Mediterranean Baked Fish

Fishes make Dishes!

For a Bengali, it is a mantra. Though I am not a true fish lover but still love a few of the recipes, specially those are made of Bekti, Pomfret and Prawn [which is largely considered as a fish in Bengal ;) ]. For a tasty Fish Fry (fried Bekti coated in bread crumbs) I can go up to any extent.

What we love about Bekti is the flavor of the fish and what we ignore while making a dish of Bekti, is the flavor of it. That is something I do not like and thus I prefer the simplest recipes of Bekti over Vetki Machher Jhal (bekti cooked with chillies and mustard paste and flavoured with coriander) or Curry. Though Paturi (fillets marinated with mustard paste are fried deep wrapped in banana leaf).

When I found a simple Mediterranean recipe with Salmon, it first struck me with the idea of cooking our own Salmon in the same style and trust me it was a super hit formula...

Ingredients

• 200 gms of Bekti Fillet cut into 2 pieces
• 1 tbsp of Lemon Juice
• pinch of Salt and Pepper for seasoning
• a sprig each of Coriander and Parsley leaves
• 1 tbsp of Olive Oil
• Aluminium Foil

Method

Season the fillets with salt and pepper rubbed on both side. Mix all the ingredients and marinate the fillets in the same for about 30 mins.

Take an Aluminium Foil and place the fillet on it and pour half the marination over it and seal the foil properly. Make sure that the marination does not come out, else the fish will get dry. Do the same for the other fillet as well.

Now turn on your oven and pre-heat at 180^oC. Bake the fillets in sealed condition for 30 mins and your done. Serve hot with a sprig of fresh coriander to garnish...

Tangy Schezwan Chicken

People who love spicy food and fond of Chinese Cuisine, must love Schezwan Style of Chinese food. I do not prefer hot dishes a lot but a Schezwan Chicken or Fish can make me turn 180 degree. The strong flavour, the hotness and the sharp savoury will always attract me.

So, decided to give it a try and thank god it was well done. Here's the recipe that I tried and liked it. Hope my friends will love it too...

Ingredients (serves 2)

250 gms of boneless chicken
veg. oil for deep fry and a tbs for the course
100 gms of regular flour
50 gms of corn flour
10-15 celery leaves, coarsely chopped
2 green chilies finely sliced
2 tsp of finely chopped garlic
1 tsp red chilli paste (optional for spice lovers)
1 tbs of tomato sauce
1½ tbs of schezwan sauce (easily available in the market. I tried Ching's one)
2 tsp of dark soya sauce
salt and black pepper for seasoning

1 tsp roasted sesame seed (optional)


Method

Cut the chicken in 1½ inch strips and season with salt and pepper. Mix the flours well and dust the chicken strips well in. Heat oil and deep fry the chicken until crisp. Stain the fried strips and set aside on a tissue paper.

Heat a tbs of oil in a pan and add 1 tsp of garlic and chilies and saute. Add the fried chicken strips now and toss well. Now turn comes for the sauces and pour them all in the pan with the red chilli paste and toss well to mix it evenly. All the sauces are salty, so no need for salt (must remember!). Keep tossing till the desired thickness is achieved. (I suggest not to cook for long on the heat as the sauces will loose its taste and flavour to long exposure of heat, will make the crispy chicken strips soft.)

Turn of the heat and add remaining garlic and the celery leaves and toss once again.

It's ready now! If you have the sesame seed sprinkle over it before serving on plate. (to have it with gravy, add some chicken stock)

Expecting you to share your experience, if you dare to try this ;)

Here's how mine was was looking...

Honey-Roast Chicken Pizza

Pizza is one of the Italian dish I love and that is mostly due to it's simplicity. A simple but well made combination of bread, tomato and cheese with various desired toppings, be it pork pepperoni, be it grilled chicken or simply peppers with jalapenos or black olive.

