Stuffed Chilli with Coconut Peanut Sauce

Another day ... another wild experimentation. This time around, it is mirch ka salan goes west. By pure conotations, it's not even close to being called a salan, but has a lot of commonalities, the chillies to start with, and the oh! familiar peanut and coconut.
Ingredients:
For Chilli & Stuffing:
8 large annaheim chiles
1 (14- to 15-oz) can stewed tomatoes (with juice)
2 medium potatoes
1/2 cup american corn
1/2 cup cheese, grated
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
100 ml. Oil
1 Cup vegetable Stock
Salt per taste
For the Sauce:
2 Tbslp Peanut Butter
2 Cup Coconut Milk
1 tsp. Curry Powder
2 tsp. finely chopped shallots
Salt to taste
Water, as desired

Method:
1. Wash and clean Chillies. Taking one chilli at a time, cut a slit down one side with a knife and let interior liquid and loose seeds drain. Carefully cut out seedpod, leaving stem intact and letting all loose seeds fall out, then discard seedpod. Repeat with remaining chiles, arranging seeded chiles, cut sides up, in 1 layer in a baking dish.
2. Peel potatoes and cut into thin cubes (2mm x 2mm x 2mm). Cook in a pot of boiling salted water until tender but not turning mashy. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water to prevent further cooking.
3. Mix the potatoes with corn, cheese,salt and red chilli powder. This is the stuffing for the chillies.
4. Fill chillies generously with stuffing. The slit will not close after that.
5. Pour stock and around (not over) chiles.
6. Prepare Sauce, by heating oil and sauteing shallots till they turn translucent. Add in the peanut butter. Then add in the curry powder followed by the coconut milk. If the sauce is too thick, add in some water.
7. Pour a little sauce around the chillies. Bake the chillies for 20 minutes at 250 deg Fahr. or till done.
8. Serve with the sauce generously ladled over.

Note:
1. I had a lot of stuffing left over which I added to the sauce.
2. This is for the vegans. Meat lovers can also add in some sausages to the stuffing.

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Rice Crusted Snapper

Have been going around too much finding out the traditional dishes and the REAL way to make them directly from the source.
This time around, I tried to do something different. I can already feel the purists and traditionalists squirming. Fusion cuisine has always fascinated me. It's more complex thing to do, marrying the ingredients and falvors to please both sides, but hey, many have suceeded. My endeavor is of the same kind, wherein, I tried to marry different flavors from the konkani cuisine and doing something continental with it. It also had a dash of chinese influence thrown in.
The end result ... I loved it !!!

For Snapper coating:
1 Egg
2 tablespoons refined flour
Salt, As per taste
1 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Rice flakes (Poha) - Available in Indian Spice Stores
3 pieces snapper fillets (200-300 gm)
100 ml. oil

For Marinade:
1 Cup Kokum juice/syrup
3 tblsp. Tomato Puree
2 Tblsp. Soy Sauce
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1/4 tsp Red Chilli Pepper
Salt per taste

Method:
1. Cut fishes into large chunks. Wash and clean if required.
2. Prepare the marinade by mixing all the ingredients. Marinate the fish peices for 15-20 minutes.
3. While the fish marinates, mix all the ingredients for the coating except the oil and rice flakes and make a smooth paste.
4. Heat the oil in a skillet. Take the marinated fish pieces and dip in batter, coat with the rice flakes on all sides and sear until coating is golden brown.
5. Place the seared fish pieces in a baking dish. Pour the remaining marinade on top and bake at 200 deg, Fahr. for 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve Hot with lightly tossed herb pasta.

Note:
1. I also added in some Arabiata sauce alongwith the pasta. Went along well.
2. You can substitute Kokum syrup for Tamarind Pulp/paste. This one is also available at Indian stores. You can also make your own. I have it mentioned in my earlier recipes.

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Khubani Ka Meetha ( Indian Apricots Compote )

Apricots are known by many names in different regions. From Armenian Plum to Damasco (Argentina, Chile) to Merunka (Czech). Khubani is the urdu name for Apricots and the dish is another of the traditional dishes from the ktichens of Hyderabad. Refreshingly simple to make and delicious to eat, this dish made it's way to India through Central Asia as a part of Alexander's entourage. For more on it's history, varieities available and yes! another recipe to make it, go to this link.
My recipe has been sourced through my team member who had got it once to work and I loved it so much that I feasted on it. Since then I have been after him to get me the recipe on how his mom makes it. Finally, I have the recipe, though I haven't tried it out. The photo attached is from one of the restaurants where they served it. Living in Hyderabad, the dish virtually stares out at you from every menu card and every party that you attend, so getting a photo is not a problem.
Ingredients:
Apricots : 500 gm
Sugar :150 gm
Lemon Juice:10-15 ml.
Water: As needed
For Garnishing:
Clotted Cream: 100 gm
Almonds (Blanched): As desired

Method:

1. Take the Khubani and soak it in water for 3-4 hours(best for 6 hrs).Remove the seeds from the khubani.

2. Boil the Khubani 10-15 minutes, add Sugar and continue boiling for 10 minutes more or till Khubani are pulpy and the sugar has dissolved. You will notice the apricots mixture changing color to a darkish shade. Mash the Khubani and pass the mixture through the sieve.

3. Let the mixture cool down.

4. Add Lemon Juice for taste.

5. Either serve hot or let it cool down and serve garnished with blanched almonds and cream.

Some even serve it with Ice Cream or custard, but tradition states that it be served with clotted cream.

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