Pan seared salmon with lemon and garlic butter

Salmon is such a fabulous fish - tastes great on it's own with just basic seasoning and is also considered to be a very healthy source of protein, high in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. Pan searing is probably the easiest way to cook salmon. It keeps the natural flavour of the fish and leaves it perfectly flaky. Season it lightly and serve it with some steamed or roasted vegetables; or drizzle over some sauce like I have in this recipe. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Salmon fillets

2 tbsp butter

3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced

Juice of half a lemon

Oil

Dried parsley

Salt 

Pepper

1 spring onion, chopped, for garnishing (optional)

Method

Brush the salmon fillets with some oil and season with a bit of salt and pepper. Heat a grill pan on high. Place the salmon fillets and turn the heat down to medium. Cook the salmon for 2-3 minutes on each side or until done (the fillet should flake easily). 

While the salmon cooks, heat the butter in a pan on low heat. Add the garlic and toss for a minute or two, then season with pepper. Add the lemon juice and sprinkle in the parsley. Let cook for a minute on low heat.

Serve the salmon and drizzle over the butter sauce. Garnish with the spring onion and some more dried parsley. 

Lahore Karahi Tooting

Do you know where you get the best curry in London? No, not on Brick Lane, but in Tooting - at a restaurant called Lahore Karahi. In my opinion, this is probably the best curry place in London. I have seen this place get popular over the years and can totally get why. Usually it's always very busy in the evenings and the queues can be long, but they do move quickly as the service is pretty quick and you would usually be seated in about 10-15 minutes.

This has been our favourite restaurant for years and I doubt it would be easy for any other restaurant to change our mind. Even our friends and family who have eaten here, from London and abroad, can't stop raving about this place!

Our standard order is the Chicken Tikka Karahi with roti or naan. I have tried most of the dishes here and here is what I would recommend:

Vegetarian

Starter - Paneer tikka

Main - Matar Paneer, Karahi Saag Paneer, Tarka dal

Non-vegetarian

Starter - Chicken Tikka, Seekh Kebab

Main - Chicken Tikka Karahi (not to be confused with the Chicken Tikka Masala, which is creamy), Masala Lamb Chop, Prawn Biryani, Meat Biryani

Dessert 

Falooda Lahori

Here are some pictures which I specifically took this time for the blog. It wasn't easy - usually the food starts disappearing moments after it arrives ;)

We started with some Lassi - plain and mango.

Paneer Tikka for starter. This is one of my favourite dishes here. This time it was particularly moist and just melted in the mouth. Yum!

Main course - Chicken Tikka Karahi - the star of the show, is a spicy curry of onions,tomatoes and spices with chicken tikka pieces (Again, remember Karahi, not Masala) ....

....with naan.

We were quite full already but would have otherwise had the Prawn Biryani or the Meat Biryani followed by Falooda - this is probably one of the best Faloodas I have had!

As always, yet another very satisfying meal at Lahore Karahi.
Make sure to give this place a try :)

Seviyan (Vermicelli) Kheer

I am not a major fan of creamy desserts but some Indian desserts definitely are exceptions. I find most of these to be a bit tedious to make at home, but kheer is probably one of the simplest. Although it is time consuming (since the milk has to reduce), it's totally worth the effort. 

You can make kheer with rice or sago too but seviyan or vermicelli kheer is our favourite. The kheer we made today turned out so well, we just couldn't stop at one bowl!

Ingredients

1 cup vermicelli

6 cups whole milk

1 tsp ghee (clarified butter)

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of cardamom powder

8-10 strands of saffron

Handful of raisins

Handful of almonds, crushed

Method

Melt the ghee in a nonstick, heavy bottomed pan. Add the raisins and fry for a couple of minutes till they plump up a bit. Add the vermicelli and fry on low heat till it turns light brown. 

Add the milk and turn up the heat to a medium high. Once the milk comes to boil reduce the heat slightly. Boil the milk until it reduces to almost half, about 20-30 minutes. Make sure to stir often so that the milk doesn't stick to the bottom and burn. Scrape the sides of the pan occasionally as well.  

Add the sugar, saffron, cardamom powder and almonds. Leave some almonds and saffron strands for garnishing.  Let the kheer simmer over low heat for about 5-7 minutes.

The kheer thickens as it cools. Garnish with the almonds and saffron strands. Serve it hot or cold. I personally love it chilled. Yum! 

p.s I am finally in my new kitchen, cooking again and it feels so good! :)