FRIDAY SPECIAL (III)- MALVANI SURMAI FISH FRY

Hello, and welcome. Today I am sharing a Surmai fish fry recipe. Surmai is our family's favourite fish. I love the combination of steamed rice + dal tadka fry (home version of fodaniche varan) and fish fry with a slice of lemon and onion. Yum!

Fish is a special food for the Malvani and Konkani people. Konkan is one of the parts of Maharashtra state, and it is a coastal area. People living in this area have an abundance of fish. Actually, fresh fish from the sea tastes heavenly. Konkani people are blessed to have fish for everyday meals. In fact, my father had it almost daily. 

Before that, we should know the health benefits of eating fish 

1. Fish have various nutrients like high-quality protein, iodine, and various vitamins and minerals.

2. Fish boost Omega 3, which helps in optimal body and brain function. 

3. May lower risk of heart attack and stroke.

4. May prevent depression.

5. A good dietary source of Vitamin D.

We have fish twice a week. I am sharing a Malvani recipe for fish fry. For this, I have taken surami fish. This fish fry has three steps. 

• Cleaning
• marination
• frying. 

You have to clean the fish properly. Remove all dirt and blood from the fish under the tap water. Marination is the main trick to having tasty fish fry at home. Marinate fish at least for 30 minutes. And the last step is frying, for which a cast iron tawa is good. Remember, we have to shallow fry the fish and not deep fry.  so without further ado let's jump into the recipe.  

SURAMI FISH FRY ( MALVANI VERSION) 

YIELD : 3 TO 4 People

CUSINE: Malvani

AUTHOR: Neeta Kadam

Ingredients: 

Surami fish : 10 pieces

Turmeric : 1 TSP

Garlic : 15 no

Coriander seeds : 1 TSP

kokam (amsul petals) : 4 to 5 numbers 

Malvani Masala powder or red chilli powder : 1 tsp

Coriander leaves: fistful 

Rice flour : 1/2 cup

Chickpea flour : 1/2 cup 

Oil : 4 to 5 tbsp 

Salt as per taste.

DIRECTION : 

Step 1 : Cleaning 

• Wash and clean fish pieces with lots of water. 
• Transfer the fish to the colander to drain the water.
• In another bowl, take this fish and add turmeric and kokum petals. Mix and rub with your hands so it can be coated into all fish. 

Step 2 : Marination 

• Grind garlic, coriander seeds, turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander leaves and salt. 
• Coat this marination on the above fish. Let it marinate for 30 minutes.

Step 3: Fry

• In another plate take rice flour and gram flour on a plate. Add a little salt to it. Mix it very well.
• Take one marinated fish and coat it very well in this flour mixture. 
• In this way keep all fish ready to fry.
• Add 4 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. 
• Once the oil is heated, lower the flame and put the fish pieces in oil one by one. 
• Fry fish from both sides for 5  minutes or until you see the crispy layer on the fish on medium flame.
• Check out by pricking the fork and transfer to the paper towel.
• Your crispy and delicious malvani surmai fish fry is ready to serve.

Tips :

• Rubbing Kokam petals on fish pieces helps remove the fish's fishy smell. 
• Rice flour or semolina or gram flour is the main ingredient which gives a crispy flavour.
• If you are a beginner use a non-stick pan or else a cast iron pan is a must. 

FAQ : 

Q. 1. Which fish is good for fry in Maharashtra ?

Ans : Being konkani we used to eat Bangda, Ravas, Surmai , Bombay Duck and Pomfret.  These fish are good to fry. 

Q.2.  Which fish is more tasty ?

Ans : Sea fish are more tasty. Ravas, Surmai, Pomfret, Bombay duck are tasty. 

Q.3. How long to fry fish? 

Ans : Fry the fish for five to seven minutes on each side. 

Q.4. What is malvani and konkani food?

Ans : People staying at konkan region known as Konkani or malvani. Malavani and konkani food use large amount of coconut, tamarind or kokum in almost all food.

Q.5 Which is the best fish for frying?

Ans : Surmai, and Ravas are the best fish for frying.

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Question of the day 

Do you like to eat fish fry ? Which fish is your favourite?

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This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon’ 

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EASY WEEKLY DINNER - AUGUST 2024

Hello and Happy Friday. In today's post I am sharing the weekly dinner in Word format. Yes, in the reels and shorts world I am sharing in document format. 😁😑😊 But I like it. 

Making videos with twins is not my cup of tea, and Instagram algorithms are strange. But the most important thing is that this is my space, my diary, and whenever I look back through this diary, I see beautiful memories ❤️ memories of what we used to eat for a week? What does our weekly dinner look like? etc.

