Spicy Fish Nuggets

I recently realised that cold storage has evening sale at fish & meat section. To my surprise the prices were either 50% off or 80%. The idea of cold storage is brilliant. They somehow want to clear off their stock of perishable items & its also easy on our pockets too:) I could pick up 3 Batam Steak Fillet for just $2.50. Isnt that good? And again you also need to be lucky to find the best offer & produce. coz not always you can find them. Now I am smartly shopping my groceries & also checking on offers that are around.

I actually wanted to make fish cutlets & unfortunately dint have many ingredients to make them. Ther was fish & some veggies, so decided to make something with what was available.I coated my fish nuggets with oats, vermicelli & shallow fried them. The coating was amazing & crispy. So due to shortage of ingredients for fish cutlet, I have a new recipe:) This is how I have come up with so many my own recipes. Here is the recipe for fush Nuggets

Ingredients

1 Cup boiled potatoes & carrots (mashed)
1 cup boneless boiled fish (mashed)
1 onion chopped small
1 tbsp Ginger chopped
1 Tbsp Chili powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/4 Tsp Cumin powder
1/4 tsp Garam masala
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup vermicelli
salt as per taste
2 Tbsp Oil
Spring onions to garnish (You can use coriander & mint also)

Method:

In a pan add 1 tbsp of oil fry ginger, onion for 3 minutes. Add in all the masalas, fish & vegetables. Mix this well & cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, untill everthing is well blended. Finally add in 1 tbsp of Lime juice, spring onions & mix well. Mix the oats & vermicelli seperately on a plate. Take some portion of fish mixture & make any shape of your choice. Coat them  or roll them on oats mixture & shallow fry them on a pan.You can make around 10 - 12 nuggets.

Stuffed Eggplant Canapes

I had picked up some long Eggplant/ Brinjals to make eggplant Parmesan. Since I dint have Parmesan cheese, I decided to make my own version of canapes. I had already made Soya Chunks Masala, I wanted to make some Appetiser too. Instead of making a separate filling for the eggplants. I decided to take few spoons of soya chunk masala (just before adding poppy seeds & cashew) for this recipe. For Soya Chunk Masala recipe click  here
According to Wikipedia Canape is a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. Canapes are very easy to make and a great Appetiser for any occasion. The best part is it can be prepared really fast .

Ingredients

• 1 Large Eggplant/ Brinjal cut into circles. (I used just half as I made for just 2 people)
• 3 Tbsp of Soya Chunk Masala
• 2 Tbsp of Shredded Cheddarar & mozzarella cheese
• 1 Tbsp of Oil

Method:

1. In a flat Pan add 1 tbsp of oil & shallow fry the brinjals for about 3 to 4 minutes on both sides.
2. Now add in the topping on each of the Eggplant/ brinjal. I added just 1/2 tspn of masala topping & 1/4 tsp of shredded cheese.
3. Cover a lid & cook for another minute until the cheese is melted. The canapes are ready to serve:) Thats so simple & easy right?

Note:

1. I dint add any salt to Eggplant/ brinjal as there was enough in soya chunks masala & cheese. You can add some if you need extra saltiness
2. I made this on a pan but you can bake this dish directly

Soya Chunks Masala

While I was in India I used to make many varieties for Soya Chunks dishes. The good part about Soya chunks are that it somewhat tastes like chicken & very healthy too. Last time when i went to little India I found this in a small grocery store & I just grabbed a packet of it. The idea was to make Chilli Soya which is one of my fav:) Yesterday I was thinking on what to make to go with Rotis for dinner? Thatz when this idea popped up & I made it with a new twist by adding Poppy seeds. This curry turned out very tasty & goes well with Roti, rice, dosa... There was some left over from last night & I had that with Appams in the morning & it was yummm. I made this curry spicy. Now let me tell you how I made this

