GUEST POST

Guest Post and Awards:

I am thrilled Deepa of Hamaree Rasoi bestowed me with some more awards. I will collect them as soon as I have decided on my 15 nominees.

I was also happy and surprised to find a Guest Post in my mail box from a fellow blogger Samir Padalkar of Oenophile. Well this is a dish he cooked himself and photographer is his son Jai Padalkar. Over to Samir

 

INDIAN BOUILLABAISSE

By

Samir Padalkar 

“I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking.”
    Julia Child

Bouillabaisse is a traditional Provencal fish stew originating from the port city of Marseille. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouillabaisse

The first time I ate this dish I was amazed at how spicy it was. It was served with a baguette, I felt an Indian style plain white rice would also pair well. Later I experimented making this dish, and found it to be relatively easy, the taste was magnificent. As the Wikipedia (and other) entry mentions, this dish originated with fishermen boiling the day’s unsold fish in seawater with some herbs. Later it became much more gourmet, with tomatoes and wine being added. An Indian version should be easy, since all that has to be changed is the fish (and spring onions instead of leeks). Here is one such version:

                                                            

RECIPE

Photo by Jai Padalkar

Ingredients:

• Medium Red Onion
• 4 Garlic Cloves
• 2 – 3 cups chopped spring onions
• 1 cup dry white wine (substitute with 1 cup water/vegetable stock/fish stock)
• 1 bottle cap full Pernod (substitute with Fennel seed water)
• 1 teaspoon Red Chili Powder (you may use more or less, and add a couple of cloves if you wish)
• 2 – 3 Bay Leaves
• 5 – 6 Medium Fresh Tomatoes
• Fresh Cilantro (Coriander leaves) to garnish
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 2 – 3 tablespoons Olive Oil (substitute with any light vegetable oil)
• 4 – 5 strands Saffron (you may omit, but do not substitute with any color)
• 1 lb (450 grams) Whole Pomfret cut into pieces (I discarded the head & tail)
• 1 lb (450 grams) fresh shrimp (prawns) peeled & deveined.
• 1 lb (450 grams) any other fresh white fish (I used cod).

Method: 

• Wash & Clean all the seafood & keep aside.
• Puree (liquefy) all the tomatoes in a blender.
• Fine Chop the onion
• Peel & crush the garlic cloves.
• Get a large enough covered vessel to cook in, add the oil and place it on medium heat (I used the Le Crueset Cast Iron vessel showed in the photo.)
• Add the onions & garlic & sauté.
• Add the red chili powder & Bay Leaves & sauté until the onions are translucent.
• Add the spring onions & sauté for 2 – 4 minutes.
• Add the Pernod, White Wine & saffron, stir & cover the pot and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the liquefied tomatoes, stir & cover the pot & cook for 5 min. or until the mixture boils.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.
• Add all the seafood and cook for 15 – 20 min, or until the seafood is cooked. Be sure to add the seafood in the order that it takes for it to cook, i.e. longer time needed seafood should be added first. I started with the pomfret, 2-3 minutes later added the shrimp, and 2-3 minutes later added the cod.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.
• Garnish with fresh cilantro & server with French Bread or plain white rice.
• The red color you see in the photo is entirely due to the tomatoes, this dish is essentially fish being poached in a tomato-onion-wine broth. As a result, it is an extremely healthy dish, and you may elect to spice it up a lot or make it mildly spicy. We prefer mildly spicy, so just the one little teaspoon of Red Chili Powder.
• If you drink wine, serve with a dry white wine. I always use the same wine to cook, and never use any cooking wine. I used the one shown in the photo, a “Pouilly-Fuisse” which is a Chardonnay from Burgundy. You can substitute any other dry white wine.
• If you do not drink wine, serve with Fresh Lemon-Lime juice/soda.
• Last but not least, do not forget to play this song in the background 

---

      “Aasmaan Se Aaya Farishta, Pyar Ka Sabak Sikhlane

      Dil Mein Hain Tasveer Yaar Ki, Laya Hoon Wo Dikhlane

      Kaho Pyar Hai Tumse”,

          

     From the movie “An Evening in Paris”.

The song is supposedly filmed in the South of France, the origin of  Bouillabaisse. Shammi Kapoor & Sharmila Tagore has to be the best looking Bollywood pair filmed abroad.


This recipe has been inspired from:-

1) The New York Times CookBook.

2) Provence The Beautiful CookBook --- Richard Olney.