Baked Fish with Phad Thai Noodles

Just back from some work travels and while it was bordering on insane to be travelling to the badlands of UP and the fields of Maharashtra in 45C weather, it was also immensely satisfying to be able to talk to farmers and be out and about on their fields. We had some visitors from abroad and they were mighty impressed by how much we do with so little on our hands. I am especially proud of the Maharashtrian farmers we met - progressive, enterprising, intelligent and so hardworking. And the women are equal in almost every sense of the word!!!

So, though I said my previous post would be the last one for a while, I have time to squeeze in just one more before I leave this weekend.

The meals I love best are the ones I plan at short notice - the ones that are cooked on the basis of what I feel like eating right then. Not as per the pre-planned menu made at the beginning of the week, not because there are some eggplants lying in the crisper which need to be used up right away and not because we have had three nights of rotis, so its time for rice!

A few weeks back, while Hubby was doing dinner with our daughter (which meant that the whole household got to hear The Three Billy Goats Gruff in a loud baritone!) I unwound after getting home from work. A conscious effort on my part to avoid treating the whole evening "routine" as well, a routine! and to make sure I get some "off" time of my own atleast once or twice a week.

Well, after a bit I decided to see if I could make something different for dinner (of course the idea of putting my feet up loses its sheen after the the first half an hour!). Got some fish out of the freezer to thaw and decided to bake it. So I pounded together coriander, green chillies, peppercorns and salt to marinate the fish in. Once that was done, I wondered if the fish fillets would be enough; remembered I had a packet of ready-to-cook Phad Thai somewhere and got that out. The idea was to bake the marinated fish and then serve it on the Phad Thai noodles. The fish was flaky and tender and went very well with the spicy sweet Phad Thai. I would definitely do this dinner again - especially on a week night - it hardly took about an hour from start to finish to make.

The Phad Thai I used was the Real Thai brand - they have sauces, rice noodles, rice vermicelli and even rice paper rounds with which I have made steamed Vietnamese rolls. The packet has flat noodles which need to be immersed in hot water for about 10 minutes till softened; also a packet of the spices for the Phad Thai - sweet and spicy and with the taste of peanuts. I sauteed some onions in oil and then added the Phad Thai spice mix to it, a splash of water before tossing the cooked noodles into it - adjust salt with care since the spice mix has salt in it. Perfect combination. And the perfect unwinder for my evening :)

Baked Fish with Phad Thai

2 fillets of fish (Feeds two) - I cut the fillets into two, but you can keep it whole.

Marinade - pound together
Coriander leaves - handful
Green chillies - 2-3
Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Mix with
Lime juice - of one lime
1 tbsp -olive oil

1. Apply the marinade on the fillets and marinate for 10-15 minutes
2. Pre heat oven to 180C (350F), bake the fish fillet in a covered oven proof dish for 35 minutes.
3. Meanwhile take One packet (130gm) Phad Thai noodles
4. Soak the noodles in hot water for 25 minutes. Drain, and keep aside.
5. Heat 1 tsp sesame oil in a wok, add half a cup of sliced onions and fry for 3 minutes.
6. Add the seasoning from the Phad Thai noodles and fry for a minute
7. Add 4 tbsp of water and heat through, add the cooked noodles and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
8. Add a handful of chopped coriander and turn off the flame.
9. Portion out the noodles onto two plates. Place one baked fillet each on top of the noodles.
10. Pour the drippings from the oven proof dish over the fillets.

Tom Yum Soup with Noodles (Vegan)

Thai Noodle Soup - as I have posted before - is a favourite in this house. Light on the stomach and tongue tickling to the palate, it's an instant favourite! I'm posting this last but it was a wonderful beginning to the Thai meal I cooked for a friend and her daughter.

