SKIRLIE: A TRADITIONAL SCOT RECIPE is  here to help you out with a new dish for breakfast. Tired of the same old oats-porridge-breakfast? Try Skirlie, a traditional old crispy crunchy tasty, substantial dish. Simply, oatmeal and onions seasoned and cooked in fat to a nice brown.

In fact, the Skirlie is named so because the ingredients ‘skirl’ (make a shrill wailing sound, like made by bagpipes) as one cooks the dish, swirling the ingredients around the pan.

As often as it is eaten by itself, Skirlie is just as often used to stuff fowl and game birds for roasting, especially Christmas dinners. The stuffing is softened, while cooking the Skirlie, with water or stock and medium oatmeal is used not the pinhead one. Eaten with mince too, or Tatties (Scottish swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately).

It makes a tasty toasty accompaniment to rich meat dishes, roasts and stews. mince

Originally, in Scotland the Skirlie was made in beef drippings or beef suet, a fat easily available in the Highlands.

Check at the end of the recipe, a dish similar in ingredients, to the  Skirlie called ‘Mealy Jocks’ eaten as an accompaniment to potatoes and meat.

INGREDIENTS:

150g of pinhead oatmeal, or medium oatmeal (essentially it is rava of oat either rough or medium); the pinhead i.e. rough one recommended it gives a crunchy taste. (do not use instant or quick-cooking oats)

25g of bacon fat or vegetable oil or half butter-half oil or beef suet (traditionally the Scots use beef drippings or suet);

2 small or 1 large onion, finely chopped;

1/2 litre chicken stock (OPTIONAL)

Salt;

Pepper.

METHOD:

Heat the fat or heat the oil in a large heavy based frying-pan (or sauté pan) over a medium heat;

Soften the onions in the oil till transparent and very little golden (don’t want them brown);

Add in the oatmeal and stir to thoroughly coat with the onions;

Add a large pinch of sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper and stir for a couple of minutes;

Then turn the heat down as low as it’ll go;

Keep cooking for around 20-25 minutes (around 10-15 minutes for medium oatmeal);

Stir until the oatmeal has softened but fairly firm and finally becomes brown and develops a crunchy/ toasty bite;

Adjust the seasoning and serve.

THIS IS TRADITIONAL.

OPTIONAL: (this is not done traditionally) Add stock or water, a little at a time and allow it to be absorbed by the oatmeal (like for risotto);

Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently and continuing to add the stock;

The end result should be a crunchy bite not soggy like upma.

Season well and serve with mashed potatoes or shredded meat.

MEALY JOCKS:

Should you collect the pinhead oatmeal, onions, salt and pepper , bind it in a cheese-cloth or malmal, and steam the meal, you get Mealy Jocks another MEALY JOCKS:.

15 minute Rasaaloo also known in some north Indian states as Taariwale Aloo is perhaps the sole potato-only dishes that goes well with rice, especially white rice. Potatoes in India are often cooked in combination with some meat or other vegetable.

This recipe has a rather soupy gravy

This is another of Dhiraj Srivastav’s 15-minute office lunches and as yummy as it comes.

INGREDIENTS:

250gms Potatoes;

2 Onions (peeled and finely chopped);

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander leaves;

1 tablespoon Ginger-garlic Paste (made from 6 to 8 garlic cloves and ½ inch piece of peeled ginger);

1 large Tomato chopped;

1 tablespoon Cumin seed (Jeera);

10 to 12 Fenugreek seeds (Methi);

1 tablespoon Chili powder;

½ tablespoon Turmeric powder;

1 table spoon Garam masala powder;

1 tablespoon Coriander powder;

Salt to taste;

1 tablespoon ghee or oil (Cooking medium of your choice).

The taste of the dish will change with the cooking medium. Ghee best, failing which peanut oil highly recommended.

METHOD:

Boil the potatoes whole and unpeeled;

Peel and roughly mash with your fingers when done;

You will get unequal and odd shaped pieces.

