Chinese and Thai, Curries, Healthy, Quick meals, Soups and Salads

Khao Suey with Dried Prawns and Chilli Oil

July 17, 2018 No Comments

Khao Suey with Dried Prawns Recipe

I have a Khao Suey recipe already on the blog but I had to do another one. And this Khao Suey with dried prawns turned out absolutely delicious! Usually you’d see a khao suey with a ton of toppings like fried onions, fried garlic, coriander, spring onions, peanuts and what not. But I had a revelation. Since there was the dried prawns and fried garlic, I kept the onions raw. It added a much needed fresh crunch to the bowl of hot coconut broth and noodles. I now prefer my khao suey without the fried onions.

Appetizers, Fish, Mangalorean

Clam Meat Masala / Marwai Masala

July 16, 2018 No Comments

Clam Meat Masala / Marwai Masala Recipe

Back in Mangalore clams (marwai) is made with its shell. We make sukka, curry, or a breakfast specialty called marwai da pundi. Loosely translated, clams with rice dumplings. There’s this online place I sometimes order my meat and seafood from and has never let me down (freshtohome). Since it’s monsoons I don’t buy fish but I wanted see what else they had. Clams were in. But just the clam meat and no shell. I looked it up online and most Kerala based recipes call for only the meat. That’s how they do it there, I suppose. There were people coming over for lunch the next day so I ordered in a kilo of the meat. Once it arrived I thought it was a lot. But it was just enough.

Appetizers, Healthy, Mangalorean, Quick meals, Vegetarian

Cowpea Beans Stir-fry with Coconut / Alasande Palya

July 12, 2018 No Comments

Cowpea Beans Stir-fry with Coconut / Alasande Palya

Cowpea beans have been a regular fixture at home. French beans were slightly more expensive compared to cowpea ones. That’s why they made the cut. They’re simply stir fried with a tadka of mustard seeds, urad and channa dal, curry leaves and dried chillies. The dals give it a nutty flavour and add a crunch to the dish. There’s no masala or too much salt to kill these beans. Adding freshly grated coconut in the end gives the dish some added texture and freshness.

Healthy, Pasta, Quick meals, Vegetarian

Spaghetti with Ricotta, Garlic and Olive Oil

July 10, 2018 No Comments

Spaghetti with Ricotta, Garlic and Olive Oil

I recently did a post on homemade ricotta and things you could do with it. One dish I wanted to make a separate post on was this spaghetti with ricotta, garlic and olive oil. It’s really simple, most of the ingredients are listed in the title itself, and is super delicious. Not to forget, it cooks in a few minutes. The flavours you’d be hit with are predominantly garlic and olive oil. The ricotta adds a nice creaminess in bursts. Lots of freshly cracked pepper for some heat and some parsley for, well, colour. I don’t see what else it could do.

Appetizers, Fish, Mangalorean, Quick meals

Kane Rava Fry / Lady Fish Fry with Semolina

July 8, 2018 No Comments

Kane Rava Fry / Lady Fish Fry with Semolina

Can you believe my luck when I found Kane fish in Gurgaon? OK I found it online and it was coming from Delhi. And that must have come from somewhere in the west coast. Whatever. But good lord this was some beauty of a fish. I hadn’t had kane in what seems like years. It may have been years. One of the things my grandma and women in the family did to smaller fish was to marinate them in a chilli based masala and then give them a good toss around in semolina. I believe this method came from Bombay. I don’t care. I’m going with granny. To the bigger fish they simply fried them with the marinade still slapped on. Restaurants called it Naked Fry. Yes. Let’s do the not-so-naked fry now, shall we?

Chinese and Thai, Chutney, Sauces, pastes, spice mixes

Prawns and Onion Sauce Recipe

July 7, 2018 No Comments

Prawns and Onion Sauce Recipe

I almost called this a faux XO sauce. It’s a good thing I didn’t. This prawns and onion condiment is so delicious I almost at it all by itself. Its sticky, funky, saltiness flavours makes it hard not to add to everything. Like in XO sauce, I too used dried prawns here along with onions that are caramelized till they’ve mutated into the most delicious dark sticky sweet mass. I’m not aroused, I promise. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, a little cooking here a little mixing there – and then you have this jar of deep dark delicious goodness. I’m over selling. I’ll stop now. Last thing. You can use this as a condiment with any Asian dishes (or boring takeout dinners), even add it to stir fries for extra flavour and of course, eggs.

Appetizers, Chinese and Thai, Meat, Quick meals

Chilli Pork with a Sticky, Spicy, and Salty Sauce

July 6, 2018 No Comments

Chilli Pork with a Sticky, Spicy, and Salty Sauce

There’s something devilishly good about licking the remains of a heavenly chilli pork off your fingers. I had made some a few months ago when I discovered my second love – the pork vendor at INA. There used to be one online vendor who sold pork meat in Gurgaon and that wasn’t even good meat. But the INA market in Delhi is where all the action is. I was kicking myself for not having been there in my almost 4 year stay in Gurgaon. Better late than never, I guess. This was my second visit and I went to the same vendor I did the last time. His was the only shop that was always crowded. He didn’t have time to swat the flies of the meat, unlike the neighbour vendors who looked at his customers longingly.

Appetizers, Chinese and Thai, Healthy, Quick meals, Soups and Salads, Vegetarian

Pineapple and Cucumber Salad

July 5, 2018 No Comments

Pineapple and Cucumber Salad Recipe

Not being a salad person is no reason not to eat a perfectly delicious salad. I’m not one for too many leaves though. I feel like a cow. No, I’m not talking about my figure. I’m talking about chewing those leaves. I prefer salads with chunks of veggies in them and just a few sprinklings of leaves. Like the wind happened to accidentally blow them my direction. Whenever I have people over for a meal, I try and squeeze in a decent salad in there. More often than not, I serve hearty curry based spicy meals and a salad sometimes saves the tummy from burning down. This salad has all the basics and some more. Pineapple and cucumber salad had to be my main heroes and the orange miso dressing, the bombshell heroine. It’s sweet, salty, sour, and delish!

Appetizers, Breakfast, Healthy, Makeover for Leftovers, Quick meals, Vegetarian

Homemade Ricotta And What You Can Do With It

July 4, 2018 No Comments

Homemade Ricotta

Homemade ricotta cheese recipe is already on the blog. In this post I want to show you two delicious toasts you can make with it. And more. There’s no cooking but only assembling in these recipes. Ricotta to me is best defined as ‘loose paneer’ to the Indian palate. The making of it requires full fat milk, lemon juice, salt and 15 minutes. Many restaurants and cafes include ricotta in many of their dishes like pancakes and cheesecakes. I like the idea of ricotta on toast with something sweet or savoury to go with it. Like, this ricotta and mushroom toast.

Chicken, Healthy, Quick meals

Roast Chicken in Mushroom and Wine Sauce

July 3, 2018 No Comments

Roast Chicken in Mushroom and Wine Sauce

Roast chicken isn’t the hero here. The hero is the mushroom and wine sauce. Although, I’d like to have cooked down the wine a few minutes longer. But it was still delicious. For the sauce, I blitzed the mushrooms with a little onion and lots of garlic. That’s pretty much what you will taste – mushrooms and garlic. Adding the white wine gave it some acidity. A little trick that always works for sauces for me is to add a small stock cube in the sauce while it simmers. Extra punch of flavour that only mushrooms wouldn’t give.