Mangalorean Fish Fry (Kaidina Meen)

While growing up I was never a big fish eater, but I always loved this dish made by mom, even during those picky eating days. Now I enjoy fish dishes prepared with generous spices and flavor, sometimes even more than chicken. I guess fish feels a lot lighter on your tummy and not to forget it is loaded with protein, is known to lower cholesterol if cooked with less or no oil. It is rich in omega 3 fatty acids which is good for heart. So as we grow don't we like a meal that is yummy, nutritious with fewer calories. Plus lean protein meals are good for your immune system too, as antibodies are made of protein, eating protein definitely helps them fight better. Just watch out, what kind of fish you are eating due to the mercury in water, some are high in mercury (man-made pollution).

I would like to share this recipe with you all, it's been a timeless favorite for me. It is basically my mom's recipe. Every Mangalorean household may have it's own twist. It is very simple to make too. I like dishes that are quick to prepare and yummy to devour.

Ingredients:

•  2 -4 Fish of your choice prepared; sliced, whole or filet (I used 2 large salmon filets)---Originally you can use 2 pomfrets or 4 mackerels cleaned well but whatever is available locally will do, lesser the fish bones better to enjoy it.
• 1 tbsp Kashmiri red chili powder (I did not have it at hand so used 2 tsp regular hot red chili powder-- Kashmiri chili powder will give you a nice paste and won't be super hot)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Juice from one lemon
• Salt to taste
• Semolina/ rava to coat the fish
• Oil to fry

Directions:

• Make slits on the fish if using whole or filets and coat the fish nicely with red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and lemon juice. Rub the spices really well on the fish and marinate it for at least one hour or overnight.

• When ready to make the fish, take generous amount of semolina on a plate and coat the marinated fish on both sides.
• Heat a griddle with oil to shallow fry the fish and when the oil is hot, fry the fish well on both sides till the fish is cooked and taking care that it does not burn. Nonstick pans, like mine, will use less oil

• Enjoy as a side with dal rice or roti sabzi whatever you prefer, it will add a zing to your meal.

Ragi Manni (ragi halva)

This is a Mangalorean dessert packed with nutrition. It is also a coolant and easy to digest. So in the south of India, it is often a baby's first solid food, but now this power food is gaining popularity and I have seen that everyone is at least aware about ragi. Having my origins from Karnataka, I have seen my mom make ragi mudde (ragi balls made by cooking in boiling water), ragi rotti, ragi dosa and ragi manni. In the sweet form, ragi can be made into kheer, pudding or halva depending upon the consistency of the finished product and the amount of ragi flour used in the recipe. I think if you are watching your weight and want to have something sweet, ragi manni would be the answer to your dilemma. It is low in fat and just adjust sweetness, make it milder and you will do good to your body.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup finger millet flour/ ragi flour
• 1 cup jaggery/ sugar or brown sugar (can reduce the amount to half if you do not mind less sweet)
• 1 cup coconut milk or 2 tbsp coconut powder
• 1 cup milk (optional but manni will be more creamy)
• 2 cups water (if not using milk increase it to 3)
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• Chopped nuts (almonds, cashewnuts- if making for babies omit or grind the nuts and add) 

Directions:

• Mix ragi flour and water. If your flour is in fine powdered form you do not have to strain it, but if you see husks strain the mixture before using. I skip this step as I get very fine ragi at my local grocery store.
• Now start heating this liquid ragi in a thick bottomed, non-stick pan. Add coconut milk and milk and keep stirring on medium flame. When it start getting thicker add jaggery and ghee and mix.
• Ensure that there is no settling at the bottom and keep on stirring. Try to keep it smooth, mixing lumps when formed.
• Keep on cooking till the mixture is thick like halva. At this stage mix nuts and cardamom powder, mix well.
• Remove from heat and pour it into greased casserole or Indian thali. Garnish with nuts if you want.
• Let it cool completely, cut it into desired shape and serve, or refrigerate and have later. It tastes good warm or cool.
• Enjoy!

Baked Flan

I made this special treat for our seventh wedding anniversary, gosh we have put up with each other for seven years now. I think that was only possible because of the friendship we share. I like the fact that I have the chance to spend my life with my closest friend, with whom I can share anything, fight anytime with no hard feelings and most importantly be myself. I can never handle a pretend relationship where you have to try to please everyone. I had read somewhere, " It is better to be hated for what you are, than being loved for what you are not." So knowing each other really well and letting each other just be, rather than trying to change each other is key to any relationship. If you are in a pretentious relationship no matter how happy others are with you, you will never be at peace. So I thought this special friendship deserves a special treat and I decided on the flan.

My husband and I- Our headbobbles

Well the flan was apt for many reasons, last year, this time we were in Puerto Rico celebrating our anniversary. This time we were spending it at home but the flan revived the memories of our vacation last year. We had tried flan in the restaurant of our resort there. Also the flan is creamy, smooth, rich and sweet, so I just hope this dessert adds its qualities into our relationship!

