Fish Croquettes

Last week, we bought a big, whole kingfish and made fish fry, fish biryani, fish curry, fish pie, some more fish fry, and finally fish croquettes. Now this is something that features a lot during Ramadan and then sometimes when we get really good fish.

  

   

These are my mom-in-law’s croquettes – easy-peasy as opposed to mine, which feels complicated. Or does it just look effortless because she breezes through the whole process?

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients:

Kingfish – 250 gm
Salt – to taste
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Chilli powder – 2 tsp
Potato – 2 medium, boiled and mashed
Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
Curry leaves – a handful
Ginger-garlic paste – 4 tbsp
Green chili – 3, finely chopped
Bread crumbs – as required
Egg – 2, beaten
Oil – to fry
   
Method:

1. Make a marinade with chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and water just enough to brings it all together Marinate the fish in this marinade for 10 minutes.
2. Shallow fry the fish till just cooked. Allow it to cool, and then flake the fish.
3. Combine mashed potato and shredded fish, and season as required.
4. Heat some oil in a wok. Add chopped curry leaves and onions. Saute till onions become soft and translucent.
5. Add ginger-garlic paste, and saute well in low heat.
6. Once the raw smell of the ginger-garlic paste disappears, add green chili and saute.
7. Combine the fish and potato mixture with the sauteed masala.
8. Shape the fish croquettes, and dip each croquette in beaten egg, and then roll it in breadcrumbs.
9. Deep fry the croquettes in hot oil. Serve hot.

While I don’t like condiments with my snacks, these croquettes tasted exceptional with ketchup – the sweetness of the ketchup really complemented the heat of the croquette.




Ever since Eve started it all by offering Adam the apple, woman's punishment has been to supply a man with food then suffer the consequences when it disagrees with him”. ~ Helen Rowland

A Meen Pie

What caught my attention in this article that I found while scouring for Kerala-style fish dishes was the tempting, refreshing picture. I bookmarked the page right away. I knew I’d recreate that pie at least once.
   

My Sunday Fish Pie

Sundays in my house normally mean indulgence – sleep, food, mall-hopping. Today's theme was food. After a sumptuous lunch and a few hours of non-stop chattering, I knew that I needed to stimulate my slumbering self. So, I got some Bluefin Trevally (Vatta in Malayalam; Hammaam in Arabic) from my fish monger and got started with my version of the fish pie.
  

I did not depart much from the original recipe. I omitted the peas and parsley (nobody wants to eat greens on Sundays). I added a little garam masala as suggested in the article. I did not add the eggs because I did not have any. The best part of this dish is that I got an excuse to make my mashed potatoes...Yum!

Fish Pie

Ingredients:

Any big fish – ¼ kg (cooked in a little water, turmeric, and salt)

Onion – 1, finely chopped

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tsp

Paprika – ½ tsp

Chili powder – ½ tsp

Ground pepper – ½ tsp

Oil – 2 tsp

Spring onions – ½ cup, chopped +1 tbsp for garnishing, finely chopped

White sauce – 1 cup, thickened

Mashed potatoes – about 12-15 ice cream scoops (here's the recipe)

Method:

1. Flake the cooked fish.
2. Saute the onions in a little oil.
3. Add the ginger-garlic paste when the onions turn translucent.
4. Once the raw smell of the ginger and garlic disappears, add the powders. Saute for about 30 seconds.
5. Add the fish and spring onions, and saute for about a minute.
6. Add the white sauce, and combine well.

Assembling the pie:

1. Grease a baking dish, and spread the fish mixture evenly over the base of the baking dish.
2. Layer the mash over the fish. You can scoop the mashed potato over the fish for even layering and added effect. 
3. Bake the fish pie at 375°F/190°C/Gas 5 till the potato starts turning brown.
4. Garnish with spring onions. Serve hot.

The fish pie was out of the oven around dinner time. The only delay in digging in was the time I spent clicking these pictures, sub-standard as they are.
I also managed to click a picture during the dinner dash. Since there are many fish lovers in the family and even more mash fans, the pie disappeared within minutes. It kind of reminded me of a cartoon where Jerry wipes out an entire table full of food.

Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks. ~ Marilyn Wann

Artisan Bread

"Of all smells, bread; of all tastes, salt."
George Herbert, English poet (1593-1633)
   
 I couldn't agree any more.
   
January was decidedly a month for baking. After trying out this easy and versatile recipe for bread, I baked lots of buns and rolls. I originally used this recipe to make pizza base.
   

I was over the moon when a batch of stuffed buns and plain buns came out so beautifully. It is one thing when you are dabbling with the familiar, but it’s something else altogether when you do something like baking your entire batch of rolls in a microwave oven for which you have no temperature control. 

I was thrilled and amazed to see the braided roll turned out so well; I can barely braid my own hair, let alone dough!

