Unwrapping

RAHUL AKERKAR

Owner of my favourite restaurant chain, Indigo Deli this is Chef Rahul Akerkar's birthday gift for us and we love it! You know how much I love Indigo Deli and I'm absolutely thrilled with this recipe Rahul wants to share with just our blog readers!

“Congratulations Devika & FFB on completing two marvelous years. May it grow in leaps and bounds! Love, Rahul”














PAN FRIED RAWAS, QUINOA UPMA & KAIRI CURRY INSPIRED SAUCE.

Portions: 4

I used quinoa in place of semolina that is normally used to make Upma - a common South Indian
breakfast dish traditionally cooked as a thick porridge from dry roasted semolina, with various
seasonings and vegetables. The Kairi (raw, green mango) curry-inspired sauce is an adaptation of a
distinctive “sweet sour” curry that my Maharashtrian grandmother used to make with jaggery, raw
mango and coconut milk. Rawas is a local, Indian Ocean fish found off the coast of Bombay, which
can be substituted with any other white, firm-fleshed fish.

INGREDIENTS:
Qty/unit Item Description
500 gm Rawas fillet Make 4 fillets approx. 125 gm each with skin on. Substitute
Red Snapper, Grouper or other white, firm-flesh fish
Juice from 1 lemon

FOR QUINOA UPMA
Qty/unit Item Description
150 gm Quinoa Mixture of red, white and black quinoa
200 ml Vegetable stock
15 gm Chopped onionsRecipes: Pan-fried Rawas, quinoa upma, and kairi curry inspired sauce. • Page 2 of 3

INGREDIENTS cont…:
Qty/unit Item Description
5 gm Chopped green chili
½ tsp Black mustard seeds
½ tsp Turmeric powder
5 gm Almond
5 gm Cashew nut
5 gm Raisins
5 gm Chopped parsley
5 gm Chopped chives
10 ml Olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
FOR KAIRI CURRY
Qty/unit Item Description
100 gm Raw mango
10 gm Basmati Rice
25 gm Jaggery
1 tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp Fenugreek seeds
½ tsp Black mustard seeds
8-10 Curry leaves
120 ml Coconut milk
300 ml Vegetable stock
30 ml Sunflower or peanut oil
Salt to taste

METHOD:
FOR KAIRI CURRY:
• Peel the raw mango, cut the flesh off the seed, cut into large dice, and boil in half the
vegetable stock with half the quantity of turmeric powder, till tender.
• Drain off the water and process the softened raw mango in a food processor to a smooth
paste.
• Dry roast (no oil) the rice in a sauté pan on high heat, till it just browns. Remove immediately
and dry grind the rice to a fine powder in a grinder.
• In a heavy bottomed saucepan heat up the oil and make a tempering of the fenugreek and
mustard seeds, then add the remaining turmeric powder and curry leaves.
• Next, add the raw mango purée to the tempered spices in the pan, combine well, and cook on
a low flame, until the purée just starts bubbling.
• Add the remaining vegetable stock and coconut milk to the pan and simmer the mixture on
low heat for a short while. Ensure a gentle simmering on low flame, to prevent the coconut
milk from splitting.
• Add the rice flour to the mixture and gently simmer, till the sauce starts thickening. Season
with salt.
• Add the jaggery to the sauce and continue simmering till it completely dissolves to give the
sauce its sweet-sour taste. Set aside and keep it warm until ready to serve..

FOR QUINOA UPMA:
• In a pan, bring the vegetable stock to a boil, and once boiled, take it off the fire. Add quinoa to
the hot stock, cover the pan with plastic cling wrap, and set aside for 15-20 min till the
quinoa softens.
• Heat the oil in a pan and add the black mustard seeds to. Once the seeds start popping add
the turmeric powder, chopped onion, chili, raisins, cashew nuts and curry leaves to the panRecipes: Pan-fried Rawas, quinoa upma, and kairi curry inspired sauce. • Page 3 of 3
and sauté until the onions become translucent and the cashew nuts brown a little. Lower the
flame.
• Add the softened quinoa to the pan, combine well with the sautéed spice mixture, season with
salt and pepper, and finish it with the lemon juice and chopped herbs. Set it aside

FINISHING & CONSTRUCTION:
• When you’re ready to serve, season the fish with lemon juice and salt, and pan fry the fillets
in clarified butter, skin side down, till the fish is done and the skin is crisped nicely. Remove
from the pan, dab gently with a paper towel to remove any excess butter.
• Serve with the quinoa upma and kairi curry.






Thank you SO much Rahul for our birthday gift. We love it and I'm sure our readers do too :)

To know more about Indigo Deli and its brand new branch opening in Delhi, follow them on Twitter and Facebook respectively:-
@IndigoColaba
@Indigo_Colaba