And so I started this series of sharing one weekly dinner for each month, which we actually have. Our dinner remains the same with slight differences. Whenever I feel too lazy to cook something, this blog post rescues and inspires me. With this hope, it will inspire you too (if you are Mommy) or any person struggling with dinner.

My weekly dinners are very simple, and they may be in everyone's house. I am Maharashtrian plus Malvani, so our eating habits are different. I am not sharing the full recipe, but yes, a little bit of everything. As the post title suggests easy weekly dinner means easy dinner which can be prepared in 15 to 30 minutes. I hope you will enjoy this post.

DISCLAIMER : All pictures are taken by me and No Professional Photography here. It is an actual dinner pics and I am not yet a professional photographer.  😊

MONDAY: CHICKEN KHEEMA WITH CHAPATI 

No, we don't have Shravan, and we tend to eat non-veg food whenever we carve for it.

Chicken kheema is the easiest recipe, which can be prepared in 15 minutes. Just make sure you have to pressure cook kheema with salt and turmeric. Then the regular tadka of onions, ginger garlic paste, and some powdered masala, easy chicken kheema is ready in 15 minutes.  It tastes awesome with bun/bread. But we like to eat with chapati. 

For the Malvani version, you have (vatan): onion and coconut paste. I will share the detailed recipe soon. Stay tuned. 

TUESDAY: PANEER BURJI WITH CHAPATI

I had leftover dal fry and rice from lunch, and my daughter wanted to eat paneer. I made this paneer at home from milk, so paneer burji is the quickest recipe. When you prepare fresh paneer at home this burji tastes awesome. Onion and tomato-based burji is our family favourites.

WEDNESDAY: EGG DROP CURRY WITH STEAM RICE 

Egg curry is a staple, but this month we were having it almost after 15 to 20 days. This egg curry is not from the boiled egg. The egg was directly added to the gravy so the name is egg drop curry. In boiled gravy, you have to drop an egg and let it sit for 10 minutes. The texture of the egg is different. Again, gravy is made up of vatan, which is a mixture of fried coconut and onion. This one is an easy and quick recipe. heat the oil and add vatan with curry leaves. then goes to basic masala and salt. let it boil for 10 minutes. Now add the egg or you can break the egg directly in the gravy. do not stir and let it sit for 10 minutes. Your delicious egg drop curry is ready.

THURSDAY: SPROUTS MOONG PULAV WITH CURD AND PANEER SHALLOW FRY

I didn't feel like cooking dinner. So this pulav is the rescue. I had sprouts at home. In the pressure cooker, I gave tadka with onion and ginger garlic paste, turmeric, red chilli powder and added rice and sprouts. Pressure cook for 3 whistles,  and your pulav is ready. The main masala is Everest Shahi Biryani masala, which gives a special flavour to your plain pulav. 

Curd is mandatory in my house, especially when there is khichdi, pulav, or biryani. This time I added shallow-fry paneer. Actually, this shallow-fry paneer is my toddler's favourite dish. Daughter and Mr Hubby also demanded the same. So I made it with a little bit of spice. 

Overall, this is the best dinner in a whole week. 

FRIDAY: TAKE AWAY FOOD 

Friday is finally here. We had been at the hospital for a doctor's appointment for my twin. We order chicken gravy from the hotel and prepare some rice and roti at home. In my family, no one likes to eat naan. So I have to make chapati at home. Chicken gravy and white steamed rice are mandatory. It was Yum! 

I am a twin toddler mom. Making dinner is sometimes difficult. Still managed to feed my family healthy and easy meals. 

Question of the day

What was your favourite dinner for the last week ? 

You may like to read :

Healthy dinner for the week (July 2024) 

Healthy dinner for the week (March 2024)

Top 10 Recipes of the year 2023

Easy weekly family breakfast idea 

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon’ 

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FRIDAY SPECIAL NARALIBHAT (II)

 

NARALIBHAT is a special authentic traditional recipe. Generally it is made for the festival - Narali Pournima and Rakshabandhan. 

WHAT IS NARALI POORNIMA?  

Narali Poornima is celebrated on Raksha bandhan. It is a double celebration in the region of Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.  

Naralipournima is celebrated by the koli community. It is hindu festival. The fishermen community offers coconut and worship the ocean. The devotees pray to God and seek his blessings for giving livelihood.

WHAT IS NARALIBHAT?

