What to do with left over cooked fish??

I have always struggled with quantities when cooking, especially if I have friends or family over. You want to cook enough so everyone can easily enjoy seconds if they want to. However, cook too much and you end up having to go through the same leftovers for days on end. And as all the seafood lovers will testify, while fish can be one of the best foods to eat freshly cooked, its one of the worst to eat re heated.

Well here is a way for you to convert leftover fish into a whole new dish!

Step 1: Flake and debone the fish. It doesn't matter what fish or how it was cooked.

Step 2: Boil and mash some potato or sweet potato. The quantity should be 1/3- 1/4 the quantity of fish. I use sweet potato since it has a lower GI and is a fantastic replacement for regular potato if you  are diabetic or just avoiding potato. I find that sweet potato goes especially well  with "oily" types of fish like mackerel, tuna or salmon.

Step 3 : Chop some red onion, red capsicum, garlic and coriander. You will need to judge quantities depending on how much fish you have.

Step 4: Mix together fish, potato, chopped vegetables, salt, pepper and coriander(you can use any other herbs depending on if you prefer them or happen to have them around)

Step 5 : Taste the mixture to ensure that you have the right amount of seasoning, shape the mixture into patties, coat with egg and breadcrumbs and pan fry

Voila!.. a whole new dish! This is such a versatile dish because you can add anything you like or have around. Right from some extra chilli to lemon to grated carrot. Just remember to ensure that the mixture is dry, if not, the patties will not hold together. If you find that the mixture is too soft, add a little more mashed potato.

Hint: this is a really quick dinner to make if you use a tin of tuna or salmon from the supermarket instead of leftover fish. Just as yummy!

My version of tandoori prawns

Ok I know this cant really be called "tandoori" since they are not cooked in a tandoor which is a traditional indian clay oven or red as I did not want to use food colouring. That being said, most of the spices and flavours are the same. I assure you, this dish is so addictive its unbelievable!.

So here goes..

Marinate the prawns in yogurt, lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala (quantities below).  put the prawns on a skewer and grill.. easy peasy!

Served with a side of yogurt raita and lemon wedge, unbelievably good!

You can grill the prawns on their own if you do not have skewers and the recipe works just as well with fish or chicken.

Ingredients
2 spoons yogurt
1 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala.
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp  lemon juice
salt to taste

A sunday afternoon with blueberry muffins

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon then sitting on the couch with a book, a hot cup of tea and freshly baked blueberry muffins!

As mentioned in a previous post, I have been experimenting with trying to make all time favourites like muffins healthier. Everybody loves cakes, and whats better than finding a way to be able to eat them more often!

Inspired by a a recipe  from a cookbook I recently found called "Have Your Cake" by the Australian author Emily Rose, I have tried making muffins by replacing butter, sugar and white flour with oil, honey and wholewheat flour. I did not have orange juice so I added a little apple cider vinegar for the acidity...And the result:- An addictive morning or afternoon snack!

Stuffed mushrooms and Meatloaf

Meatloaf is an easy meal to make since you just mix all the ingredients, put in the oven and do your other chores while it gets done.

 A recipe that my mum used and we ate a lot growing up was mixing raw mince, chopped onions, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, 1 egg and breadcrumbs, pack it into a baking mould and bake for 45 minutes.

What I do is add any vegetables I have in the house as well to make the meal more wholesome. For instance, the meatloaf in the picture has grated carrot, red capsicum and thyme as well. 

For the stuffed mushrooms, saute the chopped mushroom stems, onion, capsicum. Mix the sauteed mixture with grated cheese and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the mushroom cups, sprinkle with some cheese and bake for 10 minutes. Quick and easy!

For quick reference and quantities , here are the ingredients:-

Meatloaf

500gm beef mince

1 small chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1 egg

breadcrumbs from 2 slices of whole wheat bread

salt and pepper to taste

Herbs, carrot capsicum (optional)

Stuffed mushrooms

 Mushrooms of your choice (I used cup mushrooms)

1/2 a small onion

 Capsicum

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated cheese(I use a mix of cheddar and parmesan)

Easy Weekday Dinner

Ever had that feeling where you come home from work and dont know what to make for dinner? What I find easy to do,  is to marinade the meat or fish on the day you do the groceries for the week(Sunday for me ) and freeze it. That way if I take if out of the freezer  on my way to work, I have marinated meat or fish ready for cooking when I get home in the evening! Dinner can be ready in 20 minutes!.The picture is of delicious crumb fried fish marinated in ginger-garlic paste, fresh red chilli, salt and turmeric. Quick and easy!

A handy tip I find is, if pan frying something marinated in lemon, first coat it in breadcrumbs or semolina.  The lemon tends to spit quite badly when it comes in contact with the oil.

Decadent Sanrival

I found this picture on my phone from last Christmas. Its my mum's famous Sanrival which is an indulgent cashew-nut meringue butter cream dessert cake. One bite and you know there is no going back! :-)

To learn how to make it, contact Fatima Moniz on +91 9370275702 or 0832 2776035 to find out when the next Sanrival making class is.

Healthy savoury muffins.

I'm such a lazy morning person. I generally dont have the time or inclination so make breakfast before work. Lets face it, cereal is boring food. Time to  experiment with healthy breakfast muffins. Here is a recipe that is healthy, and not a typical morning cereal sludge! For the real time kicker, I make a batch on sunday. Next up, eat one each morning on the dash to work, or with a hot drink and newspaper.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tspn mixed italian herbs (optional or just use the particular herbs you like)

1/2 tspn salt

1 1/2 cup whole wheat self raising flour

1/2 cup rice bran oil(You should be able to use different oils like sunflower oil if you dont have the rice bran oil

1/2 cup grated cheese 1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomato

(you can add,substitute, increase or decrease  these ingredients depending on your tastes and availability. Alternatives could be  grated zucchini/carrot, ham, bacon, mushrooms or whatever else you like!)

Method:

Beat eggs and oil together. Mix in the cheese, sundried tomato, herbs and salt. Fold in the flour and milk. Spoon into muffin moulds and bake in a pre heated oven for about 15 minutes or till cooked through.

PS: if you are not too fussed about it being healthy, you can use white flour instead of whole wheat and butter instead of the oil.

Vanilla Butter Cake which Chocolate Ganache and Strawberry Topping

Here is one of my mum's recipes I used, to make a birthday cake for my cousin Lyell.
It was deliciously sinful!

Ingredients

Flour: 300 gms
Butter: 200 gms
Curds: 100 gms
Eggs: 6
Vanilla:1/2 tsp
Baking soda: ½ tsp
Hot water:2 tbs
Sugar:300 gms
Chopped dark chocolate: 250gms
Full cream: 1/3rd Cup

Cake

Beat the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy .Add curds and beat. Add the

sieved flour with b. soda, then the hot water and fold. Bake in a greased and floured mould until cake leaves the side of the tin and skewer pierced into the cake come out clean.

Topping

Mix the chopped dark chocolate and the full cream in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir mixture until smooth and shiny. Set aside and allow to cool a little. Inhale the aroma for that nice fuzzy feeling. Spread around cake and decorate with sliced strawberries.