Jollimama's Coconut Chutney

I have always made coconut chutney Mummy's way as she was the one to teach me how to make the coconut chutney which goes so well with both Idlis and Dosas. After mum passed away, Jollimama (my Dad's sister) came to stay and helped us a great deal! Loved having her with us. She has such a comforting voice and her presence helped us a lot.

At the time, I learnt how to make her version of the coconut chutney which included the addition of small onions/shallots/pearl onions ('Kunjulli '<Malayalam>) , popularly known as sambar onions in India. Mum did use small onions when available or even the normal pink/purple onions (Allium cepa). Jollimama also advised to grind some of the curry leaves while grinding the pearl onions, so that is what added so much flavour to the chutney. Besides that the make was similar to Mum's make.

You need: 

• 2 cups of coconut gratings
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves -  1 sprig
• Ginger - 1", chopped
• 1-2 green chilies (depending on how spicy you would like it)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp of oil
• Drinking water - a tad bit*

The Make:
Preparation Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Serves on the side approximately of 20 idlis or 12 dosas

1. Grind the coconut gratings, salt, half a sprig of curry leaves, ginger and the green chili well.
2. In a deep bottomed pot/pan, add the oil and splutter  the mustard seeds. Add the remaining curry leaves and fry on medium heat.
3. Next add in the ground coconut mixture on low heat and allow to cook. Clean out the grinder with a tad bit of drinking water, enough to form a thick gravy*, taking care not to add too much water which will ruin the consistency and flavour.
4. Add the water to the ground coconut mix. Turn off the heat when the chutney warms up. Do not bubble away which would split the chutney.

Serve warm on the side of idlis or dosas.

Enjoy!! :)

Red pearl onions in grated burnt coconut (Ulli Theeyal)

Ulli Theeyal (Ulli : Onion commonly associated to red pearl onions or small onions or shallots and Theeyal (pronounced:Thiiyyal) : refers to burnt coconut or dark brown coconut caused  due to roasting).

G'Gina's Kitchenette will still feature more vegetarian recipes to help you in the kitchen throughout the Lenten season. Also my vegetarian friends/readers are happy to see more vegetarian recipes being shared from my Kitchenette.

Easter is less than a month away! Hope your Lent sacrifices are going well.

Ulli Theeyal has always been one of my favourite dishes that mum cooks! As you may have guessed, yes this is another one of my Mum's recipes <3

My kid loves this dish so I am almost certain that your kid would too. I had to reduce the quantity of chili powder to cater to her taste buds.

What you need:

• 200 gms of Red pearl onions / small onions / shallots (Kunjulli), sliced finely
• Flesh of 1/2 a medium sized coconut, grated
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2" ginger, chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional - mom doesn't use for this recipe)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 4 long dried red chilis or 1/2 tbsp of red chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp of coriander powder (I use the powdered version as it was made out of roasted coriander seeds - you could use about 2 tbsp of coriander seeds instead)
• 1 gooseberry-sized : Tamarind pulp (soaked in lukewarm water and strained)
• A sprig of curry leaves
• * Oil - A drizzle
• Drinking water
• Salt to taste

The Make:

Serves : 3-4 adults | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

1. You have two options, either dry roast only the coconut gratings on medium-low heat in a wok or wide pot taking care to even brown the coconut until dark brown (not black). The second option is to dry roast the coconut gratings with the fenugreek seeds, dried red chilis and coriander seeds in case you are opting for these two ingredients instead of the powdered version.

2. Cool the dry roasted ingredients and grind well in an electric grinder with a tad bit of water to a smooth paste. You could also use a mortar and pestle in case have one.
3. Using the same wok, heat the oil on medium high and splutter the mustard seeds.
4. Lower the heat and add in the curry leaves.
5. Next add in the sliced onions, ginger and garlic and fry until the onions are golden brown.
6. Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder (if you opted for the powdered version instead of the dried red chilies and coriander seeds) and saute well for a minute on medium heat.
7.  Next add the tamarind water, mix well and allow it to boil.
8. Once the water comes to a boil, toss in the ground coconut mixture, salt and stir well. Lower the heat and allow it to simmer for about 2-3 minutes until medium consistency is reached (it should neither be to watery nor too thick).

Serve hot with piping hot rice.