Let me warn you that it is a rich dessert so do not consume if counting calories. I think it is a good food for young kids as it has all the protein, calcium, iron and fat that they need at their age. Most of my flan is definitely for my daughter, I will try to keep self-control with that yummy thing lurking in my fridge. When I made flan I thought it came quite close to caramel custard but was more creamy and richer than it. I just did a bit of reading to find similarities or differences between all the desserts of this family. This is what I understood from my readings:

• Custard- It is basically made with milk, eggs and sweetener.  Eggless versions may use cornstarch or flour as thickeners. It can be made on stove top or baked in oven with a water bath, as making a custard is temperature sensitive, if the temperature gets too high it can get overcooked or curdled.
• Creme brulee- The name has French origins and this again is a custard base with hardened caramel on top. I think it will be nice to have that torch as a toy and burn sugar on top of the custard, gives you that childish excitement to do that!
• Flan- I would say flan is a rich custard made with condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream or milk. I think that is why it comes out much creamier than regular custard. It has caramel added to the bottom so that you get nice caramel sauce on top when you invert it after it is done. Flan is generally associated with hispanic countries.It is sometimes baked in a shortcrust pastry shell.
• Cheesecake- Cheesecake, although it has cake in its name, is a form of custard which uses cream cheese or ricotta cheese as it's chief ingredient. The cream cheese one is NY style while Italian versions use ricotta. It can be made in wide variety of flavors and it's not so sweet taste makes it a favorite.

I think there are others like pudding, Bavarian cream, mousse and maybe many more that use similar ingredients, resulting in similar texture. I love dishes with creamy texture and subtle sweet taste. So the flan that I made, naturally made my and my husband's day. I adapted a recipe for the flan from Allrecipes by Beth. Here it goes..

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk (I used 1% fat reduced and it still came out great)
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Heat sugar in a non-stick pan on medium heat. This is bit tricky if you are making caramel for the first time. Medium heat is important and patience is important, low heat will not melt sugar just brown it and crystallize it and high heat will burn it and cause it to taste bitter. So on medium heat let the sugar melt and resist the temptation to stir too often, rather swirl the pan to distribute heat. Once the sugar starts melting be on top of it till it is smooth brown liquid, else it will burn.
• Pour the liquid caramel into a glass or ceramic one and half quart casserole. Please be quick at pouring and swirling to coat the bottom evenly or the caramel will cool and harden before you coat the bottom completely. I used an 8" x 8" glass bake ware, you can use a round one and I think that looks prettier for a flan. Use whatever you have in hand.
• Blend all the remaining liquid ingredients in a blender (be careful it is a lot of liquid so ensure that you have the lid on well before you whirl it) or use the stand or hand mixer. Blend for a minute.
• Pour the mixture over caramelized sugar.
• Put this casserole in a larger baking pan with one inch of hot water in the outer pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 60 - 90 minutes.  Mine took almost one and half hour. The center should feel set when you put a knife inside. It should not come out all liquid.
• Remove from oven and water-bath and let it cool for an hour. Then put it in the refrigerator to cool and set completely, at least 4- 5 hours.
• run a knife on the edges of the baked flan. Put the platter in which you intend to serve the flan over the casserole and invert it. You will get your beautiful flan with caramel around it.
• Slice and serve with spooned caramel and fruits of your choice.
• Enjoy!

Mangalorean Chicken Curry (Kori Gassi)

This curry is usually had with thin rice wafers made out of boiled rice, called rotti and the meal is called kori rotti, which is a classic Mangalorean  fare. Kori rotti which translates into chicken curry with rotti happens to be my favorite dish still, after having tried cuisines all over the world. The spicy gravy made with a paste of red chillies, coconut and other spices along with the subtle crispy wafers is definitely an experience. 

Here in New Jersey I have visited lot of restaurants and there are lot of Indian restaurants too here, unfortunately not a single restaurant serves this Mangalorean style gravy. I guess we need some coastal Karnataka restaurateurs from Mumbai here. Neither do I get those crispy rottis here. So ultimately to get some of this curry I guess the only place would have been, creating it in my kitchen. So I tried it, it came out well and I had some leftover rottis, which mom had got for me on her last visit here, and I had the amazing kori rotti after a long time. The basic recipe is my mom's but I have made little bit changes as per taste. This curry also tastes good with rice if you do not have rottis.

Ingredients:

For masala paste:

• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 7-8 dry red chillies (use as per the chili strength and your preference)
• 10 fenugreek seeds
• 7-8 peppercorns

• 1 onion, sliced
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 tsp oil

For the gravy:

• 2 pounds chicken
• 2 tsp oil
• 1 onion chopped fine
• 1 tomato chopped fine
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
• salt to taste

Directions:

For masala paste:

• Dry roast first section of the spices for the masala. When you get a nice aroma stop roasting, let it cool and grind into fine powder in a blender.
• In the same pan, take oil, heat it and add onions and garlic. When the onions become soft and transluscent, add coconut and roast for some time. Then let it cool and add it to the blender with the powdered spices and blend again till you get a smooth and fine paste.

