Best ever Baked Basa (Swai) with a tangy twist

The winning streak: This recipe has drawn heavily from my weed-ful garden ;) The tangy wood sorrels fill in for the lemon zest I had initially imagined fr this recipe. I will shortly post about nutritious garden weeds for healthy alternatives in recipes.

Marinade: English mustard paste - 2tsp, garlic cloves - 4 big ones, ginger - 1"X1/2" should be enough, green chilis - as per your liking - I used two really hot ones, cilantro - 1/2 cup roughly chopped, oxalis (woodsorrel) leaves & stalk (discard the lowest end) - about 1/2 cup roughly chopped- , black pepper corns, turmeric powder (optional) 1/2 tsp, salt. 

Grind all of this to a paste with a little water, coat well on fish and refrigerate for 30-60 mins.

TING......did you notice I didn't use any oil yet ;)

Tip: I used frozen basa, so I used the water that was released while thawing the fish. It actually is raw fish stock...right? Well I couldn't throw that away!!

Baking: Preheat oven at 400degF/200 deg C. Bake fish in gravy for 30 mins.Save the gravy. Serve hot with white rice or bread.

Babycorn soup with wild garden greens

All the beautiful greens for this recipe came from my kitchen garden. Need: 

1. Baby corns 250 gms - roughly chopped up

2. Green chilis - 2 chopped

3. Basil & Cilantro - a handful of each

4. Fennel tips - a few strands

5. Other wild greens - I picked 2 broccoli leaves, 2 pumpkin greens, a few strands of garlic greens and watercress, wood sorrels, 2 leaves of Indian borage

6. 2 onions - roughly chopped

7. Garlic - minced about 1 tbsp

8. Sugar, salt and ground black pepper to taste

9. Water - 4 cups

10. Butter - as per your liking

Method:

1. Saute the garlic in olive oil or butter, add onions and caramelize with a little brown sugar.

2. Add the green chili and tomatoes. Mix.

3. Now add the baby corns, water, and salt; cover and bring to a boil.

4. Turn off heat, add the greens, mix, cover and leave for 10 minutes.

5. Blend this whole thing well and transfer back to the pot.

6. Bring to a boil just before serving, add the pepper, and garnish with a sprig of cilantro and serve.

Niramish Begun Malaikari

Well this is an authentic niramish dish - no meat, no onions/garlic. So absolutely puja friendly dish and I made this yesterday for Ma as she was following her Tuesday Hanuman brata (vrat). Here it goes:

Need: 

1. Small round brinjals, stem off and slit into 4 lengthwise. The big purple ones will work fine as well, will need less cook-time and may be cut into discs or slit open lengthwise, just like these. I used about 750 gms of the small ones.

2. Posto/khuskhus paste 2tbsp

3. Mustard paste 1 tbsp

4. Ground coconut - 2-3 tbsp

5. Green chilli minced - 1 tbsp

6. Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

7. Turmeric powder (optional) 1 tsp

8. Mustard oil 1 tbsp

9. Mustard seeds - 1tsp

10. Curry leaves - 2 stalks

12. Chopped cilantro - 1 tbsp

13. 2-3 Green chilis - slit lengthwise

14. Chopped tomatoes - 1/2 cup

15. Salt to taste

Prep: Soak the mustard paste in 1/2 cup water, add salt and strain off after 20 minutes. Mix the posto, coconut, ginger and turmeric in this strain and use this as a marinade on the brinjals. Keep for 15mins. Check the seasoning and adjust salt so that it is a little on the high side. The tomatoes and cilantro which will be added later will adjust it all.

Cooking: 

1. Temper the mustard seeds in mustard oil and wait for the spluttering to begin. When almost half of the seeds have popped, add curry leaves and minced chili. Wait for the fresh aroma.....arghhh can't describe it. You have to experience it to know how good it is.

2. Now add the tomatoes and mix. 

3. Add the marinated brinjals with all its marinade. Mix well, cover and cook on medium high until everything comes to a boil. 