Note:
*Oil : You can choose any cooking oil. For this dish, it would taste extra special if you used Coconut Oil

Singaporean Black Pepper Crab

This is a sweet and spicy variant of crabs. Blue swimmer crabs taste well with this recipe blend. However you could try using some of the other crab varieties.

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I have not made any plans as yet to bake any delicacies as health does not permit the same. But who knows! For those of you celebrating the occasion hope you have a warm and lovely Valentine's Day with your loved one and/family.

Although I have been to Singapore on more than one occasion, this recipe quite reminds me of the time I spent with two favourite people in my life my buddy Nina Silva and her then boss Anneliese Reinhold who were also my internal clients from the legal department where I worked earlier on. We shared a wonderful lunch with these scrumptious crabs being the center of the meal which is the first time I had this dish. I will always remember you both whenever I see or have this flavoursome dish (and even otherwise ;-) ) which tasted so much better when it was with you both. I'm sure your company is what made the difference!

To make these flavoursome crab dish,

You need:

• 1 kg blue swimmer crabs, cleaned and washed well
• 11/2 tbsp oil
• 11/2 tbsp ginger, grated finely
• 8 garlic cloves, grated finely
• 2 red chilies, finely minced
• 3 tbsp black pepper powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 3 tbsp soya sauce (*or 2 tbsp Ketjap manis which is an Indonesian sauce which is a thicker variant of soya sauce flavoured with garlic, anise, etc.. If you are using ketjap manis, then reduce sugar to 3 tbsp)
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce (optional - some do not like the taste of oyster sauce although recommended for this recipe)
• 4 tbsp castor sugar/finely granulated sugar
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• Drinking water
• 1 tbsp salt

The Make:
Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 20-30 minutes | Serves 3-4 adults

This dish has to be served right off the wok and preferably consumed in one sitting, so put on your eating apron with a center table waste dish and enjoy this with your family/friends.

1. Add the sauces and sugar with about 3-4 tbsp of water in a small bowl, stir well and set aside.
2. Crack the legs of the crab to allow the flavour of the sauces to enter the meat well. You will regret if you do not do the same.
3. Quarter the crab and in a large wok, heat the oil over high heat.
4. Fry the prepared crab in batches until the shell turn a bright orange colour and the meat almost cooked. Set aside.
5. You can drain any excess oil from the wok and set aside. Do not chuck the oil away as it is full of crabby flavour.
6. Next add the spring onions, ginger, garlic, pepper, chilli, coriander and salt to the wok and fry for another minute.
7. Add in the sauce mixture and stir well. Bring to a rolling boil and then simmer for a few minutes.
8. Toss in the crab pieces to the wok and coat the crab pieces in the sauce mixture. Add some of the oil set aside earlier in case it seems too dry.

Serve immediately. Bon Appetit.

Lemon Rice with Paneer

Lemon Rice has always been one of my favourites since childhood. We had a live-in maid growing up and her name is 'Aleyamma'. She often made lemon rice. Though I never liked rice much, a heap full of lemon rice always brought a smile to my face and she made it sooo well. She was quite young so was more like a friend to us. She never hesitated making lemon rice for me whenever I asked as I was such a poor eater back then. I guess I always loved the tangy flavour of the rice and anything salted or tangy found its way in my good books back then.

Ever since I got married, my husband who has always followed all the Orthodox Christian lenten practices, had inspired me to follow the same. So that is 50 days of lent before Easter, 14 days in August before the Feast of Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary, the 7 days before Mama Mary's birthday in September and the 24 days before Christmas.

I wanted to incorporate some protein in the Lemon Rice itself as I was not much in the mood for cooking. I had made some paneer which was in the freezer. So eureka moment I just thought of combining the two.

This is a super simple recipe so I recommend this for a lazy last day of the week or even a busy mid week meal.

