Eatopia

Food is something that keeps me happy. Well, to tell you the truth- I just need to eat yummy food (more variety the better) and talk a lot. I guess these are the two most important things in my life. And the result is a happy and ‘satisfied’ me.

Tsk tsk…its so easy for you now, well….

Talking about food: food has been part of my life, this has marked many important occasions in my life, making food, entering people’s kitchens, getting people in my own kitchen, sharing recipes, recipes on emails, emails on recipe-sites, and once got a whole recipe dedicated to me ..hmm …how can I forget that blog? I am sure people are used to getting songs dedicated or such things when experiencing, you know, those blissful moments. And I was showered with, guess what, a recipe I was curious to learn and eat eventually (a tale of transcontinental, long distance romance!). Well…coming back to food and a blog on that, well, this is not to woo any nice guy but to ‘please’ two damsels in distress (if I may say so!).

Hmm…wait a bit…..I am explaining!

I just had a cozy little get-together at my new place last weekend and I got an opportunity to cook for an elaborate lunch. I am mostly into experimental cuisine (if that’s a term!) and most often add variety to the menu with food/ideas from different corners of the globe. I know I disappoint friends who come jumping to my place expecting Bengali cuisine complete with ‘maachher-jhol’ (read: fish curries); but then, I did make fish and curries, only thing is that these were two separate items this time around…ha ha..

But there must be something with Bengalis and fish. Because, of all the things I prepared, my fish preparation was liked, actually way too much for my expectation. This was a Portuguese style preparation in white sauce (ahh…there is something about white sauce and me these days…may be I am becoming Calcium deficient!) I learnt from a friend’s mother who's from Portuguese descent.

Before I delve deeper into that Portuguese fish thingy, the other items that landed on the table from my kitchen were (BTW, everything was prepared at home by me) as under:

Salad: fruity-veggie type with diced cucumber and apple with pomegranate, and a dash of lime just before tossing them together before serving

Mexican wild rice (ahh…. my paella fixation!): I collected this wild brown rice which grows in the wild, marshy areas in the Americas(I am into collecting brown rice or what?). My procedure is pretty simple. Soak rice overnight; put it on low flame with double the amount of water and add some salt, let it boil. Meanwhile on another pan heat oil, add garlic and ginger cubes- one teaspoonful, add spring onion with about two inches of stem- sliced vertically -about six of them, diced tomatoes- two medium sized, two green chilies, let this get cooked, little brownish. And when you get nice aroma as they are getting fried/cooked add three eggs to the mixture. Turn slowly and try to mix in with the veggies for nice scrambled eggs. Throw in peas, and sprinkle some tofu (I take a handful, crush them and spread it on top of the egg-veggie-scramble). Then take out rice (by this time rice is already boiled and cooked, try to check that from time to time- its easy for me as I have a big four burner stove) in a bowl (the serving bowl) and layer it with veggie-egg thingy. Mix it loosely. And you are ready for some healthy fiesta.

Vegetarian hot pot: This one was a last minute addition as a few of my friends like to eat vegetables along with fish and flesh err meat. And I learned to make vegetable broth at home (see, I told you everything was cooked at home). In vegetable broth- about two litres- add diced ginger and garlic-one tablespoon, bring this to boil. Then keep it on low flame and simmer. In another pan pour some oil, add a lot of mushroom (I like to cut then vertically into fours), cook this for about three minutes till they change color and evenly cooked. Add strips of baby cabbage-very thinly cut, and cook for another two minutes; add slices of baby carrots-about half inches thick. Transfer this mixture to the broth, stir well. Then add large cubes of tofu. Take it off from heat and cover. Garnish with whole spring onions-cut into fours- let them float on the surface.

Portuguese Fish: Boneless varieties are better; usually marine fishes are preferable. But I used Rohu (actually I have always used), only the portions from the stomach (its easy to de-bone from this part), cut into pieces-four by two inches. This time I marinated for about an hour with olive oil and vinegar (this was very experimental) with black pepper powder. Fry these pieces nice and crispy and set aside. This recipe has a special trick: the way other ingredients are cut. Potatoes-big sizes are better, onions- big, round ones are better. Potatoes are cut in long-tall slices- in lateral sections; onions are cut in slices- in cross sections, so that we get a lot of onion rings. Use a thick bottomed pan, pour oil (not miserly or else it wont taste like the way I made), heat oil for some time. Start with potatoes, sprinkle some whole black pepper seeds, turn potatoes occasionally and continue till they are little brownish. Add onion slices; these will soon break into rings. Start to cook/fry till these two are softer. Add fish pieces. And cook for about three-four minutes. Remove from fire. After it’s cooled down cover it with white sauce- I make it with milk and cheese and some barley/wheat flour. Keep it aside. Before serving heat it for 5 minutes in microwave (one can broil for 1 minutes in 100deg C; I use auto-cook mode for vegetable- which is 5 minutes in medium heat), this gives a light-brownish coat and nice aroma.

Chicken-Indian style (I don’t know which region in India!): I am calling it Indian style as I used regular ‘garam masala’, bay leaf, ginger, garlic paste, etc. To begin with I marinated chicken in yogurt and garlic, ginger paste, tomato paste, sprinkled some ‘meat masala’ and kept it aside for about one hour. On a thick bottomed pan (I used my wide mouthed pressure cooker which comes with a thick and slender bottom) heat oil, add cumin seeds, bay leaf-2/3, big chunky onions- cut into fours, cook for sometime. Then transfer the whole marinated chicken to the pan, keep stirring. Continue till all the spices are cooked/fried, and a smooth gravy is formed. Cover it and cook it till the time fork can smoothly pass through chicken pieces. It can be pressure cooked as well but it might get over cooked/over boiled.


For dessert I had melons (I got two different colors) cut into boat shaped pieces- smeared with sugar powder and honey. I had put this in the freezer for sometime for a thin crystal like crust on melons. And there was a freshly baked cake-Czech style- thanks to my friend from Prague.

Ahhh…and there was some nice Darjeeling tea and some baked cookies. And this time there was no wine (I still don’t have a cork opener) and nobody volunteered to open one of those Rioja to say cheers (my attempt to tempt this man with muscles failed, he wanted beer instead!)

Hope ‘damsels in distress’ are happy with this elaborate blog.

‘AM’, chak chaare? Don’t forget to call me when you are trying this fish recipe, I will love to eat them without doing any effort…..I love food more if someone else is cooking and I get to do ‘only eating’!!

Bon Appétit !