Malaysian Red Snapper with Lime Leaves #FishFridayFoodies

I have always been a lover of seafood and just loved that Wendy Klik of A Day in the Life on the Farm started this new group of Fish Friday Foodies of Fish food lovers.

Red Snapper is a low-calorie, lean source of protein rich in selenium, Vitamin A, potassium and Omega-3 fatty acids. Besides this is quite a flavoursome fish as well.

I grew a small potted lime plant in my balcony at my last place of residence. After a few months of seeing some produce from the plant, sadly I had to let go of it as it became diseased. Hopefully if ever I move into a home with a better garden area, I will attempt at growing the lime tree :)

Now while I had a chance to use the produce off my young lime plant, I made this Red Snapper with Lime leaves. The fragrance throughout my home that day was amazingly uplifting and fabulous.

You need:

• 1 kg Red Snapper, cleaned and cut into medium sized pieces
• 2 large shallots, quartered
• 1/2 tbsp Peppercorns
• 3-4 Star Anise
• 4-5  Lime Leaves + 2-3 for garnish
• 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed and quartered
• 2 tsp Freshly Ground Coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 red chilies quartered
• 250ml of coconut milk
• Zest of 1 small lime
• Salt to taste
• Drinking water, heated

The Make:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes | Serves 4-6 adults

1. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a clay pot or a wok and toss in the star anise, fennel seeds, red chilies, cinnamon sticks and set aside after a minute.

2. In the same pot, add the remaining oil and toss in the shallots and saute till translucent on medium heat.

3. Next add the garlic, coriander, turmeric, salt and peppercorns and saute for another minute or until the spices leave the sides of the pot and is cooked. 

4. Lower the heat and pour half the quantity of coconut milk, sugar and pour in a cup of heated water.

5. Add in the the sauteed spices earlier set aside and turn to medium heat again for a minute or until heated but not to a  rolling boil.

6. Lower the heat and then add the Red Snapper fish pieces, lime zest and lime leaves. Cover and cook for 30 minutes and then check if cooked well. If not increase by 5 minutes and check. Once cooked add the remaining coconut milk and allow to heat not boil else it will split.

7. Serve hot aside piping hot bowl of steamed rice of your choice. Garnish with lime leaves.

Bon Appetit!

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies?  We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month.  To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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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

Muringaella Thoran (Drumstick tree (Moringa Oleifera)'s leaves with coconut gratings)

Somehow it is becoming increasingly difficult since Lent started to write my recipe creations. There is a lot of challenges I experience during Lent and quite unexpected too. I guess that is what happens in the spiritual world with a battle between Good and Evil! So it is probably but natural that a lot of these challenges and unwanted concerns arise during the season of Lent. How you deal with it is probably a test of your faith.  Also, I seem to have a lot going on at once and hence the delay in sharing this way too simple recipe.

You can prep this dish when you are free or even whilst doing another activity that does not involve using your hands. You can even get your toddler/little ones to assist. They will definitely enjoy doing so and you can have some fun time with them as well while prepping for the dish.

These  leaves came from my parents' garden. I have always loved the drumsticks' tree leaves. And as mentioned in an earlier blog post we grew up in a villa which had this huge Moringa Oleifera tree growing in our front yard garden! These leaves are rich in Vitamin B, C, Provitamin A, Vitamin K, Manganese, Calcium and yes Protein!! Remember overcooking these leaves as with some other leaves as well would kill some of its nutrients. So it is normally cooked on medium-low heat of up to a maximum of 60°C.

Prepping the leaves requires either some old newspapers or a 'Muram' which is either a bamboo or plastic tray. It looks like this. I have the plastic version and will share the photo soon. So you basically you take the drumstick branches and gently tap it on the newspaper or the Muram and the leaves fall off the branches and stems.

You need to make sure to discard the thinner stems as well as it can get in the way once you cook it and tends to taste more bitter than it should. Also its quite stringy so you really cannot chew your way through it. I have photos of version#1 for you where I experimented cooking the thinner stems. It was a pain to get them out of the cooked dish. So make sure you painstakingly discard the stems prior to cooking.

