My Meen Moily

I had been working from home for years with an occasional visit to an actual office, so I managed to catch a lot of 4 pm cooking shows. I saw one with model/chef/author Padma Lakshmi, in Kerala, she was cooking by the coast with a chef from a local 5 star hotel. I personally love outdoor cooking and really wish I could do it more often. Now that we live in a condo, I am waiting for our next fishing trip or beach BBQ in Kuwait where Andy’s parents live (great country for quality meats and fantastic seafood). The chef was making beachside fish curry. I don’t remember taking down the recipe but I remember being riveted. I was so desperate to try it that I took a rickshaw over 5 kms away (that’s far enough when a human being is pedalling you places) to the local fish market (?), more like alley. I bought a kilo of ‘surmai’ fillets and went straight home with the loot. I feel my version of this curry is very wintery and soup like wholesome. I also love how aromatic it turns out if I keep it simple and I can really taste the fish. I find this curry so simple to do now, that’s a quick fix comfort food staple in our home.

½ kilo ‘surmai’, ‘betki’, red snapper or any other boneless fish you like. It needs to cook in the curry without being fried, so choose a fish that will hold.

Fish marinade:
½ tsp Turmeric
1 tsp salt
Juice from ½ lemon

3 tbsp cooking oil
2 large onions, sliced thin
1 large tomato, cubed, into fours
4-6 pods of garlic, smashed
1 tsp minced ginger
8-10 curry leaves
3-4 slit green chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp sugar
½ lemon squeezed

2-3 cups of coconut milk (if you are using a powder than make one cup thick and one cup thin. If you are using the real thing, then use the first squeeze last … if you are using cans or tetrapacks then anything goes!)

Salt

Marinate the fish and keep it aside, marinate for just about 10-15 mins. Heat oil, always put onions in hot (not smoking) oil or they will absorb all the oil and not let anything else fry. Throw in the ginger, garlic and curry leaves, toss it around gently, I hate smashing the onions, I like them evenly brown and un-crispy. I also don’t like to fry the curry leaves unless they are for tempering, for curries I like them to be fresh and chewable. Once the onions are brownish, add the dry masala powders, the turmeric, the chilli powder, coriander and cumin powder, but hold the tsp of ‘garam masala’. Make the coconut milk mix, I prefer for it to be warm, so give it a spin in the micro if you are using from a can or pack. Keep half a cup of the coconut milk separate, if you made fresh or from the powder, then this is the portion that’s thick, creamy coconut milk. Boil the curry on low for 3-4 minutes, you will see the oil separate on the sides. Slip in the fish pieces and turn gently in the curry, no need to mix this like crazy, just leave it, as long as the pieces are all submerged in the curry, you’re good! Cook for 2-3 minutes or so and add the tomato cubes and slit green chillies. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, finish with sugar, salt, lemon juice and garam masala. Serve with white rice and papads.

Oh, it kills me that the show’s host is a fit and fine woman, even today after a baby, she looks the same. Though I can imagine her love for food … Andy is like that, he can eat anything and get away with it, no weight gain and no IBS! I secretly hope my metabolism catches up with him or I will just end up being the chubby and fun wife of the cool and svelte photog! But deep inside I hugely admire women like Padma Lakshmi, they wear their vice like a medal and I suppose when you are underweight then it’s easier to go around saying “I am secretly a pig!”, hell its almost endearing. Like the other day when I read an interview with a local stand-up, where he said he loved women that could really eat, he would hang out with a woman that ate 2 naans and butter chicken and all that stuff! Believe me if she really was the type to let herself go, he wouldn’t last more than 6 months with her! So walk the talk baby, let’s see you with a voluptuous woman, for that matter let’s just see you with a woman first!

