Tag Archive | Arabian Sea

PRAWNS MOILEE for 2

My goodness – does time fly!

It is already Epiphany, 06th January, and Christmas is now most definitely over – until next time.

But before I post my Prawn Moilee today I like to share with you a picture of our own (Christmas) Crip with the Three Wise Men having now arrived at The Stable. Jo gets all the credit for actually building this one and the figures, angles etc. were all purchased by us over the years in Germany, England, Thailand and here in our own town in India. So many good and happy memories are attached to this tableau.

For New Year’s Eve we once again stayed at home – we have always preferred it like this.

But what to cook for this special occasion? –Very simple, one of our other favourite dishes, Prawns Moilee! Prawns simmered in slightly mild and creamy coconut gravy. Having the Arabian Sea as our coast, gives us all this beautiful sea-food for our kitchen. The prawns used in this preparation by me are acquired directly from the Chinese Nets (pictured above) workers.

Kerala is known of course, amongst other things, as the land of coconuts and there for one will find in most of our local cuisine either freshly grated coconut or/and coconut milk –absolutely delicious.

So, come and join us at our table, have a glass of wine or whatever, and enjoy this wonderful local dish

PRAWNS MOILEE for 2

For you who like to know – Moilee just means “An Indian curry, originally from Goa, containing fish or seafood and coconut milk”

To marinate the prawns you will need:
1 x cup of shelled and deveined prawns
1 x tsp Turmeric powder
½ x tsp chilli powder
½ to 1 whole lime
1 x tsp Salt

To make the Moilee you need:
2 x Tbsp Coconut oil (or any other vegetable oil)
1 x large Tomatoe, sliced
Curry leaves (10 – 15 numbers)
1 x cup of Onions, sliced
3 x green Chillies slit in middle
1 x Tbsp Ginger, finely sliced
2 x Cardamom
2 x Cloves
½ x tsp Fenugreek seeds
½ x tsp Mustard seeds
A small piece of Cinnamon (stick)
3 x dried red Chillies
3 x Garlic pods, very finely chopped
½ x tsp Turmeric powder
1x tsp Coriander powder
1 x cup of Coconut milk

How to make the Moilee:
1. In a bowl mix together all the items mentioned under ‘to marinate…’ and keep aside for ca. 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil and when hot add and fry the Fenugreek seeds. After this add the Mustard seeds until they ‘pop’. Add Cardamom, Cloves, Cinnamon stick, dry red Chillies. Stir and add Onions, Ginger, green Chillies, Garlic and the curry leaves and fry until the onions turn translucent.
3. After this add Coriander- and Turmeric powder and keep stirring for ca. ½ minute. Now add the prawns, ½ x cup of Coconut milk and the sliced Tomatoes and cook until the Prawns turn pink.
4. When this is done add the remaining ½ cup of Coconut milk and bring this to a slight boil for a minute only.
5. Serve with Rice or Appam and enjoy!

Notes:
Having all the fresh Coconut at our disposal we make Moilee with two kinds of Coconut milk; first we squeeze the freshly grated Coconut with some water to extract the initial thick (first) milk and repeat the process on the same to extract the thin (second) milk.

That’s it! And Happy New Year to you all.
Carina

Devilish Hot TUNA Curry

Aug24

As you well know by now we live right on the coast of the Arabian Sea in the beautiful State of Kerala – the land with an abandonment of Fish, Coconut, Herbs and Spices.

A Keralian household without fish – unthinkable! And of course there are as many different versions of “Red Fish Curry” as there are families in Kerala. This particular curry today is by all means not a typical traditional Kerala Fish Curry, but it is just one of many favourites in our house. This recipe started off one way or another quite differently but over time we perfected it until we got it just right for our own taste – ok, admittedly, one has to like love spices!!! Of course, you can always tone down the heat a notch (or even two or three), but if you do love “the heat” in your curry, then I suggest do not change anything – it is truly so delicious and it will only make you want more.

We love coconut in our cooking, but in this case here we completely omitted this – and don’t you agree, this beautiful red colour looks sooo inviting.