You need:

• 2 cups of  Cooked long grain or Basmati Rice
• 1 cup of Paneer, cut into bite size or small cubes as preferred
• A sprig of  Curry leaves 
• 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
• 2 whole dried Kashmiri Red Chilies, hand torn into pieces ( I left it whole as my toddler is anti-spice eater)
• 1 tsp grated Ginger
• 1 clove of crushed Garlic (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp Urad dal (split Black Lentils)
• 1 tsp Chana dal (split Bengal Gram)
• Salt to taste
• 1.5 tbsp Oil
• Mint leaves, minced (optional)
• Yoghurt (optional)

**(If you look at the minimal background carefully you can see my little one's angry birds' drinking glass! She was all ready to have her yellow rice. She loved it and her expressions reminded me of mine when I was as young as she was! Smiling from ear to ear ;-) )

The Make
Preparation time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes (includes rice cooking time) | Serves : 4 adults

1. In a flat non-stick pan, drizzle and heat some oil. Add the paneer pieces. Pinch and spread some salt over the paneer cubes. Fry until lightly browned on both side.
2. Heat the oil in a large wok or non-stick pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
3.. Next add the curry leaves, followed by the Urad dal, Chana dal and saute well for a minute on medium-low heat.
4. Next add the crushed garlic, ginger, red chilies and saute for a minute.
5. Add the turmeric powder and slowly fold in the rice, taking care not to mash the rice on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Continue tossing.
6. Add the prepared paneer cubes and fold in and leave on heat for a minute folding well.
7. Add the salt, lemon juice and fold occasionally for another minute on medium-low heat.

Serve hot with a cup of yoghurt with some mint leaves on top on the side.

Three spotted (swimmer) crab in spiced coconut gravy

Happy New Year 2015 dear readers! It has been close to a year since my last blog post (sounds a bit like a confession at church - 'Forgive me Father it has been close to a year since my last confession!'). Jokes apart, I must apologise to you my dear readers for not having to hear from me. 2014 was quite a roller coaster ride with the best and worst seen! It was definitely a year full of changes and challenges. Thankfully we survived the bitter ones with the Grace of Our Lord! I also thank you dear readers for the numerous emails, messages, calls, texts and IMs to check in on me and motivating me to return to G'Gina's Kitchenette.

I lost my dear grandma in August of 2014 and as you may have noticed a lot of my previous blog posts and posts/tweets refer to grandma's influence in my cooking. So what started as what may have been a writer's block, saw me through a whole heap of events including a physical move of G'Gina's Kitchenette to a new location. I am not sure if you know that I also run a Tourism business ICare Holidayz which thanks to word of mouth from dear friends and family has been doing fairly well in 2014. I also work in my field of specialization which is Human Resources. Our recent relocation in 2014 has not been easy on my little one or us as a family owing to a lot of circumstantial changes. We hope for the best and a resolve in 2015. So among all this my recipe creations were on a hold from being shared!

I was contemplating on what to begin with as although the writing had ceased for a while, the cooking cannot! So there are a lot of new recipes I have tried and tested time and again which I hope to share with you soon. I thought I would begin with Mum's recipe which was liked a lot by my grandma as well. I am hoping I can be regular with my blog posts as often as possible to compensate for the 11 months silence. I dedicate this recipe to my dear grandma who I am sure is in Heaven's Abode praying and looking over us.

This recipe has always been welcomed by family, friends and relatives. And I am certain you would love the same.

You need:

• 1 kg of fresh three spotted swimmer crab, washed, cleaned and halved
• Cleaned hard shells of the crabs, air dry the shells (Mom does not incorporate this in the original recipe)
• 4-5 green chilies (depending on how spicy you like it)
• 2 large tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2" ginger, diced
• 2-3 cloves, garlic (*optional - mom does not use)
• 1/2 cup of drinking water
• 1/2 of a medium sized coconut, grated
• 1/4 tbsp of red chili powder (I use Kashmiri Chili powder)
• Salt to taste
• Oil to fry the hard shells

The Make:

Serves : 4 adults | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes

I normally get my crab cleaned at the vendor's place itself. This time, I got the hard shells cleaned as well. Garlic is not required but you can add a few cloves.

1. Grind the coconut gratings, green chilies, ginger, garlic (optional) ,chopped tomatoes, red chili powder and salt with a little water as required to grind the mixture for a minute on high to medium speed.

The ground mixture should be thick enough to leave a circle in mix when stirred with a ladle.

2. Next heat oil to fry the hard shells in a wok and add the air-dried hard shells, taking care to ensure that the shells do not have traces of water to avoid the splutter. Once the shells turn orange, strain off the oil and on to kitchen towel.

3. Drain off most of the oil leaving just 1 tbsp of oil in the wok. Next add in the ground coconut mixture to the oil on medium-low heat. Cook for 2 minutes or until the coconut mix leaves the sides of the wok.

