Random Thoughts

Cravings & Pomfret Fish Fry

Cravings !!

It's Sunday afternoon   it's one of those rainy days when you just don't feel like doing anything. You just want to pick up a lovely book, gaze out of your window & Sip over a large Mug of  Nescafe Coffee or Cadbury's Hot chocolate .

As I was just lazing around I got craving of eating some nice fish fry .I fondly remembered how when I was expecting my baby , one of the days I started craving for Fish , specially Pomfret and there he was the doorstep Fisherman with a basket of fresh catch in my neighbourhood.

I remember my mom told me that if you crave something during pregnancy then it's your baby asking for it. And it's true, my Lill angel Samaira is all about Fish , Eggs ( Scrambled or Half Fry ) , Cheese & Baskin Robbins Vanilla Ice-cream . This is all that I ever craved for during my pregnancy.

Today again I am craving Fish & it has to be fresh Pomfrets.

Pan Fried Pomfrets!!

Preparation time:40-45 min

Recipe:

Pomfret: 2 medium sized cleaned & slit on both sides for the marinate to seep in
1 Lemon

For Marinate:

Salt to Taste
One teaspoon freshly ground Ginger Garlic paste
Turmeric Powder
Red Chilli Powder
Garam Masala Powder to taste
Chopped Coriander leaves.
Cornflour powder : 3-4 tablespoons
Mustard Oil for cooking

1. Clean the Fish.
2. Smear with the juice of one Lemon. Keep aside for 5-7 min while you prepare the marinate.
3. Mix Ginger garlic paste, Coriander powder, Turmeric powder, Red Chilli Powder, Garam Masala powder, salt and chopped coriander leaves
4. Wash the fish again to get rid of excess lemon juice.
5. Smear the fish with all the above marinate.
6. Set aside for 30 min.
7. After 30 min, drain any excess water.
8. Take some dry cornflour powder and dust it on the fish, ensuring that you lightly dust it and not stick it too much on the surface.
9. Keep Mustard oil for heating till it smokes in a shallow pan.
10. Once you can smell the sharp smoky mustard oil. Place the fish gently in to it. Turning only once the fish is done on one side. 
11. Repeat the same on other side and voila the Low cal healthy Fish fry is ready & goes well with a good Beer too..;)

Comfort Food

The word Comfort makes us visualize a million ways to be comfortable. We probably get tele-ported to the comfort of our homes lounging in pyjamas with socks on and in front of TV browsing channels. And now with winters in most parts of the country we find ourselves doing more often than not, Isn't it?

I generally get that peaceful time out when I am left unwell at home alone, with neither my Baby nor my husband is around

On such days, I reinvent food or try some quick comfort food, which is wholesome filling and definitely a quick recipe (read-which would not involve me to get out of my bean bag much). One such dish is what I am putting across here.

Shrimp (can be replaced with Mushroom or Cottage Cheese ) Fried Rice:

Shrimps 100 gms Frozen

Onion 1 small or Shallot – 1 green

Chilli Garlic Sauce / spread - Available off the shelf from Fun Foods

Chings  All in One Stir Fry Sauce – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Bowl of leftover Rice

Maggi Vegetable Masala cube – Available off the Shelf- 1 cube

Method:

1.       Stir Fry Onion till golden

2.       Add Shrimps, cover and cook until done ( Orange colored, no water left behind). You can replace shrimps with Mushroom or Cottage Cheese as you wish.

3.       Add the sauces

4.       Mix in Rice

5.       Sprinkle Maggi  Vegetable Masala cube

6.       Check for Salt

7.       Take it in a bowl.

8.       Go back to Lounge. 

For Bitter or Better?

I think a Lot and when I am alone I think way too much. People who love me tell me –“tum bahut sochti ho, jyada sochogi to Pimple ho jayega!!”. I think hard about Life, Relationships and My family, Friends, Dear ones & not so dear ones.

Bitter or Better all relationships you have in your life give you a taste of both. The Mix taste that the relationships in life has to offer is what forms the relationship good or bad , sweet or bitter.

