Hot and healthy chilli fry!

[gruntygiggles]

Hello peeps, I've been offline for quite a while with my stupid computers both breaking at the same time....but it's meant I've spent even more time than usual in the kitchen.

If anyone fancies a quick, healthy and super tasty meal, try this.......I chucked it together last week after readin about Goan chilli fry's and it's delicious....and with a kick!

Seafood Chilli Fry with Parathas

This is a light, simple curry that is a fantastic way of using up any seafood that you have lying around in the fridge or freezer. For this recipe, I use king prawns and a meaty white fish like grouper or monkfish. You can use any white fish, but make sure if it’s frozen that you defrost it thoroughly before you start cooking. It’s got quite a kick to it as it uses lots of fresh ginger, garlic and peppers and it’s best to leave the seeds in the chillies. It won’t leave you with a burning mouth, but it will certainly wake you up and clear your head! The parathas are a great accompaniment and in my house, they take the place of cutlery as this is street food in Goa so should be eaten as such. The tomato wedges give a really nice cooling effect to balance the heat of the chillies and if you increase the quantities, you can make a massive platter of this and sit it, the parathas and tomatoes in the middle of the table for everyone to just dig into!

Serves 2
You will need:-
10-12 king prawns
1 fillet meaty white fish
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
3 inch piece of fresh ginger root
3 cloves of garlic
2 green chillies
2tsp turmeric
1/2tsp chilli powder
2tsp whole cumin seeds
Handful of fresh coriander
¼ lime
2 tbsp oil

300g wheatflour or chapati flour
100mls tepid water
Pinch of salt




3-4 fresh tomatoes
¼ lime
Pinch salt
Pinch dried chilli flakes
To prepare:-
Cut the fish into 1 inch pieces; take the heads off the prawns and shell if you want to, removing the elementary canal if necessary and marinade in the turmeric, lemon juice, chilli powder and a pinch of salt overnight or for at least an hour; peel and finely slice or grate the ginger lengthways; finely chop the garlic cloves; slice the peppers and toast the cumin seeds. Roughly chop the coriander leaves and turn the oven on at it’s lowest possible setting. T

To cook:-

Firstly, make and cook the parathas. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt and add the water little by little, using your fingers as a claw to move the mixture around until you have a firm but pliable dough. If it is sticking to your fingers, add a little flour or if it’s not quite coming together, add a little extra water, but as all bags of flour are different, there are no exact measurements here. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a sausage. Cut into 8 equal disks and roll each disk into a ball. Cover the disks with a clean tea towel while you are working to keep the dough from drying out. One at a time, roll out the balls until they are about 3mm thick and then bring two sides together to meet in the middle and turn the last side up into the middle to create a triangle shape. Turn over and roll again into a triangle that is about 3mm thick. You can cook these as you’re rolling the next one out. Simply put a tiny drop of oil in a large frying pan over a medium to high heat and place the paratha in the pan. Leave it undisturbed until you see bubbles forming and puffing up and smoke starting to come from the sides. Check that the bottom has gone a deep golden brown, turn and cook the other side until the same mottled deep golden colouring is achieved. Set aside on a plate, keep covered and when they are all done, keep warm in an incredibly low oven while you fry the main dish. For the tomatoes, cut a shallow cross in the top and bottom, place in a bowl and pour over boiling water. Leave for a minute, drain and place in ice water. Peel and deseed them and cut them into quarters. Sprinkle with a little salt and lime juice and a tiny pinch of dried chilli flakes.


So, when the parathas are done, heat the oil in a large wok or frying pan over a medium/high heat and add the marinated fish first. Keep it moving and cook for 2 minutes before adding the prawns. After 2 minutes, throw the marinated prawns along with the cumin and toss together for 30 seconds. Now add the sliced ginger, chopped garlic and chillies and cook for a further minute. Next, add the sliced peppers and a little extra oil if the pan is too dry and allow to cook with the peppers for another minute or two until the peppers just start to soften. At this point, check the fish and prawns, both should be just cooked through, perfectly tender and juicy, but if they need a little longer, give them another 30 seconds to a minute. Now remove from the heat, season with a tiny pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper, squeeze over the ¼ lime juice and toss through with the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with the parathas and fresh tomato wedges.
If you try, I hope you enjoy....this got top marks from Stretchie!

[Spikenipple]

Om nom nom nom!

AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Make me something without prawns. That is an order!

[Spiderman]

just replace the prawns with squid MBK. mmmmm.

GG...we really need to have all your recipes on one thread that you keep updating you know. I bought some fresh sardines the other day and wanted to have them in some kind of hot and spicy tomatoey sauce....looked for ages online and found various recipes from chefs i'd never heard of and thought to myself "Man i bet GG knows something good to do to these babies" but never found anything with the forums search.

Fancy doing that?
if so PM me links to old recipe threads and i'll merge them all and take out and pointless chit chat. I;d rather have recipes from someone i know, who cooking i have tasted and enjoyed rather than some random chef.

I dont like any fish or seafood, GG knows that...she'll tell me what to put in instead...! Cos she loves me x

[Spiderman]

not even fish fingers MBK? Cmon, everyone likes fish fingers dont they???

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Spiderman

just replace the prawns with squid MBK. mmmmm.

GG...we really need to have all your recipes on one thread that you keep updating you know. I bought some fresh sardines the other day and wanted to have them in some kind of hot and spicy tomatoey sauce....looked for ages online and found various recipes from chefs i'd never heard of and thought to myself "Man i bet GG knows something good to do to these babies" but never found anything with the forums search.

Fancy doing that?
if so PM me links to old recipe threads and i'll merge them all and take out and pointless chit chat. I;d rather have recipes from someone i know, who cooking i have tasted and enjoyed rather than some random chef.

Hmmm...I'll PM you tomorrow. Prob getting a pole up to see if the majority want it and let everyone put their recipes in there as there are loads of people that are fab cooks on here....many with much more experience than me....I just eat, sleep and breathe food so it's pretty much all I think about...lol.

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

I dont like any fish or seafood, GG knows that...she'll tell me what to put in instead...! Cos she loves me x

Chiken, pork or beef would be best. You could keep it vegetarian and put some ochra, courgettes, or tofu in there. It would work really nicely with paneer (indian cheese) if you cube it, roll it in sesame seeds and shallow fry to crips it up, then add it and toss through the curry at the end. In fact...I think you could make a really nice chilli fry if you coated the paneer with a sesame and chopped chilli mix, lightly fry to crisp and serve with stir fried rice vermicelli with the same basics as the above recipe (ginger, garlic, lemon etc). You'd just have to add the turmeric to the pan at the beginning instead of using it to marinade. Might try that this week.

can you use baked beans instead of prawns?

Originally Posted by Spiderman

not even fish fingers MBK? Cmon, everyone likes fish fingers dont they???

Not even fish fingers!!!

Thanks GG, much love x

recipe saved thanks GG shall be making that when i can get out the house