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.

Fish pie

 

Right. So the blog has been abandoned yet again and I'm not apologising for it because i know I'm going to abandon it again as I'm off to India for a long holiday in December. Blogging has taken a back seat, or rather no seat at all with work and Chaiparty and the like. Plus, some of these aggressive bloggers have made it all about how many products they get to review, how many likes they get on facebook and its become dramatically competitive. Bad experiences with bloggers have taught me to steer clear of that whole scenario. the past couple of weeks i kept reaching out to this blog of mine for recipes and it made me realise all over again why i started blogging. So in a tiny attempt to get my blogging mojo back, i thought I'd post a favourite.

So anyways, its bloody cold here, like so flippin cold, I don't even want to step out. I have been making a lot of stews and bakes for dinner and this fish pie was the outcome on one such cold evening. I am so not a seafood fan, although these days i can tolerate it a lot more than before and Ro says i secretly love a good sushi. Canned tuna is something i always have lying around in my pantry and potato, there is always potato at home- 2 main components of a fish pie, and so technically it should make its way through much more often, but it doesn't, and i have to listen to Ro whine about 'why is it that you don't make a really fishy fish pie.'

This is a slightly Indian-ised version of a traditional fish pie, one that is done back home. Tastes great nonetheless.

Serves 2 to 3 as part of main

For the mashed potato topping

Potatoes- 500 gms

Butter- 2 tbsp

Double cream- 75ml

Nutmeg- a generous pinch

Curry powder- 1/4 tsp (optional)

Salt and pepper- to taste

For the filling

Onion- 1 medium, finely chopped

Green chilli- 1, finely chopped

Ginger- 1/2 tsp, crushed

Garlic- 1/2 tsp, crushed

Curry powder- 1 tsp

Tuna steak in sunflower oil- 150gms, drained

Canned Red Salmon- 150 gms, drained

Spinach- 200 gms

Salt and pepper- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Eggs- 3, hard boiled and sliced into rounds

For the white sauce

Butter- 1 tbsp

Plain flour- 1 tbsp

Milk- 1 cup

Cheddar cheese- a handful + enough to sprinkle on top

Salt and pepper - to taste

Boil the potatoes with enough water or in a microwave oven till fork tender. 

Drain and mash with the butter and double cream along with the seasoning- nutmeg powder, curry powder, salt and pepper. The potato should be fluffy and smooth.

Make the filling by sauteing the onion, green chilli, garlic and ginger in a pan with oil.

Tip in the curry powder and the spinach and saute till the spinach has wilted and all its water has evaporated.

Add the tuna and salmon chunks. Break them down will mixing it into the onion.

Season with salt and pepper. 

For the sauce, melt butter in a sauce pan.

On low flame, add the plain flour and keep stirring, avoiding lumps. Once it is nicely mixed in, add the milk little by little, again making sure lumps are not formed. Keep flame on high once the entire milk is used up and then add the cheese, salt and pepper. Keep stirring till the sauce becomes thick and creamy. If you think it is too thick, add some more milk.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 175C

Into an oven proof casserole spoon in a layer of fish mix evenly. 

On top of that layer the eggs and pour the white sauce over this mixture. 

if you have more filling, keep layering till you finish it all up, and ending with the egg layer and white sauce poured over it.

Finally layer the mashed potato on top, fluff with a fork, sprinkle some cheese on top and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

I used a piping bag and star nozzle to pipe the mashed potato on top.

Notes:Use any vegetable of choice like carrots, beans, kale etc

Make it a day ahead, refrigerate and bake for about 30 minutes.

If you are not using canned fish, then pre cook the fish with salt and pepper, flake it and then use in the recipe