Yes, I am a die-hard fan of shrimp. If you are a constant visitor of my blog you might know this better than anyone else. May be because I grew up eating a hell a lot of shrimp, that too catch of the day shrimps. I love shrimp cooked any way, however my most favorite way of eating shrimp is by frying it. I want my shrimp fry to be spicy and aromatic, every bite should bring the word “yummm” out of my mouth. I usually fry the shrimp after removing its head and shell. But this time I wanted to try with the head and shell-on. I am glad that I tried it finally, as it tasted much tastier than the shelled ones.

I had a lot of fun not only frying the shrimp but also eating it using my both hands removing the shells and heads. Now that’s how you should eat shrimp. Do you think I thrashed the heads just like that from the fried shrimp? No way! I did thrash it but only after chewing it and sucking the juices from it, it was delicious. In fact, the head is the most flavorful part of the shrimp and by frying it you could enjoy the head as well.

Head-on Shrimp fry

Ingredients:

• Head-on shrimp, cleaned and deveined, large- 12 no’s
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1tsp
• Chilly powder- 1 1/2 tsp ( depending upon your spice level)
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp ( whole cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon ground together)
• Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
• Salt- to taste
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig, add to the shrimp while frying
• Oil- enough for frying

How to devein and clean head-on shrimp:

• Wash the head-on shrimp thoroughly under running water.
• Cut off the long whiskers and the sharp points on the head, pat dry it.
• Using a sharp knife, make a slit over the shell and not over the head, where the vein is seen.
• Remove the vein from it.
• Try not to rip off the shell and the head.

Preparation:

• Make a paste with the above mentioned ingredients except the curry leaves by adding little water to it.

• Spread the paste over the shrimp and marinate it for 15 minutes or longer.

• Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add enough oil for frying.
• Add the curry leaves into the oil and fry the shrimp until it turns golden brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes.

• Transfer the fried shrimp on a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.
• Serve immediately when it is still warm.

Tips:

• Adjust the spice level according to your needs.
• You could also marinate the shrimp overnight which will enhance the taste of the fried shrimp greatly.
• Be careful while cleaning the head-on shrimp as its head has sharp points.

It’s time to dig out the grill or the griddle and let the BBQ party begin…

I am back from a week long road trip, we covered Colorado,Utah, Arizona and Nevada. While in Utah, I felt like I have landed on some other planet, it’s full of breathtaking views and stunning canyons. I haven’t yet gotten out of the road trip hangover. Still looking at the pictures and cherishing the wonderful moments.

Here is a picture of me taken in Antelope Canyon, AZ, one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

The week before my road trip most of my cooking was on the griddle placed on the patio. I was obsessed with griddle cooking and so I threw almost everything that came to my hands on the griddle.

Here are the few dishes I cooked on the griddle.

Cooking on the Griddle menu, Asian Flavors:

• Asian Shrimp
• Vegetable stir fry
• Asian Chicken
• Asparagus from the griddle

Asian Shrimp from the griddle

Ingredients:

• Shrimp, deveined, de-shelled- 14 no’s

For marination:

• Soy sauce- 3tbsp
• Ground pepper- 2 pinches
• Lemon juice- 2tbsp
• Chilli garlic paste- 1tsp
• Garlic minced- 1tsp
• Onion, minced- 1tbsp
• Cilantro- 2tbsp

Preparation:

• Soak 2 large skewers in water for an hour so they will not burn on the grill or griddle.
• Devein and de-shell the shrimp and wash under running water and keep aside.
• In a bowl, combine the above mentioned marinating ingredients.
• Spread the marination on the shrimp, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so.

• Remove skewers from water, pat dry and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• Skewer the shrimp.

• Turn on the griddle to 350.
• Place the shrimp and grill on both sides till it turns slightly browned, about 5 minutes per side.

Stay tuned for other Cooking on the Griddle recipes.

Happy Griddling!

I can literally eat shrimp everyday, I am truly not exaggerating. Shrimp has been my favorite shell fish ever since I was a kid. Only thing that is stopping me from making shrimp everyday is the fact that it’s high in cholesterol. I’ve been doing a lot of internet research about this and have found that many studies prove that high cholesterol in shrimp doesn’t do much harm to our body. Even though it increased people’s bad cholesterol, it also boosted their good cholesterol enough to offset the increase in bad cholesterol.

