Salmon With Sizzling Coriander

As the author says, it is a superb salmon dish from America. And in case you did not know, coriander is known as cilantro there. The recipe is from the book “Coriander – A Book of Recipes”, 1997, written by Hellen Sudell. I followed it years and years ago and it was good. You can check another recipe from this book, fragrant coriander rice and hopefully will tempt you to follow it too.

Salmon With Sizzling Coriander

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon steaks, about 175/ 6 oz each
• 4 tbsp/ 60 ml chopped fresh coriander
• 3 tbsp/ 45 ml grated fresh root ginger
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp/ 60 ml soy sauce, plus extra to serve
• 5 tbsp/ 75 ml olive oil (or cold-pressed sunflower oil if you don’t have olive oil, like me ;)) )
• salt and ground black pepper
• lettuce and coriander sprigs, to garnish

Method:

• Season the salmon steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Prepare a steamer, add the salmon steaks, cover and steam for 7-8 minutes until the fish is opaque throughout. Imho, if the steaks are too thick, may be you should check the salmon after that time and leave it a few more minutes.
• Place the steamed salmon steaks on warmed plates. Divide the chopped coriander among them, mounding it on top of the fish. Sprinkle with the ginger and then the spring onions. Drizzle 15 ml/ 1 tbsp of soy sauce over each salmon steak.
• Heat the oil in a small heavy-based saucepan until very hot. Spoon the hot oil over each salmon steak and serve immediately, with more soy sauce, if you like. Garnish with lettuce and coriander sprigs.

Cook’s Tip: If you don’t own a steamer, cook the fish steaks on a lightly buttered plate over a pan of simmering water. Cover the fish with greaseproof paper or invert a second plate on top.

Enjoy your meal!

Elena G

 

Spicy Stew Fish

It is a wonderful and sunny day today. It is a day that works very well with a stew…a fish stew. So in today’s menu there will be a light, spicy and easy recipe folllowed from “Cooking for Two”, 1996 by Richard Olney and Simon Wheeler. In a few minutes it is ready. If you cook a side dish, a little longer but not too long. 🙂

Spicy Stew Fish

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 (about 650 g) firm white thick fish cutlets or fillets
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp oil (cold-pressed suitable for cooking, preferable)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tso garam masala
• 410 g can tomatoes
• 1/3 cup tomato puree
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method:

• Cut fish into 3 cm cubes; toss fish in turmeric. Heat oil in pan, add fish; cook until lightly browned; remove from pan.
• Add onion and spices to pan, cook, stiring, until onion is soft. Stir in undrained crushed tomatoes and puree, simmer, uncovered, about 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.
• Stir in fish; cook, uncovered, until fish is tender; remove from heat, stir in sour cream and fresh coriander. Serve with nutty rice (or basmati rice).

Enjoy your meal!

• Freeze: Not suitable.
• Microwave: Not suitable.

Elena G

Going Indian IV

Hello! I invite you to go Indian again, with a delicious korma, chicken korma. I must say chicken is not the best of meat but it is light and if freshly cooked, delicious. All kinds of meat are good as long as they are eaten with moderation. I found out that myself, long time ago, when exaggerating with meat, I felt so sick, I hated the sight of it for weeks. Well, when it is too much, it is too much. I don’t want to be boring or get bored, although sometimes, both happen, at the same time. It is just a passing moment. 🙂 Continue reading, please. 😉 Or not.

Before I get to the actual recipe, I would like to recommend something. I just don’t know how to introduce it. It goes well with this recipe and any Indian and Asian food: “The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights”. I started reading it and got immersed into a very different world, beautiful and unique, quite like Indian food. They both come from Asia, in the books there are several references and stories about India so, yes, it goes down well. Like a good wine, imho. I so amazed by this book that I started reading it after so many years. When I was a child I read a few stories, and now, getting some volumes of it (I don’t have them all, and what I read is really from a 1987 Romanian edition) I love it. Read it yourself and I think you would love it too.

Back to food, that is an important part of the Tales. Here it comes chicken korma, with a home made korma. I got the recipe from “Cookshelf Chicken” by Tom Bridge, looong time ago.

