Prawn and pumpkin coconut milk curry (Konju Pulungari)

This is a Kerala dish called Konju Pulungari. "Konju" means prawns and "pulungari" is a curry with coconut milk and something sour, either vinegar or tamarind. Pumpkin is a festival vegetable in South India. This dish is originally made without spinach. But we tried making it with spinach and it complimented the smoothness of the coconut milk and sweetness of the pumpkin very well. Very very satisfying and it takes so little time and effort to make it. Serve it over a bowl of steamy basmati rice. If you cannot get curry leaves, just skip them. Yet again, this is great comfort food!

You will need: 500 gr prawns, cleaned 150 gr pumpkin [red, if you're in India], cut into medium size cubes a handful of spinach, coarsely chopped 400 ml coconut milk 2 medium onions, thinly sliced 2.5 cm ginger, peeled and sliced 2 green chilies, halved lenghtwise (remove seeds for a milder version) 10 curry leaves (optional) 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds 1 tsp of cumin seeds 1 tsp of vinegar 200 ml of water salt to taste oil for frying 1. Heat some oil in a pot and first fry the mustard and cumin seeds until the mustard seeds start popping. 2. Next, add the curry leaves, ginger, chilies and onion and fry on a medium flame until the onion softens and becomes translucent (don't let it brown, reduce the flame if needed). 2. Add turmeric powder, salt to taste and pumpkin cubes, mix it well and fry for another couple of minutes. 3. Pour coconut milk and water, bring it to a boil and cook until the pumpkin softens. Stir occasionally. 4. Finally, add the prawns and spinach, mix it and cook for up to 5 minutes or until the prawns are cooked. Add one teaspoon of vinegar and mix it well, taste for salt. Serve it over rice or with white bread.

Enjoy!

Chicken Glass Noodle Soup Vietnamese (Mien Ga) Style

Chicken noodle soup is a perfect comfort food when feeling unwell or just recovering from an illness. But after living in India for more than two years, I am always craving for more flavour, not necessarily spicy-hot though, in the food that I eat. So this time around, it was a simple but very flavourful Vietnamese inspired chicken and glass noodle soup, kind of like mien ga. Though I don't claim any authenticity in this recipe of mine. I made it from scratch and with what was available in my kitchen. Instead of making your own spiced chicken stock, you can buy some and infuse it with, for example, fresh ginger, lemon grass, white pepper corns. And most importantly, do use your imagination when choosing the garnish!

You will need: Chicken stock: ~ 1/2 kg of misc. chicken parts (backs, wings, necks, etc.) ~2.5 cm ginger piece, sliced 1 tsp of pepper corns salt to taste ~2 l of water Soup: 1 cup sliced chicken, skinless, breast or thighs ~100 g of glass noodles, soaked in water for 10 mins ~1 l of the chicken stock handful of greens, I used radish leaves, coarsely chopped fish sauce to taste 2 tbsp lime juice Garnish: fresh corriander bean sprouts chillies, chopped (optional) lime wedges 1. To make the chicken stock, cover chicken parts with plenty of water, add sliced ginger, pepper corns and salt, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 1-2 hours. Once ready, strain and let it cool. Finally, remove the fat from the top. It can be kept in the freezer for a couple of months. 2. In a pot, pour around 1 l of the chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Add the chicken pieces, fish sauce and lime juice and let it simmer for around 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. 3. Strain the glass noodles and cut them into desired length. Add the noodles and greens into the soup just for a few minutes. 4. When ready to serve, put chicken and noodles into a big soup bowl and pour the stock over them. Garnish with fresh greens and herbs and serve with lime wedges on the side.

Enjoy!

~If using regular chicken stock, simmer it with some fresh sliced ginger, crushed lemon grass stems, white pepper corns and strain before serving.
~ You can use sliced leftover/cooked chicken instead of raw chicken in the soup.

Baked Sardines Greek Style

We had some fresh sardines in the freezer and were looking for good ideas to use them. Even though sardines are a favourite delicacy in South India, i.e., Kerala and Tamil Nadu (called mathi or challai), when we think of sardines, Greece, Portugal and Italy come to mind. After doing some research, we decided to try out this traditional Greek preparation. What a find! Very simple, yet very delicious baked sardines Greeks style. All flavours work very well together, none is overpowering and you can still taste the fresh sardines. It is excellent as a snack along with some chilled beer or as a main dish with a simple green salad on a hot day - like we are having this summer over here. OPA! :o)

You will need: ~700 g of fresh sardines, cleaned ~5-6 garlic cloves, chopped ~1 tbsp of oregano lots of olive oil 1/2 lime juice and some lime for serving salt 1. Preheat the oven to 180 C degrees. 2. Line up the sardines on a baking dish and generously sprinkle with salt, oregano, garlic, fresh juice of 1/2 lime and lots of olive oil. 3. Bake the sardines for about 40-45 minutes. Serve right away with along with lime wedges.

Enjoy!

Chicken Soup with Lemon Grass, Ginger and a Bunch of Veggies

This is not your ordinary chicken soup. This is Tom Yum meets Chicken Soup for your soul! This soup was inspired by a piece of lemon grass that I found at the bottom of a vegetable tray in our fridge that was still in a good shape and I didn't want to risk losing it to the trash can eventually. I had leftovers of a simple rosemary roast chicken from the last night and I made some chicken stock using parts, namely legs, that I cut off before roasting the chicken. That's the thing, if you buy a whole chicken in India, you will get lots of spare parts with it. Shame on me, but I often end up throwing most of them out, except for our cats eating a few that they like. But not anymore. I made some nice stock by simmering the legs in a pot with water. Then I inspected the fridge again and saw what veggies I could find. But don't be limited by my selection and feel free to add, for example, corn or leek, or broccoli, etc. Just add the veggies in the order of their cooking time. It turned out to be a very flavourful chicken soup, but not as spicy as your typical Tom Yum soup, which must be one of my favourite comfort foods in this world. I felt completely relaxed and rejuvenated after having whole two bawls of this soup at night after a long week in the office.

If you don't have roast chicken leftovers, just raw chicken pieces, dice the pieces and saute them lightly along with the veggies before adding them to the soup and cooking. You might want to add just a little bit of rosemary or thyme to the soup in this case. I added my leftover chicken with rosemary sprigs and it added a nice touch to the soup.

You will need: leftover of ~1/3 small roasted chicken, diced 1 medium onion, chopped 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped 1 carrot, diced 3 spring onions, white and green part, chopped 3 small potatoes, peeled and cut into medium size pieces ~1 cup of frozen peas 1 stalk of lemon grass, only white part, cut into a few bigger pieces ~3 cm ginger piece, cut into bigger pieces 1 green chili, halved and seeds removed 3-4 cup of chicken stock a bit of olive oil salt and pepper to taste 1. Bring the chicken stock to a boil, add the lemon grass stalk, ginger pieces, green chili and potatoes, season to your taste and let it simmer it for about 7 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan and first fry the onion till it gets translucent, don't let it brown. Add the white part of spring onion, garlic and carrots and saute for a few more minutes. 3. Add the sauteed onion, carrots and chicken pieces to the stock and let it simmer for ~5-7 more minutes. 4. Add the peas and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Just before it is ready, add the green part of the spring onion. That's it!

Enjoy!