take an effort to update the recipes with better pictures!

Ingredients

Fish – 500 gm

Onion – 2 medium ( make a paste )

Tomato - 2 Small (blanched and pureed)

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Garlic pods (crushed) – 4- 5

Green chillies (slit ) – 2

Mustard seeds – 2 tsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – ¾ tsp

Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – few

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – ¾ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 ½ tsp

Tamarind (gooseberry size) – soaked in  ¼ cup hot water

Sesame oil – 2 tbsp

Water

salt

Method

• In a chatti/ claypot or saucepan add sesame oil and sputter mustard seeds
• Add cumin, fenugreek, fennel seeds and crushed garlic.
• Once garlic becomes golden brown add slit green chillies and curry leaves.
• Add onion paste and saute for 10 minutes.
• Add ginger garlic paste and when the raw smell goes add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and saute for a minute or so.
• Add tomato puree and finally add tamarind water, water, salt and bring the sauce to boil.
• Simmer the sauce for 25 minutes until oil separates.
• Add fish to the sauce and cook for 5- 10 minutes. 

Enjoy ! 

Tuna cutlet / fish cutlet

 

Ingredients (for 8  cutlets )

Canned tuna - 1 can (200 gm)

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Onion - 1 large

Potato - 3-4 medium

Ginger minced - 2 tsp

Garlic minced - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala/ chicken masala - 1 tsp

Salt

Egg -1

Bread crumbs ( as required )

oil 

Method

1.Peel and boil potatoes. Mash and keep it aside.

2.In a saucepan add some coconut oil sputter fennel seeds, add minced  ginger, curry leaves and saute for a minute.

3.Add finely chopped onions and saute until soft.

4.Add minced garlic and saute for a minute.

5.Add all the spice powders  cook until raw smell goes. Add drained  tuna chunks and saute for about 5-8 minutes.

6.Finally add mashed poatoes , mix well and turn off the flame.

7.Shape them into little balls and flaten them out a little to get a circle shape, dip them in beaten egg to give a coating and finally in the bread crumbs .

8.Deep fry them until golden and crispy .

Meen Pollichathu (Fried Fish wrapped in banana leaf with masalas )

 

Ingredients

Pearl spot /Seabream or any firm fish of your choice - 1

Banana leaf -1

Cooking twine

Oil for frying

To marinate

Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs

Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt

For masala

Shallots (sliced ) - 1 cup

Tomato -2 small

Redchilly powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Tumeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Corainder powder - 1tsp

Salt

 Ginger (minced ) - 1 tbs

Garlic minced - 1 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 2 nos

Curry leaves - 2 strings

 

Method

1.Clean the fish and cut some gashes on both sides and marinate with ingredients under " to marinate " for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2.In a saucepan add some oil and saute sliced shallots until brown.

3.Add green chillies, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and saute for 1-2 minutes.

4.Add all the spice powders  and saute until raw smell goes.

5.Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook until tomatoes are mushed and masala is a paste.

6.Meanwhile shallow fry the fish for 5 minutes on each sides.

7.Wilt a  banana leaf for few seconds on both sides on gas top (to avoid leaf tearing)

8.Spread the cooked masala paste  on banana leaf and place the fish on top, cover the top and sides of  the fish with masala and wrap the fish in banana leaf and tie the parcel with  a cooking twine.

9.Cook the fish parcel  in a frying fan for 10 -15 minutes !

 

Fish Biriyani

Just when I thought I am blogging a lot these days, that phase is slowly coming down again. I have  lost
interest in cooking and blogging and I am enjoying the free time watching movies and TV ! I watched quite a few mallu movies the past few nights like 22 female Kottayam, Ordinary, Chappa kurushu, Indian Rupee etc. There was a time when used to watch all the new mallu movies online,but after having my boy I kind of lost the track of new movies, and my film were restricted to the english movies that comes on T.V. Now I am quite happy to catch up with the movies which I missed last few years ! Same is the story with Hindi movies,I watched few of the hit movies which I missed , Zindagi na mile dubarah and 3 idiots were the best among the hindi movies I watched recently.