I have tried Dominos quite a few times, but frankly, never found a reason to spend so much of money. I have tried Bar-B-Q Chicken Pizza, I have tried Spicy Chicken Pizza, I have tried Veg Pizzas and Pizza topped with Paneer (cottage cheese) as well but truly speaking, none of them has the appeal for which I can visit dominos again again.

Rather I preferred pizza from a local shop in Hindmotor called Yes Sir. They used to use ready-made pizza base and top it with tomato sauce, chicken or veg and grated cheese. They had a small OTG to bake it and that's all. I liked it and started my own journey with making in a similar way. It was good at the very first time and since then I have tried same thing quite a few times. This time I decided to have base of my own here is how I made it...

Ingredients (serves 2)

Ready-made Pizza sauce (you can make it at home as well. recipe is easily available on youtube :) )
2 medium Onion in cubes
50 gms grated Mozzarella Cheese (or more if you like)
For Pizza Base

200 gms refined flour
½ tsp dry yeast, activated in lukewarm water
2 tsp saalt
1 tbsp sugar (better if dust)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
enough water to make a soft dough

For Honey Roast Chicken

150 gms of Boneless Chicken
50 gms of Sweet Corn
¾tbsp of honey
1 tsp crushed black pepper
2 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ginger paste
salt to taste
Aluminum Foil

Method

Make a nice soft dough with good amount of water with all the ingredients and keep it aside for 4-6 hours to be fermented, wrapped in a cling shit.

Now mix all the marination ingredients for honey roast chicken and marinate the chicken piece for 4-6 hours. Wrap the chicken with aluminum foil with sweet corn (to preserve the moisture) and roast it for around 20 mins at 175^oC in a pre-heated oven. After removing from the oven, cut the chicken into small cubes.

Take out the dough now and give it shape with you hand with help of dry flour. Keep the edge a little thick and spread the sauce well on the pizza base. Top with chicken cubes, onion cubes and corn and cover well with the grated cheese (some other cheese as well with the toppings). Now bake it at 250^oC for around 15 mins in the oven and your pizza is absolutely ready to have a bite.

Bloody Melon, A Cool Relief in Summer

Melon Melon everywhere! Had a nice drink, want to share!!

A well known drink but made simply. I could not make a Bloody Mary due to short of ingredients but what I made was quite good. It's summer time and we all love having something down the throat and fruit juice are the best choice. Bloody Mary is a bit spicy with Tabasco sauce but I neither had it nor wanted to try in this summer. We are hot by nature these days!

Had a nice, sweet and huge Water Melon (6 kg :P) from the local market. Absolutely juicy and red inside. Made some juice and did something share below.

Ingredients

180 ml Water Melon Juice (serves one)
5 ml Lime Juice
Sugar Syrup to taste
A pinch of salt
15-30 ml vodka
a Melon wedge to garnish

That's all! Just mix it well and serve with ice cubes. Do not forget the melon wedge to garnish!

Here is your drink!

 

Chicken Lasagne

It was my Lil Sis who made the first ever Pasta dish for me. She didn't even complited her Class X exam by that time and she used to watch Sanjiv Kapoor''s Khana Khajana on regular basis. This was one of such item she learned from Sanjeev Kapoor. It was heavenly tasty and I still can feel the taste and the texture of the dish.

Since that day I am a huge fan of Pasta. It made me so crazy that I started trying to make the fresh pasta on my own. I gathered knowledge on different pasta dishes and Lasgne is among the best recipe I liked.

I did not have a baking facility and thus I had to wait to make Lasagne till I managed one and the recipe goes here...

Ingredients

For Pasta

150 gms Refined Flour
1 Egg
25 ml Vegetable Oil
2 pinch of Salt

For Chicken Stuffing

200 gms Bonless Chicken cut into small cubes
1 Capsicum
2 medium Onion cut into cubes
4-6 minced Garlic cloves
½ tsp minced Ginger
1 tsp Chile Flakes
2 tbsp ready made Tomato sauce
Salt and Pepper for seasoning
fresh minced Basil or dry if fresh not available
fresh minced Oregano or dry if fresh not available
and lots of Mozzarella Cheese finely chopped
oil to cook.