Welcome to Me

I am finally doing it, taking the plunge, going all out! I am starting my own cookery blog, its been long enough! I longed to have time to do this and only lately realized that I will never have that privilege. I am a mommy to an almost 5 year old human child and an almost 7 year old doggie child, both are a handful. I work full time, well almost, when you leave home at 8 am, then a day that ends at 4 pm, is as ‘full’ as a day can get. When that day gets over, all I can think of are my babies and my kitchen. The two joys that bring solace and peace to my otherwise hysterical soul. For me a perfect evening is when Andy (the husband) gets home in time, the kids have had play time and finished their workbooks, well at least the human one and I have a fresh, new meal bubbling in the kitchen. To me that’s heaven.

I have read and envied way too many food blogs and sites to stay still any longer. So for me, this is it! This is my Michael Jackson movie, except mine is meaty, garlicky and veers towards desserts more than occasionally. I am secretly (not so much now!!) in love with Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain, though from what I know Tony is capable of pot roasting Jamie anyway! I don’t much care for Gordon Ramsay and I truly believe Nigella Lawson is my chef alter ego …though I don’t look anything like her…sadly! I used to enjoy watching Kylie (Kwong) cook till she started abusing the word ‘beautiful’ which actually happens to be one my favourite adjectives for food …but not anymore. I love all of these guys for something or the other and mainly because they promote good food, good eating and good living, all of which is essential for my personal sanity.

I also believe in moderation, however cliched it may sound. Everyone can eat everything and everyone should eat everything, again in moderation. So please pop that piece of chocolate in your mouth already, you know you’re going to hate yourself for not eating it …. and hate yourself for eating it …its a no win situation…eat up! So the objective of this blog is to promote food, all kinds of it. The other objective is to to get you cooking, its therapeutic, its makes people like you and its a great conversation starter. Believe me, its all I talk about… most of the time!

Last night we had Kerala style Beef Fry. Kerela is a coastal state in India, famous for its tag line “Gods own country”… from the way its landscaped, God certainly took a wee bit of extra interest in this one! Thanks to its coastal location, Kerala enjoys some of the best fish and seafood in India and I personally love their curries and stir fries. Some of the food is very akin to Far Eastern countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and even Thailand. I got this recipe off the internet and modified it to suit my family’s slightly more adventurous palette.

Shirazi Beef Chili

• 1 kg beef tenderloin cut into strips …about an inch long and half an inch thick
• 2 large onions sliced very thin
• Slivers of 6 garlic pods
• 2 inch thick clump of ginger…crushed with a rolling pin
• 6 slit green chillies
• 3 tbsp. Cooking oil

Marinade:

• 1 tsp. garam masala
  1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tbsp. Apple cider vinegar (use wine vinegar if you like, I like it a bit sweetish)

Masala for cooking:

• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• 1 tbsp. Honey (try and look for organic fruit honeys, did you know that a beehive on a litchi tree will have litchi flavoured honey!)
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce (try Kikkoman …I love it!)
• 2 large potatoes, thinly sliced
• Salt to taste

Tempering:

•  1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 15 curry leaves
• 4 dry red chillies

Marinate the beef for a couple of hours. Heat the oil and fry the onions, ginger and garlic, till the onions are brown. I personally prefer to crush the garlic with the flat side of my knife rather than chop or use a press, ditto for ginger. Add the marinated beef; keep the flame on high till the juices from the beef cover the contents in the pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes and add the ‘masala’ for cooking, along with the green chillies. Stir, cover and cook on low for about 15 minutes. Make the tempering in a separate pan, heat oil, add the mustard seeds, wait for the crackling, add the red chillies and curry leaves, I like the curry leaves crispy so I tend to slightly overcook the tempering. Now back to the beef, add the soy sauce, honey and potatoes, cook for another 10 minutes on low, covered.  Check the meat for doneness …pop a piece in your mouth! Top this with the tempering before serving, toss it up…and enjoy.

We loved the dish, we had it with ‘dal’ and rice, though my dad would have had it with a garlicky potato mash and some whole wheat bread. I actually like having this with flat noodles and I dribble a little chilli sauce on it …just to give it a twangy finish.