4. Add the crab halves to the coconut mixture and cover the crabs with the coconut mix. Saute for 3-5 minutes.

5. Add a tad bit of water if the coconut mixture is too dry. This will help the cooking process and avoid drying or even getting burnt.

6. Cook for about 20-30 minutes taking care to saute in between to avoid the coconut getting burnt. 

7. Serve with the hard shells on top on in the shells with piping hot /steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

Gingerbread men biscuits

"Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread man"! 

This was from one of the tales we (My sister Liz and I) listened to growing up. Back in the days my sister was gifted a tape of various fairy tales and one such one was 'The Gingerbread Man'. Following to that Liz received a birthday gift from our uncle Thampipapa for her birthday 'We can cook'. I am guessing that because she wasn't as keen on baking and cooking as I was, I ended up inheriting the book or simply nabbed it from my darling sis Liz :D Well I am assuming as she tells me she can't recollect how I ended up with it. When I turned 12, I began to show a keen interest in cooking and baking and was pretty much burning down my mum's kitchen with my tries. One thing I diligently did then was not to follow a recipe to the 'T'. If ever I did so, I would follow the recipe once and then did my own shenanigans during mom's afternoon naps :D.

The book that Thampipapa gifted Liz had the recipe for Gingerbread men and I have always wanted to try it since I heard the tale of the Gingerbread man. I must admit I was always intimidated by the shape of the Gingerbread men but I have to say it was actually fun. Also, most of the heads of the gingerbread men in the first batch were rolled out by Izzy :) I have made several cookies and biscuits since I was 12. Last Christmas, I had made some shortbread cookies for Izzy's school. This year owing to health reasons I had to keep it simple! So this year it had to be the Gingerbread men biscuits. These biscuits go very well with tea.

Trust me when I say this is the most simplest biscuit you can make (with the exception of the golden syrup. If you make the golden syrup in advance, you would be able to make these biscuits at ease and could even involve the kid(s) in the process of making these biscuits. Unless ofcourse you get to buy the golden syrup where you are at! Golden syrup can actually be used to so many recipes).

The men could take the shape and form of anything you like, they could be standing still, dancing in a circle or even sitting. Take it as far as your creative sense can take you.

I would also like to include a review of a product used to make the Gingerbread men's eyes, mouth and buttons. SmartEats promotes Delicious, Unique and Healthy eating and had sent me a box of their preciously handcrafted ingredients and healthy snacks for a review. One of the items in this lovely box of healthy goodies is the Black Grape Fruit, which is a specially dehydrated fruit with all the micro-nutrients intact and is said to be 'Great for having around the year' as black grapes is not available throughout the year. I used these wonderful black grapes to make not only the eyes but mouth and buttons of the Gingerbread men. Review from a toddler: When the gingerbread man was sent in her snack box the next day at school both her friend Abhiram and her picked out the grape fruit and snacked on it first. She said, 'Mama it so very nice!How did you make it'. So thumbs up SmartEats, it doesn't get any better than that -straight from the honest mouth of a toddler. Please accept my apologies for the slow movement in writing the reviews for your products, I will be bringing the same as soon as I can!

On with the recipe...

To make these deliciously simple biscuits,

You need:

• 100 gms plain flour (maida)
• 1/2 level tsp soda bicarbonate
• 25 gms brown sugar
• 50 gms of butter/margarine
• 75 gms (about 2.5 tbsp) Golden syrup
• 1 level tsp of ground (or finely grated) ginger
• Currants / Black Grape fruit for decoration (eyes, mouth and buttons of the gingerbread men)
• 50 gms plain flour for shaping 

The Make:
Adapted from source: We Can Cook (Lynne Peebles)

Cooking Time: 30 minutes (3 batches) | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Makes more than 12 gingerbread men (depends really on the size you make for the gingerbread men)

1. Preheat the oven at 190°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar well and add the golden syrup and grated ginger. Mix well.
3. Next sift in the flour with the soda bicarbonate and mix well.
4. Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and work the dough well on the board. The resultant dough would still be slightly sticky which would also work well. If you are using cutters, then suggest using the whole quantity of dusting flour in parts.
5. Next divide the dough into equal sized pieces. Work each piece to roll out a small round for the head, a longer sausage shaped body and legs. A shorter shaped sausage for the arms.
6. Assemble the pieces on a buttered baking tray and flatten the dough, bending the arms and legs as you wish. Keep altering the legs and hands in various bends and twists to give appearance of moving or dramatic gingerbread men. :)

7. Add the currants or in my case the black grape fruit for the eyes, buttons and the mouth. The black grape fruit was really helpful as such to make a nice U-shaped mouth which may not be possible with the smaller currants unless u slice them open and make a smaller mouth.
8. Turn the gingerbread men tray to the oven and bake for a good 10-12 minutes until the men turn golden brown and the edges are nice and firm. Remember that the center will remain soft until cooled.

