Prawn Cocktail
(Serves 2)
1/2 cup iceberg lettuce, cut into strips
10-12 prawns, cleaned, de-veined and boiled with a pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp tomato sauce
A few drops of Tabasco sauce (I used a combination of pepper sauce and smoked jalapeno – both Tabasco products)
A pinch of crushed black pepper
In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, tomato sauce and Tabasco sauce. Add the pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. If you want it more tart, add some more tomato sauce. If its too tart, add a little more mayonnaise to balance it. Up the spice levels with the Tabasco sauce.
Tip in the prawns and mix till well coated. You should typically have more cocktail dressing than whats needed to simply coat the prawns.
To serve –
If you’re serving individual portions as a starter, place some of the lettuce at the bottom of a cocktail glass and top it off with the prawn cocktail dressing mix. Garnish with a prawn placed on the rim of the glass.
If you’re serving it more like a salad that people need to help themselves to, place a bed of chopped lettuce on the plate. Pour the prawn cocktail dressing mix over.
This recipe is linked to –
Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try
What’s On the Menu Wednesday
Real Food Wednesday
What’s Cooking Wednesday
Beef Cutlets
P.S. I won’t be posting for the next few days, since I’m headed out of town for a week. See you when I get back. I have so many recipes lined up to share with you guys, I can’t wait to get those posted. So make sure you come back. 🙂
Beef Cutlets
(Makes about 10 depending on size)
250g ground beef (beef mince)
1 large or 2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2″ ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 egg
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/4-1/3 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
Salt, to taste
2 slices of bread
Bread crumbs, to coat the cutlets
Vegetable oil, for frying
Soak the slices of bread in water for a few seconds, drain out all the liquid and crumble. Mix together all the ingredients except the bread crumbs and vegetable oil.
Make sure all the ingredients are well mixed and evenly distributed.
Shape into cutlets.
Coat with bread crumbs.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Carefully place the cutlets in the pan and let it cook on a medium heat till its done to your liking. Turn over and cook the other side as well.
Repeat till you’re done with the meat mix, adding more oil to the pan as and when you need to.
Serve hot with some fries and a salad, and some spicy tomato ketchup.
Enjoy!!!
This recipe is linked to –
What’s Cooking Thursdays
Full Plate Thursdays
Thrilling Thursday
It’s a Keeper Thursday
Fish Cakes or Fish Cutlets
I love these cutlets. We don’t make them too often, and I’ve always wondered why. We love them, they’re crunchy little treats, and the flavors are to die for. It goes so well with a humble meal of rice and lentils, more commonly known as dal-rice and turns it to something quite extra-ordinary. If that doesn’t float your boat, how about using it to make yourself a yummy fish burger?
Whatever you decide to do with it, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I mean, whats not to? For this recipe I used Kingfish slices. You can use any other white fleshy fish, but try and avoid the smaller varieties. Also, I’ve never really paid too much attention to quantities with any cutlets, its more about the mix feeling right to the touch. However, I have tried to give you an idea of the quantities I used. Feel free to adjust them as you like.
Fish Cutlets
4-5 large slices of fish
3-4 cloves of garlic
A pinch of turmeric powder
1 onion, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1″ ginger
1 egg
1-2 slices of bread
Bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
In a vessel, boil the slices of fish with a pinch of turmeric powder, salt, whole cloves of garlic and a little water. The fish needs to be cooked through. Let it cool.
While this is happening, chop up the onions, ginger, chillies and the coriander leaves and keep aside.
De-bone the fish, making sure that no bones are left behind. Its rather unpleasant to find a fish bone in a cutlet.
Add the chopped onions, chillies, ginger and coriander leaves.
Crack into this 1 egg.
Soak 1-2 slices of bread in water for a minute and squeeze out all the liquid and add one slice, crumbled to the mix. Using your fingers, make sure that all the ingredients are mixed well. Try and form a cutlet, if it holds well, you’re good to go. If the mix is too moist, crumble the other slice of bread into it and mix well.
Check for seasoning and adjust if needed.
