Tandoori salmon

Serves two as a main meal

Salmon fillet- 500 gms
Thick yoghurt- 3 tbsp
Chickpea/ besan flour- 1 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste- 1 heaped tsp
Lemon juice- 1 tbsp
Chilli powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder- 1 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 1/4 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
kasuri methi- 2 tsp, roughly crushed
Ajjwain/ Carom seeds- 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Whole pepper- 1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp + enough to grease the tray

Crush together the ajjwain, mustard seeds and whole pepper in a pestle and mortar. It can be slightly coarse.

Into a bowl add all the other ingredients along with the crushed spices and mix well.

Add salt only after you do a taste test.

Line and grease a baking tray with silver foil and place the salmon fillet, skin side down.

Generously apply the marinade on to the fillet, covering the sides as well.

Pack it on a bit, but dont over do it, so that the marinade is spilling on to the tray.

Cover and marinate for about half hour. This step is purely optional as i think seafood doesnt really require a lot of marinating time. However, i did keep it refrigerated for about 45 minutes as i got side tracked with random chores.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180c.

Place the tray on to the middle shelf in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Then take the tray out, if your marinade has dried up, brush some oil all over the fillet.

Its highly likely that the oils from the fish would have collected on the tray, just use that same oil to moisten the fish.

Put the tray back into the oven and bake for a further 6 to 7 minutes.

Remove tray, then turn the broiler mode on your oven to maximum temperature.

Place the tray on the highest shelf, as close to the grill as possible and char the fish for about 3 to 4 minutes, to get that tandoori taste/effect.

Really you need to be careful here or you'd end up burning the fish altogether.

Serve with a side salad.

Notes: The cooking time mostly depends on the thickness of the fillet. Mine was a large 500 gms piece and so it look the time mentioned above.

If you are using individual fillets, it definitely wont take that long, maybe max 8 minuites and then grill for 2 minutes or so.

You can check if its done bu cutting a small slice and if it separates into flakes, you are good to go.

Over cooking salmon makes it dry and chewy i feel.

I had 2 tbsp of leftover marinade which i stored in the fridge and used for paneer tikka the next day.

Minced meat- 2 ways

This is a pretty lame post and and even lamer pic...no patience for food styling and all. So apologies in advance.

Remember I mentioned my cousins were visiting..well we ended up partying it hard over the weekend and was lethargic whole of Monday. Needless to say, we had a blast, but in the process these are the things I learned:

1. Red wine gives me a hang over

2. Gin and tonic is my new found love which brings me to the next point

3. NEVER mix your drinks

4. Next time think a hundred times before deciding to order an entire case of wine off the Internet.

5. Thank the inventor of the dish washer again and again.

So after all that I spent whole of yesterday in bed watching silly mallu movies and making do with left over food for dinner. Had to get off my ass today because of some important deadlines I had to meet but I'm still pretty pathetic with regard to stamina. I have to rest and be ready for Thursday when they will be back from Ireland :)

I had only mince meat and that too quite a bit of it and so decided to go berserk with it since it was raining and windy and incredibly cold to go out and do grocery shopping.

Basic kheema recipe

So with half kg minced meat I made a kheema sorta thing and used that for my empanadas. I was kinda bored with my basic mince meat recipe and so tried out this recipe by PreeOccupied which came out really well. Its a keeper I'd say!

Pizza dough Empanadas

I made use of my leftover pizza dough to make these simple empanadas and they taste pretty darn good.

Pizza base mix- 1, 100 gm packet kneaded according to instructions. Alternatively, follow this recipe.

Cheddar cheese- 1.4 cup (optional)

Butter melted- 1/2 tbsp

Flour- to dust the working surface

Pre heat the oven to 220C

Once the dough has puffed up the first time, knock it back and make about 6 to 7 lemon size balls out of it.

Dust the working surface with enough flour and roll each of it into a circle or oval shape.

Fill with enough mince meat (about 1 tbsp for each circle) and cheddar cheese (if using) and cover carefully. With the tip of your finger, seal it and use a fork to create impressions around the edges if you want to.

Place them on a baking tray lined with a baking sheet because oil might ooze out and make a mess. You don't want to end up scrubbing the tray.

Using a basting brush, generously butter the empanadas for that brown colour. You can also do the same with egg if you please. I was lazy.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and serve hot with sour cream:)

Minced beef Kebabs (seekh kebab)

With the remaining 200 grams I decided to make seekh kebabs. Something I was very doubtful about, but turned out incredibly yum and it was so darn easy to make.

Minced lean beef- 200

Onion- 1 small, roughly chopped

Green chillies- 3, thinly sliced

Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup, washed and roughly chopped

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp

Egg- 1 small

Gram flour- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Wooden skewers- 8 or more

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes

Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl till well combined. If it happens to a be a bit loose, add some more gram flour.

Take small portions in your hand and press it on to the skewers, binding well. If its too heavy then it might fall off (yup I learned from my mistake).

Place them in a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in an over preheated at 220 C for 20 minutes, turning them occasionally.

You get absolutely delicious and juicy beef kebabs. Serve them with cucumber raita or just a salad.

Notes: Use bread crumbs instead of gram flour

You can make them into patties as well and use the same for burgers.

Grilled tandoori-flavoured prawns

The Prawn craving continues and this time I wanted to grill it. Weekend is gonna be hectic with a few friends coming over, so not rambling too much. Enjoy!

King Prawns- 250 gms, de-veined and cleaned

Yogurt- 2 tbsp

Ginger paste- 1 tbsp

Garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Lime juice- 1 tbsp

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Tandoori masala- 1 tbsp (If you have this, omit coriander and cumin powder)

Salt- if required

Wooden skewers- 6- 8, soaked in water

Oil- enough to grease the griddle pan/ grill

Mix all the ingredients together and marinate the prawns. Keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes.

Thread on the skewers, oil the pan and once its really hot, place the prawn skewers in batches (if required) and cook on each side for 2 to 3 minutes or until well cooked.

Serve as appetiser or side with a mint-coriander yogurt chutney

Notes: I used my electric George Foreman grill, so it heated up pretty fast and my prawns were done in under 4 minutes altogether. nice and juicy, that is. Fire top grilling pan or a frying pan should be fine.

My tandoori masala was incredibly red in colour which was a put off, but used it whatsoever.