You can make different shapes of men and with a tad bit of imagination even make animals or house, nature like trees and flowers etc. You can even turn in a board of different shaped gingerbread men and animals with nature. Children would particularly find this fanciful.

Hope you enjoy making these Gingerbread men biscuits as much as I did. If you do try them out do send me pictures of the same on gginazkitchenette@gmail.com or post the same on our facebook page.Even if you don't get the pictures, do leave a comment below on how they turned out...Happy Baking and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope to bring you another interesting recipe and simple recipe of a friend of mine tomorrow. Stay tuned!







http://www.gginaflavorspalatte.blogspot.in/2013/12/golden-syrup.htmlhttp://www.gginaflavorspalatte.blogspot.in/2013/12/golden-syrup.html

Summer Thirst Quenchers - Watermelon Mocktails, Shooters, Punch and Coolers - 4 recipes in one

Wow! So this was an incredibly exciting make. I had an hour to do it all including prep the ingredients. Why? Well let's just say I decided to start out on it when day light was almost running out!

I thought about posting each recipe one by one but since they are simple makes I decided to include it all in one post as it features one main ingredient across the board - Watermelon! A definite summer fruit!

I made all 4 recipes with 3/4 of a medium sized sweet and juicy watermelon.

Recipe # 1: Margherita Style Watermelon Mocktail

This one was relished by my toddler, especially cause of the sugar on the rim and the kind of glass from which she was allowed to drink :)

For this recipe,

You need:

• 1 cup fresh watermelon, chopped and pureed
• 1 tbsp sugar, granulated
• 1/2 tsp grenadine (Optional- I didn't add this)
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 tsp grenadine syrup (optional -  I did not use it)

The Make:
Preparation time: 5 minutes | Mixing/Serving time: 10 minutes | Serves 2





1.Blend all the ingredients in 10-15 seconds.

2. Strain the ingredients and pour into sugar rimmed martini glasses.

Recipe # 2: Cucumber and Watermelon Coolers

If you do not fancy too sweet a drink, then this is the perfect summer cooler for you!

You need:

• 1 cup of watermelon juice (pureed and strained)
• 1 large cucumber, skinned, cut into chunks and juiced (reserve the skins for garnish if you like)
• A few mint leaves
• 2 tbsp of natural honey
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 cup ice cubes

The Make:
Preparation time: 10 minutes | Serves 2

1. Mix the watermelon and cucumber juice.
2. Combine the honey and lemon juice in another bowl.
3. Blend the watermelon-cucumber juice with the honey-lemon and ice cubes. Taste if more honey is required.
4. Pour into two tall glasses and garnish with the mint leaves and cucumber shavings. Serve cold

For the cucumber shavings, you can use a toothpick to hold it into a design.

Recipe # 3: Ginger-Celery Watermelon Shooters

I promise you that this drink would give you a rejuvenated kick and stay hydrated to beat this low due to summer heat.

You need:

• 2 cups of watermelon , diced
• 1/2 cup of diced celery
• 1/2 tsp of grated ginger
• 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
• Ice cubes (optional)
• Celery sticks- chopped to garnish

The Make:
Preparation Time: 5 mins | Serves 2

Pumped with Vitamin C, this is a perfect pick-you up drink in the summer.

1. Blend the ginger, vinegar and celery for 20-30 pulses.

2. Combine the watermelon and blend for another 20 seconds until smooth.

3. Chill and serve cold or over ice.

4. Garnish with celery sticks

Recipe # 4: Melony Mango Cooler Punch

Your kid(s) would love this one! Sweet and cool to beat the summer dehydration. Pulpy or can even be strained if you do not like pulp.