Heat the ghee/oil in a pot on a high flame but don’t let it smoke;

Add fenugreek seeds (Methi) and Cumin seeds (Jeera);

When the seeds splutter, add the chopped onions;

Fry till the onions begin to brown (takes about 4 or 5 minutes);

As the onions begin to brown, add the ginger-garlic paste;

Fry for about 30 seconds;

Add chopped tomatoes, Chili powder, Turmeric powder, Garam masala powder, Coriander powder and salt;

Lower the flame to medium and continue to fry the masala till it becomes a homogenous mixture;

Add the boiled potatoes;

Bring the flame down to low;

Continue to fry for a few seconds till the potatoes are coated with the fried masala;

Add 2 cups of water;

Cover and let cook for about 3 to 5 minutes;

Add chopped fresh coriander leaves;

Mix;

After 2 minutes turn off the heat.

Pack with white rice or poori or chapatti or any leavened /unleavened bread of your choice; goes well with all manner of bread except sweet breads like buns or brioche.

A  Quick and Easy Recipe

250 gms. Potatoes (skinned, diced and then boiled);

2 tablespoons ghee or oil (Ghee preferred);

¼ teaspoon ghee or oil (Jeera);

A pinch of powdered Asafetida (Hing );

1 teaspoon dry Coriander powder (Dhania powder);

1/8^th teaspoon turmeric (just a little on the tip of a teaspoon);

1 teaspoon Chaat Masala;

1 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder (Amchur);

½ teaspoon chili powder or to your taste;

1 teaspoon Garam Masala;

Salt to taste.

A few sprigs of Fresh Green Coriander leaves (plucked off the stalks and chopped fine).

Method:

Heat the ghee on a high flame taking care not to let it smoke;

Add A pinch of powdered Asafetida (Hing ) and the cumin seeds (Jeera),

When the seeds begin to splutter:, add the boiled and diced Potatoes,

Fry for a few seconds,

Add: 1 teaspoon dry Coriander powder (Dhania powder);

1/8^th teaspoon turmeric (just a little on the tip of a teaspoon);

1/8^th teaspoon turmeric (just a little on the tip of a teaspoon);

1 teaspoon Chaat Masala;

1 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder (Amchur);

½ teaspoon chili powder or to your taste;

1 teaspoon Garam Masala;

Salt ;

IMMEDIATELY REDUCE THE FLAME TO LOW;

Gently stir the contents of the cooking vessel to ensure all the Potatoes are well-coated with the masalas,

Then raise to medium flame, cover vessel and let cook for a minute or so.

Take care that the potatoes do not stick to the bottom of the pan or burn,

Put the flame off and sprinkle the Potatoes with fresh coriander and mix.

Pack up your office lunch to eat with any unleavened bread of your choice.

A quick and easy recipe for people in a hurry.

15-Minute-Cumin-Potatoes – Jeeraloo, are an office favourite at Dhiraj’s work-place. The recipe from start to finish takes 15 minutes or less and is very easy to make.

Dhiraj Srivastav resides in Mumbai away from his parents and other members of his joint-family. Over a period of time he has developed tasty Vegetarian recipes that take 15 minutes or less to cook. The girls in the office including yours truly, now await Dhiraj’s daily lunch box.

Today we had his specially made 15-Minute-Cumin-Potatoes — Jeeraloo (in Hindi) and 5-grain purees, soft, tasty yum purees to go with the potatoes.

The 15-Minute-Cumin-Potatoes – Jeeraloo is best with purees but taste delicious with any unleavened bread — Roti, Chapatti, Tortilla, Phulka, Dhebras.

INGREDIENTS:

250 gms. Potatoes (skinned, diced and then boiled);

2 tablespoons ghee or oil (Ghee preferred);

1” inch piece of Ginger root, peeled and cut fine;

1 teaspoon cumin seeds;

2 small onions, chopped;

2 small tomatoes, chopped with skin and seeds;

1/8^th teaspoon turmeric (just a little on the tip of a teaspoon);

½ teaspoon chili powder or to your taste;

1 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder (Amchur)

salt to taste.

Three sprigs of fresh coriander, (remove leaves and chop them).

