Calamari Masala

A quick fix side dish made from leftover calamari cooked in a fiery Bengali fried style.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Calamari- 200gm
• Plum tomato- 2 medium
• Garlic- 3 large cloves, chopped
• Cayenne powder- 1 tbsp
• Turmeric- 1 tsp
• Mustard Oil- 2 tbsp
• Salt- To taste

Preparation (30 mins):

Chop calamari to bite sized pieces.I prefer using the tentacles because they are easier to cook and don't get rubbery. In a bowl marinate the calamari with turmeric, cayenne and salt for fifteen minutes. Heat oil on high in frying pan. Add chopped garlic and stir.

Lower flame and toss in calamari. Cook on low till calamari starts becoming tender. Not if you cook on high or overcook or you end up with what I call vulcanized calamari.

Add in quartered plum tomato's, stir and cover. Cook on medium for 10 mins.

 
Serve hot as a fiery side dish.

Tips:

• You could easily replace calamari with octopus or squid.
• Frying calamari is the most sensitive part of the process. If you under cook you end up with raw fishy bits, and if you overcook slightly you have rubber calamari. That's why I prefer to cook on a low flame with constant tasting.
  

Calamari a la Plancha

Typical Plancha- Very similar to the one I use at home.

Ever since my girlfriend presented me a plancha as a Christmas present, been experimenting a bit with cooking everything a la plancha.  Actually one of the healthiest ways to cook, fast too, that I have come across recently. If you don't have a 'Plancha', try doing it in a heavy non-stick flat pan. Results are fabulous.

 

While doing my weekend shopping I came across these fresh, heavenly cuttlefish at the local supermarket. So here I am at home with a lovely cleaned cuttlefish about 1 kg. Since tonight I am cooking for myself I guess about a 300 gm portion should be sufficient. Remaining is going to get frozen for the rest of the week. Maybe, if I can I will make a sea food soup from Egypt that my friend Gamal makes to perfection.

Ingredients (Serves 1):

• Fresh Calamari- 300 gm, cut into strips
• Garlic- 2 cloves, shredded
• Olive oil- 1 tbsp
• Salt- To taste
• Lime- 1/2 juiced

Preparation ( Marination- 15 mins + Cooking time-10 mins):

Clean calamari strips and lightly dress with salt and a quarter of the lime juice. Set aside for 15 mins. 











Heat 'plancha' till any water put on it starts to sizzle. Spread oil on the plate. Add the shredded garlic. 


Once garlic starts becoming translucent, add calamari strips. 










Keep turning over till strips start becoming golden brown. So that the calamari remains tender and cooks evenly, keep basting with lime juice and the oil as you turn over. Don't overcook else you end up with a rubbery unappetizing mess. Lightly sprinkle a little salt and drizzle with remaining lime juice. You will know that the calamari is done when it starts turning golden brown and the garlic has turned a deep-fried  brown.


Serve hot with a fresh salad as accompaniment.

Tips:

• Serve with a chilled white to  bring out the flavour.
• If you want, you could add a sprinkling of dried parsley to tone down the strong flavour near the end of the grilling.
  

Lime Coconut Squid with Star Anise- Pweza wa nazi

Today's recipe comes from the Spice Islands of Zanzibar off the East African coast. 

Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Spicy and textured in sweet, sour and hot just like the medley of currents  surrounding the island and nourishing the rich marine life.

Trying to save money by getting the best deals, I ended up with three cans of coconut milk. Great, but my repertoire of coconut milk based dishes leaves a lot wanting. Have been planning a trip to Kenya/ Tanzania for a long time. Specifically since last weekend's island getaway. Two conversations under a starlit night on an island (Daymānīyāt Island-23°50'42" N, 58°5'11" E) off the coast of Oman, and they both lead to Africa. 


And hence this recipe. Again, the original recipe (Pweza wa nazi) called for octopus, but octopus being out of season, I substituted with squid.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• Squid:  1kg,cleaned and cut into rings
• Coconut milk: 200 ml
• Onion: 1 large, chopped
• Ginger garlic paste: 2 tsp
• Tomato- 200 gm, pureed
• Star Anise: 2 whole
• Cinnamon: 2 inch stick, broken into smaller pieces
• Cumin seeds: 2 tsp
• Black pepper corns: 3 tsp
• Dried red chilli: 3
• Turmeric powder: 2 tsp
• Cayenne powder: 3 tsp
• Garam masala:  1 tsp
• Mustard oil: 4 tbsp
• Lime: 2 large, juiced
• Salt: to taste
• Milk (to marinate squid): 100 ml

Preparation (Marination- 1 hr+ Cooking time- 40 min s= 100 mins)



 
Squid/ octopus tends to get rubbery if cooked too much and this is the simplest marination tip I found. Surprisingly it works. Clean the squid, cut into rings and marinate in a bowl of milk for  1 hour.







