Baked rainbow trout with lemon and dill

Ingredients:
2 whole rainbow trout, dressed and cleaned
Olive oil/Butter 1 tsp for each fish
Garlic powder/salt
Chili flakes/pepper
Lemons cut in round shapes and some wedges for squeezing
Spice rub of your choice (optional)
Al foil
Dill or Herbs of your choice

Method

1. Wipe the fish thoroughly with paper towels. Score the fish on the outside so that the spices get through to the bone.
2. Season the insides and outsides well with garlic salt, chili flakes/pepper, spice rub, dill, lemon juice and lemon rounds. Drizzle olive oil or  use cooking spray. You may also add melted butter.
3. Wrap in foil and seal any openings to keep the fish juicy.
4. Preheat oven to 450 F, bake for 20 mins (or 25 mins at 375 F ) or until fish turns flaky when scraped with a fork.
5. You may also add herbs of your choice and  a wine sauce.
   

Tip:  Use fragnant lemons for a delightful smell, and fresh trout. Lemon caper in butter is also a good option for baking fish and chicken.

Home made Hummus

1. Wash and soak chickpeas in water overnight, then boil them until tender with a little salt (you will need very little time in a pressure cooker). Drain them. 
2. Add the flavor of the hummus: (i) cilantro, (ii) roasted red pepper cut into chunks, (iii) pureed sun-dried tomatoes, or (iv) garlic; stir in lemon juice and salt to taste. 
3. Pour the chickpeas into a food processor. 
4. You may add  tahini in 1:4 ratio with the chickpeas, and olive oil.

Serve with pita, use in sandwiches or as a dip for celery and carrots.

Aloo beans posto kaju

For Pu, Aloo bean posto kaju ( potatoes and green beans with poppy seed and cashew nut paste)

1. Cut beans  into inch long sticks. Dice potatoes into small size.
2. Microwave them for 3 mins for faster cooking time. 
3. Heat mustard oil in a wok, Kalonji seeds and 2 broken red chilis (or 2 slit green chilies). Now, add the potatoes, beans, and salt.
4. Dry grind poppy seeds with a few cashews. Add a little warm water ( microwaved 30 secs) if needed.  Cover and cook on low flame. Add 1/2 tsp ghee at the end and 1 tsp sugar.
   Sometimes, I add organic milk at the end to make it richer.

For simply aloo beans

1. Cut beans  into inch long sticks. Dice potatoes into small size.
2. Microwave them for 3 mins for faster cooking time. 
3. Heat cooking oil in a wok, add jeera or kalonj seeds.  Add the beans, potatoes, turmeric, salt, coriander-cumin powder, amchur (dry mango powder)
4. Cover and cook on low flame.

Masala Pomfret with soy sauce (pan-fried)

1. Clean 3 mid-sized pomfrets, remove fins, score with a knife, remove the heads. Rub lemon juice and spice rub (I used dry roasted and ground cumin-coriander-red chili). Fry in olive oil, keep aside.
   
2. Dice onions, ginger, garlic and  slit Thai chilis. Fry them in the oil used for frying  the fish. Add the fish. Drizzle soy sauce.
   
3. Cook covered in low heat until done, turning twice.
4. You may add cilantro or green onions or both. Even leeks go well with this recipe. You may add diced tomatoes too.
   

Achari Chicken

This recipe is an inspiration from Deepa Mashi, my aunt. She asked me to make the Achari spice mix using:
Dry red chilis
Coriander seeds
Mustard seeds
Fenugreek seeds
Fennel seeds
Kalonji seeds
(You may also use Panch phoron and dry red chilies instead)

A version uses dry roasted  and ground cumin-coriander and anise seed (sparingly, because anise seed is very overpowering)

1. Dry roast and grind all the dry spices except the Kalonji seeds (they turn bitter on grinding and will also turn the chicken black). 
2. Marinate the meat with lime juice, salt, yogurt (alternatively, you can add it later too) and half of the spice mix. (About 30 mins to overnight)
3. In a wok/cooker, fry diced onions (optional), minced garlic and garlic. Add the meat. Fry well.
4. Add diced/canned tomatoes and the remaining spice mix. Taste for salt. Add 3-4 slit green chilies. Ghee if you don't mind the cholesterol.
5. No extra water is needed for cooking. Garnish with cilantro if you want.

You may also stuff some green chilis with Achari spice and lime juice and add them towards the end for extra heat. Or deep fry them for serving later.

Jibe goja (Baked)

I abhor most store-bought sweets and pastries, they are too sugary for my palate. SG loves to gorge on them though. When I made the blueberry pie, he bit into the short crust and said,'It's like jibe goja.' So, I decided to try an experiment : Baked jibe goja using pie crust. (It comes pre-rolled too!) The only caveat is- you have to pay attention the first time to see how well the dough cooks. I found it is optimum at 300 F for 20 mins.

Method:

1. Traditional: Roll all purpose flour with water and ghee/butter into a soft dough. Using a rolling pin, make sheets of dough of even thickness and slash the dough with a knife. Leave about 1 cm in the top and botton and twist it into Elo-jhelo. Alternatively, you may use a pre-made pie crust dough and cut into equal sizes. This will look like concentric circles.
   
2. Bake them at 300 F for 20 mins.
3. For syrup: Boil a little water , add saffron strands and sugar.
4. Pour the syrup on the dough in a flat dish and allow the syrup to set in.
5. You may add crushed pistachios for decoration. You may also fill the dough with nut paste for a richer sweet.

Open-faced/ Single crust blueberry pie

1. I used a Pillsbury crust for the pie, you may make your own crust.
2. Thaw the pie crust according to instructions, bake blind (empty) for 10 mins in a round pan at 450 F preheated oven. Sprinkle a little flour on the pan first if you want to prevent it from sticking
3. Filling: Wash, drain and cook the berries in  saucepan until they pop. Add sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon powder. Stir.
4. Pour the berries on the crust. Let it sit for a while if you want(I like it when the crust is still warm). You may serve it with whipped cream. Tastes better than any store bought alternative. 
   

You may use also apple slices or  fruit compote as filling .