Sri's Kitchen: Guest Chef

A while back, I had created this page to share some interesting, mouth-watering, tasty, innovative, genuinely prepared dishes by whom, I would like to name as 'Guest Chef' for my blog. This began with me merely posting some pics but here I come to you with the varied dishes with each one's magical touch to it :)

Dish 2: Kerala Stew -- by my partner in crime, another inhouse Chef @ Sangeetha Gopakumar

Our God's own country not only is a treat to our eyes and soul, but also to our taste budzz both for Veggies and Non-Veggies. What a variety, range of dishes to choose from!

One such simple to make, easy to digest, and divine to taste dish is "Vegetable Stew". We can customize it the way you want but what am sharing here is one that you can cook and serve in a jiffy. The "goodness" is that it is more of boiled preparation and therefore use of no or very less oil.

This one is from my "partner in crime", chef @ Sangeeta Gopakumar who learnt it from her mom. So, purely authentic :))

Vegetable Stew : Kerala's Style for your Taste Buzz!

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 medium BOILED and PEELED
Big Onions - 1 sliced thinly length-wise
Green Chilies - 2-4 slit (as spicy as you like it)
Ginger - 1-2" sliced thinly length-wise
Curry Leaves - to garnish
Salt - To taste
Coconut Milk (Thick)- 1/2 cup : First ground with a glass of water and extracted
Coconut Milk (Thin) - 1 cup : After taking the thick extract, you can add more water and grind
Oil - 1 tspn of refined and 1 tsp of coconut

Alternatively, you can use Readily available Coconut Milk or just grind it once with enough water to get 1.5 cups of coconut milk.

Method:

Boil and peel the potatoes.
Slice onion, ginger length-wise into thin slices (very thin)
Slit the green chilies
In a pan, add refined oil. As it heats, add onion. Allow them to just turn transparent (should not be deep fried).
Add the ginger slices, chilies, and water to allow the onion to cook.
As the onion cooks (note the color change), add the potatoes. Break them nicely, add salt, curry leaves and the thin coconut milk. Allow it to cook well (5 mts if only potatoes. If more veggies, then 10 mts)
After it cooks, add the thick coconut milk. To this add the curry leaves and allow it to cook for 3 mts max.
Add the coconut oil, and remove from fire

This can be served with Idlis, Aapam and ofcourse I like to have it with dosas along with the gun powder :)

Variations:

You can add vegetables like Carrot, Beans, Peas etc to this. Just slice them thinly, of the same shape and size and either pre-boil them or allow to cook along with the onion.
You will find variations to this where they use some basic Masalas

Dish 1: Herbal Stuffed Baked Fish -- by our inhouse Chef @ Gopakumar

I have developed a love for 'fishes' both alive and as interesting eatables :) Recently, I got to taste this real yummy baked fish that I had to start blogging in this section. So, presenting the 'baked herbal fish dish'.

Yummmmlicious!

Ingredients:

Fish: 1 big cleaned (we had removed the head but you can choose to bake it fully)

Fresh Coriander: 1/2 bunch

Ginger: 1"

Garlic: 6-8 pods

Lemon: 1 big or 2 medium

Coriander Powder: 1-2 tspn

Chilli Powder: 1-1.5 tspn

Salt: As per taste

** Kasoori Methi (dry methi leaves) : 1 tspn

** Wine : Just sprinkle

Oil: 2-3 tbspn

Bell Peppers (Capsicum): Red, Green, Yellow: 1 cup of diced pieces

Onion: 1 number diced

Tomato: 1 number diced (if you like)

Method:

For marination:

Pound / Crush the garlic, ginger, and fresh coriander leaves and mix lemon juice to this (half the lemon)
In a bowl, mix the coriander, chilli powders, salt, and the crushed mix (from Step 1). Add enough oil to make this as a paste.

For preparation:

Make some deep slits on both sides of the fish to allow the marination to settle in
Line a baking tray with Aluminium foil
On this, arrange the diced vegetables. Mix the remaining half lemon juice (No need of any salt)
Place the fish atop of this, and start marinating it both sides. Stuff the slits with enough of the marination mix
When done, ensure all vegetable pieces are packed around the fish
Apply oil on the fish using a brush (to ensure it doesn't dry) - both sides
Sprinkle the kasuri methi & wine
*** Leave it to set in for 2-3 hours for a well-marinated fish

For baking:

We baked using OTG - Pre-heat the OTG at 225 Degrees for 10 mts
Then placed the baking tray inside and allow it to cook for 15-20 mts at 225 Degrees
Use a toothpick or fork to check if the fish is well-cooked - it should just pass through smoothly
If rqd, you can turn it around and cook (but in our case, it cooked without needing to turn it upside down)

For Serving:

Remove it, let it cool and place it a plate to serve
Without the chutney, you can just take slices of the fish and eat it with the masala inside!
Equally tasty are those baked vegetables -- completely yummmm!
Prepare a spicy / tangy green chutney to be served with the fish (if required)

The fish just vanished in minutes it was placed :)) So soft, tangy/spicy masala, yet healthy... Luvd it :)))

As beginners, we all look up to experienced people and learn from them. Gops too learned it and customized it per his style (** ingredients added by him). But seeing / learning is one while cooking it requires a talent and inherent interest and our chef just rocks!

Also, you can add other vegetables such as Potatoes, Cherry tomatoes etc.

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I would say that am gifted to be able to relish different dishes prepared by my close ones, friends, and at times at places where we visit. These are some mouth-watering dishes that I won't want to miss out on and also would like to pass it on to you guys. So, here I am adding a page 'Guest Chef' where, I will share the recipes of such dishes.