recipes

Spicy Grilled Chicken

Spicy Grilled Chicken

Sometimes, after a long day at work, the easiest dish to put on the table is grilled chicken. Most Indian versions require a marinating period, but if you are rushed, as I am most of the time, follow this recipe and you will come up with delicious results – fast. The spice paste may be prepared up to a day ahead of time and refrigerated. You can also rub the chicken pieces with the spice paste and leave them for up to 24 hours before grilling. This chicken may be served, Western-style, with boiled potatoes and a green vegetable or salad. You may also serve it with rice and an Indian vegetable.
Portions:4
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Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon coarsely crushed black peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon paprika bright red, if possible
  • ½ teaspoon chilli powder or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1 garlic clove peeled and crushed
  • 1¼ teaspoons salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
  • 1 kg 2¼lb jointed chicken pieces

Instructions

  • Preheat the grill and arrange the grilling tray at least 13–15cm (5–6in) from the source of heat. If you can control your heat, set it at medium–high. Combine all the ingredients for the spice paste in a bowl and mix well. Rub the paste over the chicken as evenly as possible.
  • Arrange the chicken pieces on the grilling tray in a single layer, with the fleshier parts up and the skin side down. Grill for 10–12 minutes or until browned. You may need to rearrange some of the pieces, so that they all brown evenly. Turn the pieces over and cook the second side in the same way.
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Course Chicken / Main Dish / Poultry
Cuisine India

Hard-boiled Eggs ‘Masala’

Hard-boiled Eggs ‘Masala’

These can be whipped up quickly for lunch or supper. They may be served with rice or even bread (toasted or plain).
Portions:4
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Ingredients

  • ½ teaspoon chilli powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 75 g onion peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 cm ½in piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 250 ml 8fl oz tinned chopped tomatoes (or lightly drained, tinned whole tomatoes, finely chopped)
  • ¼ teaspoon sugar
  • 3 –4 tablespoons chopped green coriander
  • 4 hard-boiled eggs peeled and cut into halves lengthways

Instructions

  • Combine the chilli powder, turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and mix.
  • Put the oil in a medium-sized, non-stick frying pan and set over highish heat. When hot, add the cumin seeds. Ten seconds later, add the onion and ginger. Stir and fry until the onion turns medium brown. Add the spice paste. Stir and cook for 15 seconds. Now add the tomatoes and sugar and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
  • Add the green coriander, stirring once or twice, then lay the cut eggs in the sauce and spoon more sauce over them. Cover and simmer gently for 2–3 minutes.
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Course Eggs / Lunch
Cuisine India

Hare Masale Ka Omlate

Hare Masale Ka Omlate

Eggs with Fresh Green Herbs
This may be served at breakfasts and brunches as soon as it comes out of the frying pan (I serve it with toast) and may also be sliced and put into sandwiches to perk up a picnic or an office lunch. It is really a kind of flat egg pancake seasoned with spring onions, green coriander, green chillies, ginger and garlic. It is a good idea to have everything cut and ready before you start as this dish cooks very quickly
Portions:4
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Ingredients

  • 5 large eggs
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 spring onions cut into fine rounds (the white as well as the green sections)
  • ¼ teaspoon peeled very finely chopped garlic
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped green coriander
  • 1–2 fresh hot green chillies , sliced into fine rounds
  • ½ teaspoon peeled very finely chopped fresh ginger
  • generous pinch ground turmeric
  • 1½ teaspoons lemon juice
  • teaspoon sugar

Instructions

  • Break the eggs into a bowl and beat well. Add a generous ¼ teaspoon salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
  • Put the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan and set over medium–high heat. When hot, add the spring onions. Stir and fry until the onions just start to brown at the edges. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds. Now put in the green coriander, chillies, ginger and turmeric. Stir for a few seconds. Add the lemon juice and sugar and stir to mix. Working quickly, spread the herbs around evenly in the pan.
  • Now pour in the beaten eggs and let them spread to the edges of the pan. Cover, turn the heat to medium–low and cook for a few minutes, just until the eggs have set. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
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Course Breakfast / Brunch / Eggs
Cuisine India

Scrambled Eggs, Indian Style

Scrambled Eggs, Indian Style

While some Indians eat their scrambled eggs with toast, others eat them with hot parathas, chapatis or pooris.
Portions:2
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Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • ½ medium onion finely chopped
  • 1 small tomato chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh green coriander
  • ½ –1 hot green chilli finely sliced
  • 4 medium or large eggs well beaten
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Melt the butter in a 25cm (10in) frying pan over medium heat.
  • Add the onion and sauté for a minute or until they begin to turn translucent.
  • Add the chopped tomato, green coriander and sliced green chilli.
  • Stir and cook for 3–4 minutes or until the tomatoes soften a bit.
  • Pour in the beaten eggs.
  • Sprinkle on salt and pepper lightly.
  • Stir and move the eggs around with a fork

Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:

Indians like their scrambled eggs rather hard (cooked about 3 minutes), but you can stop whenever the desired consistency has been achieved.
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Course Breakfast / Eggs
Cuisine India

Sea Bass in Green Chutney

Sea Bass in Green Chutney

Here is my version of a very popular dish in which a whole fish is smothered in green chutney and then cooked in banana leaves. When I haven’t any banana leaves handy, I use foil, which seems to work perfectly well. Serve the fish with plain basmati rice. Tomato and Onion Relish is an ideal accompaniment.
Portions:2
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Ingredients

  • 675 –900 g whole sea bass with head and tail, cleaned
  • 2.5 cm cube fresh root ginger
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
  • 2 whole hot dried red peppers optional
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teacup chopped fresh green coriander leaves
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Wash the fish thoroughly inside and out under cold running water,
  • Pat dry, inside and out.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
  • Peel and coarsely chop the ginger and garlic.
  • Place them in an electric blender with 3 tablespoons water and blend to a smooth paste.
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium–high heat, add the mustard seeds and stir for a few seconds until they begin to expand and pop.
  • Add the red peppers, and stir them once.
  • Pour in the paste from the blender, add the turmeric and fry, stirring, for about 2 minutes.
  • Pour the contents of the frying pan into the blender.
  • Add the coriander, lemon juice and salt.
  • Blend to a smooth paste, adding up to 2 tablespoons of water if necessary.
  • Line a large baking dish with a sheet of foil, big enough to enclose the fish.
  • Lay the fish on the foil and cover with the coriander paste, inside and out.
  • Fold the foil over the fish to enclose it completely,
  • Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
  • Carefully unwrap the fish and lift on to a warm platter.
  • Spoon any green chutney in the foil on to the fish to serve.
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Course Fish / Seafood / Main Dish
Cuisine India

Tuna Ki Kari

Tuna Ki Kari

This recipe, which is as good as it is simple, comes from Chun Kern, my friend from the Himalayan hills who now lives in the United States. You may eat this in sandwiches, on toast, take it on picnics (I always do) or use it as a stuffing for ‘turnover’-type patties made with store-bought puff pastry. It is excellent eaten plain with a variety of salads. Use a good-quality tinned tuna packed in oil. I do not drain it as the oil prevents the tuna from drying out. Also, a good curry powder provides a useful short cut.
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Ingredients

  • 1½ tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 50 g onion peeled and cut into very fine half-rings
  • 1 garlic clove peeled and very finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 x 175g tin good-quality tuna packed in oil
  • ½ –1 fresh hot green chilli, cut into very fine rounds
  • 1 cm ½in piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very fine slices, then into very fine strips
  • 3 tablespoons chopped green coriander
  • salt to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Put the oil in a non-stick frying pan and set over medium–high heat.
  • When hot, add the onion and garlic.
  • Stir and fry until the onion turns brown at the edges.
  • Put in the curry powder, stir once or twice.
  • Add the tuna.
  • Stir it around and break up any big lumps.
  • Turn the heat to low.
  • Add the green chilli, ginger and green coriander.
  • Stir to mix.
  • Check for salt, adding it if needed.
  • Add a generous amount of black pepper.
  • Mix well and turn off the heat.

Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:

Serve hot, at room temperature or cold.
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Course Fish / Seafood / Main Dish
Cuisine India

Spicy Grilled Fish

Spicy Grilled Fish

Fish is grilled all along India’s coastline, using a variety of marinades and basting sauces. Sometimes the grilling is done over rice straw, at other times over smouldering coconut husks. I have used my indoor grill here but you could also grill outdoors over charcoal. What helps the grilling enormously is a hinged, double-racked ‘holder’. The fish is placed securely inside it. It can then be turned and basted with ease. If you cannot find one, just oil your grill rack well and lay your fish directly on it.
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Ingredients

  • 550 g 1¼lb trout, salmon trout or salmon, scaled, cleaned and left whole
  • salt
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 50 g 2oz onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 2.5 cm 1in piece fresh ginger
  • 1 fresh hot green chilli, sliced
  • ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • ¼ teaspoon chilli powder
  • 175 ml 6fl oz tinned coconut milk, well stirred
  • vegetable oil

