Category: Seafood

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This is how I remember her best

I ended up cooking a lot last Friday — invited my local aunts over to my dad’s house, along with his good friends Kanagaratnam Jegathesan and Kanthimatthi Jegathesan. I’m not really sure why I spent the whole day obsessively cooking — it was an impulse, to invite people over at all.

I suppose it’s just that we were in CT for a week to do college tour and spend time with my dad, and given the timing (we were leaving Saturday morning), I knew it wasn’t so likely that Kavi would see her other relatives unless we made an extra effort, so having people over seemed like the thing to do.

The aunties brought curries (crab and fish) and short eats (ribbon sandwiches and stuffed shrimp and mutton rolls), and both my dad and Jega Uncle ordered vatallappam, so it was a proper feast — way too much food, honestly, but that’s okay, we packed up the leftovers and sent them home with people, as we do. Hopefully nobody had to cook all weekend.

(Marina Aunty brought two large trays of short eats for me to bring back to Chicago, per usual — she is amazing, and her stuffed shrimp, mutton rolls, and milk toffee are perfect.)

It was great spending time with relatives and friends, but sad too. Cooking in Amma’s kitchen, hosting people the way she did so often, when it’s been two years since she’s been able to host people there. Kavi and I went to see her in the memory care unit on Thursday, and as expected, she didn’t recognize us. This is how I remember her best, I suppose — cooking her food.

These shrimp toasts are her recipe — Priya helped me prep and assemble them, but I should’ve made them spicier, and a little tangier, and we think they needed a little more mustard on the toasts. Guess I need more practice.

Lovely to see you, Jega Uncle and Kanthi Aunty! Glad you could join us. Wish Amma could’ve been with us too.

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Sardines on toast

Couple hours layover, going to try to get through a little bit of photo posting.

A few days ago, tried sardines on toast with some Sri Lankan spreads — the eggplant pickle was a little too sweet, I think — a touch of it would’ve been nice, but not on its own. The seeni sambol (spicy-sweet caramelized onions) worked better, but I have to admit, I like mine better than this one that comes ready-made in a jar. On the other hand, for a 3-minute breakfast (just long enough to toast the bread), the jar is awfully convenient…

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Trying to hang on to that lazy summer vibe

Stopped at Carnivore Oak Park on Sunday because I didn’t know what I wanted for dinner. PIcked up a few pounds of pork shoulder (which they kindly cubed for me) — I’ll make a curry with that later today. But that takes a few hours of simmering — on Sunday, I wanted something fast, so turned to the grill. Two delectable crab cakes & just-picked corn from Carnivore joined some underripe peaches (so good brushed with a bit of oil and grilled!) and purple bell peppers from my garden. The bell peppers sadly turned an unappetizing grey on the grill, so they are not pictured, but they did taste good. 🙂 I might stick to using them raw in the future, though! Crab cakes grilled in a few minutes and then were served on a bed of spinach, graced with remoulade and some peppery young nasturtium leaves and flower from the garden. And then when I got the Hugo award news later in the day, I chopped up another peach and added it to some Ben & Jerry’s caramel ice cream, which was DELICIOUS straight out of the container… Nice to have a little more time right now for summertime cooking. Two weeks ’til the semester starts. Trying to hang on to that lazy summer vibe for as long as I can…
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Crab cake on Costco Thai Chili Mango chopped salad

It’s been a long, hard week, and you want something delicious and fancy, but also reasonably healthy, and also you don’t want to spend a lot of money, and also you want it to be fast. If you happen to have a bag of Costco Thai Chili Mango chopped salad kit on hand, this is what you do:

1) Go to Carnivore Oak Park and ask them for one of their luscious crab cakes ($9).

2) Come home and heat a little oil in a pan. While that’s heating, pull out the Costco salad and empty the greens, dried mango, nutty bits, and about half of the chili-mango dressing into a big bowl. Taste — if you want more dressing, you can add it, but about half was right for me.

3) Take crab cake and sear on one side for a few minutes, then sear on the other side for a few minutes. If you really want, you can try to brown the edge a tiny bit too, but that’s hard to do without it falling apart, and it’s really not necessary.

4) Place crab cake on salad. If you have some fresh tomato, slice it and add it to the place. If you have fresh ripe mango, even better, but that can be hard to come by in Chicago in the winter.

Enjoy your little feast. (If you are feeding two, just make two crab cakes — the salad will likely be enough for two. Although it comes in a two-pack, so if you really want, you can make two bags of salad…)

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Classic Food Combos

Made Sri Lankan grilled halibut yesterday to eat with the grilled eggplant and mushrooms from the other day — tasty, but string hoppers are dry without sothi!

It was all right with some yogurt sauce, but today, I made sothi and pol sambol, and it was so much better. Some food combos are just classic, and shouldn’t be messed with too much. 🙂

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Sri Lankan Swordfish Curry

(30 minutes, serves 2)

I’m trying to start eating fish a little more regularly again — when I lived alone, it was one of my standard proteins in rotation, but Kevin doesn’t like seafood (alas), and so I’ve gotten out of the habit.

But fish is so good for you, and I do love it, so I think I’m just going to start making it more often; thankfully, Kevin’s perfectly capable of feeding himself (and the kids) as needed. The kids also aren’t so used to fish as a result of all this, aside from fish fingers, which they do like, so I feel like I need to start just including fish on the family rotation. Tuna noodle casserole, perhaps, to ease them in.

But for me, it’s hard to beat a Sri Lankan fish curry. I did a quick weeknight version of this on Tuesday, and less than 30 minutes later, was sitting down to eat fish curry and uppuma. Yum.

I just made enough for a few meals for me, so this is a pared down amount, compared to my usual recipes which are typically intended to feed 4-6 people. Dinner, plus lunch at work today, plus dinner again tonight, probably with a vegetable added. I’m thinking broccoli varai.

1 lb. swordfish (or other firm whitefish, like tuna), cubed
2-3 T oil
1 onion, chopped
1 t. black mustard seed
1 t. cumin seed
1 T garlic/ginger paste (you could chop fresh, of course, which is even tastier, but we keep a jar of the paste in the fridge for ease on busy nights — find it in the Indian store, or locals, they have it at Pete’s)
1/2 t. cayenne
1 t. Sri Lankan curry powder
1 T lime juice
1 c. water

1 t. salt

1. Marinate swordfish with cayenne, curry powder, and lime juice — this will flavor the fish and also firm it up a bit. If you have time, marinating it for 20-30 minutes will add even more flavor, but it’ll be just fine if it just sits while you’re prepping the onions.

2. Sauté onions in oil on medium, stirring occasionally, with mustard seed, cumin seed, and garlic/ginger paste. (If you’re being fancy, you could also add in a 2-inch cinnamon stick, 2-3 cloves, 2-3 cardamom pods. And 6-12 fresh curry leaves are always welcome.)

3. When onions are golden-translucent (5-10 minutes), add marinated fish, water, and salt. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until fish is cooked through and liquid has reduced to a nice curry sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired — if it’s too spicy for you, a little coconut milk is always a nice addition.

4. Serve hot with rice, roti, pittu, uppuma, idli, or whatever grain your heart desires. If you’re making uppuma, you can do it in 5 minutes while the curry sauce is cooking down. Efficient! If you’re looking for an accompaniment, a bright mango pickle will go nicely.