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.

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Word Press:

Pepper Chicken drumsticks in a light Tomato gravy

I had made this chicken dish as an accompaniment for the Carrot-Coconut rice.

My little one prefers the drumstick pieces of the chicken. So she asked,  "Mama, why can't you buy just the drumsticks?" And so I did. I had a little fun at it too. When she actually expressed how she enjoyed this make (when Dad was over last weekend), I had a bit of fun saying, "Hey see Mama found a chicken who had only legs and that's why there are so many in this gravy!" :D She is too smart for me though! She caught me out in less than a minute.

Although I ventured to make this recipe in my mum's way, I realised that it was not possible without red chili powder, so I just took the inspiration and ran a modified version to the same recipe to accommodate both Daddy's and Isabelle's taste buds and tummies. I will add Mum's complete version once I have tried the same.

This recipe calls for a slow cooking process to add more flavour.

You need: 

• 14 pcs of chicken drumsticks, cleaned and slit across the fleshy part of the drumsticks
• 2 medium onions, diced finely
• Salt to taste
• 2 medium size tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp pepper powder
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1-2 cups of drinking water
• Oil to drizzle

The Make:

1. In a large non-stick pan, drizzle some oil. Toss in the onions on medium heat and saute well until translucent.
2. Next toss in the chopped tomatoes and lower the heat.
3. Saute on low heat and then add the salt and all the spices. Cover and allow to cook slowly on low heat.
4. Uncover and add in the chicken pieces in about 2-3 minutes and cover the pan once more and continue to cook slowly for the next 40 minutes.* Add water as required only. Most likely you would not need to as the chicken releases the liquids which makes for a very nice gravy.
5. Once cooked, turn off the heat and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Enjoy!!

*Note:
 i. If I had used the whole chicken, it had to be cut into small sized pieces and would take an hour and a half over slow cooking process to get this recipe right.

Tangy Stuffed Bittergourd

I fell in love with this make of bitter gourd. I know there are lots of people out there who dislike bitter gourd. Some only like it dried, fried or fried crispy. I somehow have always liked bittergourd since childhood. I was the good daughter that my Mum had no issues with feeding veggies of all sorts.

I had tasted this make of bittergourd at our friends Binny and Vineet's home. Their maid had made this fabulous bittergourd and I believe we were on Lent that time so only vegetarian food. Binny shared this recipe with me last year and yes this was tried last year itself. Like I mentioned, I have a whole heap of archived vegetarian recipes for you friends and readers who have been asking me to post my veg. creations.

The health benefits of bitter gourd are plentiful some of which includes treating blood disorders, lowers sugar levels in blood and urine, improves energy and stamina, improved sleep patterns, is an immune booster and heals respiratory disorders to name a few.

This recipe is all too simple. Tomorrow being 'May Day', you may want to take it easy and make it simple in the kitchen.

You need:

• 5-6 whole bittergourds
• Salt to taste, some more to soak
• 1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp Garam masala
• 2 medium sized onions, finely chopped 
• 2 Green chilies, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp Dry Mango powder
• 1/2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1/2 tbsp of pickle powder(optional)
• Water to soak
• 1 tbsp oil

The Make:

Serves 2 adults | Cooking Time : 10-15 minutes | Preparation time: 30 minutes

1. Slit the bitter gourd lengthwise on one side only. Soak in salt water for 30 mins and then squeeze so any bitterness goes away.

2. In a bowl, add all the other ingredients  and mix.

3. De-seed and clean the interior of the bitter gourd.

4. Stuff the bitter gourd shell taking care not to overstuff as the stuffing may spill out while cooking.

5. In a pan, heat the oil. Lower the flame and cover and shallow fry the bitter gourd.

6. After about 5 minutes flip the bitter gourd on another side.

7. Repeat after another 3-5 minutes and uncover and cook until softened for a few more minutes if required.

Serve hot with rotis/chapatis or rice.

I hope this recipe of bittergourd brings about a change to your taste of this miracle vegetable!

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

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.