Twisted Xacuti (Lamb)

Onion

Carrot (Optional)

Potatoes (Optional)

Frozen peas (Optional)

Grated Coconut

Garam Masala
Tamarind
Tumeric powder
Fennel seed powder
Salt
Hint of vinegar (If no tamarind)

For those hard pressed for time, this is a twisted Xacuti for quick and easy meals. This is a cheats recipe to make Xacuti in no time and can be cooked with different meats and also for vegetarians can be cooked with Mushrooms.


Masala:

Brown 200grm of fresh grated coconut on a pan with a 1 tsp oil and grind the coconut with 2 tbsp. of garam masala and 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste to a fine paste and keep aside

Cooking:

Finely chop a medium sized onion and fry with some oil in a cooking container till nicely brown, add a medium chili along with a finely chopped tomato and a tsp each of turmeric powder and Fennel seeds powder, fry this for 2-3 minutes. Now add the masala paste and the meat and mix it well. Add a cup of water and let it cook over medium heat for about 35-40 minutes.

At this stage check that the meat has cooked and you will notice the oil separate. Adjust salt as per taste and take the cooking container off the heat. Server with Rice and Enjoy!!

For Vegi Option (Mushroom),  

Cut 500gm of mushrooms keep aside. Follow the above methods but add the mushrooms only after masala is added unlike the meat. The Mushrooms are added once the masala sauce is boiling, as Mushrooms cook very fast. Cook for 10 minutes after the mushrooms are added.

Fresh catch Birmingham UK (Bull Ring market)

Fresh Fish on the Mind in Birmingham (UK Midlands), head to the Bull Ring Market. This market is full of character where you will find variety of things. There is always seasonal local produce and a huge meat and Fish Market along with Fresh Veg and Fruits section. Great prices and the freshest produce.

I loved this place when I lived in Birmingham for a year and was a go to Destination for Shopping my fresh produce over the weekend. The market is located at the famous Bullring Market having lots of other traditional markets like the fresh fruit and veg Vegetables market. Next to it is also the Chinese Quaters (China Town) where there are several Chinese dining places including the all you can eat Chinese Buffets and are a great way to eat your way to Chinese food.

 

Pork Chop Roast

Pork Chop oven roasted with Veggies. This is a spur of the moment dish that I came up with on one of those days you think what i can make something without much effort and this is the result.

Ingredients:

Pork Chop

Garam Masala                                  

Veggies of Choic (Courgette, Green Beans, Onion, Peas)

Olive Oil

Vinegar

Salt

Marinate the Pork Chop in Indian Garam Masala and Ginger garlic paste with some vinegar and salt. Let stand and roast the meat in a baking tray throwing in some veggies. In this one is had Green beans, onion and Courgette (Zucchini)

Spaghetti with Spiced Venison

Venison served with Pasta. In switzerland during the month of September its officially the hunting season and you will see super market stock venison (Wild Deer meat). On one such occasion i made this lovely past dish using the super market bought Venison.

The hunting of wild animals is legal in Switzerland and is done to control wild animal numbers. The hunt is controlled and a hunter needs to have a license and allowed to hunt only during the official season in Autumn.

To prepare this Pasta you will need.

Venison Meat (Deer Meat)

Onion

Tomatoes

Chilie

Garam Masala

Oil

Salt

Ginger Garlic Paste

Mushrooms

Cut the Meat into small pieces and marinate with salt, 2 tsp of Garam masala, 1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste and let it stand for at least 30 minutes.

In a pan fry 1 onion with olive oil until golden brown, add mushrooms and tomatoes and fry till nicely mised and tomatoes release their juices. Add sliced green chilie and mix. Now add the meat and half cup water. Lets itcook for atleast 20-25 minutes, mixing at internvals.

Serve with cooked pasta of Choice.

Prawns and Chorizo

Rice Served with Prawns cooked in Chorizo

Ingredients:

Choriz

Rice

Prawns

Onion

Chilie

Tomato

Potatao

This is a simpel dish that is very quick to make. Fry one onion till golden brawn in olive oil and than add tomatoes along with cubed Spanish Choriz or Goan Chouris and fry for 2 minutes. Now add the cleaned Prawns and continue to fry for additional two minutes. At this time add finely cut Potato so that they cook faster and add 1/2 cup of water and let it cook for 5-7 minutes. Ensure that the water has not dried out.

Once cooked Serve with cooked Plain Rice

Fish in curied sauce

Ingredients:

Meaty fish ( pomfret, king fish or Red snapper)

Paprika powder

Chillie powder

Pepper powder

Ginger powder

Turmeric powder

Hint of cinamon powder

Onion finely chopped

Tomato finely chopped

Finely chopped coriander

Vinegar

Salt

Olive oil

Perparation:

Season the fish with salt and all the spices. Add the vinegar and mix well. Let the fish marinate in this mixture for at least 20 minutes. Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion until translucent, then add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. 

Now pull all the mixture at one side of the pan and fry the fish with a little oil on both sides,the fish will cook quickly. Once the fish has cooked add a little warm water to dish where you marinated the fish to scrap all the spice paste. add this spice water to the fish and give the pan a nice shake to mix everything. 