You need:

• 1 cup watermelon chunks, pureed
• 1 cup of mango juice
• 1 cup of cranberry juice (optional)

The Make:
Preparation Time: 5 minutes | Serves 1

1. Combine the watermelon puree and mango juice. Strain if you want to avoid pulp.

2. Chill (in a bowl for larger quantities) for 20 minutes before you serve.

3. Put in a funny straw for kids.

Tip: For kids make sure you make more than you feel they would normally drink. It is kids' party success drink :)

This would make a perfect party drink for kids.

Mummy's Ginger Wine - A Christmas Special

What better to include in the Christmas celebrations than Ginger Wine. I decided to make Mum's perfect Ginger Wine as our Christmas beverage. The last Christmas I was back home and had a taste of her delicious Ginger Wine. With your eyes closed, it tasted so much like a high-end branded sparkling wine. No exaggerations!

I must say that I truly did not expect this batch of wine to turn out as good as it did. I started it out in October as it takes a good 21 days to  ferment after the initial prep and then another 21 days resting time after straining. Home made wine tends to be sweet and if not made well in advance tastes like a non-alcoholic, albeit festive flavoured beverage. When the wine ages over time, it gives you that extra feel good spirit and serves well with your elaborate Christmas lunch or dinner! You can also add Cinnamon sticks in the first 21 days for extra colour and flavour which compliments the ginger well.

Ginger Wine served

I have seen mum making many a homemade wine to know that you need a ceramic jar (bharani) to store the wine. Storing ingredients to make wine in steel or plastic jars is not advisable. The other reason to use a ceramic jar is that the wine ages well in a cool, dark place and glass jars do not serve this purpose either. If the wine for some reason gets spoiled due to exposure to light or contamination by using unsterilised utensils, then the only option you will have is to toss it out!

Ceramic Jar with wooden pestle

You need:

Utensils: sterilised and dry

• Ceramic Jar
• Clean Cloth for additional sealing of the jar
• A cloth string or ribbon to affix the cloth in place
• a Wooden Pestle or grinder
• A large spoon
• Deep bottomed vessel for the sieving process
• Deep bottomed skillet for boiling process and later for the burnt sugar process
• Large clean sieve (remember to buy a new one as sieves can be hard to clean/sterilise perfectly once used for any other food ingredient)
• Funnel to fill bottles after resting time
• 2 glass bottles / empty alcohol bottles

Ingredients

• 1 kg ginger, skinned and washed well
• 1 kg refined sugar, castor sugar or dermerera or brown sugar
• Water just enough to cover the ginger in the boiling process (4-6 cups)
• 1 tsp of yeast (optional)
• 1" cinnamon sticks (2 nos) - optional
• 1 cup of sugar for browning, 1 cup of water - optional

The make:

Preparation time: 40 minutes | Fermenting time: 21 days | Resting Time: 21 days

1. Wash the ginger well and crush in the grinder (without water) or using the wooden pestle. It does not have to ground to a paste, just crushed well to allow the juices to be extracted once left for fermenting.

2. Boil the ginger well with water enough to just cover the ginger.

3. Add the sugar and stir lightly. Set aside and allow to cool.

4. Once lukewarm, you can add the yeast if desired and lightly stir. You can also add the cinnamon sticks.  Transfer the ginger and liquids in the ceramic jar. Seal the jar with its original lid and top with a clean cloth and seal with a cloth string or ribbon. This is to avoid any contamination or exposure to light.

5. This is important - Store in a cool, dark place to avoid any exposure to light for 21 days.

6. On the 22nd day, strain the contents of the jar to a large deep bottomed vessel. Transfer the strained ginger juice to the ceramic jar, discarding the strained ginger.

7.  This is an optional step. For added colour, you can take the 1 cup of sugar and place it in the deep bottomed skillet. Heat the skillet on high and stir in circular motion. The sugar browns and melts to a sticky residue. Reduce the heat to the lowest. Add the 1 cup of boiling water and stir once the sizzling reduces. Turn off the flame and add it to the ceramic jar when lukewarm. Lightly stir. Cover the jar back as before and allow it to rest another 21 days.

Burnt Sugar

8. You can strain the contents of the jar once more in the deep bottomed vessel. If you find some burnt sugar at the bottom of the jar, then just pour some of the strained wine back in to the jar and stir out the contents back into vessel. Bottle the strained wine using the funnel.

Your wine is ready to be served on the 43rd day onwards.