NARALIBHAT is a rice cooked in coconut and jaggery. Naralibhat is very delicious and easy recipe. Whenever there is festival and you want to try something new, quick sweet dish or dessert you can try this simple Naralibhat recipe. And you know me very well. I am making only simple dishes 😁

PS : Shutterstock 

RECIPE :NARALIBHAT/ COCONUT RICE 

Ingredients: 

2 cups ambemohar Rice

2 cups of grated coconut 

1/2 cup ghee homemade ( sajuk toop)

3 cup grated Jaggery 

1/2 cup dry fruits ( cashew, Almond, prunes) or as per your choice. 

For Tadka 

10 to 12 cloves

1 TSP cardamom and nutmeg powder

Some preparation are as follows 

• Clean and wash rice thoroughly under the tap water.
• Fry dry fruits in ghee.
• Great coconut and jaggery. 

Direction: 

Naralibhat can be made in two steps. 

       The first step is to cook rice: 

• Wash rice very well and keep it soaked for 15 minutes. Remember to remove all the water.

• Heat ghee and add lavang and then add rice , roast it very well.

• Add 4 cups of water and cook the rice. 

• Second step : Preparation of coconut and Jaggery mixture.

• Heat 1/2 ghee and fry all dry fruits one by one.

• In another pan cook jaggery and coconut together. Stir it continue. 

• Lastly add cooked rice and fried dry fruits in it.

• Sprinkle nutmeg and cardamom powder.

• Mix it very well and keep it on low flame for 5 minutes.

• Your delicious Coconut rice / Naralibhat is ready. 

Tips : 

• You can use milk instead of water. 
• You can use half water and half milk too. 
• You can add up sugar if you want more sweet.
• If you use coconut milk it will be more tasty. 

I learned it from my MIL. It is not my recipe. Do try this delicious Naralibhat for this Naralipournima or any other festival. 

Question of the Day.

Do you like sweet rice ? Have you taste Naralibhat? 

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FRIDAY SPECIAL PAAV BHAJI #I

Hello and welcome to my blog. Happy Sunday guys. How was your weekend? Our was slow. Friday special is a series where I am going to share special recipes I made for dinner. Sometimes we do take away food but most of the time I prepare at home. Healthy and clean eating is the goal. 

Friday is a lazy day. But I make sure to eat something new, easy and tempting. Apart from dal rice. On this Friday we had Paav Bhaji. 

PS : Shakti Rajpurohit unsplash

WHAT IS PAAV BHAJI?

Paav bhaji is one of Mumbai's famous street foods. It is popular all over India. It was a quick meal option for textile workers in Mumbai. The literal meaning of Paav means bread roll and bhaji means gravy of mixed vegetables. Paav bhaji is the Marathi name as dish was born in Mumbai. 

Bhaji - the main attraction of the dish - the gravy of mixed vegetables. Paav means bread roll. The paav bhaji is a gravy of mixed vegetables, butter loaded bread roll and served with lemon wedges, and lots of chopped onions. 

Traditional bhaji consists of cauliflower, peas, potato and lots of tomato. I made whatever was available in my fridge. Many times I made it with those veggies which my family members do not like to eat. 😁 Cruel Mom, Yes, I am! 

In today's post I am sharing paav bhaji recipe which I made from brocolli 🥦 and bottle gourd. 

Serve 2 to 4 people 

INGREDIENTS: 

1 cup Brocolli 

1 cup Dudhi (Bottle Gourd)

3 Big Potato 

3 Tomato 

1 Capsicum 

3 Onion 

2 tbsp Oil  

Cubes of Amul butter : As much as you can handle 

1 cup chopped coriander leaves 

1 Lemon 

1 Turmeric

1 tbsp Red chilli powder or (as per your taste)

2 tbsp Everest Paav bhaji Masala

Salt : as per taste 

DIRECTION  :

• Wash all the vegetables and chop in big chunks except capsicum.

• Pressure cook all vegetables including broccoli, bottle gourd, potato for 4 whistles.

• Blanch Tomato and make a paste of it.

•  Once the pressure cooker cools down remove the lid and let the vegetables cool. 

• Meanwhile chopped capsicum, onion, lots of coriander leaves.

• Grind all pressure cook vegetables or mash it with a masher. I prefer to grind. 

• Heat oil in a kadai. Add 2 cubes of Amul butter. Add onion and capsicum together and fry till the onion becomes translucent.

• Next add tomato paste and fry for 1 minute.

• Add all Powder masala and fry everything until the oil separates from the tomato.

•  Add mashed vegetables and fry.

• Add salt according to the taste and one cube of Amul Butter.

• Add water to make gravy. According to your preference how much you want your gravy thick or thin. 

• Lastly add 1 TSP paav bhaji masala again and coarnider leaves. Fry a little bit and cover with the lid.