This is definitely a good news to all the shrimp lovers. Also, it is low in fat and contains fish oils which is good for our heart. However, consuming too much of anything will make us sick. Hence, eat shrimp in moderation and avoid frying it. Instead, grill it or bake it and enjoy it with no guilt.

I try different things with shrimp and I dare to add shrimp to almost everything. So, last time when I had cooked shrimp, I made a bisque out of shrimp. To make it healthy, I had made the bisque without adding the fish stock or chicken stock. I added water instead and finished it off by adding very little fat free cream.

This is a good recipe for anyone who is on diet and wants to enjoy shrimp.

Shrimp Bisque:

• Recipe: Thas

Ingredients:

• Shrimp, shelled, vein removed and cooked- 12 no’s large
• Onion, chopped- 1
• Celery, diced- 2 stalks
• Potato, diced- 1
• Garlic, minced- 1 1/2 tsp
• Thyme, fresh- 2 sprigs
• Parsley chopped- 1 handful
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Fat free cream- 1/4 cup
• Olive oil or butter- 1tbsp
• Water- enough to thin down the bisque
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• You could use cooked frozen shrimp or uncooked fresh ones.
• If using uncooked shrimp, remove the shells, devein it and wash thoroughly under water.

• Heat a wide cooking pan over medium heat and add olive oil or butter.
• Add chopped onions and little salt, saute till tender.
• Add garlic minced, thyme sprigs, potatoes and celery, cook covered till potatoes turn tender.

• Add shrimp to the cooked veggies and add some water to it and season with ground pepper and salt.

• If using uncooked shrimp, cook the shrimp for few minutes.

• After the shrimp has cooked, transfer the veggies and shrimp to a blender and puree it to a smooth constituency.
• Transfer the pureed shrimp back to the cooking pot placed over medium heat.

• You could add water to thin down the bisque.
• Taste it and if required add salt and ground pepper.
• Add cream and bring it to a simmer.
• Finish it off by garnishing with fresh parsley leaves.

Tips:

• Save the tails of the shrimp and wash it under running water, you could use this to decorate the bisque and the soup bowl.

It’s creamy, it has shrimp, it has cheese and it’s on a jalapeno, oooo it’s spicyyy and oh wait, it’s baked too…

My obsession with jalapeno has started not so long ago, it’s only been an year now. When there is a hint of jalapeno in my dishes I will devour it happily, of course with few glasses of ice cold water. My favorite pizza topping is jalapeno. My favorite burger is the one loaded with pickled jalapeno. My favorite Thai food is garnished with jalapenos. My favorite bread is jalapeno cornbread. By now it must be crystal clear to you that I am a genuine jalapeno lover This doesn’t mean that I will ever dare to eat jalapeno as it is, I am not in for such challenges. I would rather hide

I’ve had stuffed jalapenos in many Mexican restaurants, since then I’ve been wanting to make this in my kitchen. Finally, I did make it. I bought a few pounds of jalapeno during my last grocery shopping. I wanted to make a different stuffing for the jalapenos. That day I had shrimp in my freezer. So, I made a stuffing with shrimp, cream cheese and parmesan cheese.

Be careful while seeding the jalapenos, if you want you could have the hand gloves on. Avoid the screaming part by accidentally rubbing your eyes with your jalapeno hands. If this happens for some reason, wash your eyes with cold water several times and if this doesn’t seem to work “Call 911″ immediately (just kidding).

I loved the bite of the shrimp from it, the creaminess and the mild spiciness from the jalapeno. While baking this, your house will smell as if you have jalapeno candles lighted on. Your eyes will have a slight burning sensation, but when you have a bite of this baked stuffed jalapeno you’ll forget about everything and your taste buds will melt into this.

Creamy Shrimp Stuffed Jalapeno

Ingredients:

• Jalapeno, halved and seeded, large- 7 no’s

• Shrimp, deveined, cooked frozen, minced- 6 no’s
• Cream cheese- 5 tbsp
• Parmesan cheese- 3 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Dried Parsley- 1 tsp

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 425 F.
• Rinse the jalapenos, pat dry and cut them into halves vertically.

• If you want you could wear a hand glove while removing the seeds from the jalapenos and keep aside.
• Mince the deveined, cooked shrimp and keep aside.

• In a large bowl, combine the shrimp, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, ground pepper and dried parsley.

• Place 1 tsp of this stuffing on to each jalapeno.

• Bake the stuffed jalapenos for 25 minutes or until the top of the stuffing starts to turn golden.

