1001 Indian Fish Curries

This cookbook lists 1000 Indian fish curries, greatly simplified, so that a first time cook can easily cook them. The principle is simple – 10 commonly consumed fishes are combined with ten different bases and 10 different flavouring techniques to create a thousand different recipes.  The building blocks are listed below.

Fishes commonly used in South Indian Cuisine:

Vanjiram : Seer fish / King fish. 

Koduva : Sea Bass.

Viraal : Murrel.

Karuppu Vavval : Black Pomfret.

Vellai Vavval : Silver Pomfret.

Sura : Baby Shark.

Sankara : Red Snapper.

Kilanga : Smelt.

Sudumbu : False Trevally.

 The base :

0.: None . No liquid base is used to cook dry fish curries.

1.: Onion . An extra dose of pureed onions is used for the North Indian Fish Dopyaza

2.: Nuts / Seeds . A rich base made from nut paste,  made popular by the Moguls. This is used to cook up rich, mild fish curries.

3.: Herbs . A variety of pureed herbs are used for tangy fish curries.

4.: Fish Tamarind . Used especially in the western coast, Kokkum r fish tamarind is chiefly responsible for the unique fish curries of Kerala, Goa and Konkan.

6.: Tomato is used as a curry base across the country.

7.: Tamarind is used to cook up a variety of sour fish stews like the Kulambu of Tamilnadu and Pulusu of Andhra.

8.: Onion – tomato is stir fried, blended to a paste with other additives and is used as a base in the rich Chettinadu fish curry.

 The flavouring :

0.:  Readymade Masala  is used across the country.

1.:  Mustard is fried in oil and is used to flavour South Indian fish curries

2.:  Ginger- Garlic  is used across the country.

3.:  Asafetida   is widely used in South Indian curries

4.:  Panchphoran  is a mix of five whole spices and is chiefly used in Orissa and West Bengal

5.:  Fenugreek  lends a bitter note and is more common in South Indian curries.

6.:  Cloves – Cinnamon are commonly used in Muglai curries.

7.:  Roast & Ground whole spices  are used across the country

8.:  Fried & Ground whole spices are more common in South Indian cuisine.

Simple Non-Veg Salads 1001

Non Veg Salads – A Primer:  A mix of ready to eat meats / sea food  with fresh veggies make easy, protein packed, filling salads. Almost any cured, ready to eat meat/ sea food can go into a salad. With a few simple rules, you can easily create delicious salads.

1. Check packaging to ensure that the base is ready to eat. 

2. Shake off excess water after washing fruits / veggies to avoid watering down your salad. Use a tissue to soak excess water.

3. Mix in the dressing just before serving as dressing makes salads soggy after a while.

4. If you plan to store the salad, do so without dressing.

5. Cut  veggies/ meats into uniform, bite sized pieces.

6. Always tear leaves, as cutting them would cause them to wilt.

7.  Avoid over stirring the salad, which makes it soggy. Instead add everything to a closed container and toss well to mix.
8.  Hollowed out fruit / vegetable halves / bowl shaped cabbage leaves  make great salad serving bowls .Palm sized cabbage leaves / grape    leaves make cute spoons.

Salad dressings with oil, however can have almost   100 calories per spoon. For low cal salads, choose dressings like lemon juice / yogurt / vinegar and replace the nuts with croutons as a garnish.

Classic Dressing: Soy sauce, oils, vinegar have been used as dressings for thousands of years. Creamy emulsions like vinaigrette & Mayonnaise are some of the more popular dressings.

 Full meal Salads:
When you add the following to any of the salads above, the salad becomes a full meal.

1. Half a handful of cheese (paneer, feta etc) : Cheese Salad.
2. Half a handful of cooked rice or half a handful of cracked wheat (Bulgur wheat) soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes. : Grain Salad.
3. A handful of cooked couscous / pasta   : Pasta/ Couscous Salad.
4. Half a handful of chopped and boiled potato: Potato Salad.
5. Half a handful of chopped bread: Bread Salad.

Always check packing to ensure the base is ready to eat.

