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I never knew Mother’s recipe marketed this. And never for sure knew, that I could find it in Sydney! And this, lovely jar of magic is responsible for the extra helpings of rice on my plate. Am sure next time a friend sees me in India and wants to hug me, her arms can’t ‘hold’ all of me. But who’s complaining, there is more of me to love, no?
I’ve never been to Amritsar, but have heard a lot about this extremely popular street food- Amritsari Fish. This is a deep fried preparation, and has had many a guests of mine, raving! So the next time you have friends home, don’t go for the regular chicken fare for starters, try this!
I used this recipe from Indian food Forever. There are variations wrt time- I tend to marinade it longer. You can follow either of the recipes. There is another version, where the fish is marinated with all the ingredients for an hour and then deep fried. The below one is tried and tested though, and I can vouch for it! :)
For the marinade:
3 Fish fillets (Baramundi/Bhasa or any white fish fillet) – cut into squares
3/4 teaspoon Ginger-garlic Paste
1/2 teaspoon Red Chilly Powder or as per taste
4 teaspoons Lemon Juice
A few pinches of salt
Marinade the fish fillets in all the above mentioned ingredients. Set aside in the fridge for about 2 hours.
Make the batter just half an hour before you intend to fry the fish.
For the Batter:
1 cup of gram flour/Besan
1/2 teaspoon of Ajwain seeds/Carom seeds
1/2 cup thick curd
1 whole egg
Salt to taste
Mix all the above ingredients and set aside
Take the fish out and dip in the batter for about 10-15 minutes and deep fry until golden brown. Drain on a kitchen towel.
Sprinkle Chaat masala and lemon juice.
Serve piping hot with chilled beer! 
( Apologies, for the lack of presentation. I had packed this for a potluck! Do remember to sprinkle Chat Masala and lemon juice before serving!)
I thought this was one helluva cool recipe! And exotic too at that - I can almost smell the Koyla (charcoal) flavour!
Sounds like just the recipe I was looking for, for the coming up weekend :). And thank God for foodie friends!
In Deepti’s own words:
Viola your Koyla Chicken is ready!!
Serve with rotis or steamed rice/pulao :).
Can’t wait to make it!! Thanks and a big hug, Dippy.
And if you have great, simply, fun recipes to share do write to me. Will be mroe than obliged to put them up on Slurrrrrrp!
So long then!
(And no, this is not Shahrukh Khan’s favourite dish :D )
When I am in no mood to cook, I make stir fries- with just about anything that’s in the fridge. The freezer had just one Bahsa fillet, so I decided to toss it with whatever remained in the fridge- I found a few sprigs of spring onions, green bell peppers, a few asparagus. Here’s was I did-
Apply a few drops of Vinegar, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the fish and set aside for 5 minutes. In 2 teaspoons of oil fry the fish until brown on both sides- ensure you do this very carefully. The fillets tend to break. Once done, keep aside.
Add another teaspoon of oil to the wok and add chopped garlic- about 2 pods. To that add all the vegetables, 2 slit green chillies and sauté for about a minute. Don’t over cook it- the fun lies in crunchy veggies. Add the fish to this and sprinkle some salt, pinch of sugar, 1 spoon tomato ketchup, and 1/2 teaspoon corn starch dissolved in 2 tbsps of water. This makes the dish a wee bit wet, and coats the fish making it softer.
Voila! You’re done! Serve it hot with Noodles, fried rice or just have this by itself as a high protein diet meal!
Have a lovely week ahead!
I attempted a veggie bake, the other day, and must admit, I liked it more than I like a bake with meat in it. of course, anything with cheese is nothing but soul food. So I lapped it all up- with or without meat.
I used Broccoli, asparagus, baby corn, fresh sweet corn shavings, potato (par boiled), peas, French beans, carrots, bell pepper- yellow and red- for the color.
Sauté diced chopped garlic (2-3 garlic pods) along with the diced vegetables in 2 tbsps olive oil for about 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle Thyme and Basil over it.
Lay it out as a bed on an oven proof dish.
Pour white sauce over it (method given below).
Grate cheese evenly over the bed of vegetables. I used Cheddar cheese.
Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 F for about 1/2 hour or till the cheese browns evenly.
Serve with Garlic bread.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour/maida
1-2 cups Milk
Salt
Pepper
Sugar- 2 to three pinches.
Optional: 1/2 cheese cube grated.
Ooooooohhh la la!!
(sorry, not the best possible picture!)
Palak Paneer can get very repetitive, while cooking special vegetarian stuff. So I tried making the same recipe with a twist.
In one of my first posts I had posted the Palak paneer recipe. Click here to follow the exact same instructions and instead of Paneer/cottage cheese, add Ricotta (1/2 cup), sweet corn (1 corn on cob shavings) and baby corn (6-8 chopped).
Ricotta has a smooth texture and it literally crumbles and blends into the spinach giving it a distinct taste. The only addition is- nutmeg powder. Sprinkle some while you sauté onions.
Serve with Rotis or Rice.
Some food, like people, have memories. Like the memory I have of my dad bringing home hot Mirchi Bhajji/Pakoras, wrapped in newspaper on his way back from work, for Ma. As a kid I never dared to try one, but as I grew up amongst Andhra folks, who are all essentially spice lovers, I developed a taste for the spiciest, hottest, Mirchi/chillies. To this day this remains my greatest strength and weakness, while cooking. Weakness for sure, because not all dishes require red hot chilly in it, and I can’t do without it, and this eccentric streak sometimes ruins lovely subtle recipes. I need to get myself to cook with more perfection and not arbitrarily.
But no, today is not the day yet for a subtle recipe- here’s a very in your face, hot as hell, snack- The mighty chilly Pakora/Mirchi Bhajji/Mirapukai bhajji- call it whatever you may, it has the power to send you on a heady trip from hell to heaven and back to earth with just one bite. This snack is not for the faint hearted who spend time lingering about cheese and desserts. And now, that I have warned you well in advance, lets get around making it.
(This recipe is in Andhra style- yes exactly the type you must have tried on bandis/thelawalas and on railway station platforms- only, cleaner, more hygienic- no points for health and nutrition though. Weight watchers, you can choose to close this window, else you might be very very tempted to try one, right away!
For the chilly filling-
5-6 large green chillies (if in Sydney, you get these in Coles sometimes or in Indian vegetable markets around Flemington)
1 small cup of seedless tamarind, soaked in hot water
1/2 spoon coriander powder
1/2 spoon cumin powder
salt to taste
For the batter
1/2 spoon baking powder
2 cups of besan / chickpea powder/gramflour
1 spoon garlic paste
salt to taste
water about 1/2 cup
Red chilly powder- 1/4 spoon
Ajwain seeds
Oil for deep fry
Method:
Serve hot with tea, on a rainy evening and get nostalgic. :-)
(The North Indian version doesn't use any tamarind. Instead they make a mixture of salt, Amchur (dried mango) powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and stuff the chilly with this mixture. They use normal chillies instead of big ones. You might want to try that variation too)