Shape little portions of the mix into tightly formed cakes or cutlets. Coat with bread crumbs.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large flat pan and fry the cutlets on a medium flame till they are golden brown. Turn over and brown the other side as well. The fish is already cooked, all you want to do is let the cutlets get a nice brown color and in the meanwhile heat right through.
Serve hot.
This recipe is linked to –
My Meatless Mondays
Just Another Meatless Monday
Meatless Monday
Mangia Mondays
Mouthwatering Monday
Tuesdays At The Table
Delectable Tuesday
Tuesday Night Supper Club
A Little Birdie Told Me
Potato Chops
They taste best if served hot with some tomato ketchup. They also keep well, refrigerated. All you do, is pop them in a pan, cover and let it heat through on a low flame before serving. These chops are a good option to consider as travel food for a road trip.The crumb coating gives this a nice crunchy exterior.
Potato Chops
1/2 a recipe of Beef Mince (You can substitute mutton mince, if you don’t eat beef)
4-5 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp cumin powder
A pinch of turmeric powder (optional)
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 egg
Bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Make half a portion of beef mince and keep aside. This should come down to room temperature before you proceed with this recipe.
Boil the potatoes only when you are ready to make the chops you need to work when the potatoes are still warm. Cold potatoes make handling difficult.
Peel and mash the potatoes well. Make sure there are no lumps. Add salt to taste, cumin powder, turmeric powder and coriander leaves and using your hands mix well to ensure all the spices and herbs are evenly distributed. Feel free to adjust the quantities of the spices and herbs used to suit your taste.
Take a portion of the mashed potato, the size of a tennis ball, roll into a ball and flatten to form a thick disc on the palm of your hand. Place a spoon of the mince in the center and bring the sides of the potato disc up and over the filling to cover it well. Make sure that no mince is sticking out. If you feel the need to add more potato to it, feel free to do so. The mashed potato merges well. Shape it to form a patty and keep aside. Continue till you’ve used up all the mashed potato.
Crack an egg in a shallow bowl, wide enough to fit the chops. Beat well to incorporate the white and the yolk.
Pour some bread crumbs onto a plate and keep it ready. I have a little assembly line going for this, starting with the chops at one end, followed by the bowl with the beaten egg, the bread crumbs and a plate lined with some absorbent kitchen paper at the other end.
Heat some oil in a pan.
Briefly dip a chop in the egg and turn over, making sure it coats the chop well.
Dredge it through the bread crumbs making sure the potato chop is well coated. This is what will give it a good crunch.
Carefully place in the pan with the heated oil and shallow fry till it takes on a nice golden brown color. Turn and let the other side fry as well till it gets golden brown.
Carefully take it off the pan and place on some kitchen paper to drain out any excess oil.
NOTE: You don’t need to fry these one at a time, place as many as your pan can accommodate, making sure theres a little space between them to help you turn these over.
Here’s what it looks like on the inside –
Enjoy!!!
This recipe is linked to –
What’s Cookin’ in the Kitchen
Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home
Friday Potluck
Fat Camp Friday
Healthy Spring Rolls
To be honest, I was pressed for time when I made these and hadn’t really planned on making them. So I had to make do with whatever I had on hand and improvise as I went along. I didn’t have a dipping sauce at hand and didn’t have the time to whip one up at the last minute. The next time I make these, I think I’ll make the sauce in advance. Anyway, I knew there had to be something saucy to go with the rolls. So what I did was, combine a cocktail sauce that I use for my shrimp cocktail with these rolls. You could think of these as shrimp cocktails in a wrapper =o) I was quite happy with the way they turned out and I plan on serving these at the next party or family gathering, whichever comes first.
Healthy Spring Rolls
4 sheets of Rice paper
A few prawns, peeled, de-veined and boiled for a few minutes with a pinch of salt till tender
Some iceberg lettuce, chopped fine
A carrot, julienned
A cucumber, julienned
A few fresh coriander leaves whole
2-3 tbsp Mayonnaise
1 tsp tomato sauce/ketchup
A few drops of Tabasco sauce
Salt, to taste
Freshly crushed black pepper, to taste
The trick to assembling these well, is to prep everything and keep it ready.
