Meen Thala Varattiyadh/ Malabar King Fish Head Curry

A very common fish curry that we malabaris (people living in the Malabar coastal region) make on a daily basis is this Meen Varattiyadh. Fish pieces are simmered in a spicy tomato based gravy that is then given an extra sourness by adding Tamrind water that gives it its special flavors. Some very basic ingredients found in a coastal malabar kitchen turned into a finger licking good curry that is usually accompanied with puttu (Steamed Rice cake), ari dosa (rice crepe), thenga pathal (rice and coconut pancake) etc.

The same curry is prepared in various forms, it's like biryani, each house has their own varrattiye/ molotta recipe. I make this way and also prepare by sautéing each ingredient (depends on my mood ;)). In our place, we specifically call it molotta AKA mulagu ittadhu. I love King fish/ ayakoora molotta and also the head part of it, that has tender meat and the bones can be chewed too, which is upto you.

Have the curry warm and it always tastes the best the next day.

Ingredients :

700 gms King Fish Head/ King Fish chunks or slices
2-3 Medium Tomato, chopped roughly
Curry leaves
1 tsp Rock salt
2 cloves Gralic, pounded
1 small piece Ginger, pounded
5 tsps Kashmiri Chilli Powder
Green Chillies, optional
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Coriander leaves
1/2 cup water
Tamarind, smaller than lemon sized ball soaked in hot water

Tadka/Tempering:

Coconut oil
Mustard seeds Curry leaves
Fenugreek seeds/ Fenugreek powder, optional

Instructions:

Roughly chop tomatoes, and add curry leaves, rock salt and squeeze well with clean hands.
Add slightly ponded ginger and garlic, and the spice powders, and mix well.
Add water as required and allow to come to a boil.
Next add tamarind water, and check and add according to taste. Check for salt.
Add cleaned king fish head pieces to the gravy and cover and cook for no more than 10 minutes, this will make the fish meat hard.
Temper mustard seeds, Fenugreek seeds (optional),and curry leaves in coconut oil and add to the curry.
Enjoy hot with your choice of roti/ rice. Preferably malabari rotis. Tastes best the next day.

Ps: You can use any fish of your choice manthal, prawns, ney meen/ ayakoora, sardines etc being my favorites

Do try this recipe and don't forget to share your experience/feedback with me here in the comments or feel free to send me a mail. Also, do tag me at #taystedit if you try out my recipes on Facebook, Instagram etc so that I can see when you make it. ♡♡♡♡

Kethel's Chicken

Who doesn't love a good fried chicken? Well, this one is an invention that can be exclusively found in Hotel Rahmaniya, Kerala. They have many branches in Kerala, and I have been to the Cochin outlet and we love it! It’s super fiery, so make sure you ask for the lemonade that they serve that makes the combo extra special 🔥 Kethel's chicken is usually prepared with spring chicken (the young bird), this makes it more delicious and succulent, giving it the best flavor. Here, I have used normal chicken pieces, you may use spring chicken pieces preferably.

The chicken pieces are marinated in a special spice blend using ingredients like dried Kashmir Chilies (these chillies are not spicy), rock salt, etc. A part of the spice blend is reserved to fry at the end of the frying process. The chicken is then kept for marination half an hour or overnight. Of course, this is just my version of Kethel's chicken :D

But I promise you, it tastes soo good, and do not forget to use coconut oil for frying. The chicken is usually deep fried, but I used a cast iron kadai, sent to me by @earthandethics, thanks to Faiza, may Allah bless her business abundantly, made the frying process so convenient with very less oil. I do not like using a lot of oil, especially coconut oil, as all the extra oil would go to waste. And I hate wasting anything.

Also a tad bit of rice flour is added right before frying, this helps the coating on the chicken stay intact. Do try the recipe and let me know how you liked it! It's lip smacking good!

Ingredients :

400 gms Chicken pieces, preferably spring chicken
10-12 Whole Dried Kashmir Chillies
1 tsp Rock Salt
1 tsp Fennel seeds
2-3 Garlic cloves
1/4 inch Ginger
1 tsp Rice Flour
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Red Chilli flakes (optional)
1+1/2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
2 sprigs Curry leaves
Coconut Oil, for frying

Instructions:

Using a small mixer grinder/ a mortar and pestle, grind the whole Kashmiri Chillies with garlic, ginger, rock salt, fennel seeds, lemon juice and ground or pulse coarsly. To this mix, add the red chilli flakes. Reserve a tablespoon of the mix.
Now to the cleaned chicken pieces, add turmeric powder, Kashmiri Chilli powder, Crushed chilli mix, and salt as required. Mix well, and rub the marinade all over the chicken and set aside for half hour or overnight.
Add curry leaves and rice powder to the marinated chicken.
In a deep kadai, pour coconut oil and fry for 8-10 minutes, both sides.
Finally, when the last batch of the chicken is frying, in the last few minutes, add the reserved chilli mix and fry and fish out the chilli mix and add over the fried chicken pieces.
Enjoy hot with ghee rice, roti, dal fry etc.

