Prawn / Fish Curry

My friends , a set of enthusiastic twins , often experiment with food. They cook, try out new restaurants, post their reviews , offer suggestions. They are our go to guys for restaurant recommendations. They absolutely adore coastal cuisine. So from Goa, to malvan and coastal Maharashtra , they try to recreate the food they have eaten on their trips. Here is a favourite from their kitchen 
Ingredients
1 lemon, quartered
or 500 gms prawns / 2 medium sized fish, (any with firm white flesh, boneless and cut either into pieces or long slices) 
A pinch of salt


For the Masala:
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
4 flakes garlic
8 Kashmiri red chillies
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 coconut, grated
1 1/2 inch lump tamarind, soaked in water
1/2 cup water
1 onion, finely sliced
2 green chillies, sliced


Method
Marinate the  prawns/ fish in salt and lime (half a lime) juice for 10 minutes.
Grind all the masalas togethar. Add a little bit of water to adjust the consistency.
Add the onions and green chillies to the masala and place the pan over the flame.
Keep the masala over the flame for about 10 minutes (two boils).
Once done, add the marinated fish to this masala.
Cook till one boil. (In case you use fish with bone cook up till two or three boils)
Serve hot.
Tastes best with unpolished Goan rice.

Goan Prawn Curry

Prawns/Shrimps 2 cups, peeled and deveined, Coconut 1 cup , finely grated; 1 small raw mango- sliced, Turmeric Powder 1 tsp, 2-4 dry red chillies,pinch of red chilli powder, 1 tsp whole coriander seeds, onion 1 small finely chopped,
salt to taste,oil 1 tsp, ½ tsp raw rice, 4-6 black peppercorns,
water


Wash prawns and marinate with a pinch salt, a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of chilli powder. Grind grated coconut , corriander ,chillies, turmeric, peppercorns, rice, and half of the chopped onion, to a fine paste. Thickly slice raw mango.Heat the oil in a broad, heavy based pot. Add onions and fry till  light brown, add in the raw mango slices, till a little soft, add in the prawns and a little water. cover and cook for 2 mins. reduce heat and add the fine masala paste . Add twice the amount of water. Add salt to taste. Let the curry boil , uncovered for 5-10 minutes. Adjust the consistency by adding more water if needed.

 
A small variation to this is adding 1.5 " pieces of white radish / mooli. This tastes awesome.

Serve this curry with steamed rice. Its a great idea to mash the raw mango into the rice instead of discarding it.

Pineapple Saar

Summer days bring in special fruits and vegetables. Saraswats freely use these in their cooking . Raw and ripe mangoes, pineapples, jack fruits , jack fruit seeds, all of these create some exotic vegetarian treats with names like Ambe sasam, annanas sasam, ambe-annanas sasam, ansa phansa chi bhaji,etc. The end result is a refreshing , tasty and exotic dish.
Pineapple saar is a thin, light curry that can be served as a soup or a side dish with meals. Perfect for a summer's day lunch get together.

1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice, 2 cups coconut milk, 2 tsp oil, 4-5 curry leaves, 1 pinch of asafoetida, 1 green chilli slit, 1/4 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp finely grated ginger , 1 tbsp rice flour / cornflour, salt to taste.

Mix well the pineapple juice and coconut milk, make a paste with a tbsp of this mixture and rice flour / cornflour , add to the pineapple coconut mixture and mix well. Heat oil, add mustard seeds .when they splutter , add asafeotida, curry leaves, green chilli and ginger. Saute lightly , add the pineapple - coconut mixture and cook on slow heat till slightly thick. 
Serve as a soup or with rice.

Kofta Curry

Koftya clearly comes to us from the Middle East. It is basically a variety of ground meat, mixed with spices and grilled or fried, served as an dry appetizer or side dish or cooked in a rich gravy. In India the vegeratians adapted this to form the popular Kofta Curry , made with bottle gourd ( Lauki) or potatoes, paneer, raw bananas or other tubers.These koftas are made from grated vegetables, mixed with spices and flour ( mostly chick pea flour) , stuffed with rich dried nuts and fruits like raisins, apricots, sultanas and fried. These are then cooked in a tomato based gravy and garnished with cream.

1 cup grated bottle gourd ( lauki) , 100 gms paneer, 1 tbsp flour, salt to taste,1 tsp each chopped ginger ,garlic, coriander . 1 tbsp chopped mixed nuts, ¼ tsp red chilli powder.

add the salt to the grated bottle gourd and leave for 10 mins. Squeeze it till all the water is drained out.To this add giner, garlic, coriander leaves, nuts, red chilli powder, salt to taste and flour. Mix well.Crumble the paneer and add to the mixture. Mix well and roll into 8 even sized balls.

