RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Non-Vegeterian’ Category

Paella and (Fuente Mágica de Montjuic)

12 Jul

Paella is a famous main course food from spain. The appearance resembles quite a bit like Italian risotto or an Indian Biriyani, although the ingredients and the variety of rice used in these dishes are different. I have tried Paella with chicken and veggie paella. But today’s post is SEAFOOD Paella.

Paella is actually the name of the pan used to make this preparation. There are different names such as Paella valencian, Paella verduros that differentiate the types and ingredients used in it. I have a used a normal pan for making this, but Spanish like to use the traditional Paella pan. The ingredients for this sea food paella is simple, but it tastes really delicious.

A click on menu board of the road side bar….You can see Paella in there and almost every restaurant has it in their menu card.

Here is the recipe…

Ingredients:

  1. Bomba Rice –  3oo gms
  2. Fish stock – 400 ml
  3. Water – 200 ml
  4. Salmon – 250 gms, cleaned and cut in to pieces
  5. King prawns – 100 gms
  6. Olive oil – 2 Tsp
  7. Garlic – 5 flakes, minced
  8. Chilli flakes – 1/4 tsp
  9. Red Bell Pepper – 1
  10. Onion – 1, finely chopped
  11. Tomatoes – 2 , finely chopped
  12. Peas – 1/4 cup (frozen green peas)
  13. Orange food color a pinch or saffron a little
  14. Salt for taste

Method:

1.  Add the oil to the hot pan. Add the onions and garlic and saute it till golden brown color.

2. Add the tomatoes and cook it for approx 5 min, till the tomatoes are smashed and cooked.

3. Now add the bell pepper ,peas , food color, chilli flakes,salt and mix it up. Add the rice and nicely coat it with the ingredients in the pan for about 5 minutes.

4. Add the fish stock and let it cook for 10 minutes. At later point in time you can add the water and let it cook for another 1o minutes in slow flame. (when you cook in a flat pan, there is no extra space to add all the liquid together. So add it time to time)

5. Now the rice is almost done. Add the fish pieces and prawns to the rice and cook for another 5 minutes.

Tip :

1. Add the favorite seafood of your choice. You can show your creativity in this dish very well. Just add the vegetables , seafood and meat and make it look colorful.  Instead of fish stock, you can also try with chicken stock.

2. For vegetarian version, just replace seafood and add veggies of your choice,  some legumes of your choice and use vegetable stock.

——————-

In my previous posts, I have been sharing my Barcelona vacation experience and some of the pictures. On this series today, I am going to add a little bit about this famous Magic Fountain in Barcelona.

Fuente Mágica de Montjuic — The Magic fountain of Barcelona

Tremendous colorful water fountain which dances beautifully along with music. It is simply amazing and a great pleasure to watch this wonderful fountain. Anyone who like to enjoy their evening and would like to have a pleasant feeling , I would definitely recommend this fountain as one of the best attractions one should visit. The musical fountain is seeasonal and opened every day from 10Pm to 11.30pm.

Some of the pictures………

Entrance to this fountain

Look at the powerful flash lights behind the building focussing to the sky.


One of the better way for sight seeing in Barcelona is to choose the Open top  touristic Bus. One can able to complete almost all the places in a day or two. This Bus exactly takes the visitor in front of the attractions and the visitor can decide to hop off and hop on at their favorite attractions.

Thanks for taking time to read the story. Okey….Thats all about my vacation experiences  Barcelona. I would like to say Adios  (Bye) to spain at this moment and my next posts will resume with other cusinies.

 
8 Comments

Posted in Main Dish, Non-Vegeterian, Spain

 

Empanadas & L ‘aqu’arium

16 Jun

Empanadas is a Spanish Stuffed pie. Usually stuffed with Meat,  Chicken, Seafood potatoes and other vegetables. It is also spread over other countries like Argentina, chile, Mexico, US to name a few.

I have done this empanadas with complete variation from selection of flour for dough, to the stuffing.

Ingredients:

For Stuffing

  1. Chicken – 250gms , cut in to small bite size pieces
  2. Ginger paste – 1 tsp
  3. Garlic paste – 1 tsp
  4. Onion – 1 medium ,finely chopped
  5. Tomato – 1, finely chopped
  6. Bell Pepper – 1 cup , cut in to small bite size pieces
  7. Mushroom – 1/2 cup, cut in to bite size  pieces
  8. Oil – 1 Tbs
  9. Garam Masala – 1/2 tsp
  10. Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
  11. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  12. Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
  13. Coriander leaves – 2 Tbs finely chopped
  14. Salt for taste
  15. Cheese – to add it with  stuffing while assembly

For dough

  1. Wheat flour – 1 cup
  2. Water – 1/2 – 3/4 cup
  3. Salt a little
  4. Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
  5. Margarine – 2 Tbs

Stuffing                                                                                                                                              & Assembly

Method:

1. For the stuffing add oil to the hot pan. Add the Onion and saute it till golden brown color. Add Ginger garlic paste followed by chicken.

