It had been a while since I prepared a non-veg dish in my kitchen. Infact I was busy following a diet plan, that my husband started hinting that I was unnessasarily dragging him into my diet plan, as I never cooked any non-veg for months. It was then that I started looking through websites and found that certain animal fat like turkey, salmon, quail eggs are recommended as a part of diet foods. I also came to know that the above mentioned meats are a good source of protein. Quail eggs are a medicinal source for people having asthma. Never knew that until recently. They are very small in shape compared to the regular eggs. But high in nutrient value and at the same time, less calories. So keeping in mind all this, I decided to make a curry with Chickpeas (White Kabuli Channa) and fish (Salmon). Though the combination sounds quiet strange, you will crave for more when you taste it:) ......This is my instant recipe (didnt plan it ahead of time as to what to do) which I tried yesterday and came out so tasty that my husband was very happy and gave me a big smile of satisfaction for making non-veg after months of his waiting:))
I wanted to make channa masala, so I had soaked it oevrnight. But before going to sleep, I was thinking hard how to make something which I too can eat without deviating away from my diet plan. Then I came up with the idea of fish curry with Salmon. I had a vague idea that by adding Salmon with Channa masala, it would definitly taste good. So here I am sharing my recipe with you:
Ingredients:
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- Channa or Chickpeas: 1 1/2 cups
- Salmon: 1 pound (you can add or reduce the amount according to your taste)
- Large Onion: 1
- Large Tomato: 1 (if you dont have a large tomato, use two small tomatoes)
- Green chilli minced: 2 long ones
Masala for adding to cooked Channa:
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- Ginger and Garlic: a lot (I dont remember how much I added. I add this a lot, especially Garlic, good for health. Always add Garlic more than Ginger, not the other way round, as the Ginger flavor is stronger than Garlic). I use the whole Garlic as well as Garlic powder and Ginger powder which you get in stores.
- Jeera: 1 teaspoon (the fat green ones, not the thinner black ones)
- Cloves: 2 or 3 nos (good idea to powder these before adding them)
- Cumin powder: 1/2 teaspoon
- Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
- Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon (according to your taste)
- Cinnamon powder: 1/4 teaspoon
- Chilly Garlic sauce (optional): 3 tablespoons (for enhancing the taste)
- Salt: according to taste
- Curry leaves for garnishing
Masala for marinating fish (Salmon):
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- Ginger and Garlic: according to your taste because I add them a lot
- Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
- Chilli powder: 3 teaspoons (according to your taste)
- Cumin powder: 1/2 teaspoon
- Asafoetida powder (hing) : 1/4 teaspoon
- Lemon extract: enough to marinate the fish pieces
- Salt to taste
Method:
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- Soak the chickpeas overnight in water.
- Clean the fish. Cut the fish into small cubes.
- Marinate the fish with the marinating ingredients mentioned above and keep it in fridge for marination
- Meanwhile cook the chickpeas and drain the water into another vessel. Do not throw away that water as it can used later in the dish for gravy
- Cut the vegetables (onion (long and thin), tomatoes(small cubes))
- In a large bottom frying pan (as shown in the pic), heat 3 teaspoons of oil. Keep the fire to a little less than high.
- Add cloves, curry leaves (I added parsely flakes later in the recipe as I was short of curry leaves), chilli, and ginger garlic paste or grated whole ginger and garlic. Do not add the ginger or garlic powder at this stage. Use the raw ginger and garlic at this stage
- Add onion, tomatoes and saute it for a minute. Add rest of the masalas one by one.
- Add the cooked chickpeas and mix uniformly. But always make sure that the contents dont stick to the bottom of the pan. Add a little water in which the chickpeas were cooked, to prevent sticking to the bottom.
- Stir well, after adding salt, give it a uniform stir again.
- Add the marinated fish pieces and stir uniiformly to mix chickpeas and fish. The aroma of the curry would have already filled your nostrils by now;)
- Drizzle a little oil over the contents and mix again.
- Try bringing all the contents in the pan towards the centre of the pan and cover it with a plate which is heat resistant. Lower fire to medium
- Cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Check in between if the contents are cooked and doesnt stick to the bottom of the pan. When almost all water has been absorbed (a little gravy simmering on the sides is OK, as it adds the taste), turn off the fire and serve along with Roti, or Rice.
A simple chaat recipe:
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To add a subtleness to the atmosphere, I decided to make a simple chaat along with the above recipe. Again this is not the standard chaat which you expect, its a simple one which I made to include more fibre in the dish I just made. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
- Onion
- Tomato
- Chilli Papad or Punjabi papad (I used the Lijjath pappad brand which you get in stores)
- Jal jeera powder(optional): a pinch
- Salt(if you are using jal jeera powder, use less salt or no salt, as jal jeera already contains salt)
- Minced green chilli
- Coriander leaves
Method:
Mix Onion, Tomato and Jal jeera powder , salt and chillies. Roast the Papad on the tawa or microwave (in my microwave it takes 20 seconds, varies with microwave temperature so a trial and error is suggested before roasting in microwave)with no oil. Take a empty plastic cover, keep the roasted papad in it. Close the cover with your hand or ziplock, and mash it with a pin roller (the chappatthi roller) until the papad breaks into small pieces. Do not powder the papad though. Add this to the onion mixture. Add coriander leaves for taste. Serve it with the above dish.
My friend had a suggestion for this chaat and that was, to not break the papad into pieces, instead she suggested that it would be a good idea to add the onion mixture on top of the papad just before you eat it. Take care not to add the mixture too early before eating as the pappad gets soggy. This is the recipe for Masala Pappad which is very tasty.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe.