After years of mixed bag of feelings, the one thing that I am sure of is Relationships give you what you choose them to. If you choose to be happy its happiness, if you choose to love you get loved. If you choose not to connect they are at safe distance and if you choose to give the keys of your heart away, there they go playing with your heart like a football. Some just want you as long as they wanted you to be around. The day they think they can’t handle you they just say Not Again…About Time etc. etc. ….

One should know that the bitter is not always bad and the sweet is not always good. Some are so sweet in the beginning whereas they just get to the worst side sooner than you thought; eventually teaching you lessons of life. Whilst some are bitter in the beginning and then you get to see their good sides and thus they take a place inside your heart forever.

I choose to be with the Not So Sweet....that is also evident from my love for Dark Chocolates, bitter yet extremely good for health and mood up-lifter too. Not always sweet but they do turn around to be the best.
Somewhere I Feel the Bitter Sweet Relationships are like Caramel Pudding-The recipe in this blog…Bitter yet sweet, sweet yet Bitter !!

Caramel Pudding:

Ingredients:

Milk – ½ Litre

Sugar – 9 teaspoons for mixing

Sugar   - 2 teaspoons for Caramelising

Vanilla Essence/ Nutmeg – 1 teaspoon / grated few strands

Eggs - 2

Cashew Nuts   – 8-19 nos.

Source: Pashionnate's Kitchen

How To:

1.       Boil the half a litre of milk and boil it a little longer and keep it aside.

2.       Start with taking 2 teaspoon of sugar in a mould; prefer aluminium cake tins or any other which can be put on flame. Sprinkle few drops of water in it.

3.       Put this over direct gas flame. Once the sugar starts to melt with bubbling, start moving the mould round to let the sugar coat the insides of the tin. Keep it over the flame and moving until you get this perfect Golden Caramel Brown. Be careful, the cake tin moulds are easy to heat and sugar retains the high temperature until a little longer so high chances of burning it.

4.       Keep the Tin mould aside for cooling.

5.       Whip eggs till slightly frothy, mix in Sugar prefer to powder the (9-10 teaspoons). Beat them together until mixed well.

6.       Add Vanilla essence or grated Nutmeg as per the flavour you would prefer to give it. Blend again.

7.       Add the kept aside milk to this mixture. Mix well gain.

8.       Pour this mixture in the mould which you kept aside.

9.       To bake this or to steam this is what I leave to you.

10.   To Bake: Pre-heat oven at about 200-220 Degree Centigrade. Put this Cake tin inside a Oven Proof Tray filled with water enough to generate steam in the oven for say about 25-30 minutes. Refer picture below , a baked one after taking out from Oven looks like this.

  

11.   To Steam: Take a pressure cooker with about 100-150 ml of water. Place a stand inside it. Make sure that the stand is high enough to keep water away from the tin mould. Cover the mould with a lid to keep the water away.

12.   Now close the cooker and let this steam on medium flame for 25 minutes ( without whistle)

13.   Once done it looks stiff and you may insert a knife in the center to check that nothing sticks to it. This shows that the Pudding is done.

14.   Let this cool for an hour and place it in the Fridge for serving it chilled. Do not freeze the caramel pudding.

15.   Once ready to serve, turn the pudding upside down for that perfect Caramel colour.

16.   Share the Bitter Sweetness with all your Loved Ones!!

Road Trips:P

I live in Mumbai …..Oops Navi Mumbai (all Mumbaikar’s would be annoyed if I call it Mumbai). There’s always this; Navi Mumbaikar's are treated deferentially. As I hear , we are the "Outsiders"- people who are new to Mumbai settle for Navi Mumbai; the under privileged child of Mumbai.

But Mumbai vs. Navi Mumbai is not the topic of my blog today. I was actually looking at the clouds today while I took a walk around my beautiful office campus and I watched these Spongy Cottony clouds (Cumulus Humilis) which formed various shapes and sizes. Lovely breeze enveloped me along with sun shining and the shadow of clouds falling on the lake . All this reminded me of my Road trips with my parents in Orissa.

