Marias Menu » Fish Recipes

Tuna Fish and Vegetable Cutlet

Maria — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:13:38 +0000

I’m very excited to post this recipe! This is the first recipe with a full set of step by step pictures – a recipe picture tutorial :). You remember the survey we took some time ago? Step by step pictures topped the list of features desired on this blog. This was something I never thought of doing. So thanks for your suggestion! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a person who is passionate about taking photos. I like it, but don’t love it. But since you asked for it, I decided to give it a try. Though I’m not promising this for all the recipes. Sometimes I completely forget about it and at times I remember it only half way through the cooking. Anyways, I’ll try my best to keep it going. I’ve kept the size of the pictures small, because already there are some complaints that this site takes time loading. I dont want to test your patience any further ;)

I’ve posted fish cutlet recipe before, but this recipe is somewhat different from that. Canned tuna is something I stock up in my kitchen cupboards. I mainly stock it for two reasons… there is no hazzle of cleaning the fish and it gets cooked in a jiffy. I think there is a mixed reaction for the canned tuna. Some people like it, while others just dont. But let me tell you something, if you make this cutlets, its hard to tell whether its tuna. With all the spices and masala it almost, well I said almost.. tastes like chicken. Btw, if you cant stand the taste of tuna, you can try this recipe with chicken also. I’ve given the details in notes section of the recipe.

Other thing about the recipe is that, this is more like bakery style cutlet recipe. If you check out my previous cutlet recipes, you can see that there are no masala powders other than garam masala. But if you’ve tried the bakery cutlets, you can see that the filling is a bit yellowish in colour and you get more masala taste. Though I’m a big fan of homemade cutlets, I like bakery cutlets too, just for the different taste. After all, you know my love for bakery food ;)

This is the first time I’ve tried adding veggies to tuna cutlets. I got this idea from my aunt, Tesschechy. I happened to take some tuna cans for her. She wanted to make tuna cutlets for a family get together. But since she had to feed an army, she added some veggies and oppikalfied (adjusted) the qty for the whole bunch. I liked it very much and wanted to try it since then. Also this is one of those snacks/appetizers which you can make ahead. It sure comes handy when you are lazy to cook ;)

Here is the step by step pictures:

Canned tuna

Boiling the potatoes..

Cooking chopped onions, ginger & garlic, green chilli & curry leaves…

Adding grated carrots & chopped beans..

Adding masala powders..

Adding tuna pieces..

Mixing tuna mixture & boiled potatoes..

Cutlet mix is ready..

Shaping the cutlets..

Egg white batter & bread crumbs for dipping & rolling the shaped cutlets..

Ready to fry/freeze…

Patties in between layers of parchment paper..

Here is the recipe:

Tuna and Vegetable Cutlets

Recipe type: Appetiser, Side dish

Author: Maria Jose

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 15

Ingredients

Canned Tuna – 4 cans (net weight of 1 can is 100 gms)
Carrot – 1, grated
Chopped beans – 1/4 cup
Potato – 2 big, cubed
Onion – 4 medium, chopped
Ginger & garlic – 1 – 1 1/2 tbsp, chopped
Green chilli – 3-4, chopped
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 1/2 – 2 tsp
Fennel powder (perumjeerakam) – 1/2 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Pepper powder 1/2 – 1 tsp
Salt
Oil
Curry leaves
For coating
Egg whites – 2
Plain flour (maida) – 2 tbsp
Water – 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp
Salt – a pinch
Bread crumbs – 2-3 cups

Instructions

Drain the oil from tuna.
Cook the potatoes with salt till it is well done. (I cooked them on stove top, you can pressure cook them also). Let it cool completely.
Heat oil in a pan & add chopped onions, ginger & garlic, green chilli & curry leaves. Cook till the onions becomes soft & start changing the colour. Add grated carrots & chopped beans. Cook till the veggies are done. Add the masala powders, salt & mix well. Cook for 2 mins. Add tuna pieces & mix well. Cook for 5-7 mins, till everything is combined well. Let the mixture cool down completely.
Add the cooked potatoes to the tuna mixture & mash them & combine the two. Make sure there are no lumps. Shape the mixture as per your liking (refer notes).
Make a thick paste with flour & water & salt (a pinch). Add the beaten egg whites to this & whisk till you get a smooth batter. Dip the shaped cutlets in this batter & roll in bread crumbs. At this stage the cutlets are ready to freeze. You can store it in a ziplock bag & freeze it for 1-2 months. Keep the frozen cutlets at room temp for 30-45 mins before frying.
Heat oil in a pan on med – high flame. When the oil is really hot (not smoking) add the cutlets & fry it till its golden in colour. Drain on a paper towel & serve hot.