2. After adding the chicken saute it for 2 min. Add the spice powder turmeric, chilli, coriander and garam masala powder. Add the salt and mix it up.

3. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until it becomes soft and mashable. Add the vegetables and cook for 5 more minutes.

4. Add the chopped coriander leaves and the stuffing is done.

5.  Now make the dough. Add all the ingredients under dough and mix it well to make a soft dough.

6. Dust a little of flour to the rolling board and roll the dough in to approx 2 -3 cm thickness of desired shape.  In the center add the stuffing and cheese.Finally fold it at the edges.

7. Preheat the oven at bake it for 20 min at 180 C in the medium rack.

8. When it is done cut in to pieces and serve it warm.

—————————————————————————————

L Aquarium – Europe’s Largest Aquarium.

This is one of the famous attractions of Barcelona. Located in the Port Vell and has a 80m long underwater tunnel with different sea water species. When you travel with kids this is the amazing place to take them and make them enjoy. The entrance fee is 22Euros fo

Some pictures of the Aquarium.



I don’t know this guys name.This was one among many fishes.

Cuttle Fish also called as Sea Chameleon. It has the capability to change its color when needed.

Sea Horse. The female deposit the eggs to the males pouch, and the male seahorse fertilize the eggs .(wikipedia)

Anemones. There were different colorful ones. A few of them……..

Dont eat me, I am poisonous. (This was the tag on the information board for this fish)

Sting Ray.

This guy was the main attraction there. There were 3 of them I could count, really large ones.

The very next building to this aquarium is the IMAX 3D. As we have already watched IMAX 3D movies many times in our place, we did n’t visit this time in Barcelona.

 
9 Comments

Posted in Non-Vegeterian, Spain, others

 

(Tortilla De Patatas – Spanish Omelette ) & Park Guell

10 Jun

After my Spain Vacation, I was keen to learn about their Cuisine. Suprisingly this spanish Omelette is the one, I used to make very often for my child as a complete meal.  I did n’t invent this dish, I came to know it long back from my friend Sharada. She is good in Malabar Recipes.

It was interesting to know that Spanish use olive oil in almost all the dishes. Garlic is one more ingredient they love to add in to the recipe.

I prepared this Spanish Omelette with a little variation from the original one. In the Original, they add the Olive oil, raw sliced potatoes and saute it with onions then followed by beaten egg. They use more oil to let the potatoes cook in that. But I use little oil of any type, boiled & smashed potatoes and corriander leaves as a variation.

Ingredients:

  1. Olive oil – 1 Tbs
  2. Onion – 2 , finely chopped
  3. Egg – 4 , beaten
  4. Potatoes – 2 , medium sized, boiled and smashed
  5. Salt for taste
  6. Corriander leaves – 1/4 cup, finely chopped
  7. Pepper – 1/2 tsp

Method :

1. Add the oil to the small pan and add onions. Saute it till it becomes slight brown in color.

2. Add the smashed potatoes, coriander leaves and salt to the beaten egg and pour it into the sauted onions. It should be atleast 1/2 inch thickness or little more.

3. Lower the heat and let it cook for 5 minutes and with the help of the other pan just flip it over and cook on the other side for 2 min, because we dont want to break it by doing the usual way.

4. Serve it warm. Good to have as a breakfast and also as a side dish.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Let’s look at this Spain attraction Today…..Park Güell

Yesterday in my post I have wrote a little about the Spanish Architect Antoni Gaudi. This is one of his Garden city project, initiated by Güell and designed by Gaudi. It was a city planning project aimed at building houses for the spanish people. It was developed by them in a 35 acre  hilly area very close to  barcelona. Surrounded  by trees and a unique architectural buildings with colorful marble pieces in his creations can inspire anyone. You can also visit Gaudi and Güell’s house inside this park and it is two among the 3 houses they built .This project was a failure  financially, but it was taken over by the city and converted in to open park. One can have a glorious view of the city from here enjoying the nature around them.

Some of the pictures…….

View of Barcelona city and seashore from Park Güell.

One among the three houses that he has built in this park.

You can see the colorful art work with marbles .

Open terrace of the building and view of Barcelona city and seashore.

This is piece of wall ceiling with colorful marble decoration.

At the main entrance to this Park Güell.

The two hut buildings near to the entrance.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures and include this place in your list of attractions to visit in Barcelona. You will have a nice peaceful and woderful feeling in there.

