Sunday, March 30, 2014

Sweet Potato Treat

Caramelised Sweet Potatoes
While doing my weekly shopping last week, I saw a heap of sweet potaoes at the super market.  My mind went back to my childhood, when we had a patch of sweet potatoes in our garden and watching our gardener digging up the soil to retrieve them.  We loved food and my Mum used to make it in many ways.  I was really surprised to see a somewhat similar dessert here in Malaysia at one of the dinners we attended.  At the end of the day people all over the world eat the same thing, use local ingredients and call it by different names.

The Recipe:

1 large sweet potato; 2 tbsp jaggery or brown sugar; 2 dsp grated coconut; 2 tbsp water.

Wash and cut the sweet potato into 3 pieces;  Boil in enough water to cover it for 15 minutes.  Drain and completely cool.  Peel and cut into wedges.  Place the sugar or jaggery  and the water in a non stick pan and heat till on medium flame till it bubbles.  Lower the flame and add in the sweet potato wedges.  Gently stir so that all the pieces are covered with the caramel.  Transfer to serving plate and sprinkle the coconut over it.  Your Sweet Potato Treat is now ready and is enough to serve four people. 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Grilled Masala Fish

Fishy Flavours
There's nothing easier than Grilled Fish.  All you need is one large fish enough to serve two or three persons.  Get your fishermonger to scale and gut it.  Then it's all yours.  Recently I won an electric grill, so decided to make one of our usual fish recipes.  The grill won a standing ovation and we now know what to do when surprise guests turn up.

The Recipe:

1 medium pomfret, scaled & gutted, keep whole with fins and tail.

For Marinade:  2 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice; salt to taste; 1/4 tsp turmeric powder; 1 tbsp chilli powder.  Mix to a liquidy paste.

Wash fish thoroughly with water, salt and turmeric.  Drain on kitchen towels.  Marinade ( in refrigerator) in the above mixture overnight.  Next day bring to room temperature.  Plug in the grill and adjust settings to 240 Centigrade.  Place a banana leaf on the grill with a little oil on it.  Place the fish on preheated grill (until desired temperature is reached) and grill 5 minutes each side.  Serve hot with lemon wedges.  The aroma wafting on the air is bound to bring the household into the kitchen, awaiting the moment to attack.