Notes

Be careful while adding salt, since the canned tuna is already salty.

You can substitute tuna with chicken also and follow the same procedure. I think you can use around 400 gms of boneless chicken for the above measurements. Boil the cleaned chicken with salt and pepper till it is cooked. Mince the boiled chicken and add to the masalas.

I used cookie cutter for shaping the cutlets.

I got 29 small- medium size cutlets and 4 medium size patties with the above qty. I didnt coat the patties with egg whites and bread crumbs. Just froze it after shaping, in between layers of parchment paper. I dont defrost the patties before cooking. I shallow fry the patties.

Why not leave a comment? Quick, head on over to MariasMenu.com for more tasty, delicious and simple recipes! Remember to check out the Recipe Index to find some easy-to-cook dishes. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about MariasMenu!

Njandu (Crab) Roast

Maria — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:28:37 +0000

Do you believe in impression management? Hhhmm I’m not quite sure whether I’m for or against it. I mean, I’m against faking & portraying myself as something which I’m not but at the same time I dont want total strangers to see the meaner side of me ;) So, that puts me somewhere in the middle. As per Jose, that’s a no man’s land, because you can’t be lukewarm. You should be either hot or cold.

Anyways, what I was trying to say is that, if you want to impress somebody with your cooking skills, this recipe is a sure bet. I’ve posted quite a few prawns recipes, but prawns roast was the one which did the impression management trick for me with the guests. I was slowly getting bored with it. That’s when this video appeared on my FB page. This is my friend Ligy’s mother-in-law’s recipe. The original recipe uses crab, but I wanted to try with prawns. I checked with Ligy & she gave me a green flag for the prawns & you see the end result here.

I dont know whether I’ve told you this before… when I try certain recipes, I’m kinda restless till I post it here. Of course, I like all the recipes that I post here & I just dont post recipes for the sake of it. But with some recipes, I’m so excited with the outcome that I just wanna share it with you at the earliest. So go ahead and try this!

I’ve got requests for Crab recipes & I guess this recipe should solve that. A big thank you to Ligy & her MIL for sharing this wonderful recipe. Btw, this post is named as crab roast (though I’ve used prawns) to avoid confusing it with the prawns roast recipe posted earlier. Hope I didn’t confuse you more ;)

Please visit epathram to see Malayalam version of this recipe.

Here you go…

Njandu (Crab) Roast

Ingredients

Prawns – 250 gm, after cleaning
To roast & grind
Coconut – 3/4 cup
Small onion – 4, sliced
Ginger & garlic – 1 tsp each, finely chopped
Curry leaves – 6 leaves
For the Masala
Onion – 2 med-big, sliced finely
Green chilli – 2-3, slit lengthwise
Ginger & garlic – 3/4 – 1 tbsp each, crushed
Tomato – 2, sliced
Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 1/2 – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Thin coconut milk/water – 1 cup
Salt
Coconut oil
Curry leaves

Instructions

Heat oil in a pan & roast the ingredients listed under ‘to roast & grind’. Roast it till the coconut becomes dark brown colour. Make sure the coconut doesnt get burnt. Let it cool completely. Grind it into a smooth powder without adding any water. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a deep pan & add finely sliced onions. Cook till the onions turn brown. Add crushed ginger & garlic & green chilli. Cook for a few minutes. Add Kashmiri chilli powder & turmeric powder. Cook for a few mins till the raw smell goes. Add sliced tomatoes, salt & curry leaves. Cook till the tomatoes become soft & oil starts appearing. Add cleaned prawns & mix well. Add thin coconut milk/water & give a good mix. Cover and cook. Cook till the prawns is done & the gravy is almost dried. Add the ground roasted coconut & mix well. Remove from gas. Serve hot with rice/pulao/roti.

