Blackened Salmon with Simple Rice Pilaf

I have had blackened salmon at many restaurants in Bay Area. Having grown up eating sea fish with lean meat I am was not used to eating fresh water fish like salmon, tuna or rohu (which is found in Indian rivers). I do enjoy eating the tuna sandwich at subway though. So when ever I am eating out I prefer salmon well cooked with lot of seasoning and spices. I found this recipe from a dear friend and now its a regular at my home too. Blackened seasoning can be found in some stores around the coast. I didn't find this seasoning at my local grocery stores, so I looked up the internet and found this recipe. I modified this recipe for making the seasoning.

Blackened Seasoning:
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon red chili powder or as per taste
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
2 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

Mix the above spices well.



Ingredients for Salmon:
1 fillet of salmon - around 300-400 cut into 2 inch pieces
3 tablespoon of blackened seasoning with the above recipe or store bought blackened seasoning
lemon for garnish.
Salt for taste

Method 
Apply salt and the seasoning mixture to the salmon on all sides and marinate it for at least and hour. There are two ways of frying the salmon. Either you can melt butter in a pan, dip the salmon in butter on both sides and put the salmon to fry on a pan. This is a traditional way and the result is definitely yummy. 
A healthier method I follow is to coat a shallow frying pan with 2 tablespoon oil and put the salmon skin side down. I put the pan on high heat till the side is blackened and well cooked. Flip it to the other side and cook till it is blackened on the other side. Garnish with lemon juice and serve hot with pilaf.




For the Pilaf:
Ingredients:
1 cup rice (basmati can be used here. I used adobo as an experiment and it came out to be very flavorful too)
2 cups of stock (vegetable or chicken)
1/2 teaspoon salt or as per taste
4-5 strands of saffron
Method:
Heat the stock. Pressure cook or pan cook the rice with the stock, saffron and salt till it is well done. 

Blackened Seasoning for Chicken or Fish

Blackened Seasoning:

1 teaspoon paparika

1 teaspoon red chili powder or as per taste

1/2 teaspoon pepper powder

2 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground thyme

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

Method:

Mix the above spices well and store in an airtight container. Check out the Blackened Salmon recipe here.

Bhangda Ghashi / Konkani Fish Curry / Manglorean Fish Curry

We make two types of fish curry at home. This is the one which uses coriander and fenugreek and other one uses ginger as the spices. Ghashi is a typical Konkani curry with coriander and fenugreek added to the coconut masala to form the base gravy. Fish or any vegetables can then be added to this gravy. This curry tastes better with time and it is a good idea to prepare this curry 2-3 hours before serving. 


Ingredients
1 bhangda fish
3/4 cup grated coconut (I used frozen sliced coconut)
2-3 byadgi chili (or as desired)
4 fenugreek seeds
1 medium onion
1 green chili
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 pea size piece of tamarind or 1/4 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 teaspoon coconut oil
salt for taste

Method
Clean the fish and cut into around an inch slices. Toast the coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds for 2-4 minutes till a little crisp. Grind it into a smooth paste with coconut, chili and tamarind. Chop the onion and green chili finely. Press it well with your fingers mixing in 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix the coconut masala and cook it on a low-medium flame till the masala comes to a boil. Mix in the fish pieces and cook uncovered for another 5-8 minutes or till the fish is cooked. Sprinkle coconut oil all over the curry and switch off the gas. Keep it covered for 5-10 minutes so that the flavor of the coconut oil is infused into the curry. Serve hot with rice.

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serves: 1-2

Baked Pomfret with Green Sauce

I get frozen pomfret from Coconut Hill store in Bay area. This is frozen fish from Kerala and tastes like fresh fish. I just keep the fish out for around 1 hour in warm water to de-freeze it. This fish can be baked in the oven or fried on a tava. Both the versions taste great.

Ingredients
1 pomfret fish
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
4-5 pods of garlic
1 handful of coriander leaves or cilantro
4-5 mint leaves or 1 tablespoon dried mint leaves
2-3 green chilies or as per taste
1 tablespoon thick curd
small tamarind piece as per taste
1/2 cp semolina (optional)
salt for taste

Method
Clean and cut the fish as shown below. Remove the fins. tail and head. You can keep the head if you wish to, but I like to cut the head. Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. Make both horizontal and vertical slits to fill the masala.


Fry the garlic in a pan with one teaspoon oil till light brown. Grind all the ingredients other than fish together with very little water to make a fine paste. Apply the paste on the inside and outside of the fish.

If you are baking the fish, bake it for 15 minutes at 450 degrees or till the fish is cooked. If you are frying it on a tava then roll the fish in semolina or rava and fry on a tava on both sides till cooked. Serve hot with rice.

