Prawns again: Garlic Stir Fired

Given a choice my kids would like nothing but prawns for breakfast, lunch & dinner. I am sharing a very simple recipe that has become a favorite once-a-week (atleast) dish at home.

Garlic Stir Fried Prawns

Ingredients:
2 Pounds Prawns (deveined, tails cut):
1.5 tablespoons Freshly crushed Garlic (or garlic paste):
1-2 Very finely chopped green chilies, depending on your spice level.
1.5 tablespoon White Vinegar:
½ tablespoon Soy Sauce:
½ tea spoon: MSG (optional. Although I do tend to use it for all stir fries):
2 table spoons: Oil
Salt to taste


Method:
1. Wash & clean the prawns as needed. Defrost if using frozen.
2. Mix the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and salt in a bowl.
3. Add prawns to it. Let them marinate for about 1 hour.
4. Heat the oil in a wok. Add prawns along with its marinade and the MSG.
5. Keep stirring on a high flame for about 3-5 minutes.Don’t overcook the prawns, they lose their texture.
6. Serve Hot.

Note: Adding ginger paste or thinly sliced ginger (same quantity as garlic) also gives this dish a distinctive flavor.

This is my entry for the blog event Jivha – for ingredients, (Garlic) for the month of April, being hosted by Mathy.

Bengali Prawns Pulao

Bengali Prawns Pulao

Ingredients

2 Cups Basmati Rice
1 Cup green moong
1.5 to 2 pounds Prawns: shelled and deveined
1.5 cups coconut milk
2 Onions sliced
A few strands of Kesar
4 tablespoon oil
salt

Grind into paste:
8-10 cloves garlic
1-2 inches of ginger
½ cup fresh coriander
1-2 green chillies (optional)
4-5 cloves
4-5 cardamoms
1 inch cinnamon stick
4-5 peppercorns
Pinch of nutmeg


Method:

1. Cook the rice and the green moong separately. Add the saffron strands and salt to the rice while cooking.
2. Add about 1/3rd of the ground paste and salt to the cooked moong. Mix & keep aside.
3. Heat oil, add the onions to it. When half done, add the rest of the paste and the prawns.
4. Stir fry for a few minutes until the prawns are cooked. Add the coconut milk, and salt to taste.
5. In a baking tray, spread a thick layer of the rice. Next spread the moong on it, then the prawns with its masala.. On this layer, make similar layers with rest of the rice, followed by remaining moong & finally prawns. (not more than 3 layers).
6. Cover the tray with silver foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F/180C for about 15-20 minutes. Serve hot.

I had only made Bengali sweets until now. Making a Bengali pulao was a lot of fun.
This is my entry to Regional Cuisines of India (Bengal), being hosted by Sandeepa of Bong Mom’s cookbook.

Quick Bread: Buttermilk-Potato Bread Rolls

The kids had been after me to bake some bread - “any bread will do, but we feel like having freshly baked bread for dinner!”
It was already mid afternoon. I had to find a bread recipe that would not need too many hours end-to-end.
Since the bread machine and most of my recipe books are still in California, I decided to do some mix-n-match and came up with this one. The result was not too bad. Next time I will remember to use less water; I had to add more flour coz the dough was sticky. And adding more flour is always tricky as it is easy to lose the balance between yeast,butter and flour….

Buttermilk Potato Bread Rolls

Ingredients
3 cups plain flour
1/4th cup butter
½ cup buttermilk
2-3 medium potatoes, boiled, mashed.
1 packet dry yeast (about 2 tea spoons)
½ tea spoon salt
Water as needed (about ½ cup)

Method

1. Proof the yeast in some water for about 5 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, salt, buttermilk & butter in a bowl.
3. Using a dough hook of a mixer, mix well together. (OK to mix by hand too. This bread does not need too much kneading).
4. Add the potatoes & the yeast. Mix well.
5. Cover the bowl with a cheese cloth. Let the dough rise to double, about 90 minutes.
6. Punch down the dough. Cut into 10 equal pieces.
7. Place baking sheet on a baking tray.
8. Roll each dough piece into a roll and place on the tray (not too close to each other).
9. Cover the tray with a towel, let the rolls rise for about 30 minutes.
10. Dust the top of the rolls with a little flour (optional)
11. Bake in the middle rack of an oven, preheated at 370 F, for about 20 minutes.

