One of my favorite ways of making Salmon…

It’s Monday, I am chilling at home and looking forward to having dinner with friends. For this holiday, I’ve decided to go light on cooking. I’ve been making easy breezy dishes for the past few days. Well, the dishes are not just easy to make, but they are made in a healthy way and in a delicious way as well. Yesterday, I made this salmon in tomato sauce. It was absolutely easy to make and it tasted absolutely delicious. I am sure whenever I buy salmon or any other fish I’ll be tempted to make this dish. I got this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks by Rafi Fernandez. The original recipe used Cod and grilled the fish, while I used salmon and pan fried it.

Salmon in Tomato Sauce Recipe

Recipe Courtesy: Rafi Fernandes

Ingredients

For coating the salmon

• Salmon or cod- 4 steaks
• Corn flour or corn starch-  2 tbsp
• Garlic powder- 1 tsp
• Chilli powder- 1 tsp
• Ground ginger- 1 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 tsp
• Salt- 3/4 tsp

• Olive oil- 2 tbsp for pan frying

For making sauce

• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Bay leaves- 2
• Whole pepper corns- 1 tsp
• Cinnamon stick- 1 inch slice
• Tomato sauce- 3 tbsp
• Garam masala- 1 tsp
• Chilli powder- 1 tsp
• Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
• Ginger, minced- 1 tsp
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Water- 3/4 cup
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful
• Mint, chopped- 5-6 leaves

Finally, I made the best tasting salmon totally my way…

One fish that I cannot handle much is salmon, on the other hand my husband loves it a lot. In fact, most North Americans love this fish and is a popular fish in American/European cuisine. I’ve had salmon at many restaurants, none of them seemed to impress my taste buds. For me, when it comes to fish dishes, I like it extra spicy and flavorful. May be because I grew up in Kerala and the fish dishes there are amazingly delicious and I expect the same when I’ve fish at other restaurants. However, I adore Cajun style fish dishes especially gumbos and jambalayas as it’s very flavorful and I can feel the taste of the fish.

This morning I shopped at the Asian supermarket, needless to say this store always amazes me. All kinds of ingredients under the sun is found in this store from veggies to fish. I wonder how they get all those veggies which are common in my hometown and they are kept very fresh. This time I came across pandan leaves which is known as Biryanikaitha or Ramba leaves in Kerala. This leaf is mostly used for its flavor and is added while making biryani. This is a tropical plant and so widely used in South Indian and Asian cooking. This pant is always seen in my mom’s and grand mom’s veggie garden, in fact most houses in Kerala have this pant. It’s quite easy to grow and it grows like a weed. Here in North America, whenever I see any ingredients that I grew up seeing or having, I get so excited and it brings back a lot of good food memories. So when I saw pandan leaves at the store, it put a huge smile on my face and of course I grabbed it right away. If you are wondering what’s pandan leaves, here is a picture of it:

It’s been a while since I made any exciting fish dishes, so I bought a few variety of fish. Usually I never go near to Salmon, but this time I was determined enough to make myself like salmon. I grabbed a couple of salmon steaks. After reaching home, I started to make lunch. Salmon was my pick, I first thought of baking it then went with pan frying it. I wanted to make it very flavorful so I marinated the salmon with some spices and pan fried it in coconut oil. Coconut oil enhances the flavor of any dish, especially fish dishes. In Kerala cooking, coconut oil is one unavoidable ingredient, almost all dishes are cooked using this oil. To enhance the flavor more, I added pandan leaves and curry leaves to the oil while pan frying the fish.

Finally, yes finally I made salmon in the most delicious way possible. This pan fried salmon beats all the other salmon dishes that I’ve tried before. My husband agreed with this too. I served this with tapioca and coconut stir fry and for dipping I made a spicy and tangy sauce. In Kerala, “Fish and Tapioca” or “Meen and Kappa” is one dish which makes all the non-veggies go wild. I admire Kerala style fish cooking, none of the other cuisine can possibly beat it!

