FIERY WAYS TO MY MAN'S STOMACH

What would happen if you ate red hot fiery fish curry ???

Fishy fires in the stomach and well I need not elaborate more.  This is a version of  a typical kerala fish curry (the one without coconut) cooked in a clay pot also known as chatti. This ensures ample satisfaction (read happy grunts) for hubby when he simply craves for "punch wala food" (read unhealthy and spicy).

INGREDIENTS

250 grams Fish preferably sea fish ( I am literally at sea if you ask me the varieties, a pure vegetarian, fish is essentially divided into sea fish and river fish for me)

2 bulbs Garlic ground to a paste

1" piece Ginger ground to a paste

2 teaspoons red chilly powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 pinch asafoetida

1/2 teaspoon of jeera/cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds

5 peppercorns

5-6 pieces of garcinia/kokum (one can also use a small ball of tamarind) soaked in about 100ml water

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil

2 cups water

METHOD

1. Clean the fish and keep it aside (I get mine cleaned and cut from the fishmonger itself)

2.  Heat oil in a pan (not the chatti) and add the asafoetida

3. Sputter the mustard and jeera seeds and curry leaves

4. Add the garlic paste and ginger paste and fry for five minutes over a low flame till the mixture browns

5. Add the peppercorns, turmeric, salt and chilly powder and stir.

6. Add the garcinia to the water in which it was soaked and mix well.

7. Add the water and bring to a boil.

8. Carefully arrange the fish in the chatti and add the cooked red gravy and cover the pot.

9. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

10. Serve with rice.

SPICY PRAWN PICKLE

I never knew such a pickle existed till we were gifted a bottle. It looked lovely - fiery red and hot. Since I am a vegetarian I guessed the ingredients pretty much by sniffing the bottle and poking around with a fork. This is my version of a prawn pickle and though I never taste it everyone who eats this says it’s good. Plus no preservatives here like the commercial pickles since salt, spices, turmeric and lemon juice does the preserving.
STATUTORY WARNING: This can get hotter than dallay pickle.
INGREDIENTS
1 kg large prawns
100 grams garlic
100 gms ginger
2tbs each cumin/jeera, coriander/dhania, fenugreek/methi seeds (dry roasted)
1tbs mustard seeds
3 tbs turmeric powder
5tbs Red chili powder (Everest tikha lal is good)
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
Juice of 4 lemons
Oil 250 ml
LET’S DO IT
Clean and de-vein the prawns and wash thoroughly in running water.
Heat oil and deep fry the prawns till they turn pink. Keep the remaining oil.
Grind separately the ginger and garlic to coarse pastes
Grind the dry roasted spices to a coarse powder
Heat the remaining oil and sputter the mustard seeds.
Add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry till it turns golden
Add the ground spices, turmeric and chilly powder and salt and mix well
Turn off the flame and add the juice of 4 lemons to the fried masala mixture.
Add the masala mixture to the prawns and mix well.
Cool before storing in a airtight jar.
This pickle keeps for a week and best eaten with hot white rice.