For the cocktail sauce, mix the mayonnaise, ketchup and Tabasco sauce in a bowl. Taste and adjust the flavors to your linking. If you like a hit of spice, you can use a tomato-chilly sauce and some extra Tabasco sauce.
Cut up all the veggies and keep aside.
I slit my prawns in half, lengthwise, like Candace suggested.
To assemble the rolls –
Place warm water in a shallow dish large enough to fit your sheets of rice paper.
Dip the sheets of rice paper in the water for a few seconds till they have softened and then place them on a flat tray or cutting board.
Place the ingredients prepped for the filling in the center. I placed the coriander leaves first, I like how they look through the wrappers. Place the veggies and prawns. Season with a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. Spoon some of the cocktail sauce over the filling and roll the wrapper tightly to form a spring roll.
Just to give you an idea I included the first sheet I rolled. It wasn’t rolled snug enough.Its the first one on the left. I wrapped the others tighter and I think they look so much better than the first one.
I hope these instructions can be understood. I now realize that it would have been simpler if I had pictures for each step. In any case, you can visit Candace’s blog for a step by step pictorial demo. Her spring rolls are really pretty.
Enjoy!
This recipe is linked to –
A Little Birdie Told Me
Hearth and Soul
Tasty Tuesdays
Tuesday Night Supper Club
Tuesday’s at the Table
Delectable Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday
Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try
What’s On the Menu Wednesday
Real Food Wednesday
Homemade Nachos with a bunch of stuff – All made from scratch
I’ve always wanted to try making nachos at home and yes, from scratch. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about this amazing plate of Nachos that I had while I was in Goa for a few days. I knew that if I wanted it like that, I’d have to make it myself. The only thing I had a recipe guide me with was the corn tortillas for the homemade tortilla chips, which I took from Nita Mehta’s “Multi-cuisine Cookbook”. I didn’t spend time looking for recipes for the rest of the stuff, but just threw a few things together from memory. It really was quite funny, me, roaming in circles in my kitchen, trying to remember what was on the plate and what the flavors were and then checking to see if I had what was needed to put together a plate of Nachos. Crazy visual, anyway back to food.
Delectable Tuesday
Tasty Tuesdays
Rook No.17
Hearth and Soul
Tuesdays at the Table
Tuesday Night Supper Club
Tasty Tuesday
Bombay Street Food Special #2 – Bhajiyas (Vegetable Fritters)
For the second edition of the Bombay Street Food Special, I’ve chosen Bhajiyas. These are nothing but vegetable fritters. My mum used to make this for us as an after school snack and we always enjoyed it piping hot with some spicy tomato sauce. Today I’m going to share with you not one, but two, yes two types of bhajiyas and based on these, there’s a whole range of vegetables you can use to increase the variety. Have this with a piping hot cup of tea, there’s nothing better than this on a rainy day.
This one’s for all the potato lovers out there.
Aloo Bhajiyas (Potato Fritters)
2 potatoes, peeled and sliced and kept aside in salted water (Take some water in a bowl, drop in about 1/2 tsp. salt and stir.) till you’re ready to fry.
Oil, for deep frying
For the batter –
1/2 cup besan (chickpea flour)
Salt, to taste
A pinch of turmeric powder
A pinch or two of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp. ajwain (carom seeds)
Water
Mix all the dry ingredients together and gradually add the water, a little bit at a time, till you get it to a dripping batter. It shouldn’t be too thin, it should coat the back of a spoon. (If its too thick, add a little water, if its too runny, add some more besan). Ensure you are left with a lump free batter.
Heat oil for deep frying.
When the oil is hot, pick up the potato slices from the salted water and drain off any excess water, dip well in batter till its coated and carefully drop it into the oil.
Fry on both sides till it gets a nice golden brown on a medium flame. Drain on some kitchen paper.
Serve hot with some spicy tomato ketchup.
If you have any excess batter, you can either slice up some more potatoes and make some more of these delicious fritters or you can use it for the next kind of fritters. You’ll see how in just a bit.
In the same manner, you can make fritters using cauliflower florets or spinach leaves (dip whole spinach leaves into the batter) instead of the potatoes and the same batter.