Bread Rolls with Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
Maida - 2 ½ cups

Salt - 1 tsp

Extra virgin olive oil - 1 tbsp

Warm water - 1 cup
Honey - 1 tsp
Dry active yeast - 1 sachet (I used 2 tsp – a little less than the whole packet)

Method:

1. In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup of water with the honey and dry yeast. Let it sit for about 3 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble.
2. In a bigger bowl, combine the flour, salt, and olive oil.
3. Add the yeast mixture and the remaining ¾ cup water. Mix to combine, and knead the dough until it is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes.

4. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling film, and let the dough rise for about an hour or so. 
5. After an hour, knead the dough gently for a minute, just enough to let out the air. 
6. Make smaller balls, and shape each ball as you like. 
7. For a crescent-shaped chicken roll, roll out a ball to about an inch thickness. Cut the disc into quarters. Stretch or roll out a quarter so that it looks like an elongated triangle. Spoon some chicken filling on the base of the triangle and roll the dough towards the tip of the triangle. Shape it like a crescent. 

8. For the triangle Aloo buns, roll out a ball to about ½ an inch. Spoon some filling on the center of the disc. Close the disc by folding 3 sides over to the center. Shape it into a proper triangle. Make sure you seal the seams really well and leave enough dough for the seams; otherwise the seams will crack open while cooking. 
9. Place the rolls on a baking sheet lined with butter paper. Leave space between the rolls for the dough to expand. Cover the baking sheet with cling film, and let the dough rise for another 15 minutes. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. 
10. Adjust the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5, and bake for about 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Note: In my microwave oven, I set the convection+microwave combo to High for 3 minutes followed by  Medium for 4 minutes.

I was just reading for pleasure here when I came across the pizza dough recipe. Lucky me :)

Coffee makes it possible to get out of bed. Chocolate makes it worthwhile. ~Author Unknown

You Gotta Try This Panna Cotta

The first time I laid my eyes on a Panna Cotta was on the popular cookery contest, Master Chef Australia. This dessert piqued my brain, just the way Lemon Curd and Cream Anglaise did. Moreover, it seemed like a dish that most contestants whipped up effortlessly. After months of daily torture on TV, I finally tasted my first Panna Cotta (one with lime syrup on top) at our anniversary dinner. One word – heavenly – the dessert, not the dinner (what with a 2-year old and all).

 It made sense to search for a panna cotta recipe after tasting it once. So, I was quite disheartened to see the generous use of heavy cream in my new favorite dessert. The fat content, along with the dearth of heavy cream out here, ensured that I wouldn't make this very often. Tail tucked right between the legs, I visited my mom one weekend. To my utter delight, mom served me Blueberry Panna Cotta for dessert. Imagine my delight. She got the recipe from a reliable source, so the recipe was failproof. 

I made the Panna Cotta twice after I got back home – once with a blueberry topping right out of a can (with a ghastly chemical after-taste) and another with a freshly-made strawberry compote of sorts that was sour enough to cut through the richness of the dessert (now, that’s just Master Chef Australia talking).
   

 Vanilla Panna Cotta

I simply loved the rich red color of the compote!

• Milk – 1 tin
• Condensed milk – 1 tin
• Corn flour – 4 level tbsp
• Gelatin – 2 heaped tbsp
• Water – ½ cup
• Fresh cream – 2 packets (Amul Tetra-pack cream will do)
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

 Strawberry compote:

• Fresh Strawberries – 15
• Water – ¼ cup
• Sugar – to taste
• Lemon juice – 1 tsp
• Cornflour – 1 tsp (optional)
• Butter – 1 tsp (optional)

 Method:

1. Soak gelatin in water.
2. Mix milk, condensed milk, and cornflour in a saucepan. Cook over a gentle heat until thick. Stir constantly.
3. Allow the thickened milk to cool, then add the soaked gelatin to it, and mix till the gelatin dissolves completely.
4. Combine the fresh cream and vanilla essence with the milk mixture.
5. Pour in individual serving bowls or in a pudding dish, and allow the Panna Cotta to set.
6. Serve with blueberry preserve or strawberry compote.

Blueberry Panna Cotta ready to be savored

Half empty within 
minutes of serving!

To make the strawberry compote:

1. Wash the strawberries, remove the stem, and roughly cut them into quarters.
2. Cook the chopped fruit, sugar, water, and lemon juice in a saucepan on low heat.
3. Add butter once the strawberries are soft and start disintegrating. The butter lends a gloss to the compote.
4. Add cornflour mixed with a little water to it and stir well.
5. Allow to cool. Spoon over chilled Panna Cotta.

Next time, I’m going to skip the vanilla and instead add some coffee powder - Mocha Panna Cotta!

I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~Jason Love

Is it time for an Intervention?

I love to read.
I read just about anything that can be read.
I read the back of the cereal box every time I have cereal.
I read the user manual of any new device. Yes! The entire booklet.
I read leaflets enclosed in medicine boxes, you know, the one about side effects and all.
In short, I read every word of practically every printed/written matter.

Yet, I skipped whole sections of Robin Cook’s Intervention. I was so bored by the book. What a disappointment considering my expectations from the author. What was he thinking? Riding the Dan Brown wave? More precisely, riding the Dan Brown-induced threat-to-Christianity wave? I’d barely gotten through The Lost Symbol before I swore off these history+Christianity combos. And then came Intervention, that too when I was really lusting for familiar medical action.

