Thursday, April 30, 2009

Baked Salmon er Kalia


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This recipe is for SJ of A Pinch of Spice. Until she mentioned I did not even know that a dish called "Baked Salmon er Kalia" was titillating Bong palates up North-West. I knew the regular maacher kalia (or fish kalia) but this was salmon and that too baked. My local bong friends spoiled by the bangladeshi fish sellers abounding the east coast seldom cook salmon while entertaining and so such a nouveau dish had not found its way in their kitchen.

So I searched high and low, actually I just Googled and bam landed on this recipe. "So this is what it is", I thought, "almost like a regular kalia but the salmon has been marinated in spices and baked" ?


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I still do not know the answer i.e. if this is the REAL "Baked Salmon er Kalia" or not. Only SJ can testify. Till then all I can say is this was a lovely salmon dish, just like a regular macher kalia but with salmon and we thoroughly enjoyed it with a bowl of brown rice. Big Sis S seems to have taken a liking for salmon and certain fish fillet, and this dish apparently earned her approval



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Baked Salmon Kalia


For 6-7 pieces of salmon fillet. Each piece roughly a square of 2" x 1.5"

Prep: Make a marinade of 2 -3 tbsp yogurt, 1/2 tsp of garlic paste, 1/2 tsp heaped of ginger paste, 1/4 tsp of R. Chilli Powder and salt. In a shallow flat bowl(or even a plate) put the fish pieces and pour the marinade over the fish. Put back in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes

Grind 1/2 cup of chopped red onion + 1 fat clove of garlic + 2 green chilli(adjust according to your hot tolerance) to a fine paste

Start Cooking:

Drizzle a little olive oil and bake the salmon pieces for 20 minutes at 275F 350 F  After 20 minutes turn them over, sprinkle a little sugar and put in broil for next 5 minutes. Note: After suggestions by a friend I have been baking Salmon at a lower temp of 275F and the fish is much more moist and delicious. So i am updating this post with the new bake temperature.

To Make the Gravy:

Heat Oil in a kadhai or a heavy bottomed pan

Temper the oil with 1 large Bay leaf or 2 small tej patta(tej patta is usually smaller than bay leaf) + 4 Green Cardamom/Elaichi + 1/2 tsp of Whole Jeera/Cumin Seeds.

When the spices sputter add the onion + garlic paste

Fry for a couple of minutes with a sprinkle of sugar.

When the onion turns a nice reddish brown, add 1 tsp of fresh grated ginger + 1 small tomato finely chopped(try to get a nice juicy stem tomato and use only 1/2 of a large one)

Fry till you see the tomato turn into a pulp and there is no raw smell

To 1-2 tsp of yogurt add 1/2 tsp of Corriander powder + 1/2 tsp of Cumin Powder + 1/4 tsp of Red Chilli Powder + little Turmeric and make a paste. Here instead of yogurt you can make a paste in water also

Add this paste + salt to the Kadhai/Pan, turning the heat to low

Fry till you see the oil separate from the masala

Add about 1/2-1 cup of water and let the gravy come to a boil. You may need to add more water depending on the amount of gravy

Let the gravy simmer till it thickens. The gravy will have a smooth consistency.

You can pour the gravy over the baked fish and serve. Alternately add the baked fish to the gravy and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with chopped fresh corriander leaves and serve




My other Fish Kalia with Rui -- Maacher Kalia

Salmon in an Indian Chilli Fish

Monday, April 27, 2009

Besan Ka Cheela and Pepper Shrimp


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We are done with 7 days of Challenge, woo hoo. Am I glad or what.

Saturday with all that fasting-shasting I was pretty crappy and so was the husband. We were spiteful and had huge rows. Low carb/sugar was showing its effects.

"But I feel lighter", I said to myself, "Maybe I have lost inches(or feet) if not pounds. If I lose my marriage so what, at least I will be thin"

And then came along dear N and made me re-read the rules again. As always I had just skimmed through the rules. I have been doing this since time immemorial. The only times I read and re-read the rules was during TOEFL and that because I thought I wouldn't understand Amriki accent over my headphone

Ok so as it goes I have broken errrr worked around several rules of the challenge. I had potatoes, honey with my yogurt and did no exercise

No wonder the husband was gladly gliding along until the fasting started.

Let me quickly sum up the pros of this process before I crib

* You feel much better about yourself
* All that eating right makes you feel a whole lot better. You do feel light believe me and may even lose pounds if you are strictly adhering to the rules. Actually the husband did lose noticeable inches as claimed by him.
* Remember the guilt after wolfing down a pizza. Well now you don't have any, neither pizza nor guilt
* You learn a whole new lesson on self-restraint and "giving up". If you continue you might achieve moksha soon

Things that did not quiet work for me

* We spent a whole lot of time cooking and packing lunches during the weekday. I was packing 3 dabbas each !!! This was definitely not good for me as I prefer spending weekday evening with my kids rather than in the kitchen. Maybe we also went overboard with the idea, but next time I plan to keep it even simpler

* Don't know why but since so much after-work time was spent in the kitchen that I didn't feel like going to gym at all. That would have cut into my time with the girls but Exercise would have helped

* No eating out on Weekends were tough, I am not going to do weekends next time. Such nice weather and yet we couldn't grab anything and had to be back home for dinner

* This challenge saw both of us(D & me) together in the kitchen a lot and by that I mean A LOT. Now this might be a total incentive for honey-baby-lovey-dovey kind of couples(with no disrespect meant to anyone). But for me this is a hindrance. I have known the husband for a loooong time now and don't feel the need to bond over how to grill salmon just right.
The hubby is a good cook and definitely a help in the kitchen but when he is in there I would rather spend my time with the baby who needs me more. Once the kids are older and can be in the kitchen too maybe we all can have coochie-coo Kitchen time.