My Papa loved driving and he was man enough to take the three ladies in his life, to long beautiful road trips!! One of such trips was to this amazing place Chattarpur in Orissa but more than the visit to the place it was This Journey which always was the high point of the trip.

I vividly remember the road and offcourse the natural beauty of the surroundings which added to the picturesque scenery. It used to be the clear days of October with white clouds patching the pristine blue sky and the road was clear clean grey  just like the good old slate black board days with markings in the center, with Eucalyptus trees lining the road. Amidst one of those was this little Dhaba which was like an Oasis in the middle of nowhere. We stopped there each time we went to this place. The beauty of the place and food that they served was in the freshness of vegetables and fish that they picked up from the farm right behind the Dhaba and the tiny river which ran right between the farms and the Dhaba. It was more of a clear water spring than a river. The best memory of the trip apart from what is described here was this “Chilly Prawns” as they called. I have picked up the recipe just by observing the Ingredient while I enjoyed it with lovely Triangle Parathas. I leave you here the recipe of this mouth watering lingering delicacy.

Ingredients:

1.       Prawns                 10-12   Medium Sized shelled & de-veined.

2.       Onions                 3-4    Medium Sized cut in to thin long slices

3.       Green Shallots                  Chopped leaves of 2-3 green ( optional)

4.       Green Chillies    2-3 as per taste

5.       Red Chilly powder  ½ - 1 tsp as per taste

6.       Coriander Powder  1-2 tsp

7.       Turmeric powder  ½ tsp

8.       Oil as required

Source: Self

   Method       :

1.       Heat oil in a shallow pan.

2.       Add thinly sliced onions, let the onions fry until golden brown in colour. Once done add the slit green chillies.

3.       Sauté a little over a minute to infuse the flavors of the Green Chillies.

4.       Add Red Chilly powder , turmeric and coriander powder. Stir them together.

5.       Add the shelled prawns, cover them for a while say about 7-10 minutes.

6.       Uncover the pan, stir them for a few more minutes about 4-5 minutes. And the prawns are ready to be served with Triangular Parathas.

8 Ways In Which You Can Save Your Planet.

WED (World Environment Day) is not just an initiative. It’s a habit. Why? We can pass this not just as a day to our future generations but imbibe good habits which bring in little changes , which will make the world a better place to live!!

Little do we realize that our small efforts each day can make this global effort possible.

As individuals today, we are busier in our personal lives, work, family, children and the rat race goes on. We do not contribute everyday to our society like social workers. But the way I think we can contribute to the society is by imbibing the following in our daily lives:

1. Return unused polythene packets back to shopkeepers & retail stores. If you can manage in one why take two? We don’t buy them today because we are being charged for them. But isn't it rightfully our duty to try save?
2. Returning unused ketchup sachets to KFC/ McDonald’s saves plastic getting in to the environment and eventually saves lot of resources including electricity, water etc. gone in to the making of those sachets. So always return unused; do not throw them away.
3. Save plastic spoons and forks given by take away self service food joints. Do not take them in you tray since they were given to you and then carelessly dump them in the trash.
4. Save paper bags. Reuse them in every way possible. The java green paper bags in our office can be used to save lunch boxes and other nick-knacks in your drawer.
5. Return sugar sachets received from coffee outlets. We end up using only one being health conscious but throw away the rest not considering the effects on the environment & resources gone in to making each sachet.
6. Bring in your coffee mug to office; we have so many spare at home. If we use our own coffee mugs we will save the environment from hundreds of plastic coffee mugs. A ceramic coffee mug will serve the purpose and the good part it’s personal to you.
7. Do not litter on streets like we do not inside our homes. Teach children that we cannot litter on streets like we do not inside our homes.
8. Just take the amount that you can eat, whether from a fixed Fried Rice plate in an a la carte menu or from buffet; I know of people who hoard their plates with food since they think they have paid for buffet.