Kanda Bhajiyas (Spicy Onion Fritters)
Crumb fried prawns
Crumb Fried Prawns
15 prawns, shelled and de-veined (Simply adjust the number of prawns based on the number of people you need to serve)
Salt, to taste
Juice of about 1/4 of a sour lime (A dash of apple cider vinegar can be used instead of the lime or a combination of the two. The apple cider vinegar adds a nice flavor to any sea food.)
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. chilly powder
A bowl of bread crumbs, to coat
1-2 tbsp. oil, for frying
Sprinkle the salt, lime juice, turmeric powder and chilly powder over the cleaned prawns. Toss the prawns well in this marinade.Set aside for atleast 15 minutes. (If you are in a hurry then minutes will do, but if it sits in the marinade a little longer, the prawns are well flavored.)
After resting the prawns in the marinade, dredge the prawns in the bread crumbs, making sure that each prawn is well coated with the bread crumbs.
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Fry the prawns on a medium flame, adding more oil if needed.
Watch the pan closely and don’t allow the prawns to burn. Drain the prawns well and serve with a wedge of lime. (The lime wedge is optional.) All the little crumb pieces that fall away are really delicious too. I never throw them away. I simply add them to the serving plate.
Remember, all the measures of the ingredients need to be adjusted to taste. So have fun and let me know how it goes!
Bombay Street Food Special #1 – Batata Vada (Deep Fried Potato Dumplings)
Here’s a peek at what it looks like –
And here’s what the inside looks like –
Batata Vada
(Makes 7-8 pieces depending on the size of the potatoes used and the size of the vadas.)
2 potatoes, boiled and mashed roughly (You don’t want the potato mash to be creamy, leave it just a little lumpy)
A pinch of turmeric powder
Salt, to taste
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
A pinch of mustard seeds
2-3 curry leaves, roughly torn into 2-3 pieces each
1 green chilly, finely chopped (optional)
1 tsp. chopped fresh coriander leaves
1/2 cup besan (chick pea / garbanzo bean flour)
A pinch of red chilly powder (optional)
Water
Oil for deep frying
Add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to taste to the mashed potato and mix well.
In a small pan, prepare the tempering or tadka. Heat the vegetable oil and add the mustard seeds. When it sputters, on a low to medium flame add the curry leaves, green chilly and saute a little till all the flavors are released, taking care to not burn the spices.
Add the potato mix to this and stir the oil and spices have mixed with the mashed potato, for a few seconds.
Take it off the pan and into a bowl. Add the chopped coriander leaves and using your hand mix it well. Check for salt and spice and adjust accordingly. Don’t under salt the potato mix.
Shape into balls and keep aside.
For the batter –
In a bowl, mix the chick pea flour, with a pinch of turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt to taste. Add a little water to form a batter. Make sure there are no lumps and the batter is nice and smooth.
The batter should have a pouring consistency but shouldn’t be too thin. It should be thick enough to form a nice layer around the vadas.
If it is too thick, add a little water to thin it out. If it is too thin and watery, simply add some more chick pea flour.
To make the vadas –
Heat the oil for deep frying. The oil should be hot but not smoking. One way to tell if your oil is hot enough is to carefully insert a drop of the batter into the oil. If it bubbles and rises to the top immediately, the oil is ready.
Dip the prepared balls in the batter and make sure that the batter coats the potato mix well. I think it easiest to use your hands for this.
Carefully insert the batter dipped vadas into the oil and let them fry on a medium flame till they are a nice golden brown. Turn them while they fry to ensure it cooks evenly on all sides. Don’t use high heat as the outside will burn without warming the insides through.
Drain off the excess oil and place on some kitchen paper to get rid of any oil on it.
Serve hot with some tomato sauce.
And oh, please don’t discard any of the pieces of excess batter that have broken away while frying the vadas. They are nice and crunchy. Simply drain them too while you’re extracting the vadas from the oil. My brother fights all of us for these scraps 🙂
Enjoy!!!
This recipe is linked to –
Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try @ At Home With Haley
My Meatless Monday @ My Sweet and Savory
Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What’s For Dinner Mom?
Meatless Monday @ Midnight Maniac
Mouthwatering Mondays @ A Southern Fairytale
Rook No.17