Tawa Surmai with Assorted Vegetables.

Fish is one of the main staple foods in many parts of Coastal India. Tawa Surmai or Tawa Macchi is a regular dish specially in Konkani, Mangalorean & Kerala cuisine. It is a very simple recipe where thick slices of King fish is marinated in aromatic spices are shallow fried. Other variations may include adding tamarind juice or fresh coconut paste. Again this post is a recipe with my own twist.

Cooking Time:  30 mins                                                                             Servings: 3
Preparation Time:  20 mins                                                                       Category:  Starters, Non-Veg


Ingredients:
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Tawa Surmai with Assorted Vegetables

King Fish slices - 6
Ginger garlic paste - 2 Tbsps
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 4
Pepper corns - 2 tsps
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Cooking oil/Vegetable oil - 3 Tbsps
Salt to taste
Lime wedges - 4
Freshly chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Preparation Method:
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• Wash fish slices in warm salt water thoroughly such that all the smell is gone. Keep them aside.
• Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and add coriander, jeera, sesame seeds, red chillies & pepper corns.
• Saute them for couple of minutes and let them cool. When done blend all these into a fine paste.
• In a bowl, mix the spices paste, ginger garlic paste, salt to taste & turmeric powder.
• Marinade the fish slices in this mix for about 15 mins in order them to soak all the spices well.
• Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a tawa or pan. Add 2 marinated fish slices and shallow fry them until they are finely cooked on both sides.
• Repeat until all slices are cooked. Take them into a serving plate. Garnish with finely chopped coriander.
• Serve hot along with the assorted vegetables, lemon wedges.

For assorted vegetables,
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Carrot - 1
Bell pepper - 1
Beans - 1
Corn kernels - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1
Salt to taste
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Chilli vinegar - 1 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 tsps

• Chopped all the veggies vertically.
• Boil them for 10 mins and drain out the water.
• Heat oil in a pan, saute all the veggies for 5 mins.
• Add salt, pepper powder, chat masala and vinegar.
• Mix well and take it into a serving plate.

Mutton Chops/Cutlets

A cutlet specifically refers to cooked meat (mutton/chicken) stuffing that is fried with a batter or covering. The meat itself is cooked with spices and then dipped in an egg mix and then in breadcrumbs or flour and fried in ghee or vegetable oil. Breadcrumbs are generally used for binding the meat and spices together. In the recipe, I've used besan i.e. channa atta (bengal gram flour).
The vegetarian version has no meat in it, instead the filling is a combination of mashed potatoes or mixed vegetables with spices and cooked for a bit together. This version is more popular with the vegetarians in India.

There are many ways of preparing mutton cutlet but what amuses me is the one I regularly have at King & Cardinal Bakery (http://www.zomato.com/hyderabad/king-and-cardinal-bakery-himayath-nagar). I visit K&C bakery especially for its Mutton Chops (that what is mentioned in the menu), the burger and chicken 65. If you haven't visited K&C yet, you are missing delicious NV snacks.

In this recipe, I've tried to recreate K&C bakery style mutton chops or cutlets. So here we go with the recipe:
 
Cooking Time:  40 mins                                                                             Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 20 mins                                                                        Category: Starters/Snacks, Non-Veg

Mutton Chops/Cutlets (K&C style)

Ingredients
Mutton mince - 250 gms
Channa atta/besan - 1 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Finely chopped mint leaves - 1/4 cup
Finely chopped coriander - 1/3 cup
Finely chopped Green chillies - 4
Finely chopped onions - 1/2 cup
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Breadcrumbs/corn flour - 1 cup (optional)
Egg - 1
Cooking/vegetable oil/ghee - 3 Tbsp

 

Preparation Method 

• Wash the meat mince nicely and remove the excess water. Keep in a bowl.
• In a cooker, heat 1 Tbsp oil and then add chopped onions. Once they turn golden brown, add mutton mince and cook for 10 mins on medium flame.
• When the meat oozes out water, add another cup of water to it. Now add salt, mix well and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.
• Remove the excess water from the mince mix, allow it to cool and pat it dry. Then add cumin, turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala powders, chopped green chillies and ginger garlic paste.
• Now add besan and mix everything well. Blend this mixture into a thick batter.
• Make small tikkis or round shaped cutlets and keep them aside.
• Beat the egg well in a small vessel and heat a pan/tawa & add some oil.
• Now dip each cutlet in the egg beat and shallow fry them on the pan. You may dip these tikkis in breadcrumbs or corn flour first and then in egg as you like.
• We need to shallow fry on both sides so that the meat is cooked properly.
• When done, serve it hot with chopped onions, a slice of lime and mint chutney.

Tandoori Chicken Legs (cooked in home oven)

Cooking Time:         1 Hr                                 Servings: 7
Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes                   Category: Non-Veg

Tandoori chicken is a popular Indian/ Pakistani dish consisting of roasted chicken prepared with yogurt and other traditional spices. It is characterized by the red coloring of the marinade and the creamy yet tangy flavors of the yogurt and spices. The name comes from the type of cylindrical clay oven, a tandoor, in which the dish is traditionally prepared. The tandoor is used for cooking mostly in Southern, Central and Western Asia. It is traditionally cooked at high temperatures in a tandoor (clay oven), but can also be prepared on a traditional barbecue grill or in convention bake/roast cycle in our home oven.

I experimented with this dish a couple of times to come up with the perfect restaurant-style tandoori chicken taste and recipe that we can make in our home oven. Tandoori chicken, if served at dinner is best when the marinade is prepared the night before (24 hrs before cooking) to give it the fullest chance of flavoring the chicken prior to cooking. I usually follow this. We can prepare this dish with combo of chicken legs and thighs and it would work well even with breasts, thighs and legs. In this post, I used only chicken legs. Here is the recipe:-

Tandoori Chicken legs

Ingredients
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Chicken drumsticks/thighs - 14
Yogurt - 1 or 2 cups
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Ground Cayenne Pepper - 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Thai chilli paste - 1 Tbsp (adds to the spices and also gives rich red color)
Red cooking color - 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Smoked paprika - 1 tsp (optional)
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp (optional)
 

For garnish
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Lemon - 1, cut into slices
Onions - sliced into cubes or rings
Bell pepper - cut into cubes

Preparation

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• Wash the chicken legs in warm water thoroughly. Drain out the water and take them into a bowl.
• Now add all the spices, lemon juice, yogurt and mix it well. A small quantity of sliced onions and bell pepper can also be added to this marinade.
• Let this mix marinade for atleast 12 hrs in refrigirator. As I said earlier, the more we let it marinade the more it adds to the flavor of the chicken.
• When ready to took, take out the marinde and place the chicken legs in a roasting pan with foil and touch up any empty spots on chicken legs with marinade. Add few drops of cooking oil over each chicken leg piece.
• Pre-heat the over upto 400C (If your home oven has a convention bake or roast cycle, please use that).
• Once done, place the rack in the oven and cook for about 30 mins. When done, take out the rack and turn the chicken legs, add few drops of cooking oil over each piece again and cook/roast it for another 15 mins or until the chicken is slightly charred on the other side. If chicken legs/thighs are used, its strictly not more than 15-20 mins to cook the other side.
• When done turn off the oven and let the dish be in the closed oven for another 10-15 mins. This will let the chicken absorb all the juices that form on it while cooking.
• Once done, take these chicken legs into a serving plate, sprinkle small quantities of ground cayenne pepper and paprika powder over chicken. Garnish with sliced onion rings/cubes, bell pepper and squeezed lemon.
• The authentic restaurant style tandoori chicken, prepared at your home is now ready to be served :)