Shouldn't you think about the number of people who sleep hungry everyday? Imagine the quantum of food that we throw in the bins and the many people who go hungry. This wasted food could possibly let them sleep peacefully.

Next time think when you eat out or at home, order a coffee or a pizza or a McDonald’s burger. Someone once told me I THINK too much, but this is what I think when I see rubbish on roads; when I order coffee; when I see beggars on streets!!

We are not perfect but a little effort each day will go a long way. Try inculcating any of these above good habits. I am sure we can change the world, not in a day but with a little effort each day.

Image courtesy: Google Images

Grill the C n C!!

Successful creation of a recipe is such a high..more so when food is about the passion . I cook when i am upset, I cook when I am happy and cook just when I want good friends to relish what I create. Mind you I am also greedy and do cook to get praised and not to only get Criticized the first C in Grill the C n C!!

Recently a blogger friend of mine talked about how some people Criticize you all the time saying that you are clumsy in cooking , grooming etc. here. I guess my friend never understood that each woman who cooks everyday for the family faces criticism. Sometimes for cooking the same dish every other day..sometimes for aaj namak jyada hai..and aaj namak kam ..none of us bother to appreciate the pain person undergoes to create the food specially after a long day at office.

Point here is what about the criticism the women face each day after trying to put food on the table...yet day after day meal after meal your lunch boxes are packed, your breakfast are on the table and dinner too.
Just when you get home and think that you are tired some woman who just returned from work too.. enters kitchen wondering what to cook!! I guess if you just gave all this a thought you might be able to understand that people don't criticize because they think that's against the conventional or that you are not good in the domain they are great at...etc. They just possibly think that letting you know that namak kam hai might help you to improvise by adding salt!!

Lets just forget this C bit and let me Grill you a Chicken which is the other C in today's Blog...the real C.

For this Lovely Sumptuous recipe " Grilled Chicken"  you need the following:

Chicken - 400 gms- 500 gms uncut
Butter 10 gms for glazing while grilling.

For the Magic Potion:
Curd thick portions- 1 bowl
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Kashmiri Deghi Mirch Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
Green Chilli -Ginger- Coriander leaves- Garlic Paste - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Honey- 1tsp

For the side bites:
Baby Potatoes- 10-12
Mushrooms - 100 gms
Onions- 1 =2 medium sized
Broccoli - Few florets
Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Crushed Pepper
Chings all time stir fry sauce.

Now this lovely grill takes a lill time. So be prepared.......

1. Take the whole chicken, I preferred a small chicken because of its tenderness
2. Create slit marks on it as in my picture
3. Clean the insides, you may chop some of the insides like liver etc. and you can mix them with Magic Potion
4. Now mix all the ingredients of the Magic potion .
5. Smear the whole chicken with the potion inside and outside with hands. Try thinking of good things like the lovely family or friends whom you are going to share this meal with etc. I often notice when i think good things and cook my dish turns out amazingly well.
6. Now keep the marinated chicken in the refrigerator not the deep freeze for 7-8 hrs. It is always suggested that a marinated chicken stays overnight in the fridge day before you cook or whole day in the fridge until you cook in the evening as the case may be...
7. Now just marinate the vegetables in the ingredients i.e. all vegetables in Salt , crushed pepper a tsp of that Ching's all in one stir fry Sauce
8. Keep these vegetables aside too
9. Next day when you take it out to grill, take out the chicken and the vegetables from the fridge at least 40-45 mins prior to cooking.
10. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degree centigrade.
11. Place the chicken in the center of the oven proof dish
12. Place the vegetables on the circumference of the dish
13. Place the dish in the oven on low rack for 30-40 mins ( check settings in your Microwave for grill, depending on the size of chicken, voltage and wattage, time of cooking could vary between 45 min to an hour)
14. Once in between turn around the chicken upside down.
15. Brush a little butter in between and when almost done to give that glaze

And please don't forget the secret ingredient Loads of Love before you serve this dish..Have it with a couple of friends and you may have it as a starter or a main dish with some Peas Pulao