All thanks goes to my Mum for all the tips and tricks in making this exquisite wine and her original recipe. Cheers Mum, you are simply the best! Merry Christmas all!

Ginger Wine' all bottled up for Christmas!

Baked Rohu fish with toasted veggies in fish sauce

Rohu or Rohi is a fish that belongs to the carp family Cyprinidae commonly found in rivers and freshwater lakes in and around South East Asia and South Asia. It is also commonly used in Northern India, Pakistan and Iraq. This fish was introduced to me once I was on a special diet using ayurvedic medication which allow use of freshwater fish in the diet. However the recipe is an original as I wanted to explore how best to use this fish besides the traditional keralite preparation and also because we  do not use much coconut in our diet these days. I am certain that if you are a fish lover that you would definitely enjoy this preparation. I have to admit that while I was a bit skeptical that Anup would not enjoy this make, he and my little one definitely loved this preparation to bits.

Baked Rohu with Toasted Veggies in Fish Sauce

You need:

• 1.5 kg Rohu fish, cleaned and cut into fish steak sizes (you can leave some of the skin on and remove it later before serving)
• 3-4 carrots, diced finely lengthwise
• 1-2 bunches of green spinach, chopped finely
• 12 cloves of garlic, crushed and diced
• 2" ginger, sliced finely
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp of worcestershire sauce(optional)
• 1-2 tsp of chili flakes
• 1 tbsp of paprika powder or you can use Kashmiri Chili Powder
• 1-2 tsp of pepper powder (optional)
• 3-4 green chilis chopped finely (I used the less spicy version - little fatter than Kerala green chilies but less fatter than the ones you get for making bajiyyas). Each green chili can bediced into 3-4 thin slices
• 2 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 1-2 tbsp of Olive oil or EVOO
• Rock Salt to taste
• Aluminium foil as required

The make:

Preparation time: 15 mins | Cooking Time: 40-45 minutes | Serves 6 adults

1. Marinate the fish steaks with salt, paprika powder, pepper (optional) and ginger garlic paste and set aside. The longer you leave it, the better as experienced.
2. Preheat the oven for 10 minutes on a high about 210ºC
3. Take a baking dish of a size enough to spread the fish steaks without overlapping and add 1/4 full of filtered water. 

Baking tray with 1/4 full water

4. Carefully line the baking tray with foil without tearing. It helps not to have long nails while doing this and tuck the sides in carefully to the baking tray. Ensure there is no water spillage on the foil, if not start again.

5. Drizzle some olive oil on the foil and do not bother to evenly spread as you may tear the foil and nevertheless, this fish usually returns some good fats/oil in the cooking process. I would always suggest getting a 1.5 kg of Rohu fish as it has good oil residue and also the meat is more tender than its lesser weighted partners.

6. Place the marinated fish steaks on the foil and drizzle the soya sauce, worcestershire sauce, chili flakes on all the pieces. Add the ginger and garlic over all the fish steaks.

Marinated Rohu steaks with ginger, garlic and chili flakes on top

7. Next top the fish steaks with spinach and  carrot sticks and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle a dash of salt (taking care not to add too much as the fish juice would return with some salt as well). Top with slit green chilies.

Topped with spinach leaves

Rohu fish steaks topped with carrot sticks

8. Cover with foil without tucking in the sides. This will ensure that the fish cook evenly without drying and will allow for some steam to release moderately.

Cover with foil

9. Lower the heat of the oven to 200ºC (medium heat) and carefully place the baking tray to avoid the water from seeping or spilling from below the foil or  through the sides.


10. Bake for about 25 minutes and you can lower the heat and take of the top foil to check on the fish and turn over if you like. I did not as my oven has heat both on the top and below of the oven. It is especially not required since you have covered the fish with the foil. Return the foil back to the top and turn the flame back to 200ºC and cook for another 20 minutes. Once cooked, allow it to rest in the oven for at least 5-10 minutes. Check if cooked or if you need any additional minutes. 40 minutes should suffice in my opinion.

Baked Rohu ready

10. Take the fish steaks out carefully with a flat spatula on to the serving dish with the veggies on top. You will find a nice clear fish stock at the bottom, you can take the sauce onto a gravy bowl and serve separately.


Serve hot with hot rolls or rice!

Baked Rohu with Veggies in Fish Sauce and  Rice