Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Homemade Spice Rub

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Spice rub for everything from Vegetables to meat and seafood

Elevate the taste profile of your grilled or roast vegetables ( or seafood or meat) with this delicious homemade spice rub.

Now I have tried this spice mix on broccoli, kale, and roast potatoes and it always works wonders. But we have loved it most with fish. Grilled, BBQ’ed, fried, steamed, or baked – we love eating fish in our house and I have created my own recipe for an Indian spice rub. I used this on haddock fillets on the BBQ this Sunday and the result was very satisfying. Even with frozen fish fillets straight out of the freezer onto the hot grill, the spice mix hit all the right notes.

Spices - fragrant, warm and fresh

It was incredibly easy to create this spice rub at home using my Optimum G.21 Platinum blender, the panel has six pre-programmed functions which are a real no brainer and one of those functions is ‘Grind’. I try and use my Froothie blender as much as possible and not just for my morning smoothies, it has just made my life that much simpler!

Manjiri Chitnis

Homemade Spice Rub

Homemade spice rub – Versatilespice mix works perfectly well for vegetables like cauliflower, mushrooms,potatoes. Great with chicken chicken , lamb and seafood especially for fishsteaks and prawns
Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes
Total Time 2 minutes
Servings: 2 people
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 tsp Peppercorns
  • 2 Cloves
  • 1 Dry Kashmiri Red Chilli
  • 1 Badi Elaichi or black cardamom
  • 3 Green cardamom – without the outer green pod
  • 2 cloves Garlic peeled
  • Cinnamon stick – roughly the length of the tip of your thumb
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
  • 2 tsp Cumin/ jeera
  • 1 tsp Amchoor powder / dried mango powder
  • 1 tbsp Kasoori methi
  • 1 Heaped tbsp fried onion
  • 1 tbsp Coriander seeds lightly roasted on a pan
  • 1 Whole round Red Chilli
  • 1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
  • a tiny pinch of Asafoetida

Equipment

  • High-speed blender

Method
 

  1. Add all ingredients into a grinder and blend till you get a grainy consistency
  2. Do not grind to a very smooth paste because the texture this consistency will lend to the fish, will hit the right spot on your palate. A finer texture I think would work better for meat
  3. Though this spice rub is suitable for freezing, since it contains garlic and fried onion, I would not advise keeping in the freezer for over 10-15 days
  4. If you make a small batch and little remains, try adding into your curry for a lift in flavour
  5. If you do not deal well with spicy red chilli flavours, then rule out the whole round red chilli completely and instead add a small pinch of paprika just for a hint of flavour

Homemade spice rub for grilling vegetables, meat, and seafood

These quantities yield enough spice mix for 2 medium-sized fillets with a little leftover. If you want to use it for 4 or 6 fillets simply double the quantities.

Fresh spices

Why not try my recipes for Tandoori spiced grilled Lobster tails and Haddock fillets with this spice rub?

Homemade spice rub

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A slice of Costa Rica – Casado

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With summer firmly on it’s way out and Autumn settling in, the chilly nights demand some great comfort food. I wanted to try something different so I choose a popular Costa Rican dish – Casado. Why? Well, it’s the ideal comfort food, easy to put together and tastes amazing! Best part is it’s very easy on the pocket and if you plate it well, it looks like a posh meal – no one would guess what went into making it!

Costa Rican Casado
Costa Rican Casado

Casado literally means a ‘married man’ and it is said that the name probably originates from how the local men expected food to be served when they were eating outside so that it reminded them of familiar tastes of a home cooked meal. An authentic Casado which is served at ‘sodas’ or local cafes is accompanied by what is known as a Lizano sauce. The brand name Lizano is now generic and retails in N. America.  Since this sauce is yet to hit UK shores ( believe me I did a fair bit of looking around in shops that sell Mexican ingredients, Asian, Carribean and most of my local supermarkets) I finally decided to make my own ,which was a great decision – why ? Well scope to experiment and innovate for one, coupled with freedom to incorporate easy to procure, local ingredients – resulting in a deliciously moorish creation! A traditional root vegetables dish from Costa Rico called Picadillo is a popular side dish with rice and tortillas. You can safely say that the gravy sauce is a marriage of sorts between the Lizano sauce and the Picadillo. I have done a fair amount of customisation and the most interesting part of cooking Casado was creating the gravy sauce, combining it with root vegetables and serving it as a wholesome gravy side dish. Let’s get started with the sauce aka gravy as this will take the most time to cook of all the other sides.