Chicken Korma

Serves 4-6 

Ingredients:

• 750 g (1 lb/ 10 oz) chicken meat, cut into cubes
• 300 ml (1/2 pint / 1 1/4 cups) double (heavy) cream
• 1/2 tsp garam masala

Korma Paste:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2.5 cm (1 inch) fresh ginger root, coarsely chopped
• 50 g (1 3/4 oz / 1/3 cup) blanched almonds
• 6 tbsp chicken stock
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 4 cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp ground cumin seeds
• pinch cayenne
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• coriander, to garnish

Method:

• Place all the ingredients for the korma paste into a blender or food processor and blend together until a very smooth paste is formed.
• Place the cubes of chicken in a bowl and pour over the korma paste. Stir to coat the chicken completely with the paste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours to allow the flavours to permeate the chicken.
• Simmer the meat in a large saucepan for 25 minutes, adding a little chicken stock if the mixture becomes too dry.
• Add the double cream and garam masala to the pan and simmer for a further 15 minutes. Allow the korma to stand for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish the chicken korma with fresh coriander and serve with basmati rice.

Bon appetite!

 

Going Indian III

When is hot outside, try this. If you are not living in a hot climate as Indians are, try this in cold weather and it will make you hot. And my guess is you will ask for more. It is a delicious recipe. So delicious that I tried it just once. Hahaha. I should try it several times as I like lamb and this is indeed something special. I have a déjà vu writing this. I also like the way it is constructed with all those ingredients, some of them rare and precious and full of flavour. What an exquisite aroma it spreads ! It whispers: come and taste me! And of course you come… Sit down at the table and enjoy it with naan bread (I miss naan bread sooo much) or basmati rice (Tilda brand – the best). I must cook this again. So, let’s see what I need, apart from Love and Understanding and Tenderness. And a beautiful and large kitchen where I will be the queen 😉 . I need … to add that the recipe is taken from a wonderful book, “Golden India – Indian Recipes” and the recipes is

Champ Masala

Lamb Chops in Spicy Marinade

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

And the ingredients are:

• 1 kg lamb chops 
• 12 almonds, blanched
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 2/3 tbsp (40 ml) butter or oil
• 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2-3 cloves, whole
• 2 tsp coriander leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp garlic paste
• 2 tsp ginger, chopped finely
• 2 red or green chillies, deseeded and sliced
• a few strands of saffron, dissolved in 1 tsp milk (optional)
• 2 onions, medium size, chopped
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp sesame seeds (til)
• 3/4 cup yoghurt (I always go with my fav, the greek full fat one)

Method:

• Blend cumin seeds, ginger, garlic paste, cardamom seeds, cloves, almonds, sesame seeds, cayenne pepper, sugar and 2 tbsp yoghurt to a purée, adding more yoghurt if the mixture is dry. Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside. You have now a masala paste.
• Melt butter/ oil in a large kadhai (wok) or pan. Add onions and fry till golden brown. Stir in the masala paste and fry for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Add a spoonful water at a time if the mixture becomes too dry. Add the lamb chops and fry 10 minutes on medium heat, turning chops frequently.
• Beat the remaining yoghurt and saffron together, pour it into the lamb and mix well. Bring to a boil the reduce heat to very low, simmer for 1/2 hour.
• Preheat oven to 150˚C/ 300˚F.
• Transfer chops into a casserole and put into the oven to cook for at least 25 minutes. After that you have a taste of India. 🙂

Bon appetite!

 

Have You Got 10 Minutes?

Have you got 10 minutes? Do you like vegetarian dishes? Do you like couscous? Dried fruit? Do you like to have a healthy diet? Are you tired of cooking? Is it so hot outside that drains you out with cooking? If you answer is ‘yes’ to at least 3 of these questions, then read this recipe and why not eat it fresh, as it is best that way. My inspiration for this is  the cookbook ‘Quick Meals in Minutes’, 2001.