Now which author is going to follow suit? Forsythe? Follet? No, please not Grisham. Calling all for an intervention before things start getting outta hand!

Mini Shepherd’s Pie

Here's a post that I'd started a couple of weeks ago, read on.
I came across this dish a few days back, and ever since I’d been thinking of trying something like that myself. Today, I was already doing a lot of the usual cooking and I thought, “Why not dabble in some pie?” I’ve also had making Shepherd’s Pie in my mental to-do list for a while now. I had some spare shredded chicken to make the filling, so a few online recipes and lots of tips later, I got 8 medium potatoes boiling for mashed potatoes.  

Mini Shepherd's Pie with Chicken Filling

The basic ingredients for mashed potatoes: boiled potatoes, salt, pepper, a generous amount of butter and a few splashes of cream. Yes, I am trying real hard to inch past that border-line cholesterol of mine. The secret to good mashed potatoes, one that is not pasty, is to eliminate water. That includes steam from the boiled potatoes. After mashing the potatoes with a potato ricer or a fork, season the potatoes and add a few tablespoons of butter. Finally, add the cream. You need to make sure not to overmix the mash, otherwise you end up with a gooey mess instead of fluffy mash. My mashed potatoes turned out pretty good, so good that my kid who’s a fussy eater kept on tasting forkfuls from the bowl.

  

With the mash out of the way, I was about to make an Indianized chicken filling. That’s when it hit me that if I were to make mini Shepherd’s pie, I’d need something edible to line my trusted, versatile muffin tray. I couldn't that the easy way out as there was no bread in stock. So my dabbling changed to downright experimenting as I started making a shortcrust pastry for the pie. Yikes! This takes me back a few years when I tried a hand at making quiche from scratch! Not only was I uninformed about the art of pastry-making, but I also did the blunder of not following a recipe – I was doing it Jamie Oliver-style, without the skill. Talk about experiments blowing up in your face.

   

Anyway, a few years and a couple of grey hair past, I learned my lesson. Today, I really wanted to succeed and that meant more online research. I followed this recipe to the T. I think I did pretty good, well almost (read on and you’ll know why). 

Mini Shepherd’s Pie

For the mashed potatoes:

• Potatoes  – 8 medium
• Butter  – ½ cup (feel free to indulge yourself with more)
• Cream – ¼ cup
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 

1. Boil the potatoes till cooked. Make sure not to overcook them. 
2. Peel the potatoes and mash them with the back of a fork. Use a wide bowl to help the steam escape. 
3. Add salt and pepper, and mix with the fork. Next, incorporate the butter and cream while taking care not to overmix.

There's more mashed potatoes than necessary for the pie. It helps to make the mash first - that way you and your family can have forkfuls every now and then till the mini pies are ready.

For the filling:

• Shredded Chicken – 2 cups (cooked with salt, pepper and green chilies for spicing up the filling)
• Onion – ½ medium, finely minced  
• Garlic – 4 cloves, finely minced
• Garam masala – ½ tsp
• Coriander powder – ¼ tsp
• Coriander leaf – 4 tbsp, finely chopped
• Oil – 1 tbsp

1. Sauté onion and garlic in oil till the onions become soft and translucent.
2. Add coriander powder and coriander leaf and sauté for about 20 seconds.
3. Add the shredded chicken and garam masala, and sauté for 2-3 minutes till the coriander leaf is soft.

For the pastry case:

1. Make a batch of pastry dough according to this recipe. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5.
3. Roll out the chilled shortcrust pastry to about the thickness of a five rupee coin. Cut out circles big enough to cover the base and sides of your muffin mold. Keep in mind that the pastry shrinks when baked. So, you may have to cut out slightly bigger circles.
4. Grease the muffin tray with butter. Gently place the pastry in the muffin molds and press down lightly so that the pastry takes the shape of the mold. Prick the pastry lightly with a fork. Cover the muffin tray with cling film and rest it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
5. Next, cover the molds with foil or butter paper, and fill them with dried beans. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes. When the top edges of the pastry start turning brown, remove the beans and the foil. Bake the pastry for another 3-5 minutes so that the base dries out. While the beans and the pricking stop the pastry from rising while cooking, blind baking gives you a crisp pastry case.
6. Allow the pie crust to cool down completely before adding the filling. Otherwise, the crust becomes soggy.

Important: Never take the shortcut of not blind baking the pastry – a mistake that I made. The pastry takes ages to cook, drying out the filling in the process. Moreover, you end up with a soggy crust. My other mistake was that I rolled out the pastry quite thick.
   

   Assembling the pies:

1. Fill each pastry mold with the chicken filling.
2. Cover the pie with a generous layer of mashed potatoes. You can also pipe the mash over the filling for enhanced visual appeal.
3. Sprinkle some chopped coriander on top.
4. Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 until the potato turns golden brown.

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~ Luciano Pavarotti