•  After 5 minutes switch off the flame. Add Amul butter cube and close the lid. 

• After 10 minutes, you can serve this bhaji with paav. 

PREPARATION OF PAAV :

•  Cut the bread roll in two half.
•  Put tawa on flame. 
•  Once it hot low down the flame   and add an Amul butter cube. 
•  If you want masala paav then you   can add red chilli powder and   coriander leaves to the butter.
•  Put paav on that mixture and   roast the paav.

Your delicious paav bhaji is ready. Serve with chopped onions, lemon wedges and Amul butter cube.

HOW TO EAT PAAV BHAJI?

• First squeeze lemon juice on bhaji
• Then add lots of chopped onions and coriander leaves. 
• Then mix it very well with the help of spoon.
• Take small portion of paav and dip in the bhaji and then directly put it in your mouth,
• Yummm! 

TIPS : 

• You can add beetroot for the red colour along with all vegetables.
• The more butter the more tasty your gravy. So make it delicious. 
• You can add any vegetables of your choice but the main ingredient is potato and tomato. 
• Grate cheese cube on this bhaji your cheese paav bhaji is ready.

WRAP UP : 

Paav bhaji is Mumbai 's street food or you can say fast food. But this tasty food you can prepare at home in 15 minutes. Once or twice in a month you can have it in your meal. It is a good option to eat clean and homemade food. Though it is loaded with butter and paav but I guess once in a while you can eat this delicious meal. Next day do more workout 😂 Eat without any guilt please. 

In this rainy season check out the Cold Relief clear Chicken Soup 

PS : pixel 

Question of the Day ?

Do you love to eat paav bhaji with butter or without butter? 

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HEALTHY DINNER OF THE WEEK - JULY 2024

Hello, how are you? After hitting Monday blue finally, I am ready for the week. As I mentioned to you in my last post, I am going to share healthy dinner of the week for every month. But I always forget to take pictures, so my last post was here in April. 

I do plan a meal but not like a pro 😁 because it didn't work. Yes, I plan a little bit and it makes my week easy. Otherwise, my whole week will be messy and I will on irritating mode. 

We are Maharashtrian and rice and dal are our major staples. Being a twin toddler mom and one 10-year-old picky eater 😶(these kids have more tantrums for eating vegetables) it is very difficult to plan dinner and feed the family. I am sharing my easy dinners for the week of June 2024. What we actually eat for the week. Pictures are not professional 😁 It might help you (if you are a mom like me) to have an easy healthy dinner at home. 

HEALTHY DINNER OF THE WEEK - JULY 2024

MONDAY : DAL + RICE + SOYABEAN KADAI MASALA 

Monday was the most difficult day of the week. After having non-veg on weekends we prefer to have simple dal rice. It is Mandatory. 

This soybean kadai masala was yum. I tried this recipe from Brishti. You can try it your family will love it. This dish is permanent in my meal plan.  We had papad along with it and onion salad. They are missing in the picture. 

TUESDAY: FRIED RICE + ALOO PALAK+ TOMATO CHUTNEY + CHAPATI 

I planned for chapati and Aloo Palak only. But there was some leftover rice from lunch. I convert it into fried rice with a simple tadka of mustard, cumin, onion and basic powder masalas. I made Allo palak after a long gap. It is a simple recipe and in my family only I love it. So I have to make tomato chutney for the rest of them. (It is necessary to make your favourite meals too) 

WEDNESDAY:  CHANA AMTI + RICE + VANGAYCHE KAAP 

Malavani style chana amti is a staple in malavani house. The blend of coconut and onion masala gives an authentic flavour to this amti.

Brinjal is not so favourite in our house but we like this fried version. I keep it very simple. Slice a brinjal in a round shape and marinate with basic masala and salt. Shallow fry on medium hit. It tastes awesome. 

THURSDAY:  PAAV BHAJI 

It is paav bhaji day. When I don't feel like cooking I prefer to have a one-pot meal which goes for lunch and dinner too.  Paav bhaji is one of my family's favourite one-pot meals. Once in a while, you can eat paav. It is not going to harm your health at all.

This time I made it with broccoli, bottle gourd, potato and tomato. It is mommy's trick to feed lots of vegetables to the kid. Pressure cook and smash with a grinder. Easy peasy recipe that can be prepared in 10 minutes. You can check out the video here. Butter and cheese-loaded paav bhaji taste yummy!