• Let cool down for few minutes and serve immediately to kick off your smashing party.

Tips:

For Vegans: You could substitute shrimp with other veggies like green pepper or potatoes.

My first love in the food world: Shrimp (Prawns) and it was love at first sight…

Whether it’s fried, sautéed, grilled or buried in a bowl of rice, I die for them and my love for shrimp never seems to subside even after meeting with other handsome guys in the food world: P

When the incredible food blogger Anamaris at Chef it yourself approached me with her idea of starting a Top chef challenge in her blog, I couldn’t just ignore it as I love challenges and it’s always fun participating in these contests. As this is the first challenge, she made it easy by asking the contestants to blog about a dish that represents them. When I read about this, I suddenly screamed voila, it’s darn easy and I can do this. Believe me that turned out to be a wrong scream. When I started to think about a dish, which is totally me, many dishes lined up in front of me and there was a huge conflict between the dishes. When I almost got settled on one dish, another one came to me and asked me: ‘don’t you think I am your type’ and then the next one popped out and the war continued for a while. Soon, I was seen compromising with each one of the dishes, as I don’t want to unfriend them or break their hearts. I love all the dishes unconditionally…

Growing up in Kerala, I had enjoyed seafood a lot. Seafood was served on almost everyday in my house, for lunch and dinner. In my hometown, we get fresh, catch of the day fishes, which is brought to the house by fish vendors. Among them, shellfish has been my favorite, especially Shrimp. Even now I remember how I used to butter up the fish vendors in advance to bring the fresh shrimp for me. And it always worked, they never failed to bring the fresh ones.

My favorite way of devouring shrimp is by deep-frying it after seasoning it with homemade spices. However, for this contest I am going to submit the recipe for ‘Shrimp Biryani’. Biryani is yet another famous dish in India, I doubt, if there would be any special occasions without biryani. Biryani could be referred as the dish, which is served during the time of happiness and special occasions. If you stop by my house during special occasions or festival season, you are guaranteed to be treated with homemade biryani made by my mom.

Shrimp and Biryani totally represent me, shrimp being my favorite and since I am a person who loves celebration and special occasions, biryani is my type of dish. When other dishes confronted with me, shrimp biryani won over my taste buds hands down.

This recipe was inspired from Vahchef.

Shrimp Biryani:

For making homemade Biryani Masala:

• Cloves- 10
• Black Cardamom- 4
• Maze- 3
• Bay leaf-2
• Green cardamom-10
• Cinnamon-3 sticks
• Pepper corn- 10
• Black cumin- 1/2 tsp
• Fried onion- 2 tbsp
• Chilly powder-1 tbsp
• Coriander powder- 2 tbsp
• Cumin powder-1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
• Fennel powder- 2 tsp

Preparation:

• Grind the above ingredients into a fine powder and store it in an air-tight container.
• This biryani masala can be stored for few months.
• This can be used for making all kinds of biryani: Chicken, lamb, Fish, Vegetable etc

For Making Rice:

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice- 1 1/2 cups
• Cardamom- 3
• Cinnamon- 2 inch piece
• Cloves-3
• Bay leaves- 2
• Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
• Water- 2 1/2 cups
• Salt- to taste

Preparation of Rice:

• Soak the basmati rice in water for 30 minutes.
• In a large pot, add the water and the spices to it, let it come to a rolling boil.

• Season the water with required salt.
• Add the strained, soaked rice to the boiling water and cook in medium heat by covering the pot.

• Cook the rice to only 85-90%, remaining cooking has to be done along with the shrimp masala.
• If there is any water in the rice, strain it and keep aside.

Frying the Shrimp:

• Shrimp, deveined and de-shelled- 1 lb

• Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tsp
• Chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Oil- just enough for shallow frying the shrimp

Preparation:

• Devein, de-shell and clean the shrimp under running water.
• Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and salt to the shrimp and marinate it for 15 minutes.

• In a non-stick pan, add the oil, when it is heated through, add the shrimp and shallow fry it in batches, for 4 minutes.

• Don’t over fry it.
• Remove the shrimp from the oil and keep aside.