 
9 Comments

Posted in Baby food, Breakfast, Non-Vegeterian, Side Dish, Spain

 

(Arroz Caldoso Bogavente – Lobster soupy Rice) & Barcelona Beach

08 Jun

Never had an idea before how the spanish cuisine will look like until I was in Spain. We went to a Restaurant called Marina Manchos, which had an exotic spanish cuisine of food varieties. Enjoying the view of Mediterranean sea from our table, we wanted to try some seafood. We decided that we will try Lobsters and asked the waiter for options. He suggested this Lobster Soupy Rice which is a one pot meal for 2. Between they served a cup of potato chips, Spanish pickled olives & little cucumbers and Bread with a spread of fresh tomato puree. When the dish arrived on the table, it was in a big deep pan  and looked like it can serve the entire family . Since it was the first time I am trying lobster, my first sip of the food was kind of skeptic but not the rest. After returning back from vacation, the first thing I did was buying the Lobster and making this dish at home. Believe me, it was one of the dish I just loved it . We packed the remaining and had it for dinner. Honestly what we had in restaurant was excellent than which I made. Probably  because of the fresh seafood and  may be  some chefs secret ingredients.

Choice of restaurant is very important, especially when you are in a new place and trying new food. Fortunately the one we tried was good. Bit expensive but worth it.

Ingredients:

  1. Lobster – 2 , divide in to pieces
  2. Squid – 100 gms (optional) I did not add it
  3. Fish stock – 2 cups
  4. Water – 4 cups
  5. Parboiled Rice – 2 cups
  6. Onion – 2, finely chopped
  7. Tomato – 2, finely chopped
  8. Bell Pepper – 1/2 , cut in to small pieces
  9. Garlic – 5 pods
  10. Olive oil – 2 Tbs
  11. Paprika powder – 1 Tbs
  12. Coriander leaves a few or  Petersilie  a little
  13. Salt for taste

Method:

1. Heat the pan and oil to it. Add Onions and garlic and saute it till it is translucent.

2. Add paprika then followed by tomatoes and cook till tomatoes become soft approx 5 min.

3. Add the fish stock and water and let it boil. Once it starts boiling add the rice and let it cook for 15 minutes.

4.  Add the lobster and bell pepper when the rice is half cooked and allow it cook. Add some water if required, to look like soupy rice .

5. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it warm.

Now coming to Barcelona attractions……..

Barcelonata is a very beautiful beach with not much waves but it is very deep after 5 feets from the seashore. Lot of people were swimming though the water was bit cold. My daughter started building a sand castle decorated with shells.

Beware, there is also nude beach called Mar bella. Even in Barcelonata, there were  few taking sun bath.

Ships returning to Barcelona Port.

Port Vell near from the Columbus Monument


Monument Columbus.

Throughout the city and in the beach side one can see these palm trees.


 
8 Comments

Posted in Main Dish, Non-Vegeterian, Spain

 

iHola!! Spaniola ! Fresh Prawns Pan Fry

06 Jun

Guess what ? Last week, we had been to spain for Vacation . We visited places around Barcelona city and enjoyed the famous Spanish architectures. This week, all my posts going to be little informative about the places we have visited and definitely some special recipes.

La Ramblas is a long 1.5 Km shopping street in Barcelona which has lot of shops, few museums, Restaurants and La Boqueria market. This market is famous for its fresh Mediterranean sea food, spices, Fresh Juices, chocolates, meat shops, fruit stalls and vegetables shops. You can see the pictures at the end of this post, to get a feel of the market. We visited this market and I could not just pass through without buying any sea food. Since we had a plan of site seeing that day, On our last day of stay in Barcelona we went to this market and I picked up some fishes, prawns and a Crab and cooked them at home. It was a feast for all of us. Since we stayed in a vacation apartment in the city, it was just comfortable for us to decide to go out for a restaurant or stay at home and enjoy the home food.

This crab was weighing 1 Kg, but after cleaning, it was around less than a half a kilo. I made Crab Kurma and Fish Kuzhambu. Both of them dishes are south Indian recipes.
Here is the recipe for prawns pan fry
Ingredients:
  1. Prawns – 1Kg ( clean the prawns and include only the meat)
  2. Onion – 1/2 kg
  3. Oil – 2 Tbs
  4. Ginger paste – 1 tsp
  5. Garlic paste – 2 tsp
  6. Garlic – 2 Tbs, chopped
  7. Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
  8. Chilli Powder – 1 tbs
  9. Corriander 1/2 cup, chopped
  10. Salt for taste.

Method:

1.  Heat the pan and add oil. Add onions and garlic and saute them till it is translucent. Add little salt to help cooking onions faster.

2. Add ginger and garlic paste and mix it for 2 minutes.

3. Add the spice powders chilli and  turmeric and stir for 2 minutes in a slow flame. Add 1/4 cup water and cover the pan with lid and let it cook for 15 minutes in a medium flame.

4. Add the prawns and mix them up with the masalas for 5 minutes.

5. Add the chopped coriander and serve it. Good to go with Rice and as a side dish.

La Boqueria Market pictures:


Inside the market you can get a fresh juice for 1.50 Euro.

Not only in this market, all over the city there were many fruit shops with all kinds of fruits.

Eye catchy Candy Stalls. Check the prices before buying…I felt it was bit expensive.

My daughter was just not moving away from the candy stall until she got one.

Fish stalls

Fish stalls had a good collection of all kinds of sea food fresh from theMediterranean sea.


 
12 Comments

Posted in Non-Vegeterian, Spain

 
« Older Entries