Spicy crab masala

A lovely Sunday morning to all!

In todays post I wanted to share my love-sea food. I am a sea food fan and practically love all kinds of it:-)

One such dear crustacean friend of mine from this world is someone who is so versatile (soft shelled, hard shelled)that you will fall in love with it...familiar to many as their own sunsign and not so familiar to many being also the name of a small city in India!

He is known as khekda, curlya, chimbori and more commonly as the Crab!!!

This little buddy is full of protein, vitamins(especially Vitamin B12) minerals (salt and potassium) and assures you to rock your taste buds.

You can taste this magnificent shiny explosion of taste in multiple formats.

Use in salads, or add it to your favorite soup or stew recipe. Use it as a filling in sandwiches or stuff it in your whole chicken recipes...you can also try the way I like the best in which the crab is definitely standing out as the shining star...

The crab curry!!!

For this instance i picked up crabs from the Fremont Ranch 99 outlet. Always fresh!

My spicy crab masala recipe begins:-

Ingredients

4 crabs
1 cup onion paste
1 cup fresh coconut grated, fried and ground  into a paste
1 tea spn coriander seeds
5-6 red chillies
5-6 peppercorns
5-6 cloves
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2-3 finely chopped garlic
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tea spn tamarind extract
Oil 2 tea spns
Salt to taste

Instructions

Clean the crabs. If the crab is big, cut them into 2 pieces

Heat 1 tea spn of oil in a wok.

Fry coriander seeds, peppercorns, cloves and grind them with red chllies.

Heat remaining oil and fry onions till they are slightly brownish.

Grind the onions and coconut to a smooth paste

Now in the wok,add ground masala, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, chopped garlic, onion-coconut paste,tamarind pulp and add salt, red chilli powder and cook for 2-3 min. Add some water.

Now add the crabs and cook for around 12-15min.

Enjoy the spicy crab masala with rice or appam or neer dosa!

Restaurant like Crispy Fried Chicken at Home!

Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

4 pieces of chicken with bone,

1 cup milk,

pepper powder to taste,

1 egg,

1 tablespoon meat masala powder,

1 teaspoon chat masala powder,

3 table spoon cooking oil,

2 slices of bread fried and powdered to form bread crumbs

Salt to taste.

Method:

·         Clean the chicken pieces with bone and marinate it with some salt and pepper powder. Keep aside for 15-20 mins.

·         In a deep cooking vessel, add milk and boil these chicken pieces in the boiling milk till perfectly cooked on slow flame.

·         Remove from flame and let it cool.

·         In the meanwhile, whisk the egg till light. Add some salt to taste and keep aside.

·         Fry bread till hard on a frying pan in some cooling oil and run into through the mixer till it turns into bread powder.

·         Once the chicken pieces are cooled, put some meat masala and chat masala powder on the pieces and dip them in the beaten egg mixture and roll with bread crumbs.

·         Fry till golden brown

·         Serve hot

The winning recipe of TheStarFoodie contest this week by Dr. Rupali Jain- Aloo Phool Gobhi

The winning recipe of TheStarFoodie contest this week by Dr. Rupali Jain

Aloo Phool Gobhi

Main Course
Indian Veg

Serving: 2 portions

Ingredients:
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled cut into cubes and deep fried

2-3 big florets of cauliflower broken into smaller florets and deep fried

2-3 tablespoon mustard oil
1/2 teaspoon cummin

2-3 bay leaves
1 tomato finely chopped
1 teaspoon cummin poweder

1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 tablespoon garam masala powder

1/2 teaspoon sugar tablespoon

Finely chopped fresh coriander
3 slit green chillies

2 teaspoons ghee
Salt to taste

Method

Take a deep frying pan and fry the potatoes and cauliflower florets in mustard oil and remove to set aside.

Take a cooking pan and add ghee. Add jeera, bay leaves, corainder, cumin powder. Sprinkle some water and let it cook till the oil seperates.

Add the fried vegetables and mix well.

Add water, the chopped tomato, salt, sugar, chillies, garam masal powder and cook till done.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Best tasted with paranthas.

Enjoy and LOVE FOOD!

My Diwali special- Paneer Tikka Masala

Paneer Tikka Masala

Main Course
Indian Veg

Serving: 2 portions

Ingredients:
500 grams paneer cut into medium sized pieces 

1 medium sized onion cut into 4 halves and then separated into individual layers (peel) from each half
1 tomato cut into 4 halves

1 medium sized onion,finely chopped, fried and pureed into a fine paste
1/2 a cup fresh tomato puree (boiled, peeled and pureed)
1 tablespoon curd
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 tablespoon garam masala powder

2 pinches of kasuri methi leaves
Finely chopped fresh coriander
1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon jeera

1 pinch hing (asafoetida)

2 teaspoons fresh cream
Oil to fry
Salt to taste

Method
Take a frying pan and add oil enough to fry the paneer cubes, cut tomato and onion pieces till all turn golden brown/get little char on the surface. Remove from heat and keep aside. 