Coming back to today's recipe,7 years ago when I came to U.K for the first time,I was surving only on the basic cooking and slowly the cooking bug bit me and I started experimenting the complicated dishes with my Amma's help over the phone :) One day ,I had a  sudden craving to eat some fish biriyani and I had some frozen king fish in the freezer , but the time was too late to call my amma in India .That's when I got exposed to the blogging world for the first time ! When I googled for fish biriyani, I came across so many blogs and I was super thrilled ! I tried fish biriyani recipe from one of the blogs 7 years ago and it was yummm, Su was  also very  impressed .Years passed , but still for fish biriyani I am following the same recipe as I love this recipe ,but I am sorry I can't find that original recipe  or  her blog (Priyas Kitchen) anymore but since I wrote down the recipe in a book I still have the recipe with me. It's a shame that many of the wonderful blogs which I came across that time are inactive now :(

Ingredients

Ghee - 2 tsp
Bay leaves - 2

Cardamom - 2-3

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

cinnamon sticks -2

Star anise - 2

Cloves -4

pepper - 1tsp

Onion - 1 + 3

Basmati rice - 2 cups

Boiling water - 3 3/4 - 4 cup

lemon juice - 1/2 of a lime

Coriander -mint - curry leaves paste - 2 tsp

Ginger garlic green chilly paste - 2 tsp

Toamto - 2

Yogurt - 1 tbs

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

for marination

King fish - 500 g

Chilly powder - 2-3 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Salt

for garnishing

Cashwenuts - 1-2 tbs

Sultanas/raisins - 2 tbs

Ghee - 1 tsp

Method

1.Soak the basmathi rice in water for 30 mins and drain the water completely.

2.Marinate the fish with the ingredients mentioned and keep it aside for 30 minutes.

3.In a pan add ghee and add the whole garam maslas ans saute for 1- 2 minutes.

4 Add the thinly sliced onion (one) and saute till brown.

5.Add the soaked rice ,lemon juice,salt and add boiling water and cook till done.

6.shallow fry the marinated fish in a pan adding little oil and the place them in paper towels.

7.In the same pan add the sliced onions (3),saute till brown.

8.Add ginger garlic green chilly paste, leaves paste and fry for sometime.

9.Add chopped tomatoes and cook till toamtoes are mashed.

10.Add yogurt,coconut milk and salt and stir for 2-3 minutes.

11.Finally add fried fish to this gravy and cook till gravy thickens for another 3-5 minutes.

12.Layer the rice and fish masala in a oven proof dish and cook it a preheated oven at 180 degree centigrade for 10 minutes.

13.Finally fry some cashewnuts and raisins separetely in ghee and garnish the biriyani !

Fish Pie

This year the winter was so mild till last week, but this week it looks like the winter is back with full swing.Unlike last year, this year I m keeping myself very warmby wearing hat, scarf, gloves and even cozy snow boots so even when the temperature is minus I go out without feeling the chill,I guess wearing hats makes a big difference,I used to hate hats as it spoils my hair but once I started wearing it I dont think i will ever stop using it on chilly days. Last week on my walk to the local park I saw some small buds of wild flowers on the ground and the thought of spring's arrival itself made me feel so happy ,but now I cant believe how the weather can change :(

This whole week I was in mood to try out new things and Fish pie was one among them. Lil A loved it so much and even said " amma I love this, you are a good cook " :) Anyway that made my effort worthwhile !

Ingredients

Fish /Fish pie mix - 300 gm ( In my pie mix there was salmon,haddock and smoked haddock)

Potatoes - 3 large

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Garlic - 1 tbs (minced)

Carrot - 2 (grated)

Spinach - 100 gm (chopped)

Milk - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1 tbs

Worcetershire sauce - 1 tbs

Fish stock cube -1

Salt

Pepper

Cheese - grated

Preparation

1. Boil the poatoes and mash them add little milk and butter to mashed potato and make a smooth paste.Season it with salt and pepper.

