Today is another Saturday... and I have another guest post!!! :)This time, it is the beautiful and vivacious Tisa Jacob, who blogs at "Blessing From My Kitchen". I love the way she writes, as simple as that!!! The prose that she uses is quite mind blowing. She tells me that it comes like a natural flow, but then I believe she's immensely gifted to be able to write like that!!! I've told her that her next venture should be writing a book!
I have been reading Tisa's blog for quite some time. I love the energetic feel to it. The colors that she incorporates into her pictures, the way she writes, the detailed explanation she provides and most importantly, the way she immediately comes back with answers to any questions that you may have. I had left a message on her blog to email me and she was quite excited about what I would be asking her to do. When I told her that I was looking for a guest post in her beautiful prose, she immediately pounced onto it. This is her first guest post, it seems and I am glad that it is on my blog. She is staying in the US, with her little family... I guess more than me, let's go on to see what Tisa has to say...
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| I wish I could gobble it down now... |
I am Tisa and I blog at Blessings From My Kitchen. It certainly is an honor to be blogging my very first guest update over here at Sweet Tooth Raf's. You see, Ms. Raf is one of my BBF's( best bloggie friends) .EVER. Not only, and you can agree with me here, does this girl cook, she can blog so finely and fiercely that it puts my languishing, lazy self to shame. Rafeeda also happens to be from my part of the world, the beautiful Keralam, and I love to drop in and visit this neighbor of mine, always assured of some treat that awaits me, oftentimes reminiscent of our shared homestate, like those way awesome vettu cakes she had in store the other day. And since you all like her as much as I do, we have something in common and I'm joyed to befriend you good peeps. Hello, hello and shall we begin?
Where do I start? I am of Indian descent, but the early years of my life were spent between the U.S. and India. It is why I can seriously say that to love up a plate of chicken fried steak and gravy is equally as easy as wolfing down a masala dosa or two in a second's breath. I started Blessings just over a year ago, because of my love of food, working and playing with it and being blessed with a family who actually and quite joyously "experiments" on my experimentation. For years I'd recorded my kitchen haps and and mishaps in a a now dogeared cooking journal. With the insurgence of the foodblog and those infestly populating the WWW, it was these that had me traveling on hours' end, reading my way through many kitchens and lives. And so I decided( kind of)," hey, why not?!" Thus and therefore several years later, I have arrived!
I read Shoba Narayan's Monsoon Diary about three years ago, the author being from Madras, should say Chennai, spoke stories of her childhood, running around trees and eating her Nalla-ma's soft idlis. I loved how the narration took me on visual gastronomic and quite drool tour of her parents' kitchen, more likely her hometown. I was motivated.
But let's not stop there. The team that I live with, are the real deal, and by this I refer to that hero of mine for 18 years, Jacob (JZ as he's known to my audience), and the two wonderful children that we are gifted with.They are the cheerleaders that carry me forward, even when dinner table tests result in epic fail. Their oohs! ahhs! and woohoos! take me to the next level, (which sometimes means just getting up in the morning) and gain me the confidence to make, write, phototake and the like. Oh, I shouldn't forget those lovely Food Network chefs who've expanded my definition of la cuisine gastronomique, or, actually taught me that such phrases exist. Yes, people, I've learned that mindless TV watching clearly has its benefits.
What do I like to cook the most? Favorite foods, and by that I mean mine and my family's. Absolutely love Kerala fish curry, not forgetting to mention crazy good pizza!
All of us are endowed with a passion and something we are naturally good at. Cultivate, nurture the enthusiasm and fire that it brings in its wake . Practice, try and keep on, being the best at what you do. Emulate masters. For me, that would be Giada, Bobby Flay and my mother-in-law. Finally, don't forget to smile and be thankful for the talent that's been appointed to you, blessings abound when you do!
Now onto our point of conversation for today. It is a subject that has become a favorite of mine surely but slowly through the past four or five years. Presently living in the Southwest part of the U.S., we come across countless places that serve up this flavorful hand- to- mouth eat. It is the fish taco. Fish + tortilla + tongue singing add ons that make the whole hand to mouth experience quite nirvana-ish. This popular eat most probably originated from the coastal regions of Mexico and has gained super notoriety on recent, here and beyond. Most eat out versions are lovely but employ with it a batter fried fish, which limits my intake to not more than two- and we all know that's not a good thing. Though, I've, on occasion, had the grilled prototypes and I must say they are the healthful, maybe even tastier versions of the former .
So what do I have for you this day? Warmed corn tortillas filled with fish, not fried, not grilled- but baked! Yes, oven cooked fish in soft taco shells and an utterly magnificent tart-hot-sweet cruncher to go with. May I also introduce the purple cabbage slaw?
Leftovers for these are even better the next. Though, in all honesty, meal situations here have not rendered many a leftover conclusion.
Fish taco~
Ingredients:
2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 1/2 pounds tilapia or any firm white flesh fish, skinless without bones, cut into 3-4 inch pieces
2 tbsp oil
cooking spray
18-20 corn or flour tortillas (6 inch)
red cabbage slaw (ideally this should be made first)
lime wedges
Directions:
Line a baking tray with foil, you might need two. Put the dry ingredients(cayenne to ginger powder) onto foil. Smear on oil and spread throughout the breadth of the pan. Mix well. Add fish pieces and coat both sides of each piece with spice mixture. Set aside for thirty minutes. Meanwhile make your cabbage slaw.
Bake at 410° F for 15-20 minutes,turning tray halfway through. Towards the last 5 minutes, on a separate bake tray, wrap stacks of four tortiilas in foil, and heat in the oven. If they do not become soft, leave in oven after turning off heat for additional 3-5 minutes. Make sure not to overheat.
Red cabbage slaw~
2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 c mayonnaise
1 tsp black pepper
2 scallions, chopped fine
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/2 small head red cabbage, sliced thinly
juice of 1/2 lime
Directions:
Whisk the sugar and salt with vinegar until dissolved.
Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for half an hour before serving.
Best way to eat this? Wedge a few slices of baked fish inside warm tortilla, a squeeze of lime and a fair heaping of the coleslaw. To blissfulness and beyond!
So, now I bid adieu to my lovely hostess, thank you for granting me this rather prolonged visit . To her equally fantastic audience, thanks for listening and joyful cooking all!