Traditionally this curry is made in an earthenware pot, a “Kalchatti” made out of clay. Unfortunately my “Kalchatti” broke the other day and I have not been able to pick one up from the road side, where vendors selling those for very little money. Somehow cooking this curry in a “Kalchatti” improves the flavour.

So, I made this curry in my normal wok on the gas stove and it tasted equally fantastic (even if I may say so myself!!!).

Again, what you see here in the photographs is just for the 2 of us, with enough left over for the following day, since letting it stand overnight will really improve the flavour. I also used a nice chunk of beautiful Tuna, which JS got from the market.

Ingredients:

½ x kg Tuna, washed, skin and bones removed and cut carefully into neat cubes
1 ½ x large onions, halved and sliced
5 x green chillies cut lengthwise
8 x garlic, thinly sliced (our garlic is quite small)
1 x Tbsp fresh ginger, finely diced
2 x large tomatoes, deseeded and cut into quarters
Some sprigs of curry leaves
½ x tsp of Mustard seeds
2 x Tbsp of best-of-the-range Fish Masala Powder (I used a local brand Nirapara)
Little oil and salt and pepper, according to your taste
4 x pieces of Kodampuli (Kokkum), washed and then soaked in lukewarm water for 15-30 minutes (do not discard the water)

Method:
1. Soak Kodampuli and keep aside.
2. Wash and prepare Tuna, keep aside.
3. Prepare all your vegetables, keep aside.
4. Heat wok on medium heat and when hot (stay on medium! Heat) add Mustard seeds and wait for them to go ‘pop’ – WARNING: they are real little devils and will spit at you when they ‘pop’ – so do keep your face away.

5. Now add onions, garlic, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and a little salt. Stir gently – don’t allow any of this to get dark (you might have to regulate your heat)

6. Add 2 Tbsp of your Fish Masala Powder, mix, and now followed by tomatoes, all the Kodampuli and half their water – stir again and carefully add your Tuna into this Masala (without breaking any of the pieces).

7. Add enough water to cover everything well (but, if you want extra gravy, just add a bit more water and the remaining Kodampuli water).

8. Cook gently on medium heat for 10-15 minutes (keep checking) – Done!!!

9. Cover with lid and let it stand for a while before serving. And of course as I mentioned earlier, this is even far superior the following day.

So maybe you might like to prepare this Curry a day before you have guests.

Serve this either with plain white rice, mashed potatoes, mashed Tapioca (Kappa Puzhukku), or chunks of nice bread (after all, this gravy is simply delicious).

Namaskaram, Carina

RED PRAWN & KOKUM CURRY

Feb19

Now of course is the time when millions of Christians around the world observe 40 days of Lent, the time of fasting starting on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday.

So, until Easter I therefore will not be posting any meat dishes on this site.
Mind you, from a cook point of view I find it somehow challenging to come up with nice delicious non-meat dishes for our family.
We are of course extremely lucky living here in this beautiful coastal area with its abundance of the treasures of the Arabian Sea – Fish and Shellfish.

So, without long ado, here is yet another delicious, typical Kerala Prawn dish, which I made only yesterday. This preparation contains Kokum (known as Kodampuli here) – an absolutely vital ingredients for this dish.

For 2 generous helpings I used:
a. 300 gr of cleaned, shelled and deveined prawns
b. A pinch of turmeric powder and
c. A pinch of pepper powder
d. 3 pieces of washed Kokum
e. Water, enough to cover the prawns

Mix all this and boil just long enough for the prawns to turn pink (1 minute), take off the flame immediately and keep aside for later. Keep the water for use later on.

a. Next take the small bowl of your Mixy (Blender), add
b. 1 Onion, medium to largish! Roughly chopped
c. 50 gr of peeled garlic
d. 1 inch of fresh ginger and
e. 3 green chilli (more or less, depending on your heat intake)

Grind all this to a nice paste (not too fine, thou) and keep aside for later.

Now the real fun starts:

In a large heavy bottomed vessel heat up app.
1-2 Tbsp of Coconut oil, splutter ¾ tsp of mustard seeds and 3 dried red chillies, broken in half.

Now add all your earlier prepared paste and sauté until the oil separates. Mix well.

