Fish Molee

This post was supposed to go up on Monday, but like everything else in my schedule, this one also got postponed. Life has suddenly become chaotic. From not doing anything at one point, to coming back home tired after a back breaking day of baking is something I'm truly enjoying, (sans the back aches of course), but in the process I've neglected the blog and have just not been able to blog hop as well. Thanks to all you guys who still manage to stop by and put in a few comments, I promise il come visit you all soon.

Its also been ages since I've actually cooked something nice and even worse, styled and photographed. I'm off to Paris this weekend with a couple of friends and hope to come back with loads of pictures and fun stuff. Its going to be a total foodie adventure, and so I'm thoroughly looking forward to it. Once I'm back, I promise I'll whip up something nice for the blog and make a deal of it here. So till then, here's the simplest fish curry I've ever made...Fish Molee/Molly.

Recipe adapted from Flavours of the Spice Coast by Mrs. K M Mathew

Fish fillets- 250 gms, sliced (I used Tilapia fillets)

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Oil- 2 tbsp

Onions- 1 cup, finely chopped
Green chilli- 2, slit

Garlic- 1 tsp, crushed

Ginger- 1 tsp, crushed

Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp

Thin coconut milk- 1 cup

Tomato- 1 small, cut into 4 (i used a couple of baby tomatoes)
Curry leaves- a sprig

Thick coconut milk- 1/4 cup

Salt- to taste

 

Marinate the fish with pepper, turmeric and salt and keep aside for about 10 minutes.

Heat enough in a pan and shallow fry the fish till just cooked, about 1 or 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and keep aside

Heat oil in a pan and saute onions and green chillies. Cook till the onions have wilted and turns a golden yellow.

Add the ginger and garlic and continue cooking till the raw smell disappears.

Stir in the pepper powder and salt, followed by thin coconut milk and wait for the milk to simmer gently.

At this point add the fried fish and let it cook completely, with the gravy getting thicker and coating the fish.

In goes the tomato and curry leaves. Stir them in and cook till the tomatoes are done.

Finally, add the thick coconut and cook on low heat for a few more minutes and take it off flame.

Serve hot with appam, bread or even rotis.

Notes: The curry is not really spicy, so i will increase the number of chillies to 3 or maybe even 4

It somehow tastes even more fab the next day :)

Any fish of choice can be used. I have tried it with prawns and its yumm

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Macarons {3 ways}

Last week, a couple of us food bloggers went to the Royal Albert Afternoon Tea Tour in association with Breast Cancer Care. It was an afternoon of fun, eating and oohing and aahing the gorgeous, gorgeous vintage style tea sets that were used to serve the cupcakes and tea in. Just a few days before, we were oohing and aahing their collection at one of the department stores and Id seen this one particular cup and saucer set with tiny flowers inside, and I even remember exclaiming to a fellow foodie that some pretty and dainty macarons would just look gorgeous in them.

Little did I know that two days later I'd actually get the exact same cup and saucer from Royal Albert in my goody bag at the tea party. I HAD to make macarons and I even had a clear idea what colour and how Id style and photograph it. I am very pleased with how they have turned out and even had a small afternoon tea party at my place. The tea tour will be heading to different locations around London, so please do drop by, enjoy some tea and cakes and support the great cause.

Thursday 12th and Friday 13th- Bloomsbury Square

Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th- Parsons Green

I always follow the basic macaron recipe from Ottolenghi (Recipe here) which fetches me around 22 to 24 medium sizes macarons. For a full, detailed post on macaron making, follow this link. The fillings are for 12 macarons. I always halve the batter and add two colours. I get around 12 macarons in each colour.

Pineapple cheesecake filling

The filling for the purple one was Pineapple cheesecake a really pleasant one made with the Castello Pineapple Halo, a soft cheese coated in pineapple and almonds. Castello has this fabulous range of cheese which go great with white wine. My favourite however is the pineapple flavoured one which works great as cheesecake (trust me on this, I tasted it at the Castello event and loved it). So inspired by that I made the cheesecake filling for the macarons. It was a hit. (I added some yellow colour to emphasise the pineapple bit)

Castello pineapple halo cheese- 1/3 rd cup, at room temperature
Double cream- 1/4 cup
Honey- 2 tbsp

Whisk the double cream till soft peaks form.
Fold in the soft cheese slowly, till well mixed and no traces are seen.
Add the honey (or icing sugar) and mix well.
Refrigerate till ready to use.