Method:

Heat the ghee on a high flame taking care not to let it smoke;

Add the cumin seeds (Jeera),

When the seeds begin to splutter:

Add the green chilies and Ginger,

Fry for a second or two,

Add the chopped onions,

Fry till golden brown,

Add chop tomatoes, Turmeric and chili powders,

Fry for until the tomato softens, mash the mixture while frying,

Add dry mango powder (Amchur) and salt,

Stir for a second or two,

Lastly add the boiled and diced potatoes,

Stir till potatoes are well coated with the fried mixture,

Add fresh coriander,

Mix,

Cover and cook for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes; taking care that the potatoes do not stick to the bottom of the pan or burn,

Take off the heat.

The potatoes are ready to pack for your office lunch.

ONE more way to beat the heat is with this cooling Tomato Salad. According to Ayurveda, Tomatoes are one of the foods that have a cooling effect on the human body; a food highly recommended in one’s summer diet. Lettuce leaves are another cooling vegetable. Milk and milk products, including cream, are also cooling foods. Fresh herbs are used and no heat producing spices or herbs are used. So when one combines all these, well, what better way to beat the heat but the way of a Tomato Salad!

The Chinese say that cooling foods have a way of ridding the body of heat and toxins. It calms the blood and enhances the Yin in the body. Cooling foods eliminate or at least reduce irritating summer problems of excess perspiration and thirst, gastric discomforts like flatulence, constipation, pungent and odorous wind.

This is an old recipe from the times when flavours were not so complex with complicated ad mixes of spices, sauces and plethora of ingredients; its superiority lies in the simplicity of its purity of taste.  It is only on the palate that the flavours mix to enhance the refined experience

RECIPE: Serves One.

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch lettuce (alternately you may use iceberg lettuce but the taste changes completely);

1 large tomato per person;

1 teaspoon of Whipped Cream per slice of tomato;

1 tablespoon of roughly chopped olives (black preferred);

2 tablespoons of finely chopped chives;

2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley (try fresh coriander or cilantro for a change);

½ finely chopped medium sized onion (about 1 ½ inch in diameter), preferably pink or red (red/pink onions bring greater zest to the salad and contrast well with the juicy sweet-sour of the tomato);

¼ teaspoon honey.

METHOD:

Wash and dry lettuce leaves,

Halve each leaf and spread these in a dish.

Slice the tomatoes about 3 mm in thickness (half an index finger width),

Place a slice of tomato on each piece of lettuce.

In a mixing bowl:

Put the whipped cream, chopped olives, chopped chives, chopped parsley and chopped onions,

Mix well.

Now, place some mixture on each tomato slice.

To finish place a small drop of honey on the mixture.

If you prefer to eliminate the sweet taste of honey, replace it with a few grains of freshly ground pepper. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ELIMINATION OF HONEY. The surprise of the slight sweetness adds a twist of urbanity and chic to the otherwise forthright taste of the salad.

Summer Potatoes — Quick and Easy Cool Parsi Recipe, for  your ever hungry brood’s summer vacation this year. Simple and delicious, leaves one asking for more.

Summer Potatoes is light and lovely, cooling, tasty and filling, a recipe so easy to make and so quick to serve. Summer Potatoes are an excellent accompaniment to your meats and other meals or it may be used as a main dish by itself, eaten with Dhebras.

‘Parsis love their potatoes’ and amongst the family recipes from as early as mid-1800s, other than the Summer Potatoes, I discovered at least four other Potato Salads; including the old German Kartofel Salad. I will share them all with you in due course.

INGREDIENTS:

PER PERSON:

2 large potatoes (if for a main dish, add 2 more  per person);

100 Gms curds or 150 ml buttermilk per person (use Yogurt, if you prefer; though Yogurt is not so cooling a food);

¼ tsp cumin powder or freshly, roughly crushed roasted cumin seeds;

¼ tsp black pepper powder or a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper (powder tastes better);

1 tsp finely cut fresh coriander leaves;

2 mints leaves (optional);

1 green chili or as preferred (CHECK {*} in the recipe below).