Notes

As I’ve mentioned in the write up, this is a crab recipe, so you can substitute prawns with crab. The original recipe uses water for cooking the crab. I used thin coconut milk for a richer coconut flavor.

Black Forest Roulade

Maria — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 09:36:21 +0000

I was just waiting for this day. Yep, its Sweet Punch time again and this month I got to select the recipe. Now you know why I was waiting ;). As per the list made by the Sweet Punch team, it was either roulade or swiss roll. If you are wondering what’s the difference between the two, check out this. Roulades can be sweet as well as savoury. I decided to go for the sweet version, after all we are baking for “sweet punch” right ;)? You can read more about roulade here.

I selected roulade because it sounded fancy and also I remembered bookmarking a chocolate roulade recipe in my Martha Stewart baking book. But after going through the recipe I was a bit disappointed because it used raw eggs for the filling. Now I dont fancy any kind of raw egg in my food and decided to find out another recipe. I started going through all my baking books and finally saw this recipe in one of my fav books, Australian Women’s Weekly.

I wanted to make sure that the recipe works well, so I tried it before sending it to the baking group. I also got feedback from my friends about the same and I made some changes in the recipe based on their feedback.

Now about the recipe, it can be considered as a rich dessert, the base is made with chocolate & eggs without any flour and its filled with whipping cream & cherries. It’s very moist and its texture is kind of gooey. If you like chocolate flavor, I’m sure you will enjoy this. I was very much tensed about the rolling part, because it tends to break. Luckily it came out well, though there were some minor cracks.

I enjoyed baking and eating it too. Hope you will also enjoy it :) Dont forget to check out the roulade round up on Sweet Punch Website.

For the base:

Dark chocolate – 200gm, chopped coarsely
Hot water – 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Instant coffee powder – 1 tsp
Eggs – 4, separated (room temp)
Caster sugar – 1/2 cup (110 gms)
Caster sugar – 1 tbsp, extra
Thickened cream – 3/4 – 1 cup ( I used whipping cream)
Kirsch – 1 tbsp

Cherry filling

Seedless black cherries – 425gm can
Cornflour – 3 tsp
Kirsch – 1 tbsp (refer notes)

Position oven shelves; preheat oven to 180 C. Grease 25 cm/30 cm swiss roll pan; line base with baking paper. Combine chocolate, water and coffee in large heat proof bowl; sit bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Using wooden spoon, stir until chocolate melts then immediately remove bowl from fire.
Beat egg yolks & sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until thick & creamy; this will take about 5 minutes. Using large metal spoon, fold egg mixture into warm chocolate mixture. Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Using metal spoon, gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, in two batches. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven about 10 mins.

Meanwhile, place a large sheet of baking paper on board; sprinkle with extra sugar. Turn cake onto sugared baking paper; carefully remove lining paper, cover cake loosely with a tea towel. Cool cake to room temp.

Beat cream & kirsch in small bowl with electric mixer until firm peaks form. Spread cake evenly with cooled cherry filling then spread Kirsch cream over cherry mixture. Roll cake from a long side, using paper to lift and guide the roll; place on serving plate. Dust with cocoa powder. Cover roll; refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. You can also dress up the roulade with cherries or by piping some cream on top.

Cherry filling

Drain cherries, reserving 1/4 cup (60ml) of syrup. Using knife, chop cherries coarsely. Using wooden spoon blend cornflour and reserved syrup in a saucepan. Add cherries; stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, cool to room temp.

My Notes:

If you dont have a swiss roll tin, use a rectangular baking tin.
I used canned red cherries instead of black cherries and cherry brandy instead of kirsch. If you cant find kirsch or cherry brand use the syrup from the canned cherries. I used chocolate with 50 % cocoa for the base.
I find the taste of cherry brandy a bit dominating, adjust the qty of kirsch/brandy to suit your taste.
The roulade is a bit delicate and tends to stick on to the baking paper, be careful while removing the paper and also while rolling.
It’s a very moist roulade, its very soft even if you serve it straight out of the fridge.

Notes & Tips from the Women’s Weekly Magazine:

This cake is a cross between a mousse and a fallen souffle. It’s ideal to make it on the day of serving.
To successfully make this cake, it is vital that the egg yolk/sugar mixture is beaten until thick and that the egg whites are beaten only until soft peaks form. Overbeating will dry out the egg whites and make it difficult to fold them into the chocolate mixture.
To test if the cake is cooked, touch it with your fingertips: it should feel slightly firm and springy.