Ingredients

2 cups Soya chunks
1 Onion chopped
1 Tbsp Ginger & garlic Paste
1 Large Tomato chopped
1 Tbsp Kashmiri Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 Tsp Corinader Powder
1/4 Tsp Garam Masala
1/2 Cup of water
1/2 Ltr of water for boiling Soya Chunks
Handful of Cashew nuts
1 Tbsp of Poppy seeds (kuskus) (Soak this in 1/4 cup of hot water for 10 minutes)
Slat as per taste
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
Coriander leaves for garnish (Since I dint have them I use spring Onions:))

Method:

Boil 1/2 ltr of water & add soya chunks into it. Cook this for about 2 minutes, drain off the water & set aside. In a heavy bottom pan add oil fry ginger garlic for 1/2 a minute, add onion, tomatoes, all the masalas, salt & cook for 5 minutes until fat separation. Now add in the drained soya chunks into this masala & cook for 2 minutes until its well blended. In a mixer/ grinder add the cashew nuts, poppy seeds along with soaked water & grind it to a smooth paste. Now add this paste to the soya mixture. Give it a good mix & cook on low flame for about 2 minutes. Garnish this with Coriander leaves or spring onions. Soya Chunks masala is ready to serve.

Note:

• You can actually omit the poppy seeds & cashew if you want. However adding these 2 amazing ingredients can make your food rich & tastier
• This soya took very less time to cook. However back in India the size if soya used to be bigger & it took more time to cook.
• Poppy seed is one of the expenses seeds. This is also a drug if taken in large quantities. The Bengalis use this in varity of dishes. When used in right amount for cooking it add great flavour.
• Many of my friends ask me how I get a nice color to my curries. I use Everest brand masalas & they work  great for me. The color & taste of your dishes vastly comes from the brands that you use.

Happy cooking & eating:)

Eggless Butter cake

Since I eat eggs, I really dint bother to try out the eggless cake recipes. As I have many vegetarian friends & they had asked for eggless cakes, I decided to try this recipe from Bhavanas kitchen. I must say this cake turned out very good & moist. I never thought that eggless cakes also can taste this good. These days when I dont have eggs in stock, I make eggless cakes:) This recipe is very simple & easy to make. I dont think you can go wrong with this:) Here is the recipe...

Ingredients
All purpose flour/Maida - 1 1/2 cup
Milkmaid (Condensed milk) - 1 cup
Sugar -1/4 cup (1 cup if you want it very sweet)
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Butter- 90 gms
Vanilla essence -1tsp

Preparation
Seive maida, baking powder, soda nd keep it aside.Pre heat the oven for 10 minutes. Grease and flour the baking tray and keep it ready.(I used an 8 inch square baking tray).

Method
Mix sugar with Butter. essence & condensed milk with a electric beater for 3 minutes.Now add the dry ingredients to the above wet mixture & beat for another 3 minutes until creamy.

Pour the mixture in the greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (180 degree C ) or until a toothprick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.Wait for the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.

Note:

• I always powder my sugar before adding
• Never open the Oven inbetween as the cake can fall flat.
• This cake cooks really fast & gets done in less than 30 mins
• Bake immediatly dont leave the batter out for too long
• Milk maid is already sweet so add sugar based on your taste preference
• I use salted butter. If you are using unsalted butter than remember to add 1/4 tsp of salt.
• I tried this recipe from Bhavana's veg recipe

Lady Bug Cake

Well this is my 4th Birthday cake order. I made this cake for my friends daughters 1st birthday party. Its almost 5 kg cake with 3 tiers. The bottom base is orange cake with orange mousse filling. The top 2 tiers are Strawberry cake with Strawberry mousse filling. My friend is a anti chocolate lover:) she told me to make any flavour other than chocolate. She also mentioned that she wants the cake to be colorful. So I came up withan idea to make a ladybug garden & queen lady bug sleeping on top of a cloud. Fortunately I made the queen bug in just 2 attempts:) I was so happy the way it came out. Untill I delivered, cut & tasted .. I couldnt rest in peace. Everyone loved the taste & offcourse the design too. This cake serves around 50 + people.

Princess Bug sleeping peacefully