This is mum's recipe <3

You need:

• 5 cups Drumstick leaves, washed clean and separated from branches and stems*
• Half a small coconut, grated *
• 1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder 
• 1/3 cup Split Pigeon Pea (Toor dal/Tuvara dal), semi-boiled (optional but adds more texture and flavour and not to forget added protein!)
• 1/2 cup Red pearl onions/shallots/small onions
• 1 medium sized onion, finely diced
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Water to sprinkle
• 2 Green chilies, chopped finely
• 2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/jeerakam)
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• Cooking oil

The Make:

Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes  | Serves 2 adults

1. Set the washed and separated leaves aside on a colander to drain.

2. Next using a mortar and pestle or a grinder, crush the coconut gratings, garlic, cumin seeds and pearl onions with only a sprinkle of water not more.

3. Transfer the drained Moringa Oleifera leaves and crushed ingredients to a large bowl and add the salt, green chilies and turmeric powder.

4. Add the drained semi-cooked split pigeon peas to the bowl.

5.Splutter mustard seeds in oil a large deep bottomed pot or wok and add the curry leaves.

6. Next add the sliced onion and fry for about a minute or until translucent.

7. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the drumstick leaves with the ground mixture blend and saute slightly. Cover and cook for not more than 15 minutes or until the leaves are cooked and no residual water present. The leaves turn to a nice dark green colour as well.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

*Note:
Since we eat very less coconut in our diet, I restricted it to half of a small coconut you could add more as you require and in proportion to the quantity of drumstick leaves. So for 3 cups of drumstick leaves, I added 1/4 cup of coconut.

Bon Appetit!

Duck Roast Gravy (Tharavu Roast curry) - A Christmas Savoury delicacy

In the spirit of the festive season, I am trying to bring to you as many recipes as possible to help you prepare for your big Christmas lunch or dinner! If you are a member of my Facebook page, you would have seen some of the posted recipes related to Christmas. If you have not yet seen our facebook page, please visit here and 'Like' the page so as to have it bookmarked. Spread the word with your family and friends as well.

Duck roast is often taken as an option to the western Christmas tradition of Turkey Roast especially in Christian families in the South of India in the state of Kerala. Duck Roast would often be accompanied with Appam,  either 'KallAppams' (Indian Toddy Pancakes) or 'PaalAppams' (Milkhoppers). You could also serve this with Kappa Vevichathu (Tapioca Steamed and Fried) or Rice of your choice or Rice Iddiappam (which looks like miniature rice noodles). Hopefully I will post the Kappa Vevichathu recipe very soon :) Although Duck Roast is normally accompanied with Appams or Fried Rice even during Christmas.

I hope you enjoy this creation of mine. Sorry I don't have better pictures of the process as this was taken way earlier than I had intended to start this blog. I will definitely upload better pictures should I try this again. Hope you are having a great Christmas season!

I meant to post this recipe last week but my system decided to have some technical issues at about the same time. It is resolved now so hope I get time (amidst all the baking and cooking) to post as many recipes to Christmas and even the New Year 2014 to help you design your dinners/lunch/desserts :)

You need:

• 1 kg Duck, cleaned well (soak for at least 20-30 minutes in turmeric, salt and vinegar), fat removed, skinned and cut into medium pieces*

These ingredients are required for the Marinade:

• 2 tbsp Red chili powder
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Remaining ingredients required for the recipe:

• 2 roughly torn  long dried red chilies
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 6-8 green chilies, slit lengthwise
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil (although you should use coconut oil if you want it to taste as close as possible to the traditional version)
• 2-3 large purple onions, diced finely
• 10-12 small red onions, diced finely
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes, finely sliced
• 1" ginger, finely diced
• 6-8 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 3-4 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp  Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 3 tbsp of Red Chili powder
• Coconut milk - 2 extracts : 1st extract 1 cup and 2nd extract 2 cups. You can try the Homemade version here as I did for this recipe. Just make sure to adjust the water accordingly as required for this recipe.
• Salt to taste

*Optional: you can leave a few pieces with skin on possibly the wings or even portion of the legs/breast

The Make:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour | Serves: 5-6 adults

It is best to leave a few pieces with the skin on and you can opt to take it out later to add some flavour of the duck fat in the dish. I have tried it without as well and I can vouch for the former. You can take off the excess oil off the top of the finished dish. Make sure before marinating to drain out any water content from the duck meat.