Konkani Crab Curry / Kurle Randayi

Crab curry is one of my favorite curry. We lived in Bhopal for 8 years and we would get any crab here as there was no sea nearby. So whenever we visited Bombay, Goa, Bhatkal or Bangalore during holidays, our relatives would usually make fish, prawn or crab recipes knowing that fresh seafood was not available in Bhopal. It would be a real treat to have cheerful meal and chat with all the relatives whom we would be meeting after long time.

I got crab from Whole foods last week and prepared Crab curry. They cleaned the crab for me and cut it into small pieces. I usually don't buy whole crab as it is a messy procedure to clean it. The crab smell lingers in my kitchen and on my fingers and my husband hates the fishy smell. The crab curry should be prepared at least 3-4 hours before serving as the crab needs time to absorb all the flavors. I also serve it with boiled rice or "Ukdo Tandla Sheeet" in Konkani. Here is the crab curry recipe.

Ingredients
1 crab cleaned and cut
2 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
2 medium red onions
1 1/2 cups coconut
3/4 teaspoon tamarind paste
1-2 green chilies
3-4 red byadgi chili
coconut oil or any other oil

Method

If the crab legs are big and hard then they can be beaten with a pestle or better following the ancient way like me- with a clean stone which I keep handy for crushing garlic, ginger or other spices. Roast the red chilies in 1/4 teaspoon oil for 5-10 mintes on low flame. Grind coconut, red chili and tamarind into a very fine paste. Keep the masala aside. Finely chop 1 1/2 onion and green chili. Crush the ginger, onion and green chili with your fingers or with the back of a spoon or cup. Add the coconut masala and the crab pieces. Cook covered on a low to medium flame to get the curry to a boil. Finely chop the remaining half onion and fry it in coconut oil on a low flame till it is pinkish-brown. Garnish the curry with the fried onion and serve it with hot rice.

Konkani Fish Curry / Mangalore Pomfret Curry

This fish curry is one of my favorites. I got frozen white pomfret from Coconut hill Grocery store in Sunnyvale and found that it better than the fresh fish I get at the Chinese Ranch market. This is curry made at my home back in India. It is also called "alle piyava ambat" as it uses ginger and onion to make the curry. In many households like one of my aunt's, it is called "Jhalke Randayi". All mean the same yummy curry. Here is the recipe.

Tips: Never stir the fish curry with a ladle as it can break up the fish. Stir the curry gently with a small spoon avoiding the fish or better shake the vessel to mix the masala.

Ingredients
1 cup grated coconut
1 medium size pomfret fish
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 finely chopped green chili
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3-4 roasted red byadgi chilies (I roast red chilies on a medium flame for around 10 minutes and cool it. This imparts a better flavor to the curry)
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or 1/2 inch piece of tamarind
1 teapoon coconut oil
salt for taste

Method
Clean and cut the fish into thin slices. Add the onion, ginger, green chili and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a pan and crush it with hand or back of a spoon. Add 1/2 cup water and cook till th onion is soft. Grind the coconut, red chilies and tamarind into a very fine paste. Add this masala to the onion masala. Cover and cook for around 5 minutes or till the masala comes to a boil. Add fish and cook for another 5-8 minutes or till the fish is cooked. Adjust salt as per taste and sprinkle coconut oil on the curry. Mix very gently with a spoon and cover the curry with a lid. This will enable the flavor of the coconut oil to blend with the curry. Serve hot with rice.


Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Pomfret or Bhangda Fish Fry / Konkani Fish Fry

 Pomfret fry

Bhanga fry

This time I bought frozen white pomfret from Coconut Hill grocery store. I usually buy it from the Chinese Ranch market, but the frozen fish from Coconut Hill turned out to be very fresh and tastier. I also buy bhagda or Mackerel from the same store. You will also find Indian Mackerel or Bhangda, Sardines (Tarlo) and other kinds of fish in the frozen section. My mother makes the masala and applies it directly to the fish. But recently my grandmom's sister M Pacchi who was visiting them at home taught her to make "masala guli" or "masala ball" and store the remaining masala in the freezer. Here is her fish fry recipe.

Ingredients
1 pomfret fish
8-10 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 cup Semolina or rice powder for coating
oil for frying

Method
Remove the fins and the scales of the fish and cut it into thin slices. I discarded the head and tail of the fish. Chop the garlic cloves and grind it with salt, tamarind juice, turmeric powder and red chili powder into a fine paste. I crush the garlic using stone crusher and make it into a ball using my fingers. If your skin is sensitive to chilli, apply oil to your fingers before doing this.


Coat the fish pieces well with this paste and keep aside for 30 -45 minutes. Store the remaining masala in the freezer for future use. Coat the fish in semolina or rice powder. This can be deep fried in hot oil or shallow fried on a tava. I usually shallow fry it as it consumes less oil. Serve hot with rice and fish or prawn curry.

Preparation time: 1 hour