METHOD:

1) Boil or steam the potatoes whole,

Since in the old recipe the potatoes were put in a pottery vessel (matti nu vaasan) and buried in the embers of the wood stove, we at our place bake the potatoes whole. However, this is time consuming and steamed potatoes do just as well. Boiled potatoes turn up an equally tasty dish and save a lot of time. Any of the three ways will do.

2) Poke a knife into each potato to see if fully cooked all the way to the center. The knife must slide in easily. Any resistance means the potato is not ready.

3) When done, cooked and soft enough take off the fire, drain and run in cold water,

4) When cool enough to handle take the skins off.

5) Cut into cubes and put aside,

6) When the cubes cool completely:

6 a) Sprinkle fine cut coriander and mint leaves (ensure the leaves have been thoroughly washed before adding),

6 b) Add Washed and finely cut green chilies ( * if you want to reduce the zest of the chili, add slit the green chilies length-wise, leave                       then in the salad for five to seven minutes and then remove them from the salad and discard),

6 c) Sprinkle salt and Cumin powder and black pepper powder and salt;

7) Toss to mix well,     

8) Add curds mix with a spoon to coat the potatoes evenly (do this just before serving. Curds tends to become very sour if added before hand and kept. even if you refrigerate it),

9) Place into a serving bowl Sprinkle a little more coriander on top,

Serve Summer Potatoes cold, refrigerated or room temperature. If serving as a main course, Summer Potatoes taste marvelous with Sweet Dhebras.

VARIATION: A Few bits of left over pineapple or finely cut bits of Murabba make a delicious variation.

Sweet Dhebras recipe at:

Sweet Dhebras — Flat, Unleavened, Griddle-Cooked Parsi Bread

When made from Wheat flour instead of  Masa Harina, the tortilla is called ‘Flour Tortilla’. Method of making is the same as for Tortillas (recipe in this blog); just replace Masa Harina with wheat flour. All over Asia, from the Mediterranean to China, the unleavened breads made (including the Indian ‘Phulkas’) are similar to the Flour Tortillas. The difference being that flour tortillas are smaller and finer in thickness. The Flour Tortilla is also of Mexican/Latin American origin. Corn tortillas have double the fiber content of flour tortillas. A 6-inch corn tortilla contains about 2 grams of fiber while a flour tortilla of the same size contains less than 1 gram of fiber.

Flour tortillas are eaten with meat dishes, cheese and the like and used to

make tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. In the United States of America, Flour tortillas are also used to make various wraps, they are also eaten with fajitas (strips of beef skirt), casseroles stews, to make sandwiches and hot dogs.

Honduras is well known for using wheat flour tortillas to make baleadas; which consists of a wheat flour tortilla, folded in half, with various items (beans, cream, scrambled eggs) put inside.

Many restaurants serve Flour tortillas with dishes that may or may not be Latin American/Mexican.

TACO SHELLS are Flour Tortillas fried in oil.

Recipe: Take each flour tortilla place it in a hot griddle/ pan painted with oil.  When the side turns brown, flip the tortilla and then immediately fold in half keeping the browned side inside the fold. Remove and cool the Taco.

To make TACOS BOWLS, place the tortilla painted with oil on both sides, in an oven proof bowl and bake crisp to form a bowl.

If you want a soft Bowl, take the two diametrically opposite ends of a tortilla, fold to form a pleat and pin with a tooth pick.

TORTILLA CHIPS are easily made by cutting the Flour tortilla into strips or bite sized pieces (any shape you fancy) and deep frying these crisp, in your preferred oil or fat. Remember to turn the chips so that they brown evenly.

OR

Coat the tortilla on both sides with your preferred oil/fat, cut in strips and brown these crisp in an oven at 375 degrees.

Tortillas are not made from simple corn meal or makkai ka atta, as is                 commonly believed. The special dough for tortillas and tamales is a four- thousand-year-old ‘Masa Harina’ (see below), a name of Nahuatl origin     (native southern Mexico and Central America, including the Aztecs). For burritos, quesadillas and tacos, one uses the ‘Flour Tortillas’ (Check ‘Flour Tortillas on this blog).