Making the Shrimp Masala and adding the rice

Ingredients:

• Oil- used for shallow frying the shrimp
• Yogurt- 1 1/2 cups
• Green chillies, chopped- 1 tbsp
• Cilantro, chopped- 1/4 cup
• Mint, chopped- 1 handful( optional)
• Biryani Masala- 2 tbsp
• Salt- little
• Fried shrimp- 1 lb
• Cooked Rice- 1 1/2 cups

For Granish:

• Fried Onion, homemade or store bought- 1/2 cup
• Cilantro, chopped-1/4 cup
• Saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp milk- 2 pinches

Preparation:

• Heat a wide non-stick pot over medium heat, add the oil used for frying the shrimp.
• Add the yogurt to the oil, saute it.
• Add green chillies, cilantro, mint, salt, biryani masala and combine everything.
• Now, add the fried shrimp and mix it.

• Evenly spread the shrimp masala.
• Add the cooked rice on top of the shrimp masala and spread it as a layer.
• Garnish with fried onions, cilantro, and saffron.

• Cover the pot with it a tight lid and cook for 10 minutes over low-medium flame.
• While serving, combine the rice and shrimp masala together and serve with Raita.

Carrot Raita:

Ingredients

• Yogurt- 1 cup
• Red Onion, minced- 1/2 small onion
• Carrot, grated- 1
• Green chillies, chopped- 1 tsp
• Cilantro chopped- 1 handful
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• Combine all the above ingredients in a medium bowl.
• Serve with Shrimp Biryani.

Tips:

• This recipe might look like a lengthy one, believe me it’s not that hard as it seems.
• Prepare the homemade Biryani masala the previous day and this can be stored for several months and can be used for making any kinds of biryani.
• On the day of making this, you just have to make the rice and the shrimp masala.
• You could simultaneously cook the rice and fry the shrimp.
• After frying the shrimp, start making the shrimp masala.
• By then rice must have cooked, spread the rice on the shrimp masala and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Wait and watch the magic: anyone who tastes this biryani will rave about your culinary skills and thus the  proud moment.

A simple and humble dish that has been reigning over the taste buds of all the Keralities for centuries…

Chammanthi (in malayalam) is a side dish made in less than 5 minutes by grinding grated coconut along with other ingredients. This is one of the popular side dishes in Kerala cuisine. I don’t know to which category I should include this, as this will be seen for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast, this is often served with Dosa, Appam or Idli. For lunch, this will be seen along with Rice, and again you can see its presence for dinner. This is also served along with rice porridge.

This dish is a real time saver and a money saver too. Just plain rice when eaten with this dish is enough to conquer your hunger. And the amazing thing about this dish is that if this is served along with any other hyped dishes, you’ll be stunned to see the speed with which this humble dish gets emptied from the platter. I am not at all exaggerating. Once you try this, you’ll be its slave for the rest of your life. Are you drooling yet?

The required ingredient of this dish is grated coconut. In order to enhance the taste of the chammanthi, often one more ingredient is added to the coconut. If you add cilantro to the grated coconut, you’ll get cilantro chammanthi; if you add raw mango, it becomes mango chammanthi; if mint is added, it becomes mint chammanthi. The taste of these chammanthis are totally different.

My favorite way of indulging in chammanthi is by adding dry fish to the grated coconut. Dry shrimp or dry tuna is the best fish choice. Dry shrimp chammanthi was introduced to me by my grandma; almost all meals are accompanied by this dish at my grand parents. My grandma used to make this using the traditional grinder “Ammi-Kallu”.

“Ammi-Kallu”, has 2 parts, one flat surface made of rock on which the ingredients to be ground are placed and a cylindrical stone which is used to grind the mixture. Believe me, the chammanthi made by grinding the coconut mixture using this traditional grinder is tastier and incomparable to the chammanthi made in a branded blender.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a traditional grinder in my kitchen, so I had no other choice but grind it in a blender.

Dry Shrimp with Grated Coconut:

Ingredients:

• Dry shrimp- 3 tbsp

• Grated coconut- 1/2 cup
• Small onions or pearl onions- 3-4 no’s
• Chilly powder-1/2 tsp
• Ginger, minced- 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind, whole or paste- if whole, a small slice, or 1/2 tsp paste
• Salt- to taste
• Water- 1-2 tsp or enough to make a coarse ground mixture.

Preparation:

• In a blender, add the above mentioned ingredients and grind it to a coarse mixture.

• Don’t add too much water while grinding, as it would make the mixture watery.
• If you want the chammanthi to be a finely ground mixture, grind it according to your needs.

Tips:

You could substitute dry shrimp with dry tuna, raw mango, cilantro.