Seafood

Mediterranean Fish with Olives

January 8, 2022 By Asha Shivakumar

This Baked Mediterranean fish with olives and capers is one of our absolute favorite baked white fish recipe. It’s cooked in a delicious tomato based sauce until tender and flaky. It’s a 30 minute dinner recipe you don’t want to miss! Serve with rice or a chunky sourdough bread to mop up the salty goodness.

On our recent trip, we were invited to have lunch at our family friend’s place in Cairo. The lady of the house was from Ronda, a small town in Spain and the husband is from Cairo. We got to taste a couple of Mediterranean dishes and traditional Egyptian dishes. How incredibly lucky are we?! The family was so kind to make vegetarian options for me and meat/fish dishes for the rest. Their hospitality was unmatched.

If there’s one thing I never miss during my travels, is, eating at local homes and this family being a family friend of ours worked out perfect. In a bit of delicious irony, the two of us ladies struck up a conversation when she was flavoring the fish. We quickly discovered a shared interest in cooking, world cuisine, and travel, and she graciously slowed down the process and shared exactly how to make her mom’s world famous baked fish. We swapped stories about how hard it was to find culturally authentic dining experiences when abroad.. She was enthusiastic about Indian food. All this with her husband being the mediator/translator. I did not feel sorry for him 🙂 . We got along fabulously.

“Sharing a meal is the best way for
people to get to know one another.
This is how we realize how similar we
are, despite being from different parts
of the world, different cultures.”…

Eggplant Seafood Shakshuka

June 24, 2021 By Asha Shivakumar

Easy Eggplant Seafood Shakshuka recipe is a Meditterranean treat. An array of spices, fried eggplant and the perfectly cooked calamari in tomatoes is a one-skillet dinner that comes together in 30 minutes!

Most of you know the traditional shakshuka, eggs poached in a tomato sauce or even eggplant shakshuka. It’s popular and we love it.

Seafood Shakshuka is something my family has enjoyed time and again in our travels. But, I had never ventured into the deep sea, since it was overwhelming. My hubby and little one are big fans of seafood and I’ve been trying to dip my foot in seafood other than white fish and salmon.

I made this calamari shakshuka a month ago and the boys enjoyed it. So, I had to share it with all of you.

Usually when I search up lobster or calamari, there are not many recipes that cater to our liking and this one definitely hits a spot. And it super SIMPLE. …

Indian Spicy Fish Parcels – And an Ode

May 15, 2021 By Asha Shivakumar

White flaky Spicy Fish Parcels is simple, flavorful and authentic. Fish fillets are marinated in cilantro, red chilies, garlic, meethi/fenugreed, coconut oil, then wrapped in Indian-style banana leaves and pan fried. Serve very simply with some coconut and lime rice, it’s a treat.

A post dedicated to my dad. One year of lows and tears, but also thankful for those memories I created with HIM. Remembering him fondly, a person who has bequeathed me fond memories.

My dad and I had a weird relationship. We fought like crazy, like screaming crazy, and moments later made up and were never angry at each other. I remember he’d apologize to me always. He had strong opinions on how I dressed, disliked my edgy fashion choices at times. Dad felt that my parenting was too lenient. I questioned his beliefs and he gave up explaining rolling his eyes that he couldn’t change the way I thought. I’d say he was my toughest critic. But, in a large wedding hall, filled with five hundred people, sitting far away, his eyes would only be on me, admiring me. He was also my BIGGEST FAN!…

EASY Spicy Fish Fry

February 28, 2021 By Asha Shivakumar

This Spicy Fish Fry is flaky and great with paruppu/daal and rice. This effortless South Indian style Fish Fry has few ingredients, marinated and pan fried. Perfect as an appetizer too.

Amma(my paternal grandmother) had the midas touch when it came to seafood: spicy fish fry, fish kozhumbu, shrimp and meat dishes.

It’s mid morning, the chaos of our home has settled down leaving my amma and me taking in the sun rays coming through the balcony. His screams reach us from a kilometer, the fish monger pushing his wooden cart with a huge cane basket filled with ice, to keep the fish fresh comes our way. His visit was a little later than normal. I see the eager look in Amma’s face. He waves at us, shouting in tamil that he has Amma’s favorite fish, Vanjaram(king mackerel). Holding her pallu (corner of her saree/dress), I tag along with her. And her bargaining starts, in the end, both coming halfway and happy. She gets her Vanjaram for fish fry and another for curry….