Next add ½ tsp turmeric powder, 3 Tbsp red chilli powder (I use Kashmiri powder here for colour), 1 – 2 Tbsp. of Coriander powder, salt and black pepper to taste.
Mix well and cook for app. 5-8 minutes.
The smell wafting through your kitchen now makes you already wanting to sit down and eat.

Add 2 large tomatoes, skin removed, and chopped up very finely. Let this simmer for at least 10-15 minutes, until tomatoes are very very soft.
Take the Kokum and all the water you used to boil the prawns in and add to your vessel. If you want more gravy later, just add a bit of hot water to this.

At this stage adjust the seasoning to your own taste.

Now add app. ¼ cup of thick creamy coconut milk and stir. A sprig or two of curry leaves should be added now; continuing to simmer on lowest possible heat for another couple of minutes.
At the very end only add the previously boiled prawns (they must not be rubbery from overcooking).

Stir and remove into a pretty dish ready for serving with either just plain rice or Appam.

രുചിയോടെ ഭക്ഷണം ആസ്വദിക്കാന് കഴിയട്ടേ
(ruchiyode bhakshanam aaswadikkan kazhiyatte) this is our local Malayalam language meaning: “….let your food be enjoyed tastefully”
Enjoy your meal – Guten Appetit

Namaskaram, Carina

Tomorrow is another day

Aug16

To all of you out there – have a pleasant weekend.

Sunset over the Arabian Sea in Cochin, Kerala

Surfing on Mango Wood

May20

For the last 10 days I have been at war – at war with the twice annual flu-bug! Not nice at all, especially in our heat. But in the end I emerged as the winner – thanks to my Doctor, some antibiotics and of course because of the loving tender care of my husband! 🙂

So here now is the conclusion, as previously promised, of our short ‘sojourn’ in Kovalam.

For our last evening at VIVANTA by TAJ KOVALAM the golf buggy took us right down to the shore of the Arabian Sea to the hotel’s new contemporary restaurant appropriately named “BAIT”, a very rustic looking place befitting its location.

Our table was set not inside the restaurant, but outside, close to the edge of the beach.

The smell of the sea, the crashing of the waves against the huge bollards along this strip of private beach, competing with the soft sound of music coming from the main restaurant, set us into the right mood to look forward to Chef Elangovan’s promised culinary surprise for that evening.

We could hardly wish for a more romantic setting – the tiny flickering lights of hundreds of fishing boats way out at sea, the clear stars above us high up in the sky, candles on our table and all over the garden.

But to top it all, we had a huge full moon shining down on us, sending its silvery light across the water.

It was then that we decided that we will come back here in a few month time – just for a little break again.

Chef, for this occasion, had prepared indeed a very special treat for us. Something, I must confess, I had not come across before on all my travels around the world.

Red Snapper on Mango Wood

Ingredients:

Red Snapper Fillet 300 g

Green chilly 10 g

Salt a pinch

Small onion 5 g

Curry leafs a few

Ginger & garlic paste 1 tsp

Turmeric powder ½ g

Tamarind or lime juice 1 no

Coconut oil 5 ml

Mango wood or

Tamarind wood slab 2 nos

Method:

Make paste out of chilly, ginger, garlic, turmeric and tamarind or lime juice.

Grate the small onions and mix with marinate paste and coconut oil.

Apply the marinate all over the fish, rest for a couple of minutes.

Grill the fish in hot pan on both sides

Place the fish on mango wood slab and bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Before serving garnish with sprig of curry leafs.

Accompaniment with roast baby potatoes and char grilled vegetable.

This is a truly delicious fish dish, light and delicate in flavour. I will have to go out hunting for Mango tree slabs from a ‘friendly’ timber merchant since I have a feeling that this preparation will be arriving on our table a few times soon.

PS. Since I have been talking about ‘Mangos” here I cannot get a well known song out of my head; a song which I learned whilst living for 3 years out on the wonderful island of Trinidad/W.I. and was made popular in the James Bond Film “Dr. NO”. “……..Underneath the Mango tree me Honey, And me can watch for the moon …..”