Pan Fried Salmon in Coconut Oil

Ingredients:

• Salmon- 2 large steaks

For marination:

• Ginger-Garlic paste- 2 tsp
• Chilly powder- 2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Garam Masala- 1 tsp
• Ground Cumin- 1/2 tsp
• Lemon juice- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Salt- 1/2 tsp

For Pan frying:

• Coconut Oil- 3-4 tbsp
• Pandan leaves, chopped- 2 handful
• Curry leaves- 3 sprigs

Preparation:

1. Marinate the salmon steaks with the above mentioned “for marination ingredients” and keep aside for 30 minutes or longer the better.
2. Heat a non-stick fry pan over medium heat, add coconut oil.
3. Add pandan leaves and curry leaves to the oil.
4. Place the salmon over the oil and cook till the bottom side turn light golden in color.
5. Gently flip it over and let the other side cook till golden in color too.
6. Flip again and cook till both sides get browned.
7. If there is not much oil, add little more to prevent the fish from sticking to the pan.
8. Transfer to a paper towel, let it absorb the oil.
9. Serve in a plate topped with the fried pandan and curry leaves over it.
10. This goes really really well with tapioca in ground coconut. This time I made stir fried tapioca along with coconut and also made an easy spicy and tangy sauce for dipping it. I’ll post the recipe soon.

Tips:

• Please try to use coconut oil for better taste, however you could use olive oil or vegetable oil too.
• Add curry leaves and pandan leaves for a nice aroma.

Make this Valentine’s day more personal, give a touch of love to everything, make it delightful and romantic…

This V-day skip making a reservation to a restaurant, instead whip up a delightful  dinner in your kitchen in under 30 minutes. Oh ya, you heard me, Valentine’s day dinner in under 30 minutes which includes appetizer, main course, salad and dessert. If you think that you can’t make restaurant style fancy dinner at home, then you are totally wrong. If I can make it, you can make it too.

Here are a few special dishes I whipped up in under 30 minutes which could be made for V-day dinner. It’s not about just cooking food, give your special touch to everything you make, get creative and you will see the magic. Everything will turn out as perfect as you want.

Also, while serving food for special occasions, do spend little time on plating and arranging the table. Make it simple and it will look elegant!

Appetizer:

• Onion Rings: Click for recipe

• Scallion Tempura: Click for recipe

Main Course:

• Baked Succulent Salmon: click for recipe

Salad:

• Romaine Sweet Hearts: click for recipe

Dessert:

• Chocolate Pistachio covered Strawberries: click for recipe

Fruits:

• Strawberry and Raspberry

Sharbat:

• Rooh Afza

Salmon coated with breadcrumbs seasoned with fresh lemon zest and tangy dill, baked and ready to serve in minutes…

Salmon is a fish that’s rich in omega-3 fats and widely available in the US. However, I am not a huge fan of salmon and so I end up buying other fishes from the fish market. My husband being a salmon fanatic, gets to eat this fish only at restaurants. During my last shopping, when I saw this orange beauty I grabbed a bag of them and had kept in the freezer. I wasn’t quite sure about how and what to make with them. This afternoon, I gave it some thought and instantly pulled them out of the freezer. In just 15 minutes, a flavorful entree was deliciously ready.

Baked Succulent Salmon Fillets

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillets, skinned or de-skinned – 4, 4 0z each
• Bread crumbs, plain- 1/4 cup
• Fresh lemon zest- of half lemon
• Dill, chopped- 2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Cooking spray

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 400F.
• Ina  bowl, toss together bread crumbs, lemon zest, salt, pepper and dill.

• Lightly spray each salmon fillet with coking spray.

• Coat the salmon fillets with the bread crumb seasoning.

• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray the foil with cooking spray.
• Place the fillets on the foil.
• Bake salmon at 400 degrees F for initial 15 minutes.

• After 15 minutes, flip the fillets using a spatula to the other side and bake for another 5 minutes or depending upon desired doneness.

• Serve hot with lemon slices and dill.