Spicy Vermicelli Prawns

These spicy vermicelli prawns which are also known as Prawns Semiya Biryani is a staple at our home. We make this for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. It can be enjoyed at any time of the day. This recipe basically requires very few ingredients and is a super easy one that can be tried by amateur cooks who want to prepare meals and doesn't require a lot of your time.

You can find ready-made or already roasted vermicelli available in markets. If you did not find them, the vermicelli or semiya are first dry roasted in a pan. And in a separate medium-sized deep-pan, chopped onions are sauteed with curry leaves, green chilies, and ginger-garlic paste, which is then accompanied with some chopped tomatoes. These are the fundamental steps in Indian cooking to prepare curries or gravies of any kind. Meanwhile fry or cook the prawns in some water, prawns that are marinated in salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, and some curry leaves. Once the onion masala is done, you will now add in spices like turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala powder and allow to cook in chicken stock/ prawn stock. Next, add your pre-roasted vermicelli/semiya and mix well now add water required to cook the vermicelli and finally add the prawns that were cooked earlier and finish off with a squeeze of lemon.

Doesn't it sound simple? Well, it's super spicy and delicious too. If you plan to feed the kids this yummy dish, add lesser chilli and chilli powder. If you love spicy food with seafood, this is definitely for you!

Whenever I have them, I keep sweating due to the heat from the piping hot fiery vermicelli prawns, but its fun to eat it that way, that is like I said if you love spicy food. I am someone who loves both spicy and sweet food. Somewhat the same recipe can be substituted for semolina and it works just fine for rava biryani. As it is the eve of the Holy month of Ramadan I am sure this will make one lovely dish to try instead of a fried snack for iftar.

Do you love spicy food? If yes, comment below!

Without further ado let's get started!

Ingredients:

For the prawns:

10-12 prawns cleaned and deveined
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
Salt, as required
Curry leaves
Coconut oil

For the Vermicelli:

1 1/4 Cup of Vermicelli
1 1/2 cup water
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
Curry leaves
1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 green chilies, slit
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 Maggi chicken cube/ 1/2 glass chicken stock
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Instructions:

Fry or cook the prawns that have been marinated in the spices under for the prawns in the ingredients list.
Dry roast the vermicelli
In a deep medium-sized pan, sautee chopped onions, curry leaves, slit green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and allow the raw smell to disappear.
Next, add the chopped tomatoes and give a mix and close the lid and allow to cook for a minute.
Next add the spices - turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala powder, and saute for 30 seconds on the lowest flame.
Add fresh chicken stock water and/ prawns stock water and add the pre-roasted vermicelli and add water which includes the stock water that has been added already.
Now add the cooked/ fried prawns and give it a mix and allow to cook on sim for 15-20 minutes.
Finally, add the lemon juice and you are done!

Enjoy hot with a cup of hot sulaimani/ black tea.

Notes:

If you like the vermicelli texture to be soggy kind add more water while cooking the vermicelli.
Fry or cook the prawns for no more than 5- 6 minutes.
You may try the same with chicken too.

Payyoli Chicken Fry (Calicut Paragon inspired)

Haven't you tried the combination of Chicken with grated coconut yet? Sounds strange? Whether your answer is a yes or a no, this is one insane combination that defines Kerala cuisine. Payyoli Chicken is very commonly known among the mallu hommies as it is a popular dish of the well-known restaurant Calicut Paragon. It simply is scrumptious. Though the recipe is super simple, the touch of spicy fried coconut takes the chicken fry to a next level.

This is the perfect recipe if you are on the lookout to try some mallu style chicken fry. It was indeed a triumph when I made this for the first time and from then on has been a family favorite. Whenever I have guests over for dinner or lunch I make this chicken fry as it is super easy and delicious 😋.

Payyoli chicken can be served with any Kerala style curry, and chappati or simply as a starter. The chicken is preferably marinated twice for the marination to get absorbed well, where the rice powder is skipped and added right before you fry the chicken so that the chicken remains crispy from the outside and juicy from the inside. The chicken is first marinated in spicy marination and fried, which is then topped up with grated spicy coconut that is roasted in an iron Kadai (wok) which gives immense flavor dimension to the chicken fry.

You have to be very careful when roasting the coconut, watch over very closely, the coconut may look like it's still not done, but all of a sudden it may change color and burn. The whole point is that the shredded coconut has to be crispy, fiery and not burnt with a beautiful dark reddish color.

