We visited California during Christmas vacation. The main focus of our trip this time was meeting our friends. Apart from enjoying a lot in their company, I also learnt many things from each one of them. Everyone treated us with such delicious homemade food.
This particular dish was served to us at our friends Mehnaz and Hardeep’s home. They made this delicious baked fish with salmon. When I tasted this first,I immediately noticed a very pleasant spice which I never use in fish dishes. They said it was ajwain. I could not stop going for seconds and thirds. I normally prefer eating fish with rice/rotis, so when they served as starter, I had my own doubts. But V and I loved this dish. When I came back, I made this with tilapia (because that is what I had in my freezer). I am sure this will taste great with any other fishes.
If you do not have oven, heat a tava and shallow fry the pieces.
The measurements given in this recipe are approximates, use all ingredients according to your own taste.
Ingredients: 2 big fish fillets 1 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric 1/2 tea spn garam masala 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste 1/2 tea spn amchoor powder 1/4 tea spn ajwain( carom seeds ) Salt
Method: Apply all the ingredients to fish pieces and leave it aside for 30mins. Preheat oven at 300F. Bake the fish till done. Serve hot with or without lemon.
Serves : 2 Perparation time : 5mins + baking time.
Pictorial:
These days I am trying my best to avoid any food wastage. I used to buy a lot of beans/vegetables and had to throw some of it when I could not get to them on time. Now I make a conscious effort not to do so. We have started doing the grocery shopping once in every 2-3 weeks. We buy new vegetables only when we finish off every single vegetable from fridge. So, while we are at it, I am trying to get to the dried beans/lentils that are sitting in my pantry.
Yesterday, I saw a pack of green peas(vatane) and soaked some. This morning when I was thinking about lunch, I thought of making usli (which is my all time favorite dish), but then, I had to use up some bhindi too, so vatane had to be used for gravy. Next in the list was saru-upkari . I started making this, but changed it a bit to give a nice taste/aroma with goda masala. It came out really well.
Ingredients: 1 cup dried green peas(vatane) 4 green chillies 1 tea spn goda masala 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn garlic 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1 tbl spn chopped coriander leaves 2-3 pieces kokum (or use tamarind or tomato) Oil A pinch turmeric Salt
Method: Soak dried peas overnight in water. Pressure cook peas with turmeric till they are mushy. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add onion, green chillies and garlic. Fry for few minutes. Mash the peas with a spoon. I took 2 big spoonful of peas in blender and blended it to a smooth paste. Add the peas to onion mixture. Now add salt, goda masala, kokum (or tamarind or tomato) and cook till the gravy thickens. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice or rotis.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
