DAY 87 - KILI BAKED FISH....the kilimanjaro

And at the exact moment , I had rolled out the pizza and garnished it with tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella ...
Boom...
The oven goes off..
Gosh ...am I lucky or am I just plain lucky...

Its exactly the time ,that I'm expecting my Kili gang to come for lunch , joined by a few of my girl friends..

And no electricity...
Why ???
Because "Einstein" from pest control has drilled straight into the heart of the mains...

Why me? you must be thinking ..??
Well why not me..
I always expect the unexpected...

But you know, somewhere up there, someone must love me a lot. because after contemplating whether I should cook before or during my lunch,
I finished baking my lunch, early this time, something I never ever do... ...

"Salt baked Ravas".. or "Indian Salmon"... Not to be confused for "Salman" ha ha ha
And grilled stuffed Aubergine , with a Pepperonata sauce..
Vegetable pasta,,
Chocolate Rum pots..
Red velvet cake
Salad

If I had not started early, there would be no lunch today ..

Yudi, Shayamal and Tara, arrived first , walking up 10 floors..
"Welcome to our Kili lunch...ha ha ha " ..
Well its actually part of our climbing programme, climbing stairs..
So I guess , if I had to choose a day,it could not have been a better day ..

And so one by one, all my friends trooped in, abusing the hell out of me, thinking , its a prank I'm playing because we are climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro..
And I shut the lift..

And Jaya was the funniest, because I walk down and see her standing outside my kitchen flushed face and panting and drinking water...ha ha ha,
And why do I find this funny , because she calls me like mother hen everyday, asking if im climbing stairs and preparing for the climb..
Her expression was priceless..
Then Shaheen troops in with her little Ayatal saying, "I have told Roshan to come in 40 minutes when the electricity returns"...
Ha ha ha told her, it may not come back soon, please tell Roshan to leave now...
Slowly everyone trooped in , sweaty faces and a 'WTF expression" ha ha ha
Sandy , Shruti my usual suspects..

Mini and Kabir , sauntered up..
Kabir walks 18 floors everyday for an hour, timing himself and plans to do it 20 times before we leave..
I'm walking behind him on this trek..
That's it..
And will hook myself to his belt and drag myself up ha ha ha

But Shayamal has promised we are all going up together...and I believe that boy...

Shayamal and Sandy..staring at the fish...

And so equipped with the lovely gear Warsi so painstakingly shopped for me on his trip to Toronto.....
Shoes, back-pack, super- funky heat absorbent inners, down jackets, rain coat, socks etc etc...
and armed with my favorite woolly muffler , I'm going to give this my all..

So amidst the friends trooping in panting and the heat of an October afternoon soaring ..
I was completely at peace that I had actually finished baking my fish..

Fish baked in Salt.....
Something have I have always wanted to try for the longest time..

I made my dad go to the market for me , and he got back this 3.3kg fresh Rawas..
He is awesome at selecting fish and somehow always gets a good price..
The fisher women love him...ha ha ha
Green-grey eyes ,does not say much ..
Tall, dark, handsome types buying fish ...
I think that's why...Ha ha ha

Well so I googled a whole lot of recipes, and then got stuck reading Jamie Oliver..
And his trysts with different places and food..
I like this guy...this Jamie guy, one day will break bread with him...ha ha

Anyway, so this is how salt fish works..
It takes 15 minutes to cook a pound of fish...
Not more or it could dry up...
So whenever you are doing this recipe, even with a slightly smaller fish, try and use this calculation, keeping in mind that it also needs a warm up time...About 15 minutes..so add that..
OK I don't know what calculation I did, because maths is not my forte, but it worked...

INGREDIENTS
Ravas- 3.3 kg
Butter
Chili flakes..
Garlic minced - a handful
Basil - a handful
Lime- 3 , cut into slices
Fennel bulbs- 2 sliced
Fennel seeds- dry roasted a small handful
Mustard- 3 tbsp

So I took the entire fish, and gutted and cleaned the felly, (how do I know , its a felly, because , she had a big fish roe, I felt awful) with my bare hands, thanks to the skills I acquired at Tante Marie..
And then , because she was too big, and would not fit into my oven..
I did, what the French did to Marie Antoinette..
"Off with her head"...not a pretty sight..but....

Then I washed her , But did not take off the scales or the skin, and sliced her neatly through and , smeared her with butter and fennel , garlic, chili flakes, mustard , and neatly placed slices of fennel, lime and beautiful basil..

Smeared with yumminess ..

Shut her ..
And then tied her up neatly...

SALT
5 kg
4 egg whites , lightly beaten
7 Tbsp water

Mix all this together, till it resembles wet sand..
Then in a baking tray lay about half an inch of salt , the length of the fish, lay the fish over the salt and then very neatly start covering the fish with the sand, and push it down with your hands, so that it stays on to the fish and covers it entirely..
Its exactly like building a sand castle on the beach..
Only here you are building a fish...

