Saturday, April 25, 2015

Fish Puffs


While "Earth Day" was celebrated on April 22nd, officially they say that its related to "Spring"
I thought about my previous post when I wrote about the unpredictable climatic changes happening these days, when I simply blamed the Season instead of thinking about the reasons for the same,
I now regret my ignorance.
It was when I saw some posts in FB related the the "Earth Day" that I realized that changes happened not within a day but within many years. Our Earth is no more the same like how it looked and felt that time when I started going to school, to this time when my NA starts her Kinder-Garden.
Those days when the everything around me looked more greener to this day when its all polluted.

I must write about someone whom I know in my hometown, who loves to do gardening, and it was her face which came into my mind today.While I went for vacation this time, I saw her walking through her yard, watering the plants and also talking to them as always.
Did I say "talking" ?? yes she does it,
she talks to the flowers in her garden and she says it responds to her too, this may sound funny
but I guess the response she feels might be her attachment with the nature.
I fear if that time when there was a beautiful garden in all the houses will remain as "Past"
the time when number of fruit trees and flowers which stood smiling at the guests was a cause of pride for the women of that house.
We are not to blame anyone for this "as everything changes with time"

I remember my Grandfather describing about his business of running a Petrol Pump during the early 70's, when only 5-7 families owned a car in our place & how my Achachen (Dad) used to wait eagerly for a vehicle to come to fill the fuel, when I heard this I was a kid and I couldn't even imagine the roads so empty and now if I describe this to NA she would think I am crazy.
Life has changed so fast, people live luxuriously when compared to the older time when owning a car was a sign to show  pride and luxury (I am talking about India) as am not sure about the situation then in any developed country. Glad that it all happened, but gradually we exploited our dear "Earth"

I think we as elders must share our experience growing up to our kids to let them get an Idea of how our Earth was and how it should be maintained for our future generations to live life happily here as Newton's law states "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" the increasing number of deadly diseases that we see now may be the reaction.

Dedicating "Earth Song" to all those who agree with me :)


I am sorry for the long post, but just couldn't keep myself from writing about it.
Our Earth which bears more than 7 Billion Human beings, let us do our part to make it livable  for the generations to come and think about the things that we could do to detoxify Earth by being more attached to the "Nature", slowly it will turn out to be a natural cure for everything,
also we'll be blessed like how the Native Americans say....



:)


These fish puffs are a very easy snack to make, I made a filling with fish and wrapped it in Puff Pastry dough. May fill'em with what ever you like,
since I learned this idea of making this fish shapes thought to make fish filling itself,
Thanks to my friend Dilna for the idea :)



Ingredients 

Puff Pastry Dough - 1 sheet

For filling 

Any fish - I used Salmon fillets (2 no's)
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp (use as per your preference)
Onion or shallots finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Ginger and Garlic finely chopped - 1 tsp
Tomato - 1 small ,finely chopped
Paprika or Red chili powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp (use as per your preference)
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/4 tsp (or else use Meat masala Powder)
Vinegar - 1tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method


* Marinate the sliced fish with enough salt, 1/2 tsp Paprika or Red chili powder, pepper powder, a pinch of turmeric (if using) & vinegar. Keep for half an hour.

* Keep the Puff pastry dough outside the freezer for sometime (1/2 an hour to 1 hour)

* Heal oil in a pan, shallow fry the marinated fish pieces till cooked, remove from oil.

* To the same oil, add chopped onion, garlic and ginger, saute for a few minutes, then ad finely chopped tomato pieces, saute till everything looks cooked.

* Add the remaining Paprika/Red chili powder, turmeric powder,coriander powder (if using) & Garam Masala or  Meat Masala powder,Stir to combine and cook for another minute.

*Add the fried fish pieces, use the spoon to mash the cooked fish to the thick masala/gravy.

* Add salt to taste and switch off the heat.


* Preheat the Oven to 400 Degree F.

* Spread 1 sheet of the puff pastry dough on to a floured surface, lightly spread the sheet using a rolling pin to extend it a bit.



* Cut in to squares as shown in the picture, using a rolling pin again roll each squares to extend it again a bit.

*Place 1 to 2 Tbsp filling on one end of the square (use filling,depending on the size of the square)


* Bring the opposite ends together, may use water to make it stick to each other, this then looks almost like a triangle.


* Leaving the joined ends,  bring together the other 2 ends of the triangle and twist its ends together to make it looks like the fish tail. (May use water to make it stick)


* Place pepper corns as Eyes to the fish.


*May give these an egg wash or milk wash before baking it in 400 degree F preheated oven for 15 minutes (Approx) or till its outside looks golden brown.


& NA wanted to introduce these guys to the fishes here


Happy Weekend !

Cheers
TN




No comments:

Post a Comment