 

Sausage : Ground meat mixed with fat, flavouring, usually shaped into cylinders. Pork is most common, but beef, lamb, veal (calf meat), goat, turkey, chicken or game meats are also used. Corn starch, whey, Oatmeal or rice flour are also mixed in as fillers. Many sausages are cured / precooked and are ready to eat. Hundreds of sausage varieties exist. Sausages were invented as a way to preserve meat without refrigeration.

Corned beef : Beef cured with salt and is ready to eat. (Corn refers to the grainy salt crystals used for curing. Corned beef is mixed with pepper and smoked to produce Pastrami.

Prosciutto : Salted, air dried ham (dried for up to two years). It is ready to eat and is usually sliced into wafer thin pieces.

Salami – Fermented and air dried sausage.
Kippered Herring - Gutted, salted and smoked herring.

1001 Simple Veggie Salads

Salads – A Primer : Salad (from Latin salata : Salt) is usually a mix of various vegetables / fruits with seasonings. Almost anything can go into a salad. With a few simple rules, you can easily create delicious salads.
1. Choose fresh fruits/leaves/ veggies / sprouts.
2. Shake off excess water after washing fruits / veggies to avoid watering down your salad. Use a tissue to mop off excess water.
3. Mix in the dressing just before serving as dressing makes salads soggy after a while.
4. If you plan to store the salad, do so without dressing.
5. Cut fruit / veggies into uniform, bite sized pieces.
6. Always tear leaves, as cutting them would cause them to wilt.
7. Dipping chopped apples / banana / avocado in lemon juice prevents discoloration.
8. Avoid over stirring the salad, which makes it soggy. Instead add everything to a closed container and toss well to mix.
9. Hollowed out Fruit / vegetable halves, bowl shaped cabbage leaves, etc make great salad serving bowls .Palm sized cabbage leaves / grape leaves make spoons.
A handful of chopped fruits / veggies have only about 25 calories. Salad dressings with oil, however can have almost 100 calories per spoon. If you are weight watching, go in for low cal dressings like lemon juice / yogurt / vinegar and replace the nuts with croutons (toasted bread pieces) as a garnish.

Salad varieties :
Garden salad (# 010) has fresh seasonal vegetables as the base.
Green Salad (# 211) uses fresh leaves as the base.
Lentil Salads (#611) use soaked lentils as a base.
Bean Salads (#704) used cooked beans as the base.
Sprout Salads (#856) are built on sprouted beans.

Full meal Salads :
When you add the following to any of the salads above, the salad becomes a full meal.
1. Half a handful of cheese ( paneer, feta etc) >> Cheese Salad
2. Half a handful of cooked rice or half a handful of cracked wheat soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes. : Grain Salad
3. A handful of cooked couscous / pasta / : Pasta/ Couscous Salad.
4. Half a handful of chopped and boiled potato: Potato Salad
5. Half a handful of chopped bread: Bread Salad

Classic Salads :
Caesar Salad - Greens (romaine lettuce) with garlic and vinaigrette dressing. (recipe # 208)
Coleslaw – Shredded cabbage mixed with mayonnaise. (recipe # 186)
Panzanella - Italian salad in which chopped up stale bread is mixed with tomatoes, onions and vinegar.
Salad Nicoise - Italian salad with potatoes, olives, beans with vinaigrette dressing.
Waldorf Salad – American salad with apples, lemon juice, celery, walnuts, and mayonnaise.
Indians are not big fresh salad eaters. However, two unique Indian salads stand out – the Karnataka Kosambari ( soaked mung dal mixed with cucumbers, pepper and lemon juice) and the North Indian Kachumber ( A finely chopped mix of onions, tomatoes, chilies and lemon juice)

Classic Dressings : Soy sauce, oils, vinegar have been used as dressings for thousands of years. Creamy emulsions like vinaigrette & Mayonnaise are some of the more popular dressings.

Recipes for the Rest of us - E book download

Here's a compilation of the Simple recipes from fellow bloggers - now available as a free ebook.(pdf file, 7 Mb) Download, print and share !

Thanks to all those who contributed and for being generous enough to make your recipes available as a free ebook.

If I have missed out on any of your recipes, please mail me and I'll get them included.