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

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

'Aloo 'Aloo!

What was supposed to be a wallet-restocking halt turned into a rather wallet-emptying spree. You see, much to my husband’s delight, after getting out of the ATM, I took a detour to the shop next door and splurged on these:

• Freshly-baked sweet bread and milk bread
• Puliyogare mix and Chutney powder
• Khaara bun aka Aloo bun

Normally, any detour from the plan deeply agonizes my husband…all but the detour to the local Iyengar bakery. Sareen, being the typical Bangalore-bred person that he is, pines for Khaara buns, pigs out on bakery bread and is delighted to be served Chutney podi with his breakfast Dosas. The above is a list of things that most Bangaloreans croon over.
   

  
So the other day, I headed to the bakery to buy a few loaves of bread, yes you heard me right – these are so good you consume them by the loaves. Anyway, in the bakery, I also bought the staple powders and mixes and the Aloo bun. The Aloo bun is not disgustingly delicious that I’d write raving reviews about it, yet it is one of those things that foodies must try at least once, like visiting the Taj Mahal for travel-junkies.

Every time I buy these buns, I think of trying it out myself. So, as jobless as I am now, I started trolling for Aloo bun recipes. One common recipe that I came across is by using the standard bread/bun dough and stuffing them with spicy potato filling. The one that I decided to experiment was, however, a potato-based dough. I liked it better than the regular dough.

I looked up this recipe and made my own changes. By changes I mean that I did not stick to precise measurements and used shortcuts.

Aloo Bun / Khaara Bun

Ingredients:

Potato - 1 medium

Milk - 1 cup  

Yeast - 1 tsp

All-purpose flour (Maida) – 2 cups

Wheat flour – ½ cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Boil and peel the potato.
2. Mash the potato and mix it with milk. Make sure that the potato milk mixture is warm and then add the yeast to it and let it rest for 5 minutes.
3. Combine the flours. Add salt and oil to it and mix well.
4. Add half the flour to the potato mixture and mix thoroughly. Once the flour is fully incorporated, gradually add the remaining flour and knead the dough for roughly 10 minutes until it is smooth and bounces back when you press it lightly. If the dough is sticky, add a little flour and knead. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and proof it for about an hour or until the dough doubles in size.
5. Once rested, gently punch out the air by kneading the dough for 1-2 minutes.
6. Make a medium-sized ball and flatten the ball to about the size of a CD. The flattened ball should not be more than ½” thick.
7. Spoon some of the filling on the centre of the flattened ball.
8. Bring together the edges of the circle and close it up like a bun. Repeat the same for the remaining dough. You can make about 10 buns with this dough.
9. Place the buns seam-side down on a greased cookie sheet. Cover the buns with a damp cloth and proof it for another 30-45 minutes. When the buns become double the size, bake it in a moderately hot oven (about 200°C) for about 12-15 minutes until the top starts browning. I baked in the microwave oven on medium heat for 8 minutes and then to brown the top I grilled the bun for 5 minutes.
10. In the final minute of baking, baste the top of the buns with oil and milk. You can baste the buns with egg wash for a shiny golden top.

Important: Make sure you seal the seams of the buns properly, otherwise they will open up while baking.
   

     

For a spicy potato filling, you can sauté boiled, mashed potatoes with finely chopped onions and spices like chilli powder and garam masala. I made a veg filling with finely grated carrots, finely chopped beans and mashed potatoes. You can use just about any stuffing; just ensure that it is a dry one. Next time, I plan to use a chicken filling.

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives. ~Oscar Wilde

You mean Meen?

Recently, while holidaying in Pondicherry, I was determined to try out as much seafood as possible because, at times, we get such rotten fish here in Bangalore. So, for lunch and dinner, I skipped the lamb and fowl and dived straight into the seafood platter, shrimp salad, fried fish and seafood creole (high on my to-cook list). I also tasted this very yummy Meen Kollumbu, a Tamil fish curry. Right then, right there I decided I had to recreate that seafood classic. Yesterday, after much searching, I found this recipe, and I followed it almost to the T.

