Po' Boy Sandwich

Ingredients
Slices Bread
10-15 Shrimp
Sliced onion/tomato/lettuce.
Mayo (as spread)
For the marinade
1 egg
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon chilli, coriander powders
Water
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil (for frying)
For the remoulade sauce
1/2 cup celery
1/4 cup onion
2 pods garlic
2 tablespoons horseradish
2 tablespoons brown mustard
1 tablespoon mayo

Step 1: Grind all the ingredients for the remoulade sauce and keep aside.

Step 1: Mix all the ingredients for the marinade.

Step 2: Deep fry the shrimp in a pan.

Step 3: Apply the remoulade sauce to one slice and mayo to another slice.

Step 4: You can add sliced onion/tomato/or lettuce on your sandwich and serve with chips on the side.

Tostados with cheese

Ingredients
Corn Tostados
2 cups of mozarella cheese
Finely diced 1 small onion, tomato
pepper
Olive oil
Crushed garlic (optional)

Step 1: Put a generous amount of mozarella cheese on the tostados with some olive oil and bake at 350F.

 

Step 2: Once the cheese has melted, sprinkle the diced onion, tomato, and pepper. Serve hot.

El Pescado

Escabeche

Freshly caught fish (el pescado in spanish) is hard to find in restaurants. A freshly caught fish which is also cooked well is an even rarer find. So it was my good fortune to have stumbled on such fish on not one, but two recent occasions.

Grouper with corn risotto and mango ginger sauce

First, was at a seafood specialty restaurant called Tarpon Bay, Hyatt Regency in Bonita Springs, Florida. I ordered their grouper with a mango ginger sauce and a risotto and it was outstanding. I also tried their mixed seafood paella, which I liked. Ceviche was also available, though I did not try it myself. Pricey, but worth it. My other recent run in with fresh fish was at Purple Patch - a Filipino-run restaurant (with an Indian cook) in Washington DC. I ordered a dish called Escabeche featuring a full fried red snapper in a soy-based sauce for reasonable $22.  While none of the other menu items I tried, including their fried guajillo pepper chicken wings and coconut-based shrimp curry, struck me as particularly Filipino, this fish was very similar to what I tried while visiting the Luzon islands.

Not a place I would go again to, but I will alway remember the fish...

Indian-style stuffed chicken

Ingredients       
1 full small chicken

For marination
Yoghurt
1 teaspoon each of chilli, coriander, turmeric powders
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

For the filling
1/2 diced onion
1/2 diced bell pepper
2 cups of finely chopped spinach
4-5 almonds and walnuts
Hard boiled eggs
1 tablespoon garam masala
Salt and pepper to taste

For the gravy
1/2 onion
1/2 tomato
1 potato
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
4 pods cardamon
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon chilli, turmeric and coriander powders
Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Marinate the chicken generously with yoghurt, 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, chilli, turmeric and coriander powders and keep aside for about 1 hour.

Step 2: For the gravy, saute onions, tomatoes, bay leaves and cardamon pods in ghee. Add the potatoes and let them cook slightly in chicken stock.

Step 3: Saute the onions in the remaining ginger garlic paste. Add the bell pepper, spinach, almonds, walnuts, and finely cut eggs into the mixture and let it sit.

Step 4: Stuff the chicken with the filling, and let it bake in the gravy for 1:30 hours at 400F.

Chicago's Ethnic Fare

Saganake

After New York or San Francisco, I would rank Chicago as the city that offers the most to the food tourist. On a recent visit, I had the chance to sample a few of the cuisines the city had to offer.

Chicago's Greek neighborhood features several Greek or Mediterranean restaurants offering varied dining experiences, from casual to fine. On the casual end of this spectrum, I can recommend Nia for their saganaki cheese - a flaming cheese that can be had with bread or just by itself. The jumbo shrimp in garlic sauce and a wild mushroom risotto were also tasty. While these items were a bit on the pricey side given the small quantities, the food delivered in terms of quality.

I was less taken by the Frenchmarketchicago - an indoor marketplace seemingly tailored for mostly the working crowds. Very little about either the decor or menu struck me as French other than the crepes and pastries. However, the vendors are very diverse, with ethnic foods on offer ranging from tamales to kababs. I tried crepes at fLip Crepes and lobster rolls at Da Lobsta - not outstanding but edible.

Macaroons

I also stopped by Del Seoul, a Korean restaurant whose menu, interestingly, features tacos. I had read some great reviews about this place, but came away somewhat disappointed, perhaps because I didn't find it novel enough. Their shrimp and chicken tacos were great, but they were not something I had not eaten before. I certainly did not see any Korean influence. However, their chicken wings were good - closer to those I had at Bonchon.

So as to not end this post on such an ambivalent note, I would recommend that if you find yourself in Chicago, make time for the French pastries and macaroons at at Tonipatisserie. You will thank me!

Goan steamed fish

Steamed catfish

Ingredients
3 fillets of catfish
Banana leaves (I got them frozen from a Hispanic market)

Ingredients for the Marinade
1 1/2 cups of fresh grated coconut
1/2 onion
1/2 tomato
2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste
2 spoons of tamarind paste ( I used homemade date chutney)
Coconut oil for cooking
1 bunch of finely cut coriander leaves
1 teaspoon chilli, turmeric and coriander powders
Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Saute the ginger garlic paste in coconut oil on low heat. Add finely diced onion, tomato and coconut. Cook it until the ginger garlic paste is cooked. Add the tamarind paste, spices and the coriander leaves.

Step 2: Mix it well. Blend half of this mixture and marinate the fish in it for about 1 hour and set it aside. You can sprinkle some lime juice on the fish.

Step 3: Add the rest of the mixture on top on the fish and place it on the banana leaf.

Step 4: Wrap the fish in the leaf and close it from all sides. You can toothpicks to hold it together.

 Step 5: Bake the fish in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes in a baking pan or foil. Serve hot.

Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Creole

Ingredients
1/2 pounds extra large shrimp
4 pods of crushed garlic
1/2 Onion
2 tomatoes
1/2 bell pepper
2 celery sticks
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay spice and chili powder
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1 cup of chicken stock
2 tablespoons flour
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Saute diced onions garlic and bay leaves with olive oil in a pan.

Step 2: Once the onions have turned brown, add the diced tomatoes.

Step 3: Add the chopped celery, bell pepper, spices and stir the mixture.

Step 4: Add the chicken stock and let it cook. Add the flour and let the mixture thicken.

Step 5: Add the shrimp, hot sauce and stir the mixture. until the shrimp is cooked.

Step 6:  Add some finely chopped coriander for garnish.