Instructions

  • Step One Wash the fish well and pat dry. Cut 3–4 deep, diagonal slits across both sides of the fish. Rub with ½ teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside as you make the marinade.
  • Step Two Combine the remaining lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon salt, onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, turmeric, garam masala and chilli powder in the container of an electric blender and blend until smooth. Empty the paste into a shallow dish large enough to hold the fish. Add the coconut milk and mix. Now put the fish into the dish and rub with the marinade. Leave for 5–10 minutes.
  • Step Three Meanwhile, preheat your indoor griil and oil your grilling rack with a little vegetable oil. The rack should be placed about 15cm (6in) from the source of heat. Lift the fish out of the marinade and place it in (or on) the rack. Grill for about 25 minutes, turning every 5 minutes and basting frequently with the marinade; if you do not have a hinged rack, turn only once, midway through the cooking, using the flat side of a large chef’s knife. If the fish is browning too fast, distance it some more from the source of heat. Do not baste towards the end to allow the fish to form a crust.
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Course Fish / Seafood / Main Dish
Cuisine India

Fish in a Green Sauce

Fish in a Green Sauce

You need a firm-fleshed fish here; king fish and salmon are ideal.
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Ingredients

for the fish

  • 2 good-sized salmon or king fish steaks about 675g/1½ lb
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • teaspoon ground turmeric
  • teaspoon chilli powder

for the green sauce

  • vegetable oil
  • 85 g 3oz onions, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 teacup finely chopped coriander
  • 1 medium tomato finely chopped
  • 2 –3 fresh hot green chillies
  • 1 teaspoon peeled finely grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • teaspoon salt
  • teaspoon chilli powder
  • ½ teaspoon garam masala

Instructions

  • Rub the fish on both sides with a generous sprinkling of salt, lots of freshly ground pepper and the turmeric and chilli powder. Rub well and set aside.
  • Put 3 tablespoons oil in a non-stick frying pan and set over high heat. When hot, put in the fish and brown quickly on both sides without letting it cook through. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the pan. Stir and fry until the onion browns a bit. Add the green coriander, tomato, green chillies, ginger, lemon juice and salt. Stir and cook over medium–high heat until the coriander and tomato have completely wilted. Spread the green sauce around in the frying pan and check the salt.
  • Lay the fish over the top. Now spoon some green sauce over the fish. Sprinkle the chilli powder and garam masala over the top. Bring to a simmer. Cover, lower the heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
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Course Fish / Seafood / Main Dish
Cuisine India

Sookhi Macchi

Sookhi Macchi

Afsha Mumtaz’s Dry Masala Fish This is perhaps the most-loved fish dish in our family. What is more, it is very easy to prepare.
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Ingredients

  • 900 g 2lb red snapper
  • salt
  • 6 tablespoons natural yoghurt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
  • 5 garlic cloves peeled and crushed to a pulp
  • 2 tablespoons corn oil peanut oil or olive oil

Instructions

  • Wash the fish well, then pat dry with kitchen paper. Using a sharp knife, make deep, slightly diagonal slits across the fish on both sides at 2½cm (1in) intervals. Rub with ½ teaspoon salt, going well into the slits, stomach and cavities. Set aside for 10 minutes.
  • Combine the natural yoghurt, lemon juice, garam masala, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic and ¼ teaspoon salt in a bowl and mix well. Rub most of this paste all over the fish, again going into all the slits on both sides and into the cavities. Retain about 2 tablespoons.
  • Place the fish on a rack set on a baking sheet (to catch the drippings) and set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the grill, arranging a shelf so that the top of the fish will be a distance of about 13–15cm (5–6in) from the source of heat.
  • Drizzle half the oil over the top of the fish and grill for 9–10 minutes or until browned. Turn the sheet around halfway through this period to ensure even colouring. Now carefully turn over the fish. Spread the remaining spice paste on the second side (it will have lost some of its original marinade) and drizzle the remaining oil over the top. Grill this side for about 8 minutes or until it, too, is browned. Turn off the grill and heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Let the fish bake for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
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Course Fish / Seafood / Main Dish
Cuisine India

Fried Fish Steaks

Fried Fish Steaks

Halibut steaks with bone are ideal for this very satisfying dish, although other fish steaks such as salmon or mackerel may be used. It may be served as part of an Indian meal or Western-style with boiled potatoes and a salad or cooked vegetable.
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Ingredients

  • 3 medium-sized halibut steaks about 630g/1lb 6oz
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ¼ teaspoon chilli powder or to taste
  • ½ teaspoon store-bought garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon plain flour
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 lemon wedges

Instructions

  • Step One Lay the fish pieces out in a single layer on a big plate. Dust evenly on both sides with the salt, black pepper, turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala. Rub the spices in. Now dust both sides with the flour and let the steaks sit for 10–15 minutes.
  • Step Two Put the oil in a large frying pan and set over medium–high heat. When hot, put in the steaks in a single layer. When one side turns golden-brown, turn the fish pieces over carefully and brown the second side as well. The fish is done when it is just cooked through. Remove with a slotted spatula and serve with the lemon wedges.
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Course Fish / Seafood / Main Dish
Cuisine India