Careful not to break the fish. Garnish with coriander, cook for a a minute and Serve hot with pita bread or Pao :)

Portuguese Carne de Porco a Alentejana

Ingredients:

500g pork belly or loin cut into cubes

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1tomato chopped

1tsp tomato purée 

1potato cubed

Fresh pepper, ground

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1 tbsp paprika

1tsp chillie flakes

1 cup white wine

1 onion chopped

150g clams

1tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Olive oil

1 tbsp Goan coconut vinegar (optional)

Cilantro for garnish

Cooking

Marinate the pork with wine, garlic, paprika, freshly ground pepper,cinnamon, salt and chili flakes. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or best to keep overnight.

Remove the meat from fridge and bring to room temperature. Separate the meat from the juices. Heat olive oil in a skillet and fry the pork till evenly colored. Remove meat from pan and keep aside. Now add onion to the same pan and fry till translucent. Then add tomatoes and fry for a minute. Now add potatoes along with the juices kept aside from the marinade, mix well. Cover the skill and let cook for at least 10 minutes on a high flame.

Once the potatoes are cooked add the clams and cook till all are open, about 5 mins. Now add the pork meat back again along with the tomato purée and mix well. Add vinegar along with cilantro and sugar, fry for a minute. Server hot with bread (Pao) to mop up the juices.

Enjoy!.

You will be surprised to know that this dish is the basis on which the famous Goan Vindalho evolved in Goa, to know more read this Post.

Spaghetti vongole (Clams)

Ingredients:                                                                                                   

3 cloves garlic
1 tomato
1 onion
1/2 tsp red chillie flakes
Pepper
Oliver oil
Few leaved of cilantro
1/2 cup white wine
100g clams
Spaghetti for single serving

Cooking:

Boil the spaghetti with salt as per the instructions on pack.

Finely chop garlic and onion. Cut the tomato and keep ready. Heat a couple of spoons of olive oil in a shallow frying pan and add garlic, fry for a minute and then add onion and continue frying till translucent.  Now add the tomatoes and fry till tomatoes are cooked. Then add the clams and stir to mix well.

Add the wine and cover the pan and allow to cook for about 5 minutes,  till all the clams have opened. Open the pan and gently mix, then add the spaghetti along with the finely chopped cilantro,  mix well and fry for a minute. Sprinkle fresh pepper and serve.

Goan sardine green curry

This Sardine curry is a take on the Jeere Meere. 

For a Full recipe, please see my Recipe for Jeere Meere using Dorado fish. The Recipe remains the same only replacing the fish here with Sardines.

Sardines are one of my favorite fish to eat and I like them cooked in different ways.  Its also one of the fish rich in Omega oils and having them in your diet will provide you all the benefits of the omega oils. Now a days most supermarkets in Europe stock fresh sardines on a regular basis. In Zurich Coop and Migros both stock them regularly in their fresh fish section. Frozen sardines are available year round in these supermarkets.

The Main Ingredients for this Dish are:

Sardines

Onion

Tomatoes

Garam Masala

For the Preparation see my recipe indicated above.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Pork Vindalho (The Easy Recipe)

Ingredients:

500g Pork (Perferably Belly Cut)

2 tbs Kashmiri Chili Powder (This is a mild chili Powder)

1/4 tsp Black Pepper Powder

1 tsp Tamarind Juice

1/2 tsp Cinamon Powder

2 tbs Vinegar (Can adjust later, depending on taste)

2 Large Onion (Finely Chopped)

1 Chilie (Slit length wise)

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 tsp Ginger Powder

2 tsp Tumeric Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp Salt

Preparation:

Cut the pork into bite size pieces and marinate it with salt, vinegar, tamarind and spice mix. Throw in the onion and chili and mix well. Let it marinate for about 15-20 minutes, then transfer to cooking container and let simmer in its own juices for 30-40 minutes in a closed container. Check if there is enough liquid, if the liquid has dried, you can add a little warm water and let cook for additional 10 minutes.

At the end you should have a nice thick sauce. Taste the sauce now to see if you have balanced flavour of spice, sour and slight sweetness, adjust accordingly. Take the container off the heat and serve with Boiled Rice and Enjoy !!!

Note: Vindalho is not a spicy recipe in spite of what you might read on the Internet. Its uses the chili with the most mild heat. So don't believe those that tell you this is the most fiery dish. If they persist show them this link.

Thai Chicken and broccoli

Ingredients

1. Bunch of broccoli florets
2. 4 mushrooms
3. Ginger and garlic paster
4. Fresh ginger
5. 3 cloves of garlic
5. 3 Fresh green chillies
6. Crushed pepper
7. Wok oil
8. 1 tsp Salt
9. 500g chicken with bones
10. Fish sauce and oyster sauce

11. Chillie powder

12. WhiteWine (optional)

Cookining

Cut the chicken in medium sized portions, apply salt ( go easy with salt as fish and osyter sauce are salty) and ginger garlic paste along with some wok oil. Keep aside to marinate for about at least 15 mins. Now roughly chop broccoli and mushrooms. Then finely chop the ginger and garlic. Cut the chillies length wise and then cut into fine threads.