4. Now simmer and cook until the brinjals are tender. Add cilantro and check seasoning. 

5. Turn off the heat, top with fresh cilantro and slit chilis. 

6. Serve with steaming white rice. Yumm!

Crispy Healthy Granola Bars

My family sometimes loves to substitute their regular breakfast with a rich nutrition bar and a cup of milk. I didn’t mind so much ….until today….I just went through the ingredients ….and whoa!! I was in for a BIG surprise…..HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL? Really?

Hmmffffff…….there goes another of my easy quick fix for a late morning when we have to rush to work.

So? I made some of my own. After getting back from work, I tried this out….and it turned out yummier and definitely a lot healthier.

Need

Pitted and ground dates – 1 ½ cups

Broken oats flakes – 1 cup ---- ROASTED (you’ll love the nutty flavor)

Corn flakes – ¾ cup ----- crumble between palms

Milk – 1 ½ cup

Chopped roasted nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashew, sunflower seeds, sesame, you pick J ) – ¾ cup

Dried cranberries (you can use any kind of raisins) – ¼ cup

Cinnamon ground – 1 ½ tsp

Balck pepper ground – 1 ½ tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Oil – just enough to grease the baking sheet

Optional add-ons – chocolate chips, fruit candies

The super easy process

1.    Take the date and milk in a saucepan and simmer until the mix forms a smooth somewhat runny paste

2.    Take off flame and add all the rest of the ingredients and mix

3.    Line a baking tray with foil or baking sheet and grease the sheet with oil / butter. Spread the mixture over the sheet. You can make it smooth and square in order to get neat bars. I leave it messy….as long as I have smoothened the paste on top. Saves me time J

4.    Bake in preheated oven at 400 degree F for 5 minutes, then at 100 degree F for 1 hour.

5.    Cut the bars and cool. Store in an air tight container.

I made 40 mini bars in this batch. This would average to a max of 30 calories per bar. J Hurray!!

Easy Niramish Polao (Bengali Pulao/Pilaf Recipe)

Niramish polao is a very pujo-celebration recipe that we relish esp. on Navami day of Durga puja. While the polao itself is niramish (no meat, or onions, or garlic in there), it is served with traditional mangsher jhol (bengali mutton curry). It tastesd yummy and reminds me of pujo everytime we cook this no. Enjoy!

Need:
Long-grained Basmati rice (or gobindo bhog rice - also called jeera rice) - 2 cups
Water - as per instructions on the rice packet [water required to cook basmati well varies across different varieties and brands of the rice. so read the instructions well before cooking]
1 medium potato - cut up into 1cm X 1 inch julienne
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 3 tsp
Almonds and cashew - chopped - 1 tbsp
Raisins - 2 tsp
Cloves - 4-5 sticks
Black cardamom - 1 broken
Bay leaf - 1 medium
Dried red chili (whole) - 1 large broken
Black pepper corns (whole) - 2 tsp
Shahi Garam masala (recipe here) - 1 tsp
Ghee (clarified butter) - 1 tbsp [you may use oil if you wish....but ghee brings out the amazing aroma of the spices]
Finely chopped cilantro

To cook:
1. Wash the rice in running water, drain, and spread out on a plate.
2. Rub in the salt, 2 tsp sugar, turmeric, and garam masala to the rice and keep aside.
3. Wash the potatoes, cut as instructed above, rub in some salt and turmeric, and keep aside.
4. Heat the ghee in a pan/wok and add the red chili, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, and peppercorns. The heat should be on high so that the beautiful garam masala will release its aroma in 1 minute. Reduce the heat to med-hi and add the potatoes. Saute for 1 minute.
4. Add the remaining sugar and mix in the raisins and chopped nuts. Saute for 1 minute.
5. Add the rice. Mix well and saute for 2 minutes.
6. Now add enough water to cook the rice. You may add some hot water later if required. But be careful to not add excess water. Draining would be a waste and is not an option in this recipe. Cover and cook the rice until done.
8. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with traditional bengali chicken or mutton jhol (a runny curry).