Storage:

As per the AWW notes, the filled roulade will keep for up to 8 hours in an airtight container in the refrigerator. However I stored it for 2 days in the fridge and didnt notice any change in the taste or texture.
As per the AWW notes, unrolled and unfilled roulade can be stored, covered with a piece of baking paper then a damp tea-towel, overnight in the refrigerator.

Kovakka (Ivy Gourd) Peera Pattichathu

Maria — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:17:25 +0000

Choru (rice), a thoran (veggie with coconut), a mezhukkuperatti (stir fried veggie without coconut), a non veg dish and a chaaru (gravy) curry. This is the standard lunch menu back home. Even when I started cooking I also used to have the same menu. As the years passed on, there was a slight change. If you are expecting that the menu became more elaborate over the years, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’m not sure whether I told you before…I actually dont enjoy making the normal rice & curry. It’s not exciting enough ;) However since I dont have any other option but to make it myself, I do it. I’m sure, I’ve told you that I’ve not yet mastered the art of cooking veggies, I mean the normal everyday stuff . Its not that they taste horrible or bad, but i always feel something is missing, may be it’s just my mindset. Do you feel the same or is it just me?

Now, before we go into something else, I’ll just tell you about this kovakka peera. Kovakka is one of the veggies I like. I usually make mezhukkuperatti (stir fry) with it. But when I saw this recipe, I was sure that I would like it. It’s almost like a meen (fish) peera. Meen peera is one of the typical Kerala dishes were you cook fish in a mixture of grated coconut, shallots, green chilly and gambooge (kudampuli). Usually its made with small variety of fish like kozhuva (anchovy)… (I forgot the names of others) and small size shrimp. Shrimp (chemmeen) peera is my fav one. Its been ages since I had this, so I thought, I’ll try it. Btw, I know some people who make meen peera without meen. It actually happens during Lent time :)

Please give it a try and see and I’m sure it will be a change from the usual veggie preparations. Here goes the recipe:

Kovakka – 250 gms, cut lengthwise
Green chilly – 4, slit lengthwise
Small onion – 6, finely sliced
Grated coconut – 1/2 – 1 cup
Jeera (cumin) – 1/2 tsp
Garlic – 1 – 1 1/2 tsp, finely chopped
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Gambooge (kudampuli)- 2 pieces, soaked in water
Coconut oil
Salt
Curry leaves

Crush the number 2 ingredients ( I mixed it well using my hands, njeraduka). Add the other ingredients to this along with 2-3 tbsp of water. Cover & cook on low fire. It will take 7-10 mins approx. Serve hot with rice.

Notes: It will take sometime for the flavor to set in, ideally it tastes better the next day. Check in between cooking and give it a stir. You can make meen (fish) peera also the same way. I’ve made this with canned tuna also and it was good. Omit jeera if you are making meen peera. Also try adding grated ginger for meen peera. ( a tip shared by Elizabeth, one of the readers)

Source: Vanitha

Prawns Fry

Maria — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:16:29 +0000

One more prawns recipe. I guess I’ve posted more prawns recipes here than fish recipes . After all who can resist prawns right ?? Some people might say prawns increase your cholesterol, but once in a while its ok to indulge in such simple pleasures of life, isn’t it, what say ;)??

Anyways,didn’t I tell you in my previous post, about the royal pampering back home :)?? Yes, this comes from my Mom in law’s kitchen. We, Jose n myself, just loved it. I was multitasking at lunch time on the day this was made… stocking up the prawns in my plate, covering it from eagle eyes (read Jose ;) ) and enjoying each bite of it…

Hope you will also enjoy it as we did :)

Here is the recipe:

Tiger prawns – 10
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Chilly powder – 1 tsp
Pepper powder – 1tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Oil – 1tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – chopped
Oil – for frying
Salt

Combine all the ingredients and make a paste. Marinate the prawns with this paste and keep aside for half an hour. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry it for 5-7 minutes. If you fry it for long, the prawns will become hard.

Notes: You can put the prawns on a skewer/tooth pick and fry, if you wish. Using coconut oil will enhance the flavor.