A quaint Mayan legend relates the ‘ tlaxcalli’, (pre-European, Nahuatl  name for Tortilla)  with an old peasant who invented the tortilla for his hungry king. The   name  Tortillas came with the Spanish discovery of the Americas. Tortilla is Spanish for ‘little torta’ or ‘small cake’, a soft, thin flat bread from Mexico which predates the advent of Europeans to the Americas. For Tortillas one uses water based , unleavened dough — the ‘MASA HARINA’ (explained below).,

Tortilla amongst the Nahuatl was a basic dish like the Indian ‘Roti’, treated differently by the various Latin American regions.

Variations of the Tortilla:

Aztecs used  squash and amaranth, turkey eggs or honey as a flavoring to their tortillas.

Tortillas called ‘Titiyas’ in Guam, is eaten with a kind of chutney called ‘kelaguen mannok’, made with  shrimp, meat ,beef or liver , flavoured with lime or other citrus and spices.

The Guatemalan they are thicker and larger than the usual tortilla.

El Salvador make tortillas from maicillo or sorghum (Indian name ‘Jowar). Like the rural folk’s ‘Bhakri’ in India, the people of El Salvador, cook a particularly large and thick tortilla , ‘Chenga’ often used as an edible plate by farm/plantation labourers.

Like the Indian Paratha, Salvador and Honduras also stuff savoury fillings in Tortilla and this traditional ‘pupusa’ is accompanied by a spicy cabbage slaw. Lastly, not to miss out on the Flour Tortillas in Hoduras used to make ‘baleadas’, a tortilla sandwich filled with cream, eggs, beans and the like.

The corn for Tortillas is treated to a process atleast four thousand year old , known as ‘nixmalization’, before being ground to coarse flour. The method of making tortillas has been practised since 2,000 BCE at least if not earlier. In Guatemala archaeologists have found solid remains of nixmalization dating back to 1500 BCE. Some place the origin of tortillas to 10,000 BCE. Whatever the correct date of origin , it is obviously very ancient.

‘Masa Harina’ (Spanish for “dough flour’) the nixmalised product from which tortillas and tamales are made, is the finely ground corn flour of dry corn cooked in alkaline water (normally slaked with lime) which loosens the pericarp (outer hull). The cooked corn is then repeatedly soaked and rinsed to remove the caustic alkali, then dried once again before grinding. The process of nixmalization raises the nutritional value of the grain as it frees the proteins in the grain

Recipe:

To make: 12 tortillas.

Ingredients:

250 Gms. Masa Harina (available on Amazon in India);

5 pint cold water;

Salt to taste.

Traditionally, no fat is added to the dough for tortillas. In recent times the tendency is to add some oil , butter, lard or other fat while preparing the dough. You may choose to add your choice of fat or make tortillas the traditional way.

Method:

1. Sift the Masa Harina and salt into a mixing bowl.
2. Gradually pour in most of the water, stirring constantly.
3. Knead the mixture with your hands, adding more water, a little at a time, until the dough is firm (atleast 5 minutes) and no longer sticks to your fingers and is really smooth.
4. After kneading if you rest the dough for 15 minutes, the gluten develops and dough becomes pliable making the process of rolling tortillas easier.
5. If in a hurry, you may skip step (4) above.
6. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 batches
7. With a rolling pin, roll each batch between long strips of waxed paper until the dough is about 1/16 of  an inch thick.
8. With a plate or a saucepan lid as a pattern, cut the dough into 5-inch rounds.
9. Stack the rounds between pieces of greaseproof paper.
10. Dry roast on pan or skillet or griddle.
11. Heat the griddle. If you do not heat the griddle, the tortilla will dry out become stiff and hard while cooking. A hot griddle will ensure the tortillas cook to a nice soft texture.
12. Place the tortilla , one at a time on the griddle.
13. Cook for about a minute or two till the outer edges of the tortilla begin to appear dry.
14. Flip the tortilla and cook on the other side for about a minute till lightly browned.
15. Flip again onto the original side and let the tortilla rise.
16. Remove from   fire, place the next tortilla and treat similarly till all twelve are done.