There was also Som Tam Mia Noi - a piquant salad of cucumber and cherry tomatoes tossed with a dressing made of garlic, chillies, jaggery, lime juice and soy sauce pounded together and served over with crushed,roasted peanuts - and a creamy Thai Red Curry (Gaeng Daeng) with babycorn, mushrooms, bell pepper and tofu.


My version of Tom Yum Soup is almost the same as this one here (which could probably be called Tom Kha). The changes I made to that recipe -
--- I added 2 fresh red chillies, cubes of tofu, sliced galangal and ginger.
--- I did away with the coconut milk and the peanut butter.
--- I added a stalk of lemon grass and several stalks of coriander leaves.
--- I put in a tsp of the Thai Red Curry paste (more if you want it spicy) and increased the vegetable stock.

I know I know, seems like a lot of changes - but really - its very, very simple. (Sigh.. If you really think I'm being lazy and would like to know the complete recipe, please mail me and I will send it to you.)

Coincidentally, just after I posted the first of the Thai dishes I made, Priya of Akshayapaatram announced the next edition of Vaishali's event It's a Vegan World and the theme she picked was Thai! So sending the Thai Noodle Soup to Priya - can't wait for the delicious round up!

Spaghetti in Meat sauce (Ragu) with Fresh Red Peppers

This recipe is adapted from the recipe I use for Tagliatelle alla Bolognese; most of us are familiar with "Spaghetti Bolognese". But Bolognese may well be a misnomer at times, and you might not find it on many menus in Italy - the country of it's origin.

And in Bologna itself, the province from which this dish gets it's name, meat sauce is "never served over spaghetti" and "the meat used is ground beef.Period."
Thus speaks that grand lady of Italian cooking - Marcella Hazan. She of the quick scorn for Americanized versions of "Italian cooking" and probably the one who taught many non Italians the traditional way of cooking Italian cuisine, through her very popular book "The Classic Italian Cookbook" and more recently "The Essentials of ClassicItalian Cooking"

The base of this dish is meat sauce - spaghetti or any other pasta can be used with the meat sauce which is called ragu.
Ragu refers to any meat sauce which is cooked long and slowly, simmering till the meat is tender and the sauce is imbued with the flavours of the meat cooked in it - making the sauce rich and satisfying.

The Italian word ragu originates from the French word "ragout" which means "stew". And even more interesting, "ragout" in turn comes from the French verb "ragouter" -"to stimulate the appetite".

So, a meat sauce cooked in the Bolognese style would be one with just enough tomato to give it a slightly sweet flavour, not the meatbits-drowned-in-tomato-sauce-version, which is what one sometime gets.

It is also characterised by milk being added to the meat to reduce the acidic content of tomatoes which come later, and definitely by being simmered for "a long long time"

I have been following a recipe for sometime now, it is in my book of handwritten recipes and dates back to the era when I didn't think it necessary to jot down where I got it from. But pretty much produced some really nice Bolognese ragu over the years. Except for the beef. *ahem*
I have even used chicken mince instead of lamb at times.

So, this time since it was just for the two of us (felt bad calling the delivery guy for a small quantity for this mutton dish,so ordered a quarter kilo of mince as well ...*sigh*), I decided to try something different.

I put in cooked Kidney beans (rajma) which I then cooked again with the mince.

Fresh red chillies and peppers in the sauce boosted the flavour. I did add some chilli powder and a touch of cumin since the kidney beans,while giving the sauce great body, tends to temper down the taste.

Together the fresh chillies, peppers and the rajma made a lot of difference to this sauce and it was very interesting.

I am posting the original recipe which I normally use and the changes I made are in brackets.

Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce

Pasta - 300 gm tagliatelle (I used spaghetti)

Ragu or meat sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter

Onions 2 medium - finely chopped
Celery - 1 cup finely diced (didn't have any on hand so omitted it)
Carrots - 1 cup diced (I used half a cup of carrots and added 1 big fresh red chilly sliced and I small red pepper deseeded and diced)
Mutton mince - 200 gm
Milk - 1 cup
Marjoram - 1 tbsp dried (I used dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
pinch of grated nutmeg
Tomatoes - 250gm,blanched,skinned and chopped finely (I used six medium tomatoes and omitted the puree)
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
White wine - 1 cup (this could be omitted)

Freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
1 cup kidney beans soaked overnight and then cooked till tender (they shouldn't be overcooked) and 1 clove of minced garlic were other additions to this recipe.
.
1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy bottomed pan, and chopped onions and fry till it changes colour.
2. Add celery and carrots (and the garlic,chopped chilli and peppers) and fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the mince,some salt and pepper and continue cooking till the meat loses its raw colour, stirring constantly till the mince is free of lumps. (add the cooked kidney beans at this stage)
4. Mix in the milk and let it simmer till the liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. Add the wine next and simmer again till it also evaporates.
5. Add the bay leaf, nutmeg, herbs, chopped tomatoes, puree,salt and simmer gently for about an hour and a half till the meat is tender, the fat separates from the sauce and the mixture has no water but is a thick sauce. ( I have tried pressure cooking the mince and then simmering it in the sauce and that just doesn't give the same taste as cooking the mince in the sauce.)
In the initial stages, you might have to keep adding water a bit at a time to prevent it from sticking, that's ok.
6. Adjust the salt, add freshly crushed pepper and mix well.

15 minutes before serving, bring water to boil for pasta with a tsp of olive oil and cook the pasta in it till tender. Drain and toss in a tsp of olive oil and season with salt and freshly crushed pepper.

Plate the pasta into 3-4 portions and ladle the ragu over the pasta. Serve warm.


This dish joins Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Ruth every week over at Once upon a Feast....this event is fast approaching it's first birthday!!!

Sizzling Sesame Noodles

The last of the three dishes I made for a delicious dinner, you can find the burnt ginger rice and vegetables in hot garlic sauce here and here. All recipes are adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's "Best of Chinese Cooking".

This one has the lovely taste of sesame and peanuts in it, something which is very much appreciated by our Indian palates. It's a simple recipe and cooks very fast - ideal for impromptu dinners since the ingredients are usually readily available in most of our kitchens.

The original recipe had bean sprouts in it,which I replaced with green pepper.

This recipe is quite high on the heat meter, so cut down on the green chillies and chilli sauce if you would prefer it less spicy.

Sizzling Sesame Noodles

Ingredients:

Noodles - 200 gms

Sesame oil (Til oil) - 1 tbsp

Spring onions - 2

Green chillies - 1

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Roasted peanuts - 1/4 cup

Oil - 1 tbsp

Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

Chilli sauce - 2 tbsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Green pepper - 1 sliced

salt to taste

Toasted white sesame seeds (ellu in Tamil, til in hindi) - 1 tbsp

Vinegar - 1 tbsp

1. Boil noodles in sufficient water till just about cooked. Remove, drain well and mix in sesame oil. Keep aside.

2. Slice spring onions finely, chop the greens and keep aside for garnish. Peel and finely chop garlic. Crush roasted peanuts coarsely.

3. Heat oil in a wok, add garlic, green chillies, spring onions and stir fry on high for 2 minutes.

4. Add boiled noodles, soy sauce, chilli sauce, pepper powder, salt to taste and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add crushed peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, green pepper and vinegar; continue cooking on high heat for a minute tossing continuously. Serve hot.

Spaghetti and Vegetarian "Meat"balls

Pasta is a favourite at home and both S and I love trying out pasta dishes when we eat out. I have tried making different kinds of pasta and different sauces too……risoni (rice shaped pasta) became one of our favourites till Nilgiris stopped stocking it for some reason.Pasta which looks like rice – can’t be a better thing to appeal to our South Indian sensibilities I guess ;).