On the whole the Challenge was worth it and I am going to do it maybe every alternate week or so. Take it up and feel good.


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On Saturday after the fast I didn't want to settle down for anything less but cheela -- a savory gram flour pancake and some hot spicy pepper shrimp. The very thought of it pepped me up until I broke the fast an hour early. Lovely light besan ka cheela with the hot shrimp did heal bruised egos and rumbling appetites to some extent. The Pepper Shrimp is frameworked on Cham's Pepper Mushroom recipe which I altered around a bit to suit my convenience and loved a whole lot


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Besan Ka Cheela or Gram Flour Pancakes


Makes enough for 2(5-6 cheelas)

In a wide mouthed deep bowl add 1 cup of besan(chickpea flour) and fluff with a fork to break lumps if any and aerate

Make a batter with the above Besan + about 1/4 cup of finely chopped red onions + 3 finely chopped green chilli + 1/2 tsp of Carrom Seeds/Ajwain + 1/2 tsp of Cumin Seeds + little Asafoetida/Hing + salt. Add a little more than 1 cup of water slowly to make the batter.

Heat a flat tawa or frying pan.

Grease it with little oil

Pour a ladleful of batter and spread it out to make a circle. This step is same as you would do for dosa or pancake. Add less than 1/2 tsp of oil in droplets along the edges

When your spatula slids under the edges easily, flip the cheela and cook the other side

Pepper Shrimp



Defrost about 10-12 frozen shrimp. I used frozen raw shrimp, substitute with whatever kind you like. Sprinkle some sea salt on them and let them rest for 15-20 minutes.

Heat oil in a Kadhai/Frying Pan. A little more oil boosts the flavors in this dish

Add 5-6 Kari Patta(Curry Leaves) to the hot oil

Add 1/3 cup of chopped red onions and fry

Once the onion turns pink and translucent add 1 tsp of garlic paste

Add 1 tsp of Pepper Powder and saute for half a minute

Add the shrimp

Add 1/4 tsp of Red Chilli powder and 1/4 tsp of Fennel Powder

Add salt and fry the shrimp. You need to sprinkle a little water to bring the spices together and fry

Once the shrimp is cooked you are done. Don't cook shrimp for too long, it might get rubbery.

* If you are not a shrimp eater replace shrimp with mushroom and do not add any water while cooking. Also cook till all the water released by mushroom dries up

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The All Purpose Masala Paste & Fish Fry


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Today is Day 4 of The 7 Day Challenge, it has been good so far. I am not missing my grains any more, I have become paranoid about going grain free and am eating better in both quality and quantity.

The problem is both me & D are true foodies and cannot live on just salad & soup even if it only for a week so we both have to do a lot of work every day cooking interesting stuff and prepping. Only if I was able to transmogrify into a bovine creature chomping greens in a spring meadow, life would be easier.

I will analyze the pros and cons at the end of 7 days, but believe me even if you don't lose an inch this challenge is worth every salad because of the self-restraint you will acquire by the end of it


Now to The All Purpose Masala Paste which is an efficient homemade packaged solution for busy moms.

If I had any business acumen I would market it and put it on not Patel's but Whole Food's Freezer aisle. But before that I would have to pay hefty royalty fees to Vee and then Coffee, the original creators of this idea. This masala saves me on most weekdays and if you are not already making it, I urge you to refrain and wait till my product is out there.
I promise I will have a fun, family ad out with it too with a jingle that says "Taste mein Best, Mummy aur Mummy Ka Paste"


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Till then you can make it on your own by following these steps

Chop a large red onion roughly

Chop a medium plump red tomato in rough chunks. I keep saying rough because you don't need to spend time and cut in small equal sizes

Peel two to three cloves of garlic and chop in 2-3 pieces

Peel and chop about an inch of ginger, again roughly

Heat little oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic, follow by tossing in onions and then ginger

Fry till the onion is soft and translucent. Toss in the tomatoes and saute till tomatoes turn soft and mushy.

At this point you can get imaginative and add some generic spice powders if you wish, like say Garam Masala or maybe Kasoori Methi. I usually skip this step.

Cool the above and make a paste in your food processor, make a smooth paste not one of those chunky ones.

Cool this paste, pour it in a ice cube tray and freeze

Once frozen, take the frozen cubes out and store in a ziploc bag. I usually make enough to last me a week for impromptu weekday cooking

On a busy week night when all you want to do is just pull a blanket over your head, take some of this cubes out and make a quick gravy in minutes.



Depending on your taste you can vary the proportions and add green chillis to the above


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I made a Fish on Day 3 of the challenge using this paste. I had some Tilapia Fillet which I marinated with this paste (I made with Kasoori methi added this time), salt and some red chilli powder for 24 hours. However 30 mins to an hour should be enough. I usually bake this fish drizzled with Olive Oil but then I saw this recipe at Shilpa's and wanted to try this instead.

So for 30 mins before cooking I marinated the already marinated fish with some more garlic paste, red chilli powder and lime juice. For one of the fillets I added tamarind paste instead of Lime Juice.

However I am a Bong who always fries her fish except for maybe Ilish(Hilsa) so I was not sure how just poaching the fish would taste like. I therefore smeared my frying pan with a little olive oil, maybe 1/2 tsp. Added some curry leaves to it and then placed the fish fillet on the pan. Slowly added enough water so that the fish were just submerged in water. Let it cook till all the water has evaporated.

The fish tasted definitely good but I feel this method is best if the fish was more fresh. We had it with some salad and oven baked masala potato fries.