Method

Make a nice, soft and firm dough with all the pasta ingredients and keep it aside for 30 mins wrapped in cling sheet. Then roll it with the help of dry flour and make it 1 mm thick sheet. Cut into rectangular shape of desired size. Boil some water in a medium large vessel and add little oil there. Now add the pasta pieces to the boiling hot water and let it cook for 2 mins and not more. Drain the water well and add some more oil to the pasta so that it does not stick. The pasta is ready.

Now put some oil in a pan and add ginger and garlic. Add onions, capsicum, chicken together. Mix well and cook it till the chicken is about to tender. Now add all other ingredients and mix well. Cover it and keep on low flame for another 5-7 mins.

Here comes the main part. Put a piece of pasta on the foil base. spread some prepared chicken and top it with cheese. Place a pasta again on the cheese layer and repeat previous steps. This way you can make a 4-5 layers. Do not cover the topmost part with pasta but cover it with thick layer of cheese. Cover it well with more foils to retain the moisture and bake it for 40 mins at 175^oC in a pre-heated oven. Remove the top foil cover when done and bake it for another 5 mins to give the top-most cheesy cover a nice golden effect. That's all and it is done. Enjoy tasty Chicken Lasagne at home with your family...

Chicken Malai Satay

Satay is basically a South-East Asian dish and there are many variety of it. I was thinking of making some satay for quite a long time and last week found some boneless chicken in the fridge. There was a cup of fresh cream left as well, so I decided to do it on that day itself with an Indian twist

Usually ingredients like red curry paste, fish sauce, sesame oil are mostly used but for me none of these were available either. I made it in my own style and that is some thing like below...

Ingredients

200 gms Boneless Chicken cut into 6-8 pcs

For Marination

4 tbsp fresh cream
3 tbsp curd
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp kashmiri mirch powder
salt to taste

2 tbsp butter to grease
few rings of onion for garnishing

Method

Mix half of the cream and all other marination ingredients well and marinate the chicken. Place the chicken pcs on the satay stick and refrigerate for 45 mins to 1 hour. Do not forget to soak the satay sticks in cold water for at least 30 mins before you marinate the chicken on it.

Take the sticks out of refrigerator and melt some butter. Brush the butter well on the satay and grill it for 10 mins. Now put the remain cream on the satay and grill again for 10 mins.

Serve hot Chicken Malai Satay garnished with Onion rings. I loved the taste. I hope you'll enjoy it too.

Marinated Beef Flank Steak

Whenever I see people eating a large chunk of beef on TV I really feel to taste the way they do. I have had beef many time but cooked in typical spicy Indian style. Except the Tunday Kabab, I did not feel the exquisiteness.

So I was looking for few thing to try together; good quality beef, a good recipe and an oven to bake it. Finally I could manage all of them and a big thanks to Khokan Molla for helping me to find the best beef around.

Since I got the Oven in my Kitchen, I have been planning to make some nice beef steak and taste it. It was on a holiday and my friends Shatanik and Moloy helped me too. I missed few ingredients and recalled them while preparing the beef. Without their help it would be possible to make the thing right, they brought me those ingredients in time and most importantly I could not enjoy the dish without them. Thanks guys! :)

Here is how I did it...

Ingredients

1 pound beef flank (boneless piece from lower abdomen) sliced into ½" thick pieces.

For Manination

1½ tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp white wine viniger
2 tbsp honey
4 tsp soya sauce
1 tbsp dark rum
5 gms of Rosemary (fresh or dried if fresh not available)
black pepper and salt for seasoning

Method

Mix all the marination ingredients and blend well. Soak the beef slices well in marination and refrigerate for 8 hours.

Pre-heat the oven at 175^oC. Place the meat and bake at the same temparature for about 20 mins. Turn the sides in between for once and the juicy steak is ready to serve.