A Beginning

I’d been thinking about starting a food blog for a while now. Well, ever since I stumbled onto injimanga’s appam recipe and from there to the many such blogs that opened up a wonderful world of food blogging.. Let me put down the inspirations for when later I’ll be brave enough to open this blog for passers by. I went to ‘Mahanandi’ from ‘injimanga’ and then found ‘spicyana’, ‘saffron hut’, ‘my treasure my pleasure’, ‘malluspice , ‘live to eat’, just to name a few that I visit and have been inspired from. There are many more that I visit regularly and like very much.

Being the kind of cook that I am, I know I won’t be able to sustain a blog on food alone. I need props to keep it standing and so I thought why not add books to the blog to make it a combo. Books are my passion and I love everything about them. So this blog is a food blog sprinkled with news of books I read and want to read. I’ll keep the book part of it as links to a book blog which I hope will make it easier to maintain. It is also a sort of a journal for my children if ever they come to it.

The name 'cheenachatti' was arrived at after selecting and discarding many names one day while we were all traveling in the car. When we arrived at 'cheenachatti' my husband and I felt good about it at the same time after having unilaterally rejected and accepted many a name. It essentially means a cooking wok or pan. It is found in most Kerala households and as the name implies, has its roots from China and could have reached Kerala through the Spice Trade. More on the wok can be found here. Food=home=kitchen=Mom cooking=cheenachatti? Maybe....

Fish Moli

For my first recipe to authenticate this food blog I have chosen ‘Fish Molee’ with ‘Karimeen’ (Pearl Spot). It started when I spotted some frozen Karimeen in the Indian store when we were in the middle of a severe cough and cold bout at home and the palates had no desire for any kind of food. This was bought to tantalize the mind more than the taste buds. But the time finally came to free those Karimeen to fulfill their true destiny.

I found a suitable recipe from Mrs. KM Mathew’s cookbook ‘Naadan Paachakarama ‘. This book’s been a constant companion ever since I crossed the Atlantic (or was it the Pacific?) to do my Master’s and found I actually miss the food from Kerala. My compassionate sister sent it over to me through a friend with little notes on the side out of concern for me whom she knew not to be a fan of the kitchen in general. To be true to self I didn’t know how to follow most of the instructions but over time I found that I can trust Mrs, KMM and have even had the temerity to vary from her recipes with good results. Obviously I have more stories to tell but here is the recipe without any more ado:

Ingredients

Karimeen/Pearl Spot - 7 or 8 cleaned and deep scored

for fresh masala:
onion - 1 diced long
ginger - 2" piece diced long
garlic - 3 pods crushed and sliced short
green chili - 5 or 6 diced in a lengthwise slant
pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig

coconut milk - 1 can (13.5 oz, 400ml)
vinegar - 1 tbsp
turmeric - a pinch or two, can add more depending on your color preference
salt to taste
oil - 1 tbsp

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion. Add salt at this stage. A wise tip from my Mother-in-law which helps the taste. Add rest of the fresh masala items in that order and saute well. The onion should slightly brown by the end. This gives a sort of appetizing color to the resulting gravy. Add turmeric here and mix well.

Take 3/4 can of the coconut milk and dilute with water to make about 2 1/2 cups.

Add this to the pan and let it boil once. Add vinegar, more salt if needed and mix well. Now add fish pieces and mix by moving the whole pan so as not to break the fish. I used whole fish but cutting it to large pieces will make the stirring easier. Let the whole mix boil once, cover and cook on low heat. Now add the remaining 1/4 th can of coconut milk as is. Stir gently to spread the latest coconut milk to the gravy and remove from heat.

This recipe only slightly differs from the Stew for Appam. So after I made the Molee I also made Appam to go with it and it was quite tasty like part of a wedding feast. Our benchmark is when my husband who is a good cook on his own right feels like saying “Hmm.. That was a sumptuous meal”:-) Appam recipe to follow soon.


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