Then there’s farfalle, penne and macaroni – in order of preference.
I don’t prefer the baked versions very much, since it usually calls for way more cheese than we should be having, and it becomes too heavy. Lasagne is the one thing that hubby can’t resist though when we eat out and it was his way of checking out if a new place made the grade – don’t get your lasagna right? Don’t even bother again! It’s a different matter that most restaurants in Chennai used to have chicken lasagna on the menu, is that an oxymoron I wonder…..

Spaghetti however, doesn’t get made too often, because I love having a LOT of sauce with it and I usually don’t have that many tomatoes on hand!

On one of those rare occasions when I had everything for the sauce and the spaghetti on the same day ( a cosmic event!), I decided to make a nice sauce with it to go with the spaghetti.

Then I decided to make meatballs – without the mutton, since I don’t cook mutton at home often – make that “at all”! I don’t eat mutton and hubby avoids red meat too. Chicken is my usual substitute but I didn’t feel like eating chicken either that night.

So, then my mind started wandering, which led to some internet searching…..turns out there are so many recipes out there for “meatless meatballs”, my head started spinning!! Apparently people want to make vegetarian meatballs taste exactly like meat. Well, I don’t miss mutton at all considering I wasn’t a big meat eater at any point, so I just wantedto make – well vegetarian dumplings to put into the sauce with my spaghetti!

So, I shut down all the search windows which were bent on confusing my already addled brain and keeping in mind the various things and ingredients used in different recipes, made my own version. I decided to go with silken tofu – first time I would be using it – mushrooms and walnuts.

I was amazed at how well they turned out….the walnuts and the mushrooms gave the tofu a really nice texture and “bite”. It also kept its shape very well, both while frying and in the sauce, so I think thats a great thing - no fussing to keep it from breaking!

Spaghetti and Vegetarian "Meat"balls

Ingredients:
Spaghetti – 250gms

For the sauce:
Tomatoes – ½ kg
Garlic – 5-6 cloves chopped fine
Cumin powder – ¼ tsp
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Mixed dry herbs – 2 tbsp
Freshly crushed black pepper – 1 tsp
Olive Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Vegetarian "Meat"balls:
Silken Tofu – firm – 1 cup crumbled
Walnuts – 2 tbsp finely chopped
Mushrooms – 100 gms cleaned and finely chopped
Whole wheat flour – 1 tbsp
Bread crumbs – ¼ cup
Salt to taste
Oregano – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Pepper powder – 1 tsp

Oil – 2 tbsp to shallow fry or 1 tbsp to bake.

Method:
1. Wash tomatoes, microwave with just enough water for 3 minutes on high. Remove, dunk into cold water and peel.
2. Roughly chop the peeled tomatoes and scoop with juices into a vessel
3. Heat olive oil in a pan and add garlic to it, sauté for a minute and then add the tomatoes to the garlic, sauté for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add chilli powder, cumin powder and salt, let it cook covered for about 15 minutes, adding a splash of water in between if needed. It should cook to a thick sauce consistency.
5. Add the mixed herbs and a bit of vegetable stock or water if it is too thick. Add the crushed pepper just before taking off the flame.
6. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti as per directions on the pack and toss it with a tsp of olive oil and keep warm. Ideally, make the spaghetti just before you are ready to eat, so that it doesn’t dry out.
7. Assemble all the ingredients for the balls in a bowl, except the oil. Mix well and combine till it all comes together, adding just enough bread crumbs as is necessary to bind the balls together.
Check and adjust seasoning. Should make about 10-12 balls.
8. Shallow fry the balls in 2 batches adding a tbsp of oil each time, till they change colour and are brown on all sides. Or bake them in an oven for about 15 minutes at 180 C, rotating them in between so they brown evenly.
9. Add them to the warm sauce and keep aside
10. When ready to serve, plate the warm spaghetti individually and pour some of the warm sauce and meatballs over it.

This dish is going to Presto Pasta Nights, a weekly event hosted by Ruth over here @ Once Upon a Feast.