FRIDAY : DAL + RICE + EGG BHURJI 

It is Maharashtrian dal - a mixture of moong and masoor dal. Pressure cook with a little bit of turmeric and oil. Then goes the normal tadka of garlic, cumin, mustard, curry leaves, and green chilli. The trick is to boil the whole dal for at least 10 minutes. Garnish with coriander. 

Egg burji tastes awesome with chapati but we used to eat chapati for breakfast and lunch too. We prefer to have dal rice for dinner. I love to have egg burji with dal rice. It is YUM 😋. (After all mom also needs some rest from chapati) you know that right!

On weekends we usually eat non-veg. Fish or mutton is on the menu.  

Wrap Up: 

I hope you will inspire to make a healthy Dinner for the entire week. It should be simple and easy. If you practice it every week it will definitely save your tons of money. 

Question of the day 

What was your favourite dinner last week?  Have you planned your meal?

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VERMICELLI KHEER

Vermicelli Kheer is one of the Indian deserts which is mostly prepared for festivals and birthdays. I made it whenever I carved it. 😜 Vermicelli kheer is our family's favourite desert. It tastes awesome when chilled. It is served with a whole meal or sometimes after dinner dessert. 

Vermicelli Kheer is like the sheerkurma. But sheer kurma is a Shahi dish where you will add more dry fruits and full-fat milk.  I don't like full-fat milk. Most of the time I prepared it with cow milk. The vermicelli Kheer is made up of whole wheat vermicelli, milk, sugar and dry fruits. I prefer to use cashew, almond, kismis and cardamom powder. You can add pista, dates, and more dry fruits to make it rich and more tasty aka Shirkurma.

WHAT IS VERMICELLI? 

Vermicelli is also known as seviyan. There are different varieties available in the market. Whole wheat, semolina and durum wheat. Seviyan kheer is generally made with whole wheat vermicelli. There are different types of recipes as per each state. The South Indian and North Indian versions are different. It is my version and I want to store it on my blog.

SIMPLE AND QUICK WAY TO PREPARE 

Kheer mostly tastes best in full-fat milk. But in my family, we don't like full-fat milk at all. So I prefer to make any kheer in low-fat milk only. 

Though nowadays we get roasted vermicelli but I prefer to roast slightly in a ghee before making kheer. It enhances the taste. 

I roast the vermicelli in ghee till it changes colour and then in the same pan add boiled milk. Here I used cow milk. Stir for a while and then add sugar. And then again stir and let it boil for some time. Lastly, add fried dry fruits and cardamom powder. Let the kheer boil for some time or until the vermicelli cooks.

Maybe it is not new for you as a reader. But still, check out my simple and quick recipes of Vermicelli Kheer 😋

VERMICELLI KHEER RECIPE 

Cuisine: Indian             Type: Desert

Quantity: 2 people 

Cook Time: 15 minutes 

Author: Neeta Kadam 

INGREDIENTS : 

Vermicelli : 1 small cup 

Milk: 500 gm

Sugar: 2 Tbsp  or (as per your taste)

Dry fruits : 

cashew 1 tsp

almond 1 tsp

kismis 1 tsp 

Ghee  

Kesar (a few strands)

Cardamom powder: 1/4 tsp 

Pre- preparations:

Soak saffron strand in 2 Tbsp milk. 

Fry dry fruit separately.

Make cardamom powder in the grinder.

DIRECTION 

1. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan and roast the vermicelli for a few seconds if you are using a roasted one. 

If you are using non-roasted then roast the vermicelli till it changes the colour.

2. Now add boiled milk to this pan and stir continuously. 

3. Let the milk boil for 5 minutes. Then add sugar as per your taste. Stir it continuously. 

4. In another pan take 1 tbsp ghee and fry all dry fruits one by one. 

5. Check out the consistency of the kheer. 

6. Now add fried dry fruits to the kheer and saffron milk and stir continuously.

7. Lastly add cardamom powder and mix it very well.

8. Let the kheer boil for some time. And then switched off the flame. 

Your delicious vermicelli Kheer is ready to serve. You can serve it hot, warm or chilled. It tastes awesome in any form. 

Check out video of the vermicelli kheer recipe here. 

Tips : 

# Fry dry fruits one by one only. If you put everything together it might get burned. 

# Soak saffron strand in milk at least 15 minutes before. 

# Do not add too many vermicelli. Keep the quantity low because once it cools it will thick and you may not get kheer.

# Add cardamom powder in the end only it enhances the taste. 

# This can be served to your toddler too. 

My twin toddler loves it. I generally made it on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and on birthdays. It tastes awesome with Puri too. We prefer to have it after dinner as a dessert. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: 

Do you like Kheer? Which one is your favourite?

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Dr. Preeti Chauhan.

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