Fruit and Almond Couscous

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (400 g) couscous
• 2 cups (500 ml) boiling chicken stock or just boiling water if you are fasting
• 40 g butter or oil of any kind, preferably cold pressed, again, if you are fasting
• 1/4 cup (35 g) dried currants
• 1/4 cup (35 g) dried apricots, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup (35 g) slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method:

• Place couscous in medium heatproof bowl; add boiling stock and butter.
• Toss couscous gently, using a fork, until liquid is absorbed.
• Add the remaining ingredients; mix gently. Serve it fresh as it is or as a side dish with spiced wings if you like.

Bon appetite!

 

GAWPGH

When you feel like to much is too much, of food I mean, then take a break and try something exquisite and light. They say that good things come in small packages and this is true about this recipe. It is not for those who live to eat but mostly for the gourmand or gourmet . I cooked and ate this in 2005. Why do I know the year? Simple: I have the print of the article with the recipe. It is from the Sunday’s edition of  The Times, on the 28th of May 2005, where Gordon Ramsay presented some recipes about asparagus. It was a total hit, to be honest, and I would like to share with you this delicate and light recipe, that can be eaten as it is or as a side dish with meat to your liking.

Green Asparagus with Pink Grapefruit Hollandaise

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 coriander seeds, finely crushed
• 3 free-range egg yolks
• 125 ml light olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• sea salt
• pinch of cayenne
• 100 ml fresh pink grapefruit juice
• grated zest of 1 pink grapefruit
• 24 asparagus spears

Method:

• Place the coriander seeds, egg yolks and 1 tablespoon warm water in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Whisk the egg yolks until they are pale and creamy and form ribbons when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.
• Remove the pan from the heat and continue to whisk for a further 3 minutes. Gently warm the olive oil and add in a very slow, steady drizzle to the eggs, whisking continuously, until the sauce is thick and glossy (you may not need all the oil.) Add the lemon juice, salt and cayenne. Keep warm to the side of the cooker.
• Cook the grapefruit juice and zest in a pan over a moderate heat until reduced to 3 tablespoons. Whisk into the hollandaise.
• Bring a pan of slightly salted water to a gentle boil, add the trimmed asparagus and cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus. Serve on warm plates with the hollandaise.

Bon appetite!

Imam bayildi

Long time ago I was curious about this recipe and I wanted to find out if I would faint too. It is a Turkish recipe that means “the Imam fainted” or “Imam Bayildi” in Turkish, because they say that he was overcome by this delicious meal. I discovered it in  “Coriander – A Book of Recipes” from 1997 in London. It was 2006 when I tried it out and I have to say that it was exquisite. Plus it is made with one of my favourite vegetable. It is not a difficult recipe and smells heavenly. For a special treat and something vegetarian, go into the kitchen and try not to faint.

Imam bayildi

Vegetarian Stuffed Aubergine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 aubergines, halved lengthways
• 60 ml (4 tbsp)olive oil, plus extra if needed
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 green pepper, seeded and sliced (or any other favourite colour)
• 400 g (4 oz) can chopped tomatoes
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 5 ml (2 tsp) ground coriander
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) fresh chopped coriander
• salt
• ground black pepper
• crusty bread, to serve
• coriander sprigs, to serve

Method:

• Using a sharp knife, slash the flesh of the aubergines a few times. Place them in a colander, sprinkle the cut sides with salt and leave for about 30 minutes. Rinse well and pat dry. From my experience, there is hardly any juice left and they turn quite dark so rub the flesh of the aubergines with lemon juice after you halved them.
• Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375 °F, Gas 5.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the aubergines, cut-sides down and fry for 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon or tongs and place in a shallow ovenproof dish.
• Add the onions, garlic and green pepper to the pan, with extra oil if necessary and cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables have softened.
• Add the tomatoes, sugar and ground coriander with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes until the mixture has reduced. Stir in the chopped coriander. Now it smells divine.
• Spoon this mixture on top of the aubergines. Cover and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
• Serves it hot with crusty bread or naan bread and Greek-style  yogurt or chilled with just the bread and garnished with coriander springs.

Bon appetite!