Yup its a fish castle...

Well this salt, when heated , forms a protective outer layer around the fish, like an oven and does not let the moisture escape, keeping the fish moist...
So I packed the fish very neatly, stuffed it with yumminess and put it in a pre heated oven of 200 degrees for 1 hr and 45 minutes...

Then continued cooking for the rest of the meal..
And was thinking of the day Yudi called me, asking me if I would be part of the team , to go on this expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and funds for cancer..
I was at the vegetable vendor with my mom and dad at that moment..
And screamed so loudly..
That the vegetables and fruits all came alive ...ha ha ha
Well the vendor thought I had gone mad , and my parents know I'm mad..
So they said, what they always say, 'everybody is looking"..
Well I have never really been bothered with people looking or saying..
So I continued trying to tell my embarrassed parents, what I was going to be doing some months down the line ..

Well I was just too ecstatic and could not believe it..
This has been something , I have always wanted to do , this and Machu Pichu...
And I was just too filled with a crazy boundless joy..
So came back called just three friends and told them about it ..

I was bursting..
And just needed to calm myself..
I really could not believe this..
whew...

And then in retrospect , it was , for something that my family has gone through..
The dreaded "C'' CANCER..
A few years ago , my dad was diagnosed with it ..
And we as a family , kind of never gave in..
Also because we caught it in its nascent stage , and were able to get the right medical help..
And with a whole lot of positivity and medical aid, my dad, touch wood, is busy living his life , like he should, without pain and in composed dignity..
(Except for the regular arguments with me, his eldest, who bullies the hell out of him..
Well that's what daughters do ,so I do not feel any guilt..)

But what about the thousands out there, who are not fortunate enough , to get medical aid ..
Not able to detect or cure, themselves or the ones they love, that are afflicted...
What happens to that multitude..

And so @Out_Cause , is trying to do just that...
Create an awareness, raise funds and basically try and help those who are unable to help themselves...
Maybe I cannot do much, maybe , I'm doing my bit...

Maybe the fact that my daddy is a survivor, makes me want to be part of this endeavour, to overcome my physical and mental constraints and try and summit the tallest free standing mountain in the world at 19440 feet...
For this cause...

Well I want to reach the summit with Yudi, Shayamal, Kabir, Tara, Shalu, Anish and Ramshreyas...
Whether its ,pulling one another up. waiting for each other, walking in silence, sharing gu-gel, drinking gatorade, sharing laughs, warming each other with funny tales on a cold winter night up on this awesome mountain or just trying to sleep well at night in a sleeping bag...
I'm willing to do it all...
I want to be there at the summit to greet the beautiful sunrise on the 22nd October 2012...
And I pray that we all are able to go up safely, without any roadblocks..
We are all in this together , though at the moment have been training separately..
I think if nothing else, our determination , will help us walk through..

We are on Face-book ...OUTCAUSE..so find us and like us..
And our Twitter handle is @Out_Cause..
Join us and do support us in whatever way you possibly can..

And to everyone who has been touched by "CANCER" directly or indirectly...
Just want to say we walk for all of you ..
There is one thing I know, 'We will only understand loss, when we lose something , we love more than ourselves"

OK I don't want be be preachy or give a sermon..
But I think you get the point...

And so back to my lunch with my 'Kili Climbers " and all our beloved supporters...
Warsi , Mini, Jaya, Sandy, Roshan, Shaheen, Shruti, My Parents, Zeke and Zene...

Thank you for the encouragement and for just being there for all of us..

Kabir

As for the Ravas..
It got done in 1 hour and 45 minutes..
And was opened amidst much fan-fare, with a wooden hammer ..

And it was time for a funny "operation fish"

You have to break the pieces away..
And then pull the skin away from the flesh, this happens very easily, and sometimes also comes out with the chunks of salt..
It was still hot ,very hot..
Think it got a bit over cooked, as I served it an hour and a half later..
But it was good , very good..
It is best served fresh out of the oven and cracked out and onto your plate ..

We all dug into the lovely white succulent flesh,which was still absolutely hot , even though I served it an hour and a half later, along with our pasta..
The aroma of the fennel and the lime just make the fish meat absolutely divine..
And the mustard infused butter...OOOOH my Gooood !!!!!

Mini and Shaheen ...help out ...

We ate amongst much chatter and laughter and just revelled in the fact , that in a few days, we would actually be climbing the worlds , highest free standing mountain...

I'm still not being able to take it all in..
I think only once I really get to the top..
I may start going crazy, with the reality of it all , actually sinking in..

So here's presenting, "Kili Baked Fish"...
Made with a lot of effort and meticulous planning ..
Infused with some wonderful aromatic herbs and the most important taste-giver....LOVE...

And devoured hot , with great relish , fantastic company and one seed of a thought, "to create AWARENESS and RAISE FUNDS to battle CANCER", only from "Maria's Kitchen"...