Heat a wok then add wok oil, let heat for a few secs and then add ginger garlic.  Stir continuously.  After about a minute add the chicken and fry for about 5 mins. Now add all the vegetables including chillie and fry for a minute.  Now add 2 tbsp of fish sauce, Oyster sauce and a tsp of chillie powder. Stir to mix well, Add a little water to make little sauce. (Add very little water if using wine) Cover the work and let simmer for a additional 5mins.

Goan Red Curry paste

Red Curry Paste Ingredients:

Coconut
Garlic and ginger
Pepper
Coriander seeds
Cummin seeds
Kashmiri chillies
Tamarind
Turmeric


Red Curry Paste Preparation:

Blend together the spices in the plate with a little water. Ensure zou use ware sparingly as you don't the past to be runny. This paste can be used for various curries like Fish, Prawns, plain with Raw mango, dried prawns.

Photo (Masala Ingredients)  courtesy Amey

After grinding them in a blender  with water to form a thick paste it will look like the picture below This Masala can store in the fridge for a few days. Can be frozen and used for over a month. Best to prepare small packets so that you can use only whats needed when frozen.

To cook the curry, Saute onion in Oil in a hot Pan till golden brown, add chilies and Tomatoes and continue to cook for a few minutes. Then add the cleaned prawns and cook a further 5 minutes and add a cup of water and it sizzle for 10 more minutes.

Here you see the curry paste used to make Fish Curry.  For Prawn curry,  see the Prawn Curry Recipe

Simple and delicious Chorizo Rice ( Chouris pulao cheat recipe)

Ingredients:

1. One medium sized chorizo cut into small cubes
2. One large onion roughly cut
3. One carrot cut into small cubes
4. Half a bell pepper cut into small cubes
5. Tspn of chilli sauce
6. Salt
7. Two tbspn of Olive oil
8. Two large cups of boiled rice (pre-cooked).


Cooking:

In a pan add chopped chorizo and carrot. Add two cups of water and let simmer for 15minutes. Now add the onion and cook till the water dries, add olive oil chillie sauce and bell peppers. Stir to mix everything, make sure at this point the chorizo is nice and moist with a little liquid still remaining. Now add the rice and mix thoroughly to blend the flavours into the rice. Add salt as per taste and fry the rice for about a minute to absorb the flavours. Now remove the pan from heat and serve hot.

Spicy Beef stir fry

Ingredients:

1. 250 grams Fillet beef, sliced thinly
2. One tbsp oyster sauce
3. One tbsp hot chilli sauce
4. One tsp fish sauce
5. One tsp soya sauce
6. Two green or red chillies, sliced
7. One tbsp corn flour
8. Two tbsp White wine
8. Salt
9. Three cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced
10. A inch of ginger, sliced and cut into match sticks.
11. Olive oil
12. One small bell pepper, cut into inch and half strips.

Cooking:

Mix beef in oyster, chilli, soya and fish sauce. Add corn flour and salt and allow to stand for about 25 minutes. Now heat olive oil in a shallow pan and add the meat, brown on both sides and then add ginger and garlic and stir fry. Now add chillies and 3 tbsp of water and allow to cook. Finally add the bell peppers and the wine. Cook for a further 5 minutes stirring to blend the flavours.

Serve hot with white rice. This dish can also cooked with pork.

Vegetable and egg fried Rice with pepperoni

This one is a interesting take on fried rice. Last night I was thinking what would I make for my office  lunch box for the next day and I was feeling a bit lazy. On most days I'm a vociferous carnivore, since I didn't want to put in to much effort, so I looked into the fridge to find out what I had that I could use readily.
I knew I had some veggies and some pre-cooked rice. So I thought I will cook veggie fried rice but It didn't feel right without any non-veg so I added some eggs to it to make it more appealing to my palate and luckily found some pepperoni too. It turned out I can't just do anything totally veggie. What started as a lazy effort to cook turned something into really nice tasty fried Rice.

Here's what I used for the dish ( serves two).

Ingredients:
1. One small sweet pepper (Bell peppers) cut into small pieces
2. About five florets of broccoli cut into small pieces.
3. Half a Courgette cut into inch long strips (these are cucumber like veg, lately I have taken a liking for them. I use them for stir fry's as well regularly) 
4. 2 eggs
5. Olive oil
6. 6-8 slices of pepperoni cut into small squares.
7. Salt
8. 2 cups of pre-cooked rice.
9. Fish sauce


Cooking:

Heat some olive oil in a shallow pan and scramble the eggs with a pinch of salt. Once done remove from pan and keep aside. Now a add a tablespoon of olive oil to same pan and stir fry the cut veggies for a minute and add pepperoni, cook for a further two minutes. now add the pre-cooked rice and mix well along with the scrambled eggs over heat for a further a minute. Add salt and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and stir to combine the flavors. Remove the pan from heat and serve hot.