Leap Into Summer. Fish With Mustard Masala!

Things changed this week. All of a sudden after rain storms and hail all in the month of May, Summer seems to have arrived. Sort of.
The weather was beautiful on Monday morning, so we put up our summer dining tent on the deck. Each year when we do this, it's sort of like one of those team building exercises  from Survivor and we try to get through it without killing each other or voting someone off the island, if you know what I mean.
 Seeing that it was Meatless Monday and we had company for lunch, I decided that good Catholic Schoolgirl that I once was, fish would be ok for a meatless day.
I baked naan bread, and had Sanjanas' cold mango buttermilk soup and grated cauliflower salad, but I needed a centerpiece for the meal.
Fish seemed the perfect solution. Light, versatile and on sale at Sonoma Market that day.
Basa fish was my choice. It's a nice mild, firm-fleshed fish that seems to get along with whatever it's introduced to. In this case it was a mustard masala sauce. I originally ran across this recipe in the cookbook Ajanta from the Berkeley restaurant of the same name. This is my adaptation of it.
  A lot of fish recipes involve frying, and things can get a bit greasy. I like to try and do things without all the oil, so the fish in this dish instead of being traditionally fried and then added to the sauce, is poached gently during the last step of preparation, neatly bypassing  the frying factor. Happy arteries, happy life!
  Here's what you do.
   In a deep skillet or kadhai heat about 3 Tbs of vegetable oil.
 When the oil is nice and hot toss in:
2 tsp. of mustard seeds
2 tsp of nigella seeds

When the mustard seeds start to pop toss in:
8 shallots finely chopped.

Stir fry it for a few moments then add in:
3 onions. Cut them in quarters and thinly slice them.
Lower the heat and saute them for about 15 minutes or until they've softened and turned translucent.

Add in:
4 chopped tomatoes . Note: if you can't get great fresh tomatoes, use a good quality canned tomato.
Stir the tomatoes around for about 8 minutes or so.

Now for the spices. Add in:
2 Tsp of turmeric
2 tsp of paprika
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of mustard seeds (pulse them in a spice grinder first)
2 tsp of salt 

Keep sauteeing for about another 5 minutes and then add in
1/2 cup of ground almonds
Lower the heat and cook for another 10 minutes.

When the sauce has thickened add:
2 lbs of catfish, basa, or other mild firm fleshed fish that has been cut into 2 inch pieces.

Cook the fish gently until it flakes easily.

This is an easy recipe, a real family favorite at our house and perfect for those summer fish sales.
    I've also been baking artisan bread. The famous NY Times no-knead artisan bread recipe has been making the rounds on line and the minute I saw it, I just had to get into the act. I have a terrible bread jones and can't resist it in any form. They had me at no-knead. Alan too. I've been very good around this bread. I bake it, but I'm trying not to sample too much of my own product. Alan enjoys it for breakfast. Today I decided to go the whole wheat route and was very pleased with the results. So pleased I couldn't resist getting Alan to take some pictures.

Meanwhile, The 14th marks my 1st Blogiversary and a Giveaway!
About my Giveaway
 As I mentioned before, our 1st Blogiversary is approaching and the people at Early Morning Pottery have given me 2 of their wonderful ceramic Chicken Cookers, and 1 set of Game Hen Cookers to give away in celebration. The rules are simple:
 Rule 1
 On Your Blog:  Post about The Colors Of Indian Cooking and this contest on your blog
or
 On Twitter: Tweet about The Colors Of Indian Cooking. (Include @kathygori in your Tweet)
or
 On Facebook: Become a Fan of The Colors Of Indian Cooking Facebook Page here and talk about it on your Facebook status.
or
   Become a follower of The Colors Of Indian Cooking
or
  Follow @kathygori on Twitter
 Rule 2
  Leave a comment on this blog with a link to your activity.
  That's it.
 Winners will be chose at random on June 14th .
 Good luck!

Something's Fishy In Kerala!

My two Italian grandmothers were amazing cooks, but after them the foodie gene in my family seemed to have skipped a generation. The homemade pasta, gnocchi, gravy and cookies of my childhood gave way to my moms' "personal Chef", some guy named Boy R Dee. Maybe you've heard of him.
  Beside all the usual Italian favorites, I also grew up eating fish dinners on Fridays. I use the term fish loosely because the "fish dinners" usually served at our house came frozen solid with a picture of a smiling fisherman on the box. I think it was the guy in the slickers' American cousin. Living in San Francisco there wasn't much excuse for this sort of fish behavior. One of the largest Fisherman's wharves on the west coast with a huge variety of seafood was just blocks away. So, how the heck did that guy in the slicker seem to get in our fridge so often? To be truthful, we also had fresh fish on occasion, but by the time it got to the plate, it looked more like something that would be flung into the air after someone called "pull!." No one ever asked what kind of fish it was.
  With that kind of early experience, it took me years to get into cooking fish. I'd had too much finny trauma. Then I started cooking Indian food and began exploring the wonderful fish dishes that the cuisine offered. It was a whole new and delicious world. I was finding my inner Nemo.
  The book Prashad has a lot of fish dishes in it, and since I've been reading it lately I decided to harpoon myself some fish.
  This recipe is done with pomfret but since we don't have any of that up here in Sonoma, I used basa instead which is a nice mild firm fleshed fish. Since the origins of Basa are in Southeast Asia, I figured it would be a good match for what I was doing which was
                     Fish with Tamarind Curry

I was able to whip this up pretty quickly for lunch for the two of us using about 3/4 of a pound of fish. To  make it for 6 people  as the main dish for a meal, you'll need a little more. Start with :

1.) 1 and 1/2 lbs of fish chunked into pieces and set aside
Heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil in a heavy pan or kadhai
When the oil is hot toss in
2.)  1 tsp black mustard seed
 When the seeds start to pop toss in:
3.)  1/2 tsp fenugreek seed
4.) A 1 inch piece of finely chopped ginger
5.) 4 green chilies splint longways down the middle
6.) 1 crushed clove of garlic
7.)  2 onions thinly sliced
  Cook this down until the onion is soft and translucent.

Then toss in
8.) 1 tsp of turmeric
9.) 1 Tbs of coriander
Fry it up for about 2 minutes then add in:
10.)  1 cup of coconut milk
11.) 4 peeled, chopped tomatoes ( since there aren't any good fresh tomatoes around here about now, I might suggest one 16 oz can of good quality chopped tomatoes)
12.) 2 Tbs of tamarind puree

Bring all of this to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer it all for 5 minutes.
Then add the fish to the mixture

Simmer it all again for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
13.) Add salt to taste and then scatter a few curry leaves about the top.
I served it with a cauliflower and pea dish and some nice roti.

 There it is. Nothing in a box. Nothing frozen, and no guy in a bright yellow raincoat hanging around the kitchen...unless that's the way you roll.