Tortillas may be eaten with Ranch Eggs (recipe on the blog); with guacamole or simply with sea salt and chili powder. I love the last.

– Quick N Easy Diet Mexican Recipe.

A QUICK N EASY MEXICAN MEAL

Huevos Rancheros or Ranch Eggs are a popular breakfast in the Americas. Huevos Rancheros / Ranch Eggs may be scrambled or cooked whole on the sauce or served fried on the sauce. To look at the dish reminds one of the Parsi Kanda-tamota Per Eedu but tastes wholly different.

SERVES 6

THE SAUCE:

2 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil;

3 large finely chopped onions;

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic;

5 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped, or substitute 3 pint canned plum tomatoes, drained and chopped;

3 canned: Serrano chillies, drained, rinsed in cold water and finely chopped OR for a quicker meal use CHILLY POWDER OR FLAKES;

3 teaspoon sugar;

A flat teaspoon salt;

Freshly ground black pepper;

• tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro);

12 Fresh tortillas or ready to eat tortillas bought off the shelf;

Oil to fry tortillas (OPTIONAL);

2 tablespoons butter (OPTIONAL);

12 eggs;

1 large ripe avocado, peeled, stoned and diced.

COOK:

1. Heat 1 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large heavy saucepan over a moderate heat until a light haze forms above it.
2. Add the onions and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and transparent, PINK but not golden.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, chillies, sugar, salt to taste and a few grindings of black pepper.
4. When the mixture comes to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until most of the tomato juice has evaporated and the sauce is a thick smooth purée. Then add the coriander, turn off the heat, and cover the pan to keep the sauce warm.

READY THE TORTILLAS:

1. Take a heavy frying pan.
2. Heat 5 teaspoons of the oil in the frying pan over a high heat until a light haze forms above it.
3. Taking one at a time, fry each of the tortillas for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they are slightly golden, (adding more oil 1 or 2 teaspoons at a time as and when necessary).
4. As you go on, transfer the golden fried tortillas to drain, onto a thick kitchen paper.

OR

Crisp up each tortilla on a hot griddle (this takes longer than frying);

OR

Toast each tortilla to a crisp.

OR

You may use the tortillas cooked but soft. Depending on your taste.

SERVING:

1. Place 2 golden fried and drained tortilla side by side on 6 separate plates.
2. Fry the eggs in butter/oil/preferred cooking medium in batches of six.
3. If frying in butter, heat the pan on moderate heat, add butter, let it melt, WAIT till foam subsides, then break the eggs into the pan.
4. If frying in oil, heat the oil on high heat and directly break the eggs into the pan and lower the heat.
5. Cook eggs till the whites are set and the yolks are still soft.
6. DO NOT LET THE WHITES BECOME CRISP. If there is danger of the whites becoming crisp, lower the heat further or lift the pan off the fire for a while.
7. Separate the eggs with a fish slicer.
8. Taking care not to break the yolk, carefully lift eggs, one at a time, and place on one tortilla each.
9. Spoon a 1 inch ring of the hot sauce around each egg.
10. Garnish with finely chopped fresh cilantro/coriander leaves and bits of Avocado.
11. Serve the extra/ remaining sauce in a separate bowl.

The way I personally prefer to serve these eggs surrounded by the hot sauce is to place them on soft tortillas and to add a dollop of butter on the eggs, sauce and tortilla while still hot. The butter as it melts infusing the sauce and flavouring the tortillas is absolutely delicious!

—Recipe by Dinesh Kumar, Sous Chef Marriott Hotels, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Mangalore Fish Curry is the recipe for which I won a first prize during a cooking contest in October 2017, at the Hotel Renaissance Mumbai, at Powai in Maharashtra India. Sous Chef Dinesh Kumar of the Hotel Marriott Chennai, in Tamil Nadu , India taught me how to cook it and the little tricks and twists and turns

required to make it better than the best.

What is so special about the Mangalore Fish Curry is, that it uses fresh spices and herbs only. Consequently, a delicious tang with each ingredient retaining its emphasis in the end result.

