As we like fish very much, we try to get as frequently as we can, though most of the weeks that gets confined to Sundays. We hardly find fish of indian variety here. Though we find Pomfret at Indian stores, it will be frrozen one and not fresh from sea. However for the sake of taste buds, I take this, as an acceptable compromise.
There are couple of varieties of preparation, I like to try frequently. Grilled fish is one of them. Among different types, Salmon is one which I tried many times and it has come out perfect.
Ingredients: 1 pomfret (clean and put some deep slits on both sides) 1 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric 1/2 tea spn garlic 1 tea spn ginger 1/2 tea spn garam masala 1/4 tea spn coriander powder 1/4 tea spn cumin powder 5-6 curry leaves Lemon juice(about 2 tbl spns) Salt
Method: Mix all spice powders, ginger garlic, salt. Add lemon juice to make a paste. Cut the curry leaves into two and add this to the paste(do not make a paste of curry leaves). Apply this to the fish. Keep it aside atleast for 1hr. Heat the grill pan and grill the fish till it is cooked. Serve hot.
Serves : 1-2 Preparation time : 20mins
With the advent of the rainy season, we find green vegetation all around. Since ancient times we were using many of these plants as ingredients in our cuisine. One such green leafy vegetable is Colocasia . These leaves if not boiled properly, produce itching inside mouth and down to the throat. If soaked in water, it produces itching of our hands too. So while using the leaves – Chop cleaned and dried leaves without touching water. If there is itching, wash the hands with tamarind and water. The itching factor is common and not to be afraid of, because boiled leaves would get rid of the itch and turn out delicious.
Other rainy season specials used in this dish are – – dried seeds of jackfruit ( in jackfruit season, we take out the seeds and dry them under sun to be used later in different dishes), – tender bamboo shoots – hog plums (ambade/amtekayi/ Ambazhanga – Thanks to Anjali for translations)
(clockwise from left – bamboo shoots, hog plums, jackfruit seeds)
So commonly we prepare Alvatti in these days. Bamboo shoots( keerlu ) give a crunch to the dish, hog plums give a nice tangy flavor and jackfruit seeds give a great texture. When the colocasia leaves are cooked, they considerably go down in volume(like spinach), so use them in large quantity.
Ingredients: 4 / 5 cups finely chopped calocasia leaves with stem(pathrade panna) 1 / 2 cup Bamboo shoot pieces(Keerlu) 8 – 10 Jackfruit seeds 3 Hog plum(Ambade) 1 cup grated coconut 5 Red chillies 8-10 garlic pods(small ones) OR Seasoning of mustard seeds, curry leaves Oil Salt
Method: Cook chopped calocasia leaves with bamboo shoot pieces and seeds of jackfruit(crush and remove the outer skin before using).
Grind coconut and chillies. Add the masala to cooked leaves. Add crushed / peeled ambades, salt and cook for about three minutes. Heat oil fry garlic pods in it. OR Make a seasoning of mustard and curry leaves. Add them to the boiling dish. Alvatti is ready for use either with rice or chapati.
Serves : 4-5 Preparation time: 30mins