:)

Sunday Waffles

Well I don’t own a waffle iron, and after I tried this …. I don’t think I need one J I know waffles aren’t healthy….they make for a junk load for breakfast….but I can let go on a Sunday may be J

So here’s my recipe to make fab waffles at home J

Need for 6 waffles

All purpose flour – 1 cup

White sugar – 2 tbsp

Butter melted – 2 tbsp

Salt – a pinch

Eggs – 2 medium

Milk – as required (will explain later)

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Crushed black pepper (optional)

Vanilla extract – 1tsp

A thick bottomed non-stick tawa or frying pan – cast iron stuff would be great J

To make awesome waffles:

1.    Mix all the dry ingredients well.

2.    Now in a large bowl, melt the butter and mix in the beaten eggs, add vanilla and the dry ingredients. Incorporate well. You’ll get a semi-pasty consistency at this stage.

3.    Add just enough milk to make the batter runny (not very though). The batter should be runny enough so that when you pour a spoonful on the tawa, you can easily swirl it around by tilting the tawa.

4.    Now allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes.

5.    Heat the tawa, coat with a thin layer of butter and cook your waffles to perfection. Here’s how I do it: Pour a spoonful when the tawa is hot. Swivel the tawa to spread the waffle thin…..choose your shape J Now when you see little pores opening up on top of the waffle, flip it with a flat spatula. Adjust heat so that the tawa doesn’t get too hot.  

Drizzle maple syrup, or homemade berry coulis and dig in!!

Paneer Tikka Masala

The amazing restaurant taste in a low-oil home-style version. Well, I had learnt this recipe from friends’ moms and Chef blogs here and there and adapted it the TIME STARVED HEALTH CONSCIOUS BONG style J

I know this is a multi-stage recipe, but may be managed in 30 minutes. Just follow my process.

Enjoy!

Need

Paneer (cottage cheese) 250 gms, cut into cubes

Green bell pepper (capsicum) 1 large – diced

Onion 1 large – diced into large chunks and leaves (layers?) separated roughly

Green chili – 2-3 slit lengthwise

The tandoor marinade: Take a bowl and mix the following ingredients in it:

3 tbsp hung yogurt

1 tbsp mustard oil

1/2 tbsp ginger+garlic paste

1 tsp shahi garam masala powder

¼ tsp Kashmiri red chili powder

¼ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp sugar

Salt – to taste

The masala: 1 large onion – chopped

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp ginger+garlic paste

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp red chili powder

1 tsp roasted and crushed Kasoori methi

1/3 cup whole milk (or fresh cream)

½ cup hot water

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Salt and sugar to taste

Mustard oil

Preparation:

1.    Preheat the oven at 180 degree Centigrade and mix the marinade

2.    Dice the onions and bell pepper and toss into the marinade to coat well

3.    Now dice the paneer and gently add to the marinade coating well and making sure that the delicate paneer doesn’t crumble

4.    Pop the paneer tikka batch into the oven and bake for 6 minutes

5.    Meanwhile chop the onions and tomatoes and slit the chili – in case you’re using fresh ginger garlic paste (which I highly recommend), make it now

6.    Heat oil in a large enough wok and add the cumin seeds. Now add the chopped onions with a tsp of sugar and sauté until golden brown.

7.    Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 more minutes

8.    Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook until tender

9.    While the tomatoes are cooking, check the paneer. Put the oven to the GRILL mode and let the tikkas cook for another 3 minutes, or until the veggies are tender and the paneer is a light gold in color. Take care to not overcook the paneer. It will go rubbery :p

10.                   Now return to your masala wok and add the dry spices and kasoori methi and cook for 2 minutes

11.                   Add the  hot water and incorporate into the masala mix

12.                   Now add your grilled paneer tikka mix. Remember to add the yummy grilled marinade, if any J

13.                   Add chopped cilantro and the warm milk (or cream). Mix well and turn off the heat.

Enjoy your paneer tikka masala with fresh rotis or paratha ….. yummylicious!!