Take a cooking pan. Add oil to the pan. Add the asafoetida, onion paste ginger-garlic paste and fry till nice aroma is released. Add the tomato puree and curd and mix well. 

Now add turmeric, red chilli, coriander and garam masala powder, salt and mix well.

Add the crushed kasuri methi leaves and mix well. Add the fresh cream.

Add the fried paneer, tomato and onion pieces to the gravy and let it simmer.

Add finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and mix well.

Serve hot with paranthas or tandoori roti. 

Tip: To maintain the crispiness and shape of paneer so that it doesnt get converted into paneer bhurjee ;-), as it tends to get soggy sitting in the gravy, do the following. Immerse the fried paneer cubes immediately out of the frying pan in to a bowl of ice cubes/ice water and let it rest for sometime. Then use it in the gravy.This helps paneer maintain its crispiness and shape.

Kadhai- Paneer, Mushroom,Baby corn

Kadhai- Paneer, Mushroom,Baby corn

Ingredients:
250 grams fresh Paneer- cut into fine cubes (Cottage cheese)
10-12 pieces of fresh mushrooms cut into medium size pieces
6-7 baby corns cut into diagonally slit mid size pieces
2 onions
2 small tomatoes/1 big tomato
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander
1 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing (Asafoetida)
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander-cummin powder
1 tsp fresh cream
2 tsp cooking oil to fry


Recipe:
Cut the onions into pieces and fry in oil till golden brown.
Make a fine paste of the onions.

Boil the tomatoes in water and puree them.

In a shallow pan, fry the paneer pieces till golden brown.

Take a Kadhai (medium size- heavy bottom cooking utensil) and add some cooking oil to it. Add pinch of asafoetida. Add the mustard seeds.

As the seeds pop, add the ginger-garlic paste and fry till the aroma lingers around. Add the fried onion paste and cook till some oil leaves the paste mixture.

Now add the pureed tomato paste and mix well.

When mixed well, add the spices- the coriander-cummin powder, garam masala powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix well.

When the mixture is uniform in consistency, add the cut mushrooms, baby corn pieces.

After some time the mushrooms will leave water and provide the gravy consistency. Add water to adjust the gravy consistency as per your liking.

Now add the fried paneer and mix well.

Add salt.

Cover the kadhai and let the vegetablecook at low flame.

Once cooked, add fresh cream to it and mix well. Garnish with finely chopped coriander.

Kadhai- Paneer, mushroom, baby corn is ready to serve.

Tender Cocount bhaji- Shahalyachi Bhaji- Simple and Yummy recipe

Zara Hatke Food Recipe which I am sure you would all enjoy.

I am sure most of us would enjoy drinking Coconut water - Shahalyache paani, but do we make the full use of it once we slurrppp all the water it witholds?

Try this simple recipe which is can act as a good accompaniment to main course.

For this you would need
Ingredients:
1 Tender coconut- the tender coconut/malai/khobra which is left inside the coconut
3-4 curry leaves
1 finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp ghee
1 pinch asafoetida
chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp chilli powder
Some water to steam
Salt to taste

Recipe:
Take a deep cooking vessel and add ghee to it.

Add pinch of asafoetida and the mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Once the mustard seeds and curry leaves splutter add finely chopped onion to it.

When the onion turns pink add ginger garlic paste.

Also add the garam masala powder and chilli powder.

Add the chopped tender coconut pieces now and fry.

Add sugar.

Splash water (habka of water) and let it steam for sometime.

The tender coconut doesn't take long to cook. Once removed from fire, sprinkle the finely chopped coriander on it.

Kulith Pithi- Typical konkan delicacy

Ingredients:

1 bowl of powdered horse-gram/Kulith

1-2 Tbsp oil

1 pinch of Asafoetida

1/2 spoon mustard seeds

1-2 garlic flakes, crushed

3-4 Curry leaves

1-2 green chillies chopped

1/2 red onion chopped

1/4 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

A handful of cilantro/coriander leaves, finely chopped

Recipe

Dissolve powdered horse-gram in water with turmeric and salt -- mix around until there are no lumps and the mixture is of thin, pouring consistency.

Heat oil in a pan or wok, add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves and chopped green chillies till they crackle. Add crushed garlic, and stir around until the flakes turn golden. Stir in chopped onion and saute until onions are pink and golden around the edges.

Kulith has a tendency to settle down at the bottom when dissolved in water, so give it a quick stir or two before pouring over onion. Bring to a simmer and add the chopped coriander leaves.

Best served with high quality basmati rice with a chunky raw onion and some pickle on the side.