Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Sambar & Steamed Fish

The man cooks great. When he's tied up at work, I'll sort out dinner. He doesn't actually complain about my food. Muahahahaha. At least it's edible. The helper can cook of course, but she isn't going to know what I feel like eating for the day. So she simply helps out. An easy dinner at home is made up of whatever I spy at the supermarket, or whatever the fridge/freezer has stocked.

This won't turn into some cooking blog. :P Not good enough for that. Not really interested in cooking. I cook out of necessity and a need to stop whining about "I dunno what to eat today!" I don't bother cooking with a fixed recipe. I lift them all from the internet and cook from memory of my grandmothers' words and actions in the kitchen, and from those times of being their reluctant kitchen elf.


One such dinner comprised of sambar and a steamed yellow tail. Eaten with brown rice and grains. Seeing a spread of food on the table tend to turn me off unless there're many people part-taking in such a feast. Otherwise, if it's just two or three people dining, three items are sufficient. #impieCooks2016

Sambar is our staple but each time we cook it, it's different. Every restaurant and family will have their own versions. We don't have a fixed one and we keep trying out new ones to see how it goes. The only consistent factor- we like our sambar thicker and not watery. We can use a store-bought ready-made paste or powder, but we want to make ours from ground up. It's not a scary thing since we've grown up watching our grandmothers do it.

Cobbled together ingredients for steaming fish. Somehow, I'm not fond of using lemons. I prefer to use oranges and limes. 20 minutes are sufficient to steam a small fish about 500g to 600g. I usually buy them at that size anyway. That goes for thick fillets as well. Easy peasy!

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