 
While the squid marinates, let's prepare the base. Puree tomato and set aside. In a small sauce pan  dry roast the whole spices- Pepper, cinnamon, cumin seeds, dry whole chilli and star anise. Set aside.

Fill a saucepan with water, bring to boil. Now add the squid and cook for 20 mins. Keep checking to see when the squid just gets done. Too much and you may as well call this dish Lime Coconut with Vulcanized Squid. The squid rings will tend to shrink somewhat and turn pinkish in colour when they are just about done.

 

In a separate frying pan saute the  onions in mustard oil till translucent. Add ginger garlic paste, turn flame to medium. once the oil starts leaving the sides, add the drained squid rings, turmeric and cayenne.

 

 Stir for 2-3 mins to coat squid evenly in the onion, ginger-garlic,turmeric and pepper powder. Add tomato puree, cover and cook on medium heat for 5 mins. Stir in coconut milk, dry spice mix and lemon juice.Add just salt. Cover and let simmer to a creamy stem in ten minutes.

Tips:

• This is pretty fiery stuff. Though the coconut does bring down the hotness quoitent, would

  

  Source:Wikimedia Commons

  recommend using lower portions of spices if you are not used to eating very spicy food.
• Accompany with a glass of chaas to take some of the heat off.

Paella de Marisco (Seafood Paella)

An eternal favourite. Sea food lover, spicy food. Spanish cooking, just homemade comfort food, or for the dinner date you want to impress with your cooking skills (mind you keeping a bottle of wine comes in handy if you hope to keep the evening going).

Been planning to put up my own take on this for quite some time, and today finally did it. Kind of a celebratory Eid lunch with one of my best mates from school- That's him as the sou-chef in the pictures.

Interesting trivia- The Catalan word 'palella'  is derived from the Latin root- 'Patella' which means pan- just like the old Hindi word, "Patila".

Ingredients (Serves 4):

Great thing about living in Oman, you end up getting the freshest sea food you can imagine,. The Fish market at the Corniche in Muscat is a foodie's delight.

Rice (Arroz)- 2 cups, preferably brown; suggested that you soak rice overnight for faster cooking.
Tomato- 5 ripe medium sized
Octopus/ Squid- 300 gm, chopped small
Shrimp- 300 gm
Mussels- 200 gm, shelled
Fresh clams- 500 gm, cleaned in shell
Garlic- 6 medium sized cloves, shredded
Red chilli- 6 large, dried
Pepper- 2 tsp peppercorns
Chilli powder- 2 tsp
Bay leafs- 5 large
Olive Oil- 5 tbsp
Chicken/ fish stock- 1/2 cup (Not a strict requirement, but does add flavour to rice).
Salt- To taste



Preparation (Approx 1.5 hrs):

Clean clams and boil them on a medium flame for 5 mins. Chop tomatoes finely. Puree in blender to a fine slush.

Fresh clams- almost right off the boat

 

Remove clams and replace with chopped octopus for 10 mins. Remove and preserve stock for later. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil on medium flame. Add shrimps, once they start  getting soft stir in the mussels. Cook on low flame for five mins. Remove shrimps and mussels from fire, throw in the garlic. Lower flame and keep stirring till garlic turns translucent. 

Add in tomato puree. Keep on medium flame for ten minutes. Add rice, chicken stock, cover and cook for twenty minutes. Add chopped octopus along with 1 tbsp olive oil. Adding oil at this juncture, helps trap the flavour of the octopus in the broth rather than let it escape with the steam.

Cook on low flame so that the rice can absorb the flavours from the other ingredients. Keep the mixture flowing easily, if required add the stock from the clam and  octopus. After about twenty minutes add in the shrimp, mussels and clams. Add pepper, bay leaves, chilli powder, remaining olive oil.

Voila! And we are all ready to go.

 

 Cover and let it simmer for ten minutes on a low flame. Serve hot.

Tips:

• As I mentioned earlier a bottle of wine adds something to it. My current favourite- Rioja Tinto from Spain. Else you could always take it easy with 'clara' (more about  this in the upcoming blog on easy-on-the-fly cocktails), a glass or two of 'Sangria' or even sparkling water.
• If you are really out to make the kill, suggest keeping a good CD on hand. Might I suggest flamenco. :)