Oriental Salmon

....as shared by #northmeetssouth

Ingredients:

1. Salmon
2. Kikoman soya sauce - a good amount about 1/4 cup 
3. Thai red chilli or any other - 4 cut into halves so it's easy to remove
4. Lemongrass/kaffir lime leaves - 3-4 
5. Half a lemon
6. Ginger - 1/2 inch grated
7. Garlic - 2 big cloves crushed 
8. Coriander leaves finely chopped
9. Halved cherry tomatoes - up to you say about 10 but this is entirely optional. 
10. Olive oil  - splash 

Preparation:

Make sure the salmon is thawed if it was frozen. Put it in a baking dish and marinate it with all of the above. Nicely massage it with everything on the ingredient list. Let it sit for 5 mins and bake for 10-13 mins in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree Celsius. Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil to keep the fish juicy. 

Serve immediately! 

French Carrot Soup

Easy to make and healthy carrot soup.

Ingredients:

• Carrots- 5-6 Orange ones
• Rosemary- 2-3 big sprigs
• Silken tofu 1 cup
• Garlic- 1 big pod
• Ginger- small piece
• Salt to taste

Method:
Wash and cut the carrots into big chunks. I don't always peel them. Steam them in a pressure cooker with little water, Rosemary, salt, ginger and garlic. 2-3 whistles.

Let it cool down. Remove the Rosemary sprigs and grind everything in a mixer with silken tofu. You'll get a silky smooth consistency. Empty the soup into a container in which you can heat it as and when you'd like to have some.

Garnish with a little extra virgin olive oil before eating.

Enjoy!!

Never fail easy peasy Chettinad Biryani

This saviour of a recipe (given its easy and the husband absolutely LOVES it) comes from my sasural. I usually make a fresh coconut based curry to go with it (will post the recipe for that some other day) and the combination is simply divine. Of course raita goes perfectly well with it too. Enjoy...

Ingredients:

Biryani rice (any fragrant variety would do) - 2 cups

Chicken (preferably with bone) - 1/2 kg

Onion - 2-3 (cut into thin long pieces)

Tomato - 2-3 medium (finely chopped)

Ginger garlic paste - 1 heaped tbsp (I always make this fresh as anything store bought is not half as good)

Green chillies - LOTS (this is the only pungent thing as there is no chilli powder in the recipe. So use many else it will NOT be Chettinad enough!) say 6-8 medium spicy ones. Slit them lengthwise into 2

Mint leaves - 1 big bunch (say 1 big mug full after washing and chopping)

Coriander leaves - 1 bunch (1 cup full after washing and chopping)

Mint & coriander should be finely chopped

Curd - 2 tsp

Oil - little to sauté stuff

Salt to taste

Whole garam masalas

Cinnamon - 1 big stick

Elaichi - 2

Badi Elaichi - 1

Star Anise - 1

Cloves - 4

Bay Leaves - 3

Method:

Wash and marinate the chicken with salt and two tbsp curd for sometime (minimum 1 hour or overnight). 

Wash the rice and drain water.

In a thick bottomed vessel, the pressure cooker itself works well, heat oil and add the whole spices. Once they are aromatic add sliced onions and fry well till light brown. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes. Now add tomatoes and salt to taste and sauté till nicely cooked and pulpy. Add the green chillies and sauté for another minute or so. Add the finely chopped mint and coriander and sauté for another 5 minutes. 

By now others at home will know that you are making biryani!!

Now add the chicken and sauté for say 4-5 mins. Add the uncooked rice and sauté for another 2-3 mins. Add water inn the ratio 1:2 (rice:water)and check salt.

At this stage I like to add a little ghee (verrry little :P).

Close the cooker and once the steam starts coming out put the weight on and reduce the flame. Switch off the stove after exactly 10 mins. (this timing works miraculously well!).

Open after a while say 1/2 an hour or even later is ok. Give the biryani a nice mix before serving. 

Your Chettinad style biryani is ready!