Chilli Fish And Chilli Mutton with Sarani Tarafdar (Kolkata Food Blogger)

Another week of "Know your Kolkata Food Bloggers Friend" event, another week to introduced one of our blogger friends. This time whom I am going to introduce,  is one of my favourite and very close ones. We know each other for almost 2 years I guess but only as a fellow blogger. It has only happened when she returned back to Kolkata and joined our group  9 months back and in a wink she became so close to me/us. Sarani Tarafdar who blogs form Cocoawind, is one of the glamorous, gorgeous and beautiful ladies of our group. She will always be found with a heart melting smile at whatever situation she may be. She is one of the most dedicated members of the group who first thinks for her group than anything else. For instance, we had a video shoot and without her it would not be possible. Just on that very day her son got high fever. But she did come managing all her household problems and fulfilled her commitment towards her group. She is that kind of a lady who knows what a promise and commitment called. She is one of the most reliable ladies whom you can trust blindly. As much as I love her, I respect her more. An ex banker and a guest faculty of KPC Medical College by profession, she is also a cinematographer, a photographer and a great writer.

Her blog is new but already you will find some delectable recipes. Today I have chosen from her blog one of the most common recipes  - Chilli Chicken. Chilli chicken is one of the famous Indo-Chinese dishes. I have made Chilli Fish and Chilli Mutton instead. So here I am giving the recipe of Chilli Fish and more or less the same way I cooked Chilli Mutton too.

Ingredients:

Fish Fillet (Basa/ Bhetki) -  250-300gm (Cubed)

Onion - 1 big diced

Chopped Garlic - 1 tsp

Ginger paste - 1/2 tspn

Capsicum - 1 big diced (I used some coloured one too)

Flour - enough to coat the chicken cubes

Cornflour - 1 tsp to make gravy

Soy sauce - 2 tbsp + 1 tbspn

Vinegar - 1 tbsp

Chilli Sauce - 1 tsp + 1 tspn

Tomato Sauce - 1 tbsp + 1spn

Salt to taste

Green Chili - I didn't add

Oil - enough to fry the chicken cubes

Method:-

1. Marinate the fish cubes  for 30 mnts with the first portion of Soy sauce, chilli sauce , vinegar and tomato sauce and salt.
2. Add Flour to it in small amount slowly to coat each cube nicely.
3. Heat enough oil in a pan/kodai and fry the fish cubes 4-5 cubes at a time till they are brown and crisp.
4. Strain out the fries from the oil and soak the excess oil from the fried fish cubes with a kitchen towel and reserve.
5. Heat a little amount of oil. Add the garlic. Let them turn brown. Add the onion cubes.
6. When the onion cubes will turn translucent add the ginger paste. Sauté for a while then add the capsicum. Fry for 2- 3 mnts.
7. Add  all the sauces and the fish fries and fold nicely. Add 1/2 cup water and bring it in to boil. If you need more gravy then you can add more water.
8. Dilute the corn flour in 2tsp water and add it slowly to the gravy. Don't forget to stir constantly. Cook for few more mnts and then serve.

Chilli Mutton
I made it with boneless mutton. First boiled the mutton and then marinated. Then did the same way I cooked the Chilli fish. Only the sauces had been given a bit more to enhance the  taste.

Baked Basa Pan Fried in Thai Style

Today I make it a quick post. After making this dish I have posted it on my Facebook page and have totally forgotten to blog on it. That is only then, when one of my readers put it on my notice that the recipe has not been shared yet. It feels really great when you have such readers who follow you with such minute details. I am one lucky soul to have such readers. So here is the recipe Baked Basa Pan Fried in Thai Style:

Ingredients:

Basa Fillet - 1 large

To marinate:

Thai Sweet Chilly Sauce - 2 tbspn

Light Soy Sauce - 2 tbspn

Ginger Garlic paste- 1 tbspn

lemon juice- 1tspn

Dry Lemon Grass- few sprigs

Salt and Sugar - as per taste 

For the Fry:

Mushroom (sliced) - 1 cup

Baby Corn (julienned) -  1/2 cup

Capsicum (sliced) - 1/2 cup

Garlic (chopped) - 1 tbspn

Ginger ((julienned)) - 1 tspn

Whole Dry Red Chilli - 2- 3 (Seeded and pieced)

Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce - 2 tbspn

Dark Soy Sauce - 1 tbspn

Salt and Sugar as per taste.