Corn Cutlets: Flavor of the Season

During winter, the vegetable markets in Pune are flooded with fresh corn. My daughter had her first “bhutta” a few weeks ago and is completely hooked.
Corn cutlets is another favorite.

Corn Cutlets

Ingredients
1 cob of corn
1-2 Potatoes boiled, mashed.
1 cup mixed boiled vegetables (carrot, beans, peas)
1 tea spoon garlic-ginger paste
1 tea spoon lemon juice
½ tea spoon finely chopped green chilies (optional)
½ tea spoon each of pepper, clove & cinnamon powders
½ tea spoon fennel seed powder (badi saunf powder)
Bread crumbs
Oil for frying


Method

1. Grate the corn. Cook the grated corn + 1 tea spoon oil for a few minutes on medium flame. Remove from flame.
2. Mash the boiled vegetables coarsely. Add these & the mashed potatoes to the corn.
3. Add the other ingredients and salt. Mix well.
4. Shape into balls or flattened cutlets.
5. Roll in breadcrumbs. Deep fry. Typically I shallow fry them, but kids like them deep fried.

Serve with tamarind-date chutney (or the omnipresent tomato ketchup)

Getting Started with Naividya

I have been following good friend TC’s blog since when she started it. Being a foodie myself and someone who finds cooking & baking very relaxing I thought I should start food-blogging too. But it didnt materialize last year, and then the big R2I happened and blogging remained a distant dream.
Coming back to Pune after roughly 15 years has been a lot of fun. Challenging, Yes. But worth it. Have been living here for 5 months now – new schools for kids, same job-new colleagues for me, ditto for H.
Friends suggested blogging my R2I experience; wont do it here. I guess R2I observations, frustrations and blessings are going to peep in from time to time (ever tried finding fresh basil in Pune?). Another blog for that, some day…

So, taking inspiration from TC, here is the first “naividya” on the blog.

Let me start with a barfi all of us adore. My mom handed me this recipe some 10 years ago. I made very few changes along the way.

Almond-Cashewnut Barfi

Diwali in India is equated to hordes of dry fruits coming home. 2 months after that & we still had too many cashews and almonds left over. How many can you put in a kofta gravy anyway?
It was time to make cashew-almond barfi.
Maharashtrians, typically use the term barfi if & only if there is khoya (or its equivalent) in the barfi. I have seen north and south Indians using the term rather loosely for any “wadi”. I prefer that.

Ingredients
1 Pound Almonds
1 Pound Cashewntuts (unsalted!)
Castor Sugar (amount in the recipe)
A few strands kesar
½ tea spoon cardamom powder
2-4 tea spoon milk

Method

1. Soak the almonds & cashews in water for about 2 hours (best overnite)
2. Peel the almonds (ah! I had my maid do this – the bliss of living in India)
3. Grind both cashews and almonds to a smooth paste. The smoother the better. Use the milk as needed while grinding. The paste should not be too liquidy.
4. Roughly measure this paste, and take equal amount of sugar. This 1:1 sugar proportion works well if you are in the US. If in India, use slightly less amount.
5.Mix sugar and the paste in a bowl. Keep the bowl on medium flame, stirring on and off. As the sugar melts the mixture turns into a lumpy liquid. Soon after, it starts to thicken up.
Add the kesar and cadamom powder. (If desired soak kesar in a few drops of milk before adding)
6.Keep stirring – overall it should take about 10-12 minutes from start to finish to get desired consistency.
7.Grease 2 plates with a little ghee or butter. Spread the mixture on it evenly and leave it to dry for half hour.
8.Cut into desired shapes/sizes. My 9 year-old daughter loves to experiment with the shapes.