This curry tastes best with rice. Thick shorter grained white rice or red/brown rice preferred to the more delicate long grained rice like Basmati. Bread, Naan or chapatti also, makes for a good accompaniment to this curry.

The fish may be  replaced by boiled eggs, cut in half, lengthwise; by the non-fish lover.

Vegetarians may replace the fish with diced Yam, diced potatoes/ fullbaby potatoes, soya nuggets or carrots; any or all of these.

SERVES 2.

Ingredients:

300 grams of Red Snapper or any flat white fish like Pomfret, Surmayi etc;

2 tablespoons refined oil or preferred cooking medium;

Another ½ teaspoon of oil to fry the garnish;

6 Kashmiri chillies or any Chilies you prefer;

2 tablespoons grated Coconut;

2 tablespoons Dhania (Coriander) seeds;

Quarter teaspoon Jeera (Cumin) seeds

2 servings of Ginger-garlic paste, ¼ teaspoons each;

One and a half medium sized Onion;

One large Tomato or two medium sized ones;

1 teaspoon Imli (Tamarind);

Quarter teaspoon Haldi (Turmeric powder)

Quarter teaspoon Red Chili powder;

Salt to taste.

For Garnish: Half   teaspoon chopped Hara Dhania (fresh Coriander).

½ teaspoon oil, 5 cloves of Garlic, 5 to 7 curry leaves, 3 unbroken Red Chillies.

Preparation:

1. Cut the fish in bite sized pieces and marinate in ½ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste, ½ teaspoon chili powder, less than ¼ teaspoon of Haldi (turmeric)powder and salt to taste;
2. Place the tamarind to soften in a small bowl of water;
3. Grind to a smooth paste: the 2 tablespoons of grated coconut, about 4 Kashmir chillies and ¾ tablespoon of Dhania (coriander) seeds. Keep the ground paste aside;
4. Dice 1 ½ to two medium onions small and fine; (the easiest way to dice the onions is to make fine vertical slits on the whole onion in all eight directions. Thus obtaining criss-cross cuts. then turn the onion on its side, and cut fine, horizontally. Minuscule dice will drop out on your cutting board. This method of dicing onions also protects the eyes from watering as the onion stings;
5. Puree the two tomatoes;
6. Once softened, Mash the tamarind lightly in the water.

Cooking:

1. On a high flame, heat all of  the 2 tablespoons of oil/ cooking medium.
2. Add 8 curry leaves and a sprinkling of Jeera (Cumin) seeds to the hot oil.
3. Continue on a high flame. When the seeds begin to splutter, add diced onions.
4. Sauté the diced onions till light golden.
5. Add ¼ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste and 2 table spoons of water in the cooking vessel. Continue to sauté till the onions turn light brown.
6. Add tomato puree, let cook for 30 seconds, stirring incessantly.
7. Continue to constantly stir the contents of the pan.
8. Add about 2 teaspoons of tamarind water. Let cook for a good two minutes, stirring continuously.
9. Tamarind needs to cook well or else leaves a raw and slightly bitter taste in the food.
10. It is important that you remember to continue to stir throughout this process.
11. Add the ground Masala.
12. Stir for another minute or so till the aroma of the Masala is released.
13. Then, add 1cup of water, mix and stir.
14. Bring to boil.
15. Reduce the curry to required consistency or add more water if required.
16. Add the marinated fish. let each piece of fish slide gently into the curry.
17. Let cook while continuing to stir; but take care you do not break the fish up.
18. In a separate vessel, heat a ½ teaspoon of oil.
19. Fry 4 cloves of garlic, two Kashmiri chillies, and 5 to 7 curry leaves and add to the Mangalore Fish Curry.
20. A ¼ teaspoon of chopped fresh coriander leaves to the garnished curry.
21. Check curry for consistency and seasoning.
22. Your Mangalore Fish Curry is ready to serve.

The Mangalore Fish Curry must be smooth and all the flavours –of the herbs and spices (hot, sour and salty) must be well balanced. Serve with Rice or Plain bread as preferred.