Meen Kollumbu

Meen Kollumbu

Ingredients: 
Kingfish – 750 gm
Shallots – 1 cup (or 1 large red onion)
Coconut – ½ a coconut
Tamarind – extract of about a lemon-sized ball
Tomato – 1
Coriander powder – 4 tbsp
Chili powder – 2 tsp (I substituted it with Kashmiri chili powder)
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt
Fenugreek seeds – a few
Curry leaves – a few
Coconut oil – as required

Method:

1. Clean and pat dry the fish and rub some turmeric powder and salt on it.
2. Keep aside 6 shallots and chop the remaining. If using an onion, reserve a quarter.
3. Grind the coconut, tomato and the reserved shallots/onion to a fine paste. Add the powders and grind again. Add the tamarind extract to the ground paste.
4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a manchatti (clay pot).  In Tamil Nadu, they use sesame oil for its distinct flavour.
5. Put a few fenugreek seeds in the hot oil. Once the seeds splutter, add the curry leaves and chopped shallots. Sauté till the shallots change colour.
6. Add the ground paste along with some water and mix well. Allow this mixture to bubble for at least 20 minutes. Add water if the curry is thick and add salt to taste.
7. Slowly slide in the fish and boil the curry till the fish is cooked, about 10 minutes for big fishes and 5 for small ones.
8. Once done, take the pot off the heat, drizzle some oil over the curry and close it with a lid. Serve warm with rice.

As with most puli-based fish curries, this curry tastes better when you rest it for a few hours; it tastes best the next day.

Tip: If you plan on making this curry often, you can grind a bigger batch of the coconut-masala paste and freeze it for later use.

Even my daughter
relished the curry with some fish fry.

No clock is more regular than the belly. ~ Francois Rabelais

Grab that Crab

I like cooking and experimenting new dishes, but I generally stay away from seafood. Every once in a while I feel like having mom’s Fish Molee or fried fish, and that’s about the only time I buy fish. Yesterday, I decided to buy some fish for my dear daughter who’s a content little kitty cat if she has fried fish for lunch. 
    

From my fish monger, I bought my usual - kingfish, mackerel and sardine - and to my utter surprise, I bought some crab too! I’ve always wanted to cook crab, but the mess of cleaning it inevitably puts me off. Luckily for me, I got the crab cleaned and ready to cook.

Nattu’s Crab Masala

I knew for sure that I had to make something really spicy if my hubby had to eat it. So I looked up the Internet and came up with this recipe. Of course, I had to do it my way - some tweaking here and there and the rest is history! 
   
Ingredients:

Crabs -  4-5 medium, cleaned and halved
Onion- 1 small, finely chopped
Ginger - 1” piece, finely chopped
Garlic - 5-6, finely chopped
Chili powder - 1 tsp ( I also added 2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder for the intense colour)
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Fenugreek (uluva) powder - ½ tsp (I also added a pinch of powdered fennel seeds)
Tomato – 1 medium, finely chopped

Salt, Water, Curry leaves, Coconut oil
     
Method:

1. Heat some oil in a deep wok and add curry leaves.
2. Add the finely chopped ginger and garlic and sauté till light brown.
3. Add the chopped onion and sauté till golden.
4. Reduce heat to medium and add all the powders and sauté well.
5. Add the chopped tomato and sauté till the tomato turns mushy.
6. Add around 2 cups of water and salt to taste; bring to a boil.
7. Finally, add the crab, cook covered, mixing occasionally.
8. Cook for about 15 minutes, and then remove the lid and cook until the gravy is thick enough to coat the crab.
9. Pour some coconut oil and garnish with curry leaves. Serve hot with appam or rice.

Tip: Once the crab is cooked, let it rest for a few hours. This way the crab absorbs the spices in the gravy. You can later thicken the gravy before serving.

I made this before lunch and served it for dinner. Hubby liked it..not too bad for a first time!

  

I'm on a seafood diet - I see food, I eat it. ~ Dolly Parton