Healthier Salmon Cakes (Salmon Patties)

July 16, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

These healthy Salmon Cakes are a crowd pleaser. A back pocket recipe that I’ve made so many times and is always a hit at home. Requires very few ingredients, healthy and comes together in 10 minutes plus the cooking time. I had to post the recipe when a friend of mine as me if I had a salmon cake recipe that is healthier, and here it is.

Cooking salmon was overwhelming at one point. If you’ve been intimidated by cooking fish in the past, I hear you! I spent years avoiding buying salmon because I thought it would be too complicated to make, or that worse yet, I’d mess it up and ruin a beautiful piece of fish….

Chettinad Prawn Masala

March 2, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chettinad Prawn Masala has few spices, and big bold flavors. This is a recipe from the Southern part of India. This dish comes together quite quickly and very flavorful.

South Indian Curries are always close to my heart though. South India offers a variety of quite spicy curries. The spices are pretty similar in a lot of the curries, just vary a slight bit. But, to my amazement a simple fennel can change the whole flavor of the curry or a few curry leaves. Most of the time a chicken, mutton or even a fish curry is a slow cooked one. This one comes from a place called Chettinad. The local cuisine is simply one of the the most spiciest I’ve ever tried, Chettinad Cuisine….

Sheet pan Baked Salmon and Beans with peanut butter miso dressing

June 26, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

The convenience and simplicity of this sheet pan meal is extra awesome. Baked Salmon with Beans is a complete meal on one pan full of flavor. Sheet pan Salmon and Beans with Peanut butter and miso is perfect.The best part, easy clean up. Change up the veggies throughout the year.

Baked Salmon with Beans in Peanut Butter and Miso Dressing |foodfashionparty| #salmon

Sheet pan meals are one of the easiest and satisfies all. This dazzling Peanut Butter Miso Baked Salmon and Beans Dinner Recipe is so easy to make, it just might become one of your go-to meals this summer. It’s a great way to use up your fresh garden tomatoes too….

Garlicky Creamy Coconut Milk Shrimp Pasta

May 14, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

Garlic Coconut Milk Shrimp Pasta is made in just one pot and ready in 30 minutes! Fresh shrimp gets cooked with spices and gets topped on coconut milk pasta later. It will become a new favorite!

Say hello to your new favorite one pot meal, Coconut Milk Shrimp Pasta.s This seriously blew away our taste buds and became an instant favorite with the first bite.

Rewind to the time I despised shrimp and then loved it. Growing up I hated shrimp, then there was a stage I loved how my grandma made it and would eat it only that way. Now I’m plain allergic to seafood, sad, But I still cook it all the time with loads of love for my family….

20 Minute Tomato Garlic Peppery Shrimp with Lemon Pilaf

May 27, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

This juicy, tangy, spicy, and sweet 20 minute tomato garlic peppery shrimp is so easy and delicious. It’s perfect for entertaining, or for a weeknight meal.

Here’s how parties I threw looked like years ago. Plan. Plan for it for weeks. Write a list down, and shop. Make two to three desserts a day ahead, and have an array of dishes. Then came dressing up the room, flowers, and making sure everything is flawless. The morning of: you see your husband put his feet up on the coffee table to relax. You look at him, like “really, please can you help around..?” I turn on the music and start cooking, and start getting excited for the evening. I was on constant edge if I saw the kids mess the countertop, or left their shoes on my polished floors. Two hours before everyone arrives, the home looks like a model home, no smell of cooked meals, everything is neatly stored, flowers are smiling brightly. I light up my candles, put in some drops of orange essential oil in my aromatherapy diffuser, and sit down with a glass of wine, happily….

Shrimp Scampi in Coconut Rum Sauce with Linguine

April 1, 2018 By Asha Shivakumar

This shrimp scampi in coconut rum sauce with linguine is perfect for a thirty-minute meal. A restaurant quality meal, right at home!

HAPPY APRIL!!! Happy Easter!!

My last few months were all in fast forward motion, with one deadline after another, and one project after another… The book release was a huge relief. A sense of a huge responsibility went off my shoulder, replaced by a sense of happiness, contentment, and accomplishment. Masala and Meatballs is doing well, thanks to all of you. Very little things happen overnight, but what’s the fun in that anyway? The excitement is in the anticipation, the work and that time which brings pleasure in ticking off all the boxes. It is the journey that matters, not the destination.

After a beautiful launch party, book signings, and a few other events later, I felt the need to take a breather….