Vegetable chop or vegetable croquette with Sweet Tamarind Chutney

For Sujaya Di

Tamarind Chutney

Ingredients:
Red chillies, broken in half
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
2 cups water
White sugar, to taste
3 tablespoons tamarind paste/concentrate

Directions
Heat oil over medium heat and add chillies, fennel seeds, or you can dry toast them too.
Stir the water along with the sugar and tamarind paste. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat until the mixture turns deep brown and is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.

Vegetable croquette
Ingredients:
Vegetables of your choice
2 eggs
Bread crumbs

1. Use vegetables of your choice. I parboiled 2 beets, 1 potato, 1 carrot and then skinned them. (You can use cauliflower too) 
2. Mash the vegetables into a chunky mix. Added thawed green peas, dry roasted peanuts (broken) and washed raisins to the mix.
   You can add your fav spice in this step. I used julienned ginger, Green chilies,  Bhaja masala (dry roasted and ground cumin, coriander and dry red chilies),  and salt.
3. Lightly fry the mix in a skillet with a little oil until the oil separates. 
4. Make a batter of slightly beaten eggs.
5. In another bowl, add a fair amount of panko flakes or bread crumb of your preferred brand.
6. Cool the vegetable mix and shape into elongated rolls.
7. Dip the rolls into the egg batter, then coat with bread crumb (Repeat this step for a super crunchy crust)
8. Deep fry in hot oil, turn once. When light golden brown, remove and drain oil. Serve with the chutney.

You can freeze them up to a month and deep fry them before eating.

Salmon and Tamarind Curry

I learned about this recipe at a potluck from a South Indian guy. The flavor was amazing, and a hit at the party.

For Ervin
Salmon, steak or fillet
1 onion
2 tbsp cooking oil
Garlic, crushed or minced
2cm (about 1 inch) ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 small red chillies, sliced
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
1 tbsp tomato purée
400 ml coconut milk
200 ml water
1 tsp sugar
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves/cilantro, to garnish


1. Thaw the salmon in a microwave based on weight (I prefer thawing in cold water or fresh fish), sprinkle salt and set aside.

2. Finely chop the onion. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and fry the onion. Add the garlic and ginger and fry further, stirring all the time. Can add cumin seeds here. Go easy on the cumin powder then.

3. Turn the heat down low, sprinkle over the ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and chillies, and stir continuously until the spices give off a warm, toasted aroma - about a minute.

4. Add the tamarind, tomato puree, coconut milk, water, the remaining salt, and the sugar. Simmer the curry, uncovered, for about 10 minutes before tasting. If you feel the curry needs it, add a touch more tamarind and chilli.

5. Add the fish to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes, or until cooked. The fish should flake easily when it's ready. Garnish with coriander leaves/cilantro, and serve with steamed rice

* Can make a version w/o the coconut milk too.

*Go easy on the tamarind concentrate if you are cooking it for the first time. Add a little water to 1 tsp concentrate and whisk it well for better consistency in the gravy.

*You can try baked salmon with tamarind glaze too. Less fuss, healthier.