We begin the recipe by soaking the dried red chilies in hot water for 15 minutes, preferably Kashmir dried red whole chilies. Since I did not have the Kashmiri variety I used the normal dried red chillies. Also if you do not have any type of dried chilies at home you may use chili powder but the zing comes from the ground dried red chilies paste. Let's fry the chicken and top it with the crunchy roasted coconut. Let's get started!

Ingredients :

For the chicken marinade:

700 gms bone-in chicken (small cut pieces)
8 dried red chillies soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and made into paste
2 tsp gg paste
1 tsp meat masala/chicken Masala powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Kashmiri Red chilli powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes (optional)
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp maida/ all-purpose flour
Salt as required
3/4 tbsp rice flour

For roasting coconut:

Coconut oil
Salt as required
4-5 tbsp grated coconut
3-4 green chillies (slit)
Curry leaves
1-2 tsp of red chilli paste prepared earlier

Instructions :

Grind the soaked red chilies to a paste.
Marinate the cleaned, bone-in chicken pieces with the items under 'for the chicken marinade' title for at least half an hour to 2 hours.
Reserve a couple of teaspoons of the chili paste for the coconut roast. The rest of the paste may be added to the chicken marinade.
Right before you fry the chicken, mix in the rice flour and fry or med-high heat.
Fry for 4 minutes each side for a total of 15-18 minutes or until well done and slightly crispy on the outside.

Drain the chicken on a tissue paper.
Grind the coconut with the reserved chilli paste and salt and set aside.
Set aside some of the fried oil and fry the green chillies, and curry leaves in the same Kadai or pan.
Next, fry the coconut chilli paste until crispy roasted. Be careful not to burn it.
Scoop the fried coconut from the oil and transfer it onto a tissue paper.
Serve your spicy chicken topped with your crispy roasted coconut, green chillies and curry leaves.

Notes:

Keep a close watch when roasting the coconut, thus one step goes wrong and the whole dish isn't worth it.
Use coconut oil for frying the chicken for bringing out its 'naadan' flavors.
Always remember while frying chicken do not overcrowd the Kadai or pan, it makes the chicken soggy and the chicken might not get done from the inside.
Another tip for the coating to stay in place is to let the chicken cook at least for 3-4 minutes and flip so that the coating cooks and does not stick to the Kadai or pan.

Arabian Delight - Shakshuka/ Shakshouka

Poached eggs in a spicy tomato gravy to fulfill your palate, that is SHAKSHUKA, a one-skillet dish
of eggs poached in a smoky, spicy, tomato sauce. It is simply fun to say it. TRY IT! 😃 Everyone looks at me so weird when I say the name of the dish, as though I invented the name. 😎 Poor me, lol.😅 Here I am showing you a step by step of pictures that I recently made. Shakshuka is a Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean dish which is healthy at the same time easy to cook. I would say it is the best dish a beginner could cook, it is that simple yet delicious. Shakshuka is traditionally made in a cast iron pan (though any stainless steel or nonstick pan will work) and served straight from the pan at the table so everyone can dig in and help themselves. A loaf of good bread or pita bread is a must to mop up the sauce. A crusty bread I would say. Definitely a hearty meal!

The meaning of the word Shakshuka simply means 'mixture', a mixture of all the fine ingredients to sum up to a great dish. When I first heard of the name I anticipated it would be something I got to try for sure! I wasn't disappointed. This can be made for breakfast, dinner or any time of the day. My Mr loves this dish, Alhamdulillah, so I make it quite often and keep playing with flavors. This is a very versatile dish, play with the flavors that suit your taste buds and I'm sure you won't regret it! I also add schezwan sauce at times for a change. You can totally avoid the chicken cube, if you are thinking healthy. And I like to serve it with a nice dollop of sour cream to tally the tanginess. Don't want to make you salivate more, let's move on to the ingredients and get started! 😊

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, peeled and diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 Maggi Chicken cube

2 cups ripe diced tomatoes (semi-blended)

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

Pinch of sugar (optional, to taste)

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ tsp red chili flakes

4 eggs (as per your requirements)

1/2 tbsp fresh chopped fresh dill leaves(optional, for garnish)

A dollop of Sour Cream

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a large cast iron skillet. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic and once the raw smell disappears add the spices, pinch salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables have softened, about 5-10 minutes.
Add the semi-blended tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar. Simmer until the tomato mixture begins to reduce, about 10-12 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
Using a wooden spoon, make 4 indentations, or “wells,” in the tomato mixture (make sure the indentations are spaced out). Gently crack an egg into each indention.
Reduce the heat, cover the skillet, and cook on low until the egg whites are set about 7-10 minutes, depending on how runny or hard you want the yolk.
Uncover and add the fresh dill leaves. You can add more black pepper or crushed red chili flakes if you like. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and warm pita, bread, or your choice of crusty bread. Enjoy!