Marinate the duck meat for 4-6 hours. You can choose to do it for longer or lesser. The more you marinate the duck meat, the more flavourful the end result. I ended up marinating my Christmas duck roast for 8-10 hrs. I had a huge banquet of dishes for this particular Christmas :) Trust me not a drop of the gravy was left to the next meal let alone the next day.

1. Heat the oil in a clay pot or deep-bottomed wok or even a pressure cooker and splutter some mustard seeds.
2. Toss in the curry leaves, red onions, dried red chilies, ginger and garlic and saute well for 2-3 minutes.
3. Next add the diced purple onions and saute till translucent.
4 .Toss in the green chilies and saute till the onions turn lightly brown.
5. Add the marinated duck meat and salt. Cover and cook for 40 minutes on medium-low heat. If you are using the pressure cooker, make sure to add enough water to just about cover the meat or about a cup lower as the duck fat would also release making the gravy very watery. It should cook for about 5 whistles on medium-high. You would have half-cooked duck meat at this stage using either of the methods.
6. In a bowl, mix the turmeric, red chili, coriander powders and garam masala and add the 2nd extract coconut milk bit by bit mixing well.
7. To the half-cooked duck, add the 2nd extract spiced coconut milk on low heat and mix well. Cover and cook until the gravy has just thickened and the meat cooked.

If the duck meat is of good quality it would be soft and tender.

8. Lastly but more importantly add the thick 1st coconut milk extract and mix gently. Bring to almost a boil and set aside.

Serve with hot Appams or Fried Rice or Kappa any other flatbread/rice of your choice.

Bon Appetit! Tis' the season to be jolly falalalalalalala....Seasons Greetings all!

Turkey Stuffing

To stuff the turkey in Turkey Delight, you can make the stuffing separately and stuff the bird or just make it separately and use the stock of the giblets for the turkey flavour. The former is possible in case of a smaller bird and the latter is preferred for a bigger bird as it would as it is take longer to roast.

To make this deliciously moist and flavourful turkey stuffing, 

You need:

• Stock of the the turkey giblets or Chicken stock - about 3-4 cups
• 1/4 cup of fresh parsley
• 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 1 tsp of dried basil
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 1 celery, diced
• 1 large potato, diced and half cooked
• 1 loaf of bread (it is better if the bread is a day or 2 old), diced into cubes
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 3-5 tbsp of butter
• 1 crispy apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 1/4 cup of raisins (optional)
• 1 cup of pimento green olives, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika- 1 tsp (optional)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

The make:

Preparation Time: 1 hour | Cooking Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour | Serves 6 adults

1. Make the stock out of the turkey giblets - heart, gizzard and neck and bring to a boil, uncovered for about an hour. Strain the stock and set aside to use with the stuffing. You can also use chicken stock, however I preferred the former.

2. Toast the walnuts either on a skillet under browned (ensure you do not burn them) or in a microwave oven for about a minute until you get the toasty aroma. Set aside to cool. Next toast the bread cubes in a pan with half of the butter quantity. Old bread is used as it would be dry and you would end up with a perfect consistency of stuffing. If not old bread, you could end up with mushy stuffing. Tip: if the bread is not old, dry them out in the oven for about 10 minutes before use.

3. Heat a deep-bottomed skillet with the remaining butter. Lower the heat to medium and toss in the shallots and celery until cooked for about 5 minutes. 

4. Add the apples, raisins, parsley, potatoes and olives and mix well. Next add the bread and give it a good stir. 

5. Add 1 cup of the giblet stock enough to cook the contents in the skillet. Add the thyme, basil, paprika, salt and pepper and the lemon juice and mix well.

6. Cover and cook for about 40 minutes or until the apples have softened. Check intermittently and mix to avoid the stuffing sticking to the bottom of the skillet. Add stock as required to keep the stuffing moist.

Now you can either stuff the bird with the stuffing or just set aside to serve with the Turkey Delight and the Turkey Gravy. Enjoy!

French Beans the French Way!

I was feeling very lethargic this afternoon as we had a nice soulful dinner last night at my HD (Hubby Darlin')'s cousin's home. His wife cooked us up an nice Keralite meal and its been ages since we had a nice heavy dinner. So but obviously I woke up late and dragged myself to my daily work! Through most week's lunches my current kitchen serves only 2 guests - my 2.4 yr old lil' girl and me:)

We needed to have a veggie dish as one of norm set by mum since my childhood and I suddenly was reminded of Eat, Pray, Love where Julia cooks up her breakfast and threw in a handful of asparagus into a pot of boiling water. That also triggered a memory of a fellow former colleague from France who once carried as a part of her lunchbox whole french beans trimmed at the edges only with shallots. I remembered how it had a glistening green colour and looked super healthy. I first thought how can steamed beans have such a bright green colour even brighter than when it was on the plant itself.