2. In a saucepan add some oil,saute onions,add garlic,add grated carrot and stir for 2-3 minutes. 3. Add in fish stock cube,worcestershire sauce and little water.

4. Add fish , spinach and cook until fish is cooked.Season it with salt and pepper.

5. In an oven proof dish spread the fish mixture.Spread the mashed poatato on top of it.Sprinkle cheese on top .

6. Bake it in a preheated oven at 190 degree centigrade for 25-30 minutes.

Meen pollichathu/ Baked Fish Pollichathu

Every time I do blog hoping I feel that I should try recipes from others spaces at least once in a while, I even bookmark recipes thinking that I will try it soon, most of the time I never get enough time to try the book marked one.When I saw fish polliachathu in Nisha's Look who is cooking too I thought I will give it a go later, never thought this soon, It was not planned at all,Yesterday evening I prepared sambar and mushroom stir fry,as my hubby doesnt like sambar I thought as usual I will fry a fish for him and checked my freezer to see what I have got,it was all empty except a packet of 2 whole seabreams.Thawing one is not easy so I defrosted both.Fish was looking beautiful,so I didnt feel like cutting it,suddenly this fish pollichathu striked me,I went to her space and had a look,it didnt look very elaborate to me,so I made up my mind and kept her blog opened in kitchen and followed it almost to the dot and we were so happy with the outcome ,it tasted great and is much healthier than the shallow fried ones,even though we were tempted to eat the second one too,I reserved it for today mainly for having it for lunch all by myself and for clicking it during day time....

You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

For marination
Fish - 2 whole fish ( I used seabream)
Pepper powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Salt
Turmeric - 1/4 tbs
For masala
Shallots - 20 nos
Ginger garlic paste- 1tbs
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Salt
Redchilly powder - 1tbs
Tumeric - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek powder -1/8 tsp
Tomato paste -paste of 1/2 a tomato
Greenchillies -2
Curry leaves - few
Garlic chopped - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Preparation
Clean the fish and make gashes . Marinate the fish with salt ,pepper and turmeric and keep it aside for 1 hr or preferably longer.
Make a paste of all the masala powders with ginger garlic paste.
In a saucepan add oil and sputter mustard seeds,add chopped shallots and saute well.When is soft add chopped ginger and fry for 1 minute.Add the masala paste,curryleaves and saute till raw smell goes,finally add tomoto paste and saute till it makes a paste.
In a pan fry add some oil and shallow fry the fish for 30 seconds on both sides . Now coat the fish with the masala paste and bake in a preheated oven at 170 degree centigrade for 30 mins.

Note - The origianl recipe calls for coconut milk but I forgot to add it.

Fish curry (Salmon curry )

Ingredients

Fish (salmon)- 500 gm 

Mustard seeds -1 tsp  

Fenugreek - 1 tsp 

 Onions -2  

Tomatoes - 3  

Ginger minced- 1tbs  

Garlic minced – 1 tbs 

Mango ginger minced – 1 tbs(optional) 

Green chillies- - 3- 4   

Curry leaves  

Red chilli powder- 2 tbs  

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp  

Coriander powder - 1 tbs

Salt  

Cocum -1 small piece  

Coconut milk - 1 1/2cup ( 1 cup thin milk + ½ cup thick milk) 

Fenugreek powder - a pinch  

coconut oil - 1tsp  

 
Preparation

 In a pan add some oil and sputter mustard seeds, add fenugreek and when it becomes light brown, add chopped onions and sauté till it becomes soft and brown.  

Add minced ginger-garlic, mango ginger, curry leaves , green chillies and sauté for few more minutes.  

Add all the spice powders and sauté for minute or so until raw smell goes. 

Add chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes becomes cooked and mashed. 

 Add warm some water, fish pieces and a piece of cocum and cook covered till the fish is 3/4 th done.

Add thin coconut milk and cook for a minute or so until fish is done. 

Finally add thick coconut milk and just when it is about to boil, add some coconut oil, fenugreek powder, curry leaves and switch off the flame.