Costa Rican Casado
Costa Rican Casado
Manjiri Chitnis

Root Vegetable Gravy Side

Easy, delicious vegetarian gravy dish
Print Recipe
Servings: 2
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Costa Rican
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Medium juicy tomato – finely chopped
  • 2 Small red onions finelychopped
  • 3 Medium carrots chopped intotiny cubes
  • 3 Small sweetfresh peppers finely chopped
  • handful Cauliflower florets
  • handful Very finely chopped Sweet Potato
  • 1 tbsp finely grated celeriac
  • 2 tsp garlic puree
  • 1/2 dry red Kashmiri chilli
  • 1/2 tsp thick tamarind puree
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
  • 2 tsp freshly grated black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp Roasted cumin powder
  • 2 tbsp Oil
  • Salt as pertaste
  • Handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

Equipment

  • 1 Heavy Bottomed Pan
  • 1 Chopping Board
  • 1 Sharp Knife

Method
 

  1. In a large saucepan, heat oil and add the chopped onions, add the garlic puree and cumin powder and stir well
  2. When the onion starts toreduce add the bay leaves, the chopped tomato and chopped sweet peppers, stirthe the tomato & peppers around vigorously bit to get them to release theirjuices and reduce the flame to a minimum
  3. Throw in the finely choppedcarrot cubes, sweet potato, grated celeriac, tomato puree and add enough water to cover this mixture
  4. Cook with lid on till the sweet potato and carrots begin to soften, then it’s time to toss in the cauliflower florets, season with the dry red chilli, tamarind, cracked black pepper, salt and sugar and give it a good stir
  5. Let this cook on a low flame with lid for about 25 minutes
  6. Keep opening the lid, stirring and adjusting the water if it becomes to run dry, we need a gravy-like consistency
  7. When it is done, add in some finelychopped coriander. The tamarind should give it a bit of tangy twist, while the dried Kashmiri chilli gives it colour and mild heat, the sweet pepper and tomato puree work their magic together and the gravy is delicious and wholesome, what with so many veggies hidden inside!
Root Vegetable Gravy Sauce

Red Kidney bean side

Prep and Cooking Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of red kidney beans
  • 1 medium sized red onion
  • 2 large tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp garlic puree
  • 1 tsp red chilli flakes
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  1. In a large saucepan, heat oil and sauté the chopped onions, add the garlic puree and stir well.
  2. After the onion has sautéed, add the tomato puree and stir then add the beans and mix well.
Red onions for Kidney Beans
Red onions for Kidney Beans
  1. Add some water to the mixture and reduce the flame to a minimum, cook with a lid on but check often so that it does not burn or run dry.
  2. 4.Since the canned and ready to eat red kidney beans are preserved in salty water, check the taste before adding in any more salt, chuck in some dry red chilli flakes for flavour and set aside.
Red Kidney Bean side is done
Red Kidney Bean side is done

Boiled white rice

  • Cook 1 cup rice using exactly double the water and a pinch of salt

Fried Plantain

  • Peel and chop the plantain into large chunks and fry in hot oil in a kadhai or wok until they are a light brown. It’s easy for them to char so get them out as soon as the colour turns a golden shade of brown, allow to cool on a plate on a bit of kitchen roll to soak excess oil.
Plaintains peeled

Don’t fret if like me you can’t peel the plantain I simply use a knife and remove the thick green skin, even if that means that the plantain pieces are hexagonal or cubes now, well I never was too good at geometry 😉

Frying Plantains in Kadhai

Fish

  • Casado can be served with meat, fish or chicken. Chop one large fillet of fresh salmon and pan fry both sides till done in about 1 tbsp oil.
Salmon Pan Shallow Fry

Cheese Tortilla

  • Heat a large flour tortilla –shop bought on a pan and adds a generous helping of grated parmesan cheese on tortilla. Just as the tortilla heats up and the cheese shows sign of melting fold the tortilla in half and flip over and toast each side till you have a crispy yum cheesy tortilla, slice into neat triangles ready to be served.
Tortilla on pan with grated cheddar

Cabbage Salad

  • Chop a fresh cabbage fine to get one large handful of cabbage, add half a red onion and a small handful of finely chopped cucumber, squeeze half a lime, sprinkle some cracked black pepper, a small amount of fresh finely chopped coriander and toss all these together. Easy-peasy right?
Folded Tortilla

Serve the steaming hot rice with the salmon on the side, topped with some of the root vegetable gravy. Mop up the beans with the cheesy tortilla and munch on the sweet fried plantain with generous bites of the tangy cabbage salad in between mouthfuls of everything else.

Costa Rican Casado
Costa Rican Casado

Tofu and whole red lentils salad

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A love affair with Tofu

I am currently in love with a few things like red lentils, avocados, butternut nut squash, oranges, baby spinach, baby kale, walnuts and matcha green tea. I somehow can’t seem to get enough of this. Also my love affair with tofu is just getting more passionate.

