I love Salmon!

Its been about 5 years since I became a pescaterian...which in simple english means a person who eats fish but no other kinds of meat..... And of the fish that i have tried here in the US, which include Catfish, Halibut, Tilapia, and Salmon, i could be missing other varieties ....I love Salmon the most.  I was introduces to Salmon by Greg, my co-worker from HP US took me to Washington fort, where they serve the freshly caught and the best Salmon.    We mostly eat Fish on mondays as those days I end up working for over 12 hours (sometimes 18) and this is something that the boy can have ready for me by the time I come back.

I like to make my fish in a couple different way.  One is the Indian Curry style that I can use in biryani or with rice, second is fish pakora style, and most commonly as grilled fish.  The two most favorite fish marinates that i love (i developed them on my own) are:

1.   Mustard Fish - I add mustard powder, Turmeric powder, red chilli powder, a little but of cumin seed and coriander seed  powder, and a good amount of ginger and garlic paste. Sometimes I will even add (thought very less) onion paste.    Depending on what I am feeling that day, I add either 2 tbs of plain yogurt or lemon juice  and leave it overnight.  And next day it goes on the griddle, grill or oven. 

2. The scond is the breaded way.  I use the same marination as above except for no onion, garlic, ginger paste or onions , yogurt or lemon.  Just a plain simple marination with Turmeric, red chili powder, and a little but of cumin seed and coriander seed  powder.  Take some bread crumbs  in an bowl ( I had Italian herbs and spices bread crumbs), add a good amount of olive oil and just a hint of ginger garlic paste.  I am big on ginger garlic!  Make a nice paste.  

Take a baking sheet, spray some olive oil.  Take fish and coat it with bread crumbs and place them on the oiled baking sheet.  Sprinkle some more olive oil on top.  Preheat oven to 400C  and then bake the fish in the oven for about 15 mins or until crisp.   

A simple salad or grilled asparagus go perfectly well with this protein.

You would have noticed I did not mention about adding salt. Well here is why.. my dad is  is a great cook and he shared this awesome trick with me.  Most people hate the smell of the fish and if you use this trick you wont even realize that you are eating fish.  WHen you get fish, dont wash it or anything, just add a lot of salt, may be a small fistful and leave the fish overnight.  Next day wash  fish before you add marination.  When you leave fish overnight in just salt, the fish does not smell and it absorbs the perfect amount of salt that you need.  

Happy Father's Day Daddy and thank you for everything!

Its a blogging day and an Asparagus week

While I was cleaning my blogger account, I came across this post that I had saved as a draft to publish at a future date.. To be precise, I created this post on May 20, 2011.  That's over an Year!! Nonetheless, posting it here with the original title and everything else the same.. Enjoy!
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If you read my previous post then you would already know about my recent love for asparagus.. Addiitonally, I bought an iron cast griddle very recently, which I like to use for as many things as possible.  I really like my  asparagus, pita bread, burger patties or whatever it is with grill marks. I love that....

One of the weekdays, we decided to keep it light and to eat burgers for dinner... Light in terms of my cooking load :) ..LOL...This was a welcome change from daily routine of lentils, rice, wheat, and curry....  So what did I end up doing?

Grab Chickpeas Patties by Morning Star or any other brans.. really nice crunchy patties

Sprinkle some oil on my new griddle, and grill my patties along with of course a bunch of asparagus.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on asparagus when done...

Grab some fresh lettuce leaves, red onion slices, tomatoes and BOOM.. Dinner is ready...

Hubby decided to make some sort of happy face using provided ingredients

 Note those wonderful grill marks!

:Imported from my old blog: Making Capsicum/bell pepper pots

This recipe require either a grill or an OTG or in case you are not so concerned with oil then you may fry them

You will need 3 - 5 small size capsicum/ bell peppers green in color.
If you find big ones like the ones available here in california then you may want to ciut them into half- just like I did.. see image.

Was the capsicum and
if you are using small sized then you may want to cut the head and keep it attached a little
if you are using large capsicum then you may want to cut them into half

Take out the seeds and clean the interiors


Take 3 medium sized boiled potatoes.
Remove the peel and add

1. Salt to taste
2. Red chilly powder - .5 tea spoon
3. Amchoor - about .5 tea spoon
4. Garam Masala - a little
5. Chopped coriander
6. Chopped green chillies
7. a little ajwain seeds
8. a little corriander and cumin powder - total about .5 tbs

Mix well and mash them.
This potato mixture is also used for making AALOO/potato parantha. For the peppers - just cook this mix a little on a low flame. Say for about 5 mins.

Now take the bell peppers - line their interior and exterior with a little butter. This will help in a good grill.
Add the stuffed potato content into the peppers.

Now heat the grill to 300 degrees. Place the peppers into a baking dish and place in the middle rack. I recently discovered that you can add half a cup of water to your baking dish and then place capsicums. The steam helps cook the capsicum better. Let them grill slowly till you see a brown crust on the edges of the peppers. The slower the grilling the better the taste.

Incase you dont have a grill, you may take a oil in the pan and fry these peppers. You will have to do it very carefully sio that the content doesnt come out the pepper. Again do it on a slow flame. Once the pepper is slightly golden brown, you may remove it, place it on a paper towel and serve it hot.

Hope you enjoy this
:)