Check out other prawns recipe:

Prawns/Shrimp Pickle

Maria — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:32:38 +0000

One more pickle recipe from my mom in law. She usually make it with fish, but she said prawns can also be made in the same way. If I say I love this pickle, it will be an understatement, because I can literally live on this pickle. Since I always get parcels from mummy, I’ve never tried to make it my own. But last week I was left with empty bottles and after being pampered with home made pickles I didn’t feel like buying ready made ones. Since I was making it for the first time I was a bit apprehensive, but to my luck it came out well without much hiccups :)

Hope you too will like it and this is more easy compared to the lemon pickle recipe. For me, the only time consuming part was the cleaning of prawns.

Boneless king Fish/prawns- 1 kg
To marinate-
Kashmiri chilly powder – 2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt
Ginger sliced – 1 tablespoon
Garlic sliced – 1 tablespoon
Green chilly chopped 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
Kashmiri chilly powder – 2 tablespoon
Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon
Salt
Mustard seed – 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seed – 1 teaspoon
Vinegar - ½ – 1 cup
Oil
Water – 1/2 – 3/4 cup (boiled & cooled)

Marinate the cleaned fish/prawns with number 2 ingredients and keep for half an hour. Heat oil in a pan & fry the fish/prawns. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in another pan and add mustard & fenugreek seeds. When it crackles add ginger sliced, garlic sliced and green chilly chopped & curry leaves and fry till it becomes brown. Keep it aside. Add ginger garlic paste to the same pan & fry it till it becomes brown. Add chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt. Fry the masala till its done and the oil starts appearing. Add 3-4 tbsp of water. Mix well and after a minute add fried fish/prawns, fried ginger & garlic slices & chopped green chilly & vinegar. Let it boil. If you want more gravy, add 3-4 tbsp water. Boil it for 5 more minutes. Do a taste check and ad more salt & vinegar, if required. Remove from fire & let it cool completely.

Store it in airtight container and pour the remaining fried oil over the top of the pickle.

Notes: If you’re making this recipe with fish, cut it into bite size pieces. I used sunflower oil. You can use sesame oil (nallenna), corn oil etc; When you add vinegar, start with 1/2 cup and add more, after doing a taste check. Keep in mind that that it will take time for the flavor to settle in. This is a spicy recipe, please adjust the ingredient measurements to suit your taste.

If you are planning to keep it for a long time, its better to refrigerate it. Also if you’re living in a hot & humid climate, refrigeration is strongly recommended. Though you can start using it the day it’s made, its better to keep it for 1-2 days for the flavor to settle in. Make sure that you use only boiled & cooled water.

Kerala Fish Fry (Meen Varuthathu)

Maria — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:51:30 +0000

One of my fav food!! This is one item which I find very hard to resist. However, I don’t make it that often. I usually go for fish curry. Other day when we went to buy fish, we were lucky to get a fresh catch of king fish. When I was asked whether the pieces should be separated for curry and fry, I didn’t think twice. How could I resist the joy of having a fresh neimeen (king fish) fry, its really bad to say “NO” to such simple pleasures of life, isn’t it ;)???

Regarding the recipe, I am taking bail in advance. I don’t have exact measurement for this. Sometimes I feel like adding more garlic, sometimes I want to add a pinch of garam masala and so it goes. The recipe given below is the standard one and you can play with it as you like.

Here is the recipe:

King fish steaks – 4-5 of medium size
Ginger & garlic paste – 1- 1 1/2tsp each
Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 – 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Whole pepper – 1/4- 1/2 tsp
Lime juice – 1-2 tsp
Salt
Coconut oil

Apply little salt and lime juice on the fish pieces and wash it with water. Drain the water. Grind together number 2 ingredients into a fine paste adding a little water. Make gashes in the fish pieces and marinate the pieces with the ground paste. Keep the marinated fish for half an hour. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the fish pieces.Serve with onion rings and a slice of lime.

Notes: Please adjust the qty of spices to suit your taste. The ground paste should not be watery (1/2 – 1 tsp of water is enough while grinding the masala). I usually fry the fish pieces on low-medium flame. Also you can add some fresh curry leaves while frying the fish pieces. You can use the same masala for any kind of fish.