Gravy:

2 tbsp oil, 2 onions boiled, pureed and cooked till light brown.2 tbsp tomato puree, ¼ cup thick yoghurt, 8-10 cashews ground into paste , with milk,2 green cardamoms crushed, 1 tsp each red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin powder, coarinder pwoder, garam masala powder, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, 1 cup water, salt to taste. Cheese for garnish.

Heat oil, add onion paste , add ginger garlic paste, when oil separates add tomato puree , add in red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin and corriander powders,cook till oil separates, add yoghurt and cook on slow flame for 2 mins.Add cashew paste and cook till mixture thicken. Add water and salt to taste, add garam masala and cook till gravy bubbles.

Meanwhile fry the kofta balls in hot oil , once the balls are light brown , reduce heat and fry till golden brown. Drain and add to the boiling gravy. reduce heat and cook till the koftas sink into the gravy. Garnish with green coriander leaves and grated cheese or cream. Serve hot with rotis, poories, parathas , naan or kulchas.

To make a jain( free from onions and garlic)  version of the above, skip out the ginger-garlic in the koftas and the onion paste and ginger garlic paste from the gravy. Instead increase the quantity of cashews and yoghurt. You can susbstitute the lauki for raw bananas , but never potatoes or other tubers.Paneer can be used either with a combination of lauki or raw bananas or on its own. In that case double the quantity of flour.

Kalya Vatanyachi Ussal

Black peas or mattar is mostly eaten by maharashtrians and people from the Maharashtra - Goa border, Sawantwadi .Its a small bead like pulse, which when sprouted is delicious cooked in an onion coconut gravy on its own , or combined with vegetables like Ridge gourd,snake gourd,cluster beans.The kala vatana ussal or Amti ( it has a thinner gravy) is a part of a special combo on Diwali breakfast in our home. Phodniche Pohe( The popular Poha), Dadpe Pohe ( an uncooked dish made with the thinner variety of Poha), Dahi Pohe Poha soaked in yoghurt and seasoned), Gul Pohe( Poha with dessicated coconut and jaggery) and Rasatle Pohe ( poha soaked in coconut milk) all this with the Kaka vatana ussal. Another special occasion it made an appearence at is during Ganesh Chaturthi. The day before Ganesh Chaturthi is Hartalika, a day when married women fast for the wellbeing of their husbands.They fast all day and night, usually staying awake all night. The next day the fast is broken after Ganpati idol has been installed and worshipped. Then follows a feast of Kalya Vatanyachi ussal and Ukadiche Modak ( Steamed rice dumplings , stuffed with a coconut- jaggery filling).
Here's the recipe for Kalya vatanyachi Ussal

2 cups of black peas, sprouted.
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp rai
1 onion, diced
5-6 fresh curry leaves
Onion-Coconut Masala paste or 2 tsp garam masala & 2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder mixed with 1/4th cup water
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp jaggery ( gud)
salt to taste
3 tbsp oil
Method:
 Heat oil and saute the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and onions. Add the sprouts, turmeric, masala paste and salt and saute for a couple of minutes.Add the tamarind and jaggery. Add 5-6 cups of water (or enough to make a curry of your desired consistency) and bring the curry to a boil.Cook under pressure for 6 whistles .Taste and adjust the seasoning for the balance of salt, sweet and sour flavors.Garnish with dessicated coconut and green coriander leaves.

Kadhi

A Light and refreshing curry option is the kadhi.There is the Gujarati kadhi, light,slightly sweet and tangy, the Sindhi kadhi with vegetables, The Maharshtrian/ Konkani kadhi , without turmeric, the punjabi kadhi with onions and more chick pea flour, the UP kadhi with more powdered spices.

Here is the basic recipe for kadhi

1 bowl of thick yoghurt, 2 tbsp besan (chick pea flour), 4-5 curry leaves, 1 tsp grated ginger, 4 small red chillies, 1/4 tsp each mustard seeds, methi ( fenugreek) seeds, cumin and turmeric, 4 cloves, 1 inch piece of cinnamon, a pinch of Asafoetida, Salt to taste, 2 tbsp ghee.

Whisk together the yoghurt, ginger, chick pea flour, salt and turmeric. Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add in methi seeds , mustard, cumin, asafoetida, cloves, cinnamon, curry leaves and red chillies. Lower the flame and slowly pour in the youghurt mixture, carefully and slowly stirring till the mixture is evenly hot. Let the mixture cook till it thickens and slowly comes to a boil.Serve garnished with corainder leaves (optional), along with steamed rice.

Omlette Curry

Looking for quick cheats to pep up a boring dinner? An omlette, a chopped onion and tomato puree does the trick.

4 eggs, beaten. Add in half a chopped onion, green chillies, salt and pepper. Make an omlette, cook well on both sides.Cool , chop into squares.Heat 1 tbsp oil, fry 1 chopped onion, add red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, salt to taste. Add 2 tbsp tomato puree and 1/4 cup water. cook on high till some liquid dries out. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
VOILA!