Monthly Archives: December 2016

Mango fish curry (Chennai style)


South Indian (Chennai) style mango fish curry is one of my favourite fish curries because of the sour and tangy taste. Mango fish curry is an onion and tomato based curry with tamarind and raw mango. The combination of raw mango and fish makes this curry excellent. I have used sea bass for this curry. Any firm fish like snapper, sea bream, king fish (vanjaram) or salmon will work. This fish curry has pretty much the same ingredients as madras fish curry with the only main difference being raw mango.


Guacamole


Guacamole is a Mexican dip made with avocado. The perfect guacamole requires using ripe avocado. The ripeness of the avocado can be known by just pressing the outside of the avocado. A ripe avocado skin will be a mixture of dark green and brown colour. You can use Serrano chillies or jalapeno chillies or like me, any mild chilli. For making guacamole, pestle and mortar are necessary, but you can also use fork or the back of a spoon to mash the avocado.


Cashew Pakoda (Munthiri pakoda)


Cashew Pakoda (Munthiri Pakoda in Tamil) is a very famous evening snack in South India. Cashew pakoda is made of chickpea flour (besan in Hindi) along with other ingredients. It is very simple and easy to prepare and goes well with tea as an evening snack. To get more flavour into the cahew pakoda, mint leaves and curry leaves are important along with a very little ghee/dalda/oil added to the flour. The texture of the cashew pakoda is crisp and crunchy unlike other pakodas which are crisp but soft inside – like Palak Pakoda or Chilli Bajji.


Mutton (or lamb) chops curry


This is a semi gravy lamb chops curry, cooked in an onion and tomato based sauce – very easy to cook. This curry is spicy, tangy and the chops are well coated with a thick sauce. To give that rich look to the curry, I have used readymade tomato puree (concentrated). There are front chops and back chops. You can ask the butcher as to whichever chops you want. You can use mixed meat like chops, bones, ribs, etc – the mix enhances the taste too.


Drumsticks and mutton curry


Drumstick and mutton curry (Munge ki phalli aur gosht ka saalan) is a meat and vegetable combination curry. It is prepared in my home whenever drumsticks are in season. Drumstick and mutton curry is popular in Andhra and is known as Munagakaya mamsam and in Tamil Nadu as Muranggakai mutton curry. For drumstick and mutton curry, we call it as Munge ki phalli aur gosht ka mittah saalan at our home. The base for the curry is onion and tomatoes and is very easy to prepare.


Sindhi machi (fish) curry


Sindhi fish (machi) curry is also known as raswali machi. Sindhi machi curry is very easy to prepare and onions are not used in this curry. This curry is entirely different from my other fish curries. The blend of tomatoes and coriander leaves along with spices has given a lot of flavour and taste to the curry. I have used pomfret fish steaks to make this delicious Sindhi fish curry.


Fish cutlet


Fish cutlets in Indian style made with tinned tuna fish chunks. Tinned fish is easily available in the market and can make it easy for dishes to be prepared. One of my friends who is from Kerala shared this recipe with me which her mother used to make for her. This fish cutlet has become so popular among my friends and as soon as they taste it, the only thing they ask is for the recipe.


Lamb Tikka


Lamb tikka is a very popular starter in Indian restaurants. It is cooked in a traditional tandoor, which can be found in almost Indian restaurants anywhere in the world. It is prepared with boneless lamb pieces, marinated in yoghurt and spices and herbs based mixture and cooked in tandoor. Normally, we do not have a tandoor at home, but we can get that restaurant style red and charred colour on the lamb tikka by just cooking in the oven as per my instructions in this recipe.


Hariyali Paneer Tikka


Hariyali paneer tikka is a mouth-watering Indian starter served in Indian restaurants. You can prepare this dish easily at home. Hariyali means green colour. Paneer is marinated or coated in hari chutney (green chutney), which gives a different flavour and taste from the usual paneer tikka. The green chutney is made of mint and coriander leaves which gives this paneer tikka a fresh herby flavour.