Easy Vegetarian Tofu Salad

The long Easter weekend has sped past far too quickly for me and I am now back to work. I just wanted to keep lunch really light today – guilty after ordering a Chinese takeaway yesterday *sad face*

So this recipe is basically me throwing together stuff found in my fridge, not necessarily planned but just what I thought would taste yummy and am very pleased with the result.

Fusion Indian Salad

Whole Masoor Dal and Tofu salad
Whole Masoor Dal and Tofu salad
Manjiri Chitnis

Whole Masoor daal and Tofu salad

Deicious, fusion Indian flavours in a vegetraian salad that is wholesome and very easy to put together
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings: 2 people
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Fusion Indian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 80 gm Baby Spinach
  • 150 gm Whole Red lentils
  • 50 gm Tofu
  • 75 gm Butternut Squash and sweet potato diced
  • 1/2 Avocado
  • 1/2 Knorr stock pot – onion gravy
  • 1/2 Knorr stock pot mixed chillies
  • Few Walnuts chopped roughly to garnish

Method
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius
  2. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet
  3. place the diced butternut squash and sweet potato, drizzle some olive oil, smoked sea salt, and black pepper.
  4. Wash the whole red lentils ( laal masoor ) in a sieve under running water
  5. Place the washed whole red lentils with double the quantity of water in a small saucepan and add in the Knorr stock pots of onion gravy and mixed chillies.
  6. Cover with a lid and allow to boil until the dal is completely cooked. Top up with more water if you think it is running dry
  7. Place the tofu on a non-stick pan and dry roast on a low-medium flame for about 4 minutes each side or until done
  8. Meanwhile, half the avocado, scoop out the flesh and roughly cut into large chunks with a spoon
  9. Remove the butternut squash and sweet potato from the oven and set aside
  10. Remove the lid from the saucepan with the cooked whole red lentils and allow them to rest for a while, as they should not be too hot when served, also allowing it to sit will help the dal to absorb any excess water, if there is too much excess water simply drain it
  11. To plate, divide the spinach leaves equally on the plate, then serve the cooked masoor dal on top, followed by the oven roasted butternut squash and sweet potato, dry roasted tofu and finally top with the walnuts to garnish

Notes

  • Laal = Red in Marathi
  • Masoor = Red Lentils in Marathi
  • For this recipe, I have used whole red lentils with brown skin on. Alternatively, if you are pressed for time, you could use cooked ready to eat Puy lentils, but then you would accordingly need to adjust the time used to cook them with the stockpot I use a fan assisted oven, adjust setting accordingly to suit your oven type
  • I purchased a ready to roast pack of diced butternut squash and sweet potato from the supermarket
  • If like me you like to batch cook and also have cooked ingredients at hand to use at a later date, then, you could roast a larger batch of the diced butternut squash and sweet potato, so that you have these ready to be used in soups, salads, and curries
  • If you like your tofu firm then cut out about 1/4th of the tofu from the pack and place it on a kitchen towel to remove excess water, then place another plate on top keep something on this plate to weigh it down. Leave aside for 10 minutes. This should drain the excess water from the tofu. Alternatively, just cut the tofu straight from the pack into large chunks
  • If like me, you haven’t drained and pressed the tofu to become extra firm, then handle it very gently with a wooden spatula as it easily crumbles

Quick and easy fusion Indian vegetarian salad recipe

Whole Masoor Dal and Tofu salad
Whole Masoor Dal and Tofu salad

I found that this salad didn’t require any dressing or drizzling as the cooked dal works well with the succulent and sweet squash and the tofu adds texture and tastes great with the spinach. Walnuts add crunch, taste fab and are great for those who try this salad for the first time expecting it to be boring. Avocado I like with everything so I simply like having it in there.

I am up for experimenting and may try various permutations of this salad with the following toppings, not only will they make your salad more interesting but also help you reduce food wastage by finding new ways to recycle any of the following leftovers :

  • Steamed fish – salmon and topped with pine nuts
  • Pan grilled Tofu and walnuts
  • Slices of pork salami with nuts

I shall be reporting back with happy experiments with salads and smoothies soon  for now am just very satisfied with the end result and the fact that I am back to eating healthy.

Whole Masoor Dal and Tofu salad
Whole Masoor Dal and Tofu salad

Looking for recipe inspiration to create your own salad? Why not browse through my other salad recipe posts:

Recipes where salads are the Main event

Seafood salads

Vegetarian Salads

Salads as a side dish

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