Raspberry jam buttercream filling 

 

The pink macarons made specially for Breast Cancer Care were filled with raspberry jam filling. This is a really easy one and quite versatile because you can use any jam and make it into a filling.

Butter- 4 tbsp, at room temperature
Raspberry jam- 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract- a drop (optional)
Icing sugar- 2 tbsp (add more if you like it sweeter)

Whisk the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl, till light and fluffy
Add the jam and vanilla and continue whisking till they all come together.
Refrigerate till ready to use.

Cardamom cream cheese filling

 

I love cream/ soft cheese fillings and frosting and my macaron fillings are almost always cream cheese based. I used the Lactofree soft white cheese for this and was pleasantly surprised at how nice it tasted. Lactofree products are perfect for those who are lactose intolerant and doesn't have to give up dairy altogether. I had the privilege of tasting some of their products and you wouldn't even be able to make out the difference. Check out the website for more details.

A couple of us were invited to Preeti's place for an Indian themed lunch and while breaking my head on what to take for her, Suchi came up with the idea of the tricoloured Indian flag theme. The party was just two days after Indian Independence Day and it was the perfect theme. It looked gorgeous when put together and I filled it with cardamom to give it an Indian touch. Personally, I find cardamom to be an over powering spice, and I prefer it in the mildest possible dose, so this was not really my favourite. I did get good reviews about it though.

Cream cheese- 1/2 cup
Icing sugar- 3 tbsp
Vanilla extract- a generous splash
Cardamom powder- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp (powder the cardamom seeds to make enough)

Whisk the cream cheese and sugar gently using a wire whisk. Make sure it doesnt become too loose.
Fold in the vanilla extract and cardamom and continue mixing till they all come together.
Do a taste test and add more cardamom if required.

With thanks to all the brands for inviting me to the events and for the samples.

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Mixed fruit salad with rose water and pistachio

Its over guys, its over. Summer is on its way out and I can already feel the slight chill in the air post 5pm. Although it was a pretty decent summer, I feel it ended too soon and I am not willing to let go as yet. I think the coming week is the last of 20C weather we'd get to enjoy. Sigh!

So on a warm-ish Saturday I made this mixed fruit salad to enjoy the best of British bounty. The strawberries were sent across by Sweet Eve Strawberries - one of the best I've actually tried. They are British born and bred and deliciously sweet and full of flavour. I am not very lucky when it comes to strawberries as the ones from the stores are never really sweet. But the Sweet Eve strawbs were a welcome change- almost all of them were really sweet and I kind of finished half of it at one go. With the rest I whipped up a nice smoothie and this summer salad which was a hit. The pistachio nuts add that extra crunch and the next time I do this, I'll try it with other fruits and a generous sprinkling of almonds or so.

Rosewater is one extract I've never really tasted or experimented with and was pleasantly surprised by the Nielsen Massey rose water which did lend a very Moroccan flavour to this salad. That said, it can be a very over powering flavour and not a favourite of many (the husband included). A very small quantity goes a long way and so watch how much you put in. I had guests over last weekend and I made some poached peaches with rose water and served it with vanilla ice cream and pistachio nuts. it was divine! 

Recipe adapted from here

Strawberries- 100 gms

Mango- 1 ripe, peeled and sliced into cubes

Peach- 1 ripe, diced

Rosewater- a splash (optional)

Caster sugar- for sprinkling

Pistachio nuts- enough to sprinkle, chopped fine

Mix together the fruits in a large bowl.

Add a splash of rosewater and toss well.

Divide the mix between two or 3 bowls

Sprinkle the caster sugar followed by pistachio nuts and serve cold.

Notes: Add any fruit of choice, except maybe bananas

If not for rosewater a splash of Marsala wine or Sherry would be good

With thanks to Sweet Eve Strawberries and Nielsen Massey for the samples.

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