Filete de Pescado — Mexican fish

Fish and chips & fish sandwich

Fried cod with greek yogurt tartar sauce

Kerala varutharacha meenkoottan - Kerala fish in seared spice sauce

Another Kerala special, this dish is heavenly with rice. With the nostalgic aromas of coconut and spices browned in oil along with shallots and curry leaves, this is sure to delight you.

Yellow split pea soup - sample Kerala meal

My favorite combo. Forgot to add yogurt to the plate. Yellow lentil soup, spicy, fried fish, and a little lime pickle with rice.

Spiralized

I resisted this till now.

And once I got my spiralizer, I found that it is quite interesting and helps create some beautiful fun meals. Started with a simple garlicky zucchini-shrimp combo. Delicious!

beets and shrimp

Then couldn't wait to incorporate other traditional Kerala tastes. Did a mix and match noodles, topping and side thing. Sauteed the spiralized vegetables and onion in some olive oil with some garlic, red pepper flakes, salt/ And they did not disappoint. Very nice!

spiralized potatoes, carrots, beets, zucchini

And to go with the noodles, Spicy ground beef, pan-seared spicy fish, lamb chops .

And here are a few ways to serve the above. Of course, there are a lot more options here.

We could mix the beef with the noodles, saute them together too, of course. and we can go the way of any world cuisine here. say, Italian, Indian.... The other day I had it with the Keralan yellow lentil soup - parippukoottaan. And it tasted fabulous. Possibilities are endless.

Isn't it lovely?

Christmas 2017

Countdown to Christmas 2017

When Christmas arrives, Europe, especially England, calls. I have written about my liking for those quaint  olde English pubs, castles, cottages and of course, food. This year wasn't too crazy, I made just a few.

The rock cake and sticky toffee pudding are favorites of kids over there, I hear. And of Harry Potter too! But I did not make a sticky toffee pudding. Instead, I made a gingerbread cake and the sticky sauce of the toffee cake., because I wanted to make gingerbread. I substituted golden syrup for the molasses in the gingerbread recipe, and for treacle in the sticky sauce one. In any case, it was delicious. When eaten warm, it was heavenly!

As usual, the Kerala style plum cake was made ahead. Christmas cookies are the usual ones, except this time, my decoration is kind of sloppy. Also, forgot the nose on the snowmen!

Linzer cookie

rock cakes

gingerbread

warm gingerbread with sticky sauce

Christmas cookies

Christmas eve 2017


Appetizers

lamb chops

latkes

Soup:

butternut squash soup with spiced cream as garnish

and bread

pain d'epi

Should have diluted that soup a tad bit, but by then, the roast and the accompaniments were calling for my attention, and so, just served it as it is. It was a meal in itself!

For the main course, this X'mas eve, I prepared a typical English roast. Roast beef, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and gravy. Gave an American touch with the creamed spinach.

roast beef dinner

Desserts:

Kerala style plum cake, creme brulee

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the clink of the spoon  against the caramelized sugar on top, and the softness of the pudding inside! yum!


On Christmas day, a pared down Nazrani Christmas. For breakfast, Paalappam and lamb stew. Just our fish in spicy coconut sauce, fried fish, Beef cutlets, and a vegetable. Paalalppam looks a bit tattered! waiting and transferring didnt go well.

paalappam and lamb stew

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paalappam and stew - an earlier better pic

Nazrani beef varattiyathu with leftover roast beef

meen vattichathum kappayum -- fish in hot sauce and tapioca

One of our rustic, comfort foods back home is yuca/tapioca -- kappa/kolli and fish in a very hot and sour sauce, or salted, dried fish fried, and sauteed in onion and spices. Another side dish for tapioca is  a chutney/chammanthi made of crushed shallots, fresh green chillies, and mixed with coconut oil.
Of course, back home, fresh sardines--mathi/chaala, and fresh tapioca are used. The fish is cooked in earthenware vessels. Over here, I make this with canned sardines, and we get frozen tapioca. Fresh tapioca is available, but are usually stale.

Here's the recipe for kappa and  meen vattichathu/pattichathu


kappayum meen vattichathum

Ingredients:

1 fifteen-oz.can or 4  three-oz cans sardines in oil or water or tomato sauce
1 small onion or 1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger, crushed
7 hot green chilli peppers, slit lengthwise
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp hot red chili powder
2 1/2 tsp coriander powder
2-3 medium sized pieces of Kodumpuli or Malabar tamarind ( dried)
2 tbsp oil
1 - 1 1/2 cups water
 a sprig of curry leaves
Salt

Method

Heat oil. Saute onion, green chillies, and ginger till onions become translucent.
Add the spice powders now. Do not let it burn. Stir well, for about a minute.
Add the curry leaves. One more stir.
Then add the  water. Give another whisk.
Add the rinsed kodumpuli.
Cover and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat, and let it simmer for a few minutes, say 3mts.
Now, open the can of sardines, and transfer the fish into our simmering sauce.
Let it simmer for a minute.
Be careful when you give it another stir. You do not want the sardines to fall to pieces.
Remember, it's canned.
Add enough salt to taste.

Your pardesi meen vattichathu is done.
Goes well with rice, and tapioca, which, by the way, is boiled like potatoes. If fresh, peel, clean and boil.
I have heard that tapioca has to be boiled in a lot of water, and that the water should be drained away.
That you shouldn't let the tapioca absorb the water in which it was cooked.
We make chips and stews with tapioca -- that is , it is used just like potatoes, otherwise.

This dish is very hot. I have given the recipe for the hot version. If you would prefer it milder, reduce the number of green chillies to 1. You may remove the seeds, if you like. And make the amount of red chilli powder, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.

About the canned sardines in tomato sauce -- you do not really need the sauce, because you have your own "puli" = tartness going on with the tamarind. It's up to you -- doesn't make much difference in taste, either way. There might be a slight effect on the thickness of the sauce. But you also do not want the tomato taste to overpower the dish, as then, it would be a different one. So I would suggest -- use in moderation! But then sardines have a strong flavor of their own, so we do not need to worry too much  :)

The names for the fish and the sauce, and for tapioca are varied according to the specific regions in Kerala.


About Kodumpuli/Malabar tamarind:

The scientific name for Malabar tamarind/kodumpuli is Garcinia Cambogia. Traditionally, this was used in sauces for sea fish. Most homes had this in the backyard. I remember my grandmother's trees. Picking and drying these were part of the seasonal chores. It atarts out as a fruit, when it is a ripe yellow, it is picked. Cleaned, dried, and if I remember tight, a littl e bit of oil and salt is added to preserve it.To give tartness to sauces for river fishes, green mangoes were used. But now we use either in both, and of course ,there are a whole lot of other varieties of tamarinds, and then there's the newcomer tomato.

the black curled item is kodumpuli/malabar tamarind