Olive Oil - 1 tbspn

Method:

1. Cube the Fillet as your required size. Make sure it should not be too small.
2. Marinade the cubes with all the ingredients under Marinate.
3. Take baking tray. Cover it with aluminum foil. Line the fillet cubes.
4. Bake each side each for 7 + 7 mnts.  And then grill for 5 mnts.
5. Take a nonstick pan. Heat oil. Add the chopped garlic and the Dry red chilli.
6. Let the Garlic turn brown add all the other veggies and sauté till then are semi cooked. And the sauces, salt and sugar.
7. Stir well in high flame. Add the fish cubes and very carefully fold them with the  veggies. Be very careful that the fish cubes should not get broken. Cook for a couple of minutes in high flame. Then serve with fried rice or noodles. 

Note:

1. If you don't want to bake then you can coat the marinated fish cubes in corn flour or flour and deep fry.

2. Basa is a very soft and fragile textured fish. so handle it care.

Grilled Basa topped with Cream Mushroom & Green peas Sauce

It might sound insane, but it is a serendipitous truth that when my cook-maid sometimes takes a leave I feel like conquering back my kitchen again.  The persistent theory that the cook-maids in India swear before joining the kitchen is - Too much Oil and Spices make a dish perfect and tasty. Not to lie, it really tastes heaven and delicious, at the same time it opens the gate to hell if every day the spicy foods are served and the health disapproves the food to digest. For me it has become a mandatory routine to utter every day the six words to my cook maid- Use less oil, less spice please. The verity of India stay, mainly if you are staying in Bengal, is the luxury of indulging the budget on maids (Of course how much money you spend on them, you can't snip their attitudes and demands). On one hand it feels like a restful bliss, on the other hand the lazy part slowly curb the body and mind to coddle to this epicurean opulence and makes  one a perfect lazy boon when it comes to C2- cooking & cleaning. 

After I stepped in India, I have become an occasional cook in the kitchen. I only enter there in need. Sometimes I feel like I am getting detached from one of the creative parts of me what I enjoyed thoroughly last 6 years. But too much dependency on the maids makes the life easier and at the same time obligates to use the spare time some other way. As my cook has taken leave for a day I felt happy. This kind of furor excitement works well in me. I wanted to make something less oily, less spicy, something grilled and no curry, rice/ or flat wheat bread/roti at all. So to make the opportunity satiated, I rush to the market grab some frozen Basa fish fillet, mushroom and an Italian Cheese Bread loaf. During my USA stay I tried different kinds of fish/ sea foods et al, but never tasted Basa fish. After coming to India I first tasted it. I grabbed it from the frozen fish section and cooked it. And I am really impressed with the taste and the soft texture of the fish that dilutes in no time in the mouth.

“The basa fish, Pangasius bocourti, is a type of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong River Delta in Vietnamand Chao Phraya basin in Thailand.^[1] These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labeled in North America and Australia as "basa fish" or "bocourti".^[2] In the UK, the species is known mainly as "river cobbler",^[3] with "basa" also being used on occasion. In Europe, these fish are commonly marketed as "pangasius" or "panga".^[4] Other related shark catfish may occasionally be falsely labeled as basa fish, including Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (iridescent shark) and Pangasius pangasius(yellowtail catfish).”- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_fish 

 Here is the recipe how I cooked it:

Ingredients:

Marinating the Fish:

Basa Fillet: Cut into 3 pieces (5"/5")

Hoisin Sauce: 1 tbl spoon

Plum Sauce: 1 tbl spoon

Red chili Sauce: 1 tbl spoon

White pepper Powder: 1/2 tea spoon

Oregano Seasoning: 1/2 tea spoon

Tarragon seasoning: 1/4 tea spoon

Salt: According to taste.

For the Cream Sauce:

Cream: I used Amul's 200gm tetra pack.

Garlic: Chopped 1 tbl spoon full

Mushroom: 1 cup sliced

Green Peas: 1 cup

Salt & Sugar: According to taste

Lemon Grass seasoning: a pinch (optional)

Method:

  1. Marinate for 15mnts the fish fillets with all the ingredients listed under the marinating head. Then lay the fillets on a grill pan and grill it for 10mnts then turn the fillets and again grill for 8mnts more. Take it out and put it aside.

  2. Heat a pan and then add oil. Put the garlic when the oil is hot enough. Fry until the garlic turns light brown. Add the mushroom and the peas. Sauté for couple of minutes then add all the other ingredients except the cream.  When the vegetables get semi tender then add the cream. Cook on low flame until the cream thickens enough. Take the sauce off the flame. Put the fish on a serving dish, top it with the Cream mushroom and green peas sauce and enjoy it with some flavoured bread loaf.

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