Frenched-French Beans!

My HD had just brought in some fresh French beans and I had other plans for it until my current lethargic self kicked in but at the same time I wanted to eat something delightfully different. So I decided to go French.

Your toddler may love it as mine did enjoy it although she is a non-veggie fan:)

You need:

• 250 gms of French Beans with ends trimmed
• 1 tbsp of unsalted butter(you can skip this and just add a tbsp of EVOO)
• 1 tbsp of Extravirgin Olive Oil(EVOO)
• 1 large shallot diced finely
• Salt
• Black Pepper - to taste



French Beans soaking in vinegar water to cleanse off the chemicals if any

The make: This is a super simple recipe..

Cooking Time: 10 minutes|Preparation Time: 5 minutes|Serves:2 adults

Drained blanched beans after its boil bath

1. Take a large pan of salted-boiling water and immerse the cleaned french beans into it. Allow it to run a boil for 2 minutes. Then drain and place it in a bowl of ice water. You will notice that it gives a nice bright green.
2. Take a large deep bottomed skillet and place the oil and then the butter and once warm, add the diced shallot and lightly brown for about 5 minutes on a medium flame.
3. Drain the beans and add it to the Shallots
4. Season with salt and pepper.

Seasoning the beans

5. Toss the beans and shallots in the seasoning and allow the beans to just get hot and turn off the flame.

6. Your Frenched-French beans is ready to be served

I told you its super-simple!

One last look before turning of the flame

Super simple Frenched beans!

Note: These preparation requires that the dish be served hot and completed in that meal itself, otherwise it tends to harden and you would probably need to steam the same losing the color and flavor of the butter and oil.

King Mappas (Mild Spicy King Fish in Coconut milk gravy)

It was last Saturday evening and I had already started on my preparation for Sunday morning Appams to be served. So ideally since lunch was my King#1. This became a part of our Sunday breakfast. This goes well with thin long grain white rice(Basmati Rice) or Appams. This is a traditional Keralite dish and is also made with Chicken (Chicken Stew).

King Mappas

You need:

Small red onions/shallots

Curry leaves

• 500 gms of King Fish - clean and cut into medium size
• 6-8 shallots - chopped
• 1 onion - thinly sliced
• Garlic - 6 cloves - crushed
• Ginger - 1 inch - crushed
• Green chilis - 4 slit lengthwise in the center only leaving the head and tail intact
• Tomato - 1 chopped
• Cinnamon sticks - 1" one piece
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig - 6-8 leaves
• Chili Powder (Kashmiri Chili) - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander seeds (Powdered) - 1 tsp
• Black Jeera or Cumin - powder - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
• Fenugreek powder - 1 tsp
• Cilantro leaves - 1 sprig chopped
• Thin coconut milk - 1.5 cups
• Thick coconut milk - 1/2 cup 

The act:

Cooking time: 25 minutes, Preparation time: 15 mins

Spices sauteed with thin coconut milk

1. In a mortar and pestle, crush the ginger and garlic with the shallots and cinnamon stick. Grind the tomatoes with the spices(chili powder, turmeric powder, fenugreek powder, coriander seeds powder, cumin powder and salt to taste).

2. In a clay pot, splutter the mustard seeds and curry leaves.

3. Saute the onions, cinnamon, ginger and garlic and green chilies till translucent.

4.  Add the ground spices and allow to cook (about 5 mins). Add the thin milk and mix well.

Tip:Do not worry if your gravy looks too thin at this stage.

5. Run to a boil and then add the cleaned fish pieces and mix well.

6. Cover and allow to cook (20 minutes). Uncover and check if cooked. Also check on your salt seasoning.

7. Then add the first (thick) milk and allow to heat(not boil) for 5 minutes.

8. Turn off the heat and dress with cilantro leaves.


Your delicious King#3 is ready to be served with Appams or rice. Bon Appetit!

King Mappas

King Mappas served with Appams