For the gravy:

• In a large pot, take 2tsp oil and heat it. Add onions and saute well. After onions are soft add tomatoes and let it cook till mushy.
• Add the masala paste and mix well. Add salt, turmeric powder and chicken and let the chicken get coated in the masala. Add water say around 1-2 cups, depending upon how thick you want your gravy. Let it simmer covered, so that all the spices blend well and the chicken gets cooked in the spices.
• When the chicken is cooked add tamarind concentrate and let it simmer for some time. Adjust thickness of the gravy and cook for some time.
• Enjoy this gravy with rice, rotti, neer dosa or idlis. This gravy always tastes better the next day when the flavors get fully absorbed and enhanced.

Note: Please do not use chicken breasts to make this curry, do  not ask me how I know, since it has dense meat it gets very hard when cooked in the curry. Thighs are a good option if you are buying frozen packs.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My first introduction to cookies were the Indian ones called nankhatai and love those cookies. Here in US I tasted chocolate chip, oatmeal raisins, sugar cookies and I like those too. But I have to admit that chocolate chip cookies are my favorite due to the addition of those yummy chocolates speckles in them. I am not a fan of decorated sugar cookies, it feels too sugary. In short give me any cookie that is not decorated, and nankhatais and chocolate chip cookies any day.

I baked these cookies with an intention that my 3 year old will have it too, since she loves chocolate too but she hardly ate one cookie and I ended up finishing most of it. So sometimes it gets dangerous for me to bake such sinful delights. But what is life if you do not err occasionally, plus if that error was totally worth it, go for it. So let me entice you to have some of these cookies by sharing this recipe. It is the popular nestle toll house recipe, not my own, but if you have never come across it then here it goes.

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz pkg) semi sweet chocolate chip morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degree F
• Mix all purpose flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
• Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar by beating well.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat well till they are well incorporated.
• Gradually add the dry flour mixture and beat well.
• Add chocolate morsels and nuts, if using, at this point and mix well with a spatula. 
• Drop by rounded tablespoon on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes.
• Remove and let it cool for a minute or two and enjoy your cookies.

Tip:

• I feel that if you bake the cookies immediately after making the cookie dough using this recipe your cookie will spread too much so I follow the method of dividing the dough in half, wrapping in wax paper and refrigerating it for at least one hour. Then shape it into a log and wrap it in wax paper and put it back in fridge for half an hour. Then cut it in half inch slices and bake in the preheated oven. You will get perfectly shaped cookies using this method.
• If you do not have time,  then substitute 1/2 cup of butter with shortening and bake. This way too the cookies won't spread as much as all butter cookies.
• Reserve some chocolate chips to add on top of the cookies arranged on baking sheet, before baking. When you mix the chocolate chips in the dough they get coated with dough and will not show after they are baked but you can still taste them inside. By adding some chocolate on top before baking you will get picture perfect chocolate chip cookies.

Vegetarian Chili

This is a comfort food and especially during winter you will find great comfort in this spicy hot bowl of chili. The Mexican flavors will kick your taste-buds. My husband and I are up for anything from the south of US, except for beef and pork dishes, like most of the Indians.

I am a carnivore (have eaten lamb and goat, but now I limit myself to chicken and seafood) and my husband is now a herbivore (used to eat chicken before), so being a carnivore I cannot stand boring food that makes me miss the meat. So I try to cook vegetarian dishes that are so flavorful that I do not miss meat (which I do enjoy occasionally). Also thankfully being an Indian gives me the advantage of having loads of yummy vegetarian dishes as a part of our culture.  So we can preserve our personal choices without changing each other. I thank dishes like this vegetarian chili to make our marriage work!

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion chopped fine
• 5-6 garlic cloves minced (I like lot of garlic)
• 2 carrots chopped fine
• 1 red bell pepper chopped fine
• 1 green bell pepper chopped fine
• 1 stalk celery chopped
• 3/4 cup corn
• 3-4 tomatoes chopped fine
• 2- 1/2 cups cooked beans (after soaking overnight) like pinto, red/ pink or black beans
• 1 green chili (Serrano or jalapeno) seeded and chopped fine
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder (optional) 
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• Salt to taste
• Sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese to serve (optional)
• 4 tsp cooking oil

Directions:

• In a large pot, heat oil. Add chopped green chili, minced garlic, chopped onions and saute.
• Add chopped carrots, red and green bell peppers, celery and corn. Mix well, add salt and let them cook till they are soft.
• Add chopped tomatoes, red chili powder and cumin powder. Mix and let the tomato release all its juice.
• Add the well cooked beans (they should be so well cooked that they mash up at the slightest touch) and add 3-4 cups of water and let the chili simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes, so that the flavors get blended well. Do not add too much water or your chili will become watery. You can always add more water if you feel your chili is too thick and simmer for some time. Adjust salt and seasoning as per your taste.
• Take the chili in a bowl and top it with a blob of sour cream and some shredded cheddar cheese.
• It really tastes yum, enjoy!!

Serving suggestions:

To make it a complete meal you can bake quarters of corn tortillas or leftover/ fresh rotis, till crispy and serve with the chili. Just crumble them into the chili  and there you have a nutritious and more importantly, delicious;) meal.