Chicken Tikka Masala Curry

One dish that Indians hold steady fast too, specially when we are far from home is Chicken Tikka Masala. Be it Paneer Tikka masala or Chicken Tikka Masala, it never fails to satisfy our taste buds. And, I think that’s why they are a part of every party buffet.

This recipe is very close to the restaurant style Chciken Tikka masala that you’d find at restaurants and you can always substitute the chicken with paneer and follow the rest of the recipe as is to get the perfect restaurant dish.

This recipe is one of the Best Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe that you can cook with ease. The flavor is smoky and making this dish at home also gives you the benefit of eating clean and fresh. At present my reasons to try this dish is because its the quarantine period and as much as I enjoy cooking, I leave some dishes to the restaurant to enjoy some favorites outside the house. But since we hit the Covid-19 Quarantine period, I had to start cooking at home and with the high spiked taste buds of my kids, I got down to making an at home Chicken Tikka Masala curry.

Ingredients to make Chicken Tikka Masala Curry Recipe, we would require Yogurt, I prefer the thick greek yogurt but you can always use the regular yogurt and hang it for 30 minutes to an hour. The thick yogurt helps adding a lot of creaminess to the curry. Boneless Chicken thighs work best for the recipe. A lot of times I have been asked why I prefer Boneless thighs over Boneless chicken breast and my answer is simple, that chicken breast tends to get dry quickly and specially with gravy dishes, Chicken breast fails to absorb the juices from the gravy.

The chicken needs to be marinated in ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, salt, vegetable oil and tikka masala spice mix to marinate the chicken. You’d require onions, whole spices, tomatoes [chopped and pure’ed] , chilies, ginger garlic paste and the regular spices as red chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and tikka masala powder, along with honey, kasuri methi and cream.

Tikka Masala Powder

To make the most authentic Chicken Tikka Masala I always tried a store bought ready made masala but then I decided that I should try and make it at home, since I started feeling that I smelt something weird in the mix. No, I don’t judge people who use it, it’s completely cool but then once I decided that making the masala at home, I felt it was so easy so, I decided to share it with everyone.

Gathering spices from your pantry would be easy to make this super delicious masala that can be kept in a cool dry place for up to 2 months. So within minutes, I gathered up all the spices for making this masala that could be used whenever you feel like making any Tikka with or without gravy. Tikka Masala Spice Mix is a fine motley of aromatic and strong spices that end up granting the quintessential flavor to any delicacy for which it is used!

The masala is prepared using the fine mix of Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Cloves, Cinnamon stick, Green cardamom, dry Kashmiri red chilli & whole black pepper. After dry roasting the whole spices, add Turmeric Powder, Red chili Powder and Tandoori Powder. Mixing everything together Tikka Masala Powder creates a royal treat of flavors for your palate without a doubt.

Basbousa Cake

This is a sweet dish made from Semolina, a dish from Egypt. Honestly, its made all around middle east and known by different names. In Egypt, its Basbousa and in Palestine, its known as Harissa or Hareeseh. In Egypt, its called Al-Basbousa. The dish even goes by the name of Nammoura. They all are the same with probably a little variation of picking the kind of essence they use while cooking. This is basically a traditional Middle Eastern sweet cake that is made using Semolina which is blended in with margarine/butter and further with yogurt. In the end the semolina batter is sweetened with orange flower water or rose water simple syrup. It was originally made by Ottomans in the middle east.

Now the funny thing is that in USA, we usually find this sweet in stores that sell a variety of Middle eastern grocery and sweets, but for some it comes under the section where we buy the Greek food. I remember from the time I came to USA that Mr. Parveez loved buying this cake and we always believed it was Greek. Until, a few days back I discovered that the actual name of this sweet dish is Basbousa and its middle eastern.

I have made cakes with all-purpose flour all the time, so this time I decided to try something new. While looking for something new, I came across Basbousa. The dish has Semolina as the main ingredient and unlike the traditional ways of making cake, this takes in its sweetness from sugar syrup after its baked. The addition of sugar syrup with Rose essence induces softness and sweetness to the cake. This recipe also includes almonds which add a little nutty crunch to the cake besides making it look nice. I was excited with the idea of making a cake with semolina, or sooji as it is known in India, as it sounded healthy and different. I have to say this was one of my favorite and satisfying baking escapades.

The concept of using sugar syrup is just like its used in Kanafeh, another middle eastern sweet or Baklava, so I was aware of how to go about it, except I wasn’t too certain if the cake will be able to soak it in or be watery. Well, not only the sugar syrup was soaked in, the addition of rose essence in the syrup gives out a beautiful aroma and definitely enhances the flavor of the cake. The result, a perfectly moist cake with a distinct taste, flavor and texture.

Basbousa or Harissa or Nammoura or Semolina Cake as I’d call it, is a perfect traditional dessert and we really enjoyed its light and spongy texture. I’ll surely be making this again. Enjoy!!!

Rice Pongal

In a world of amazing flavors and lip smacking delicious food, at time we all crave something that’s yummy, simple and easy to make. Sometimes, and trust me, with someone like me most times I am always looking around for get set go recipes.

So, the story is. Yeah, of course there is a story. Every dish simple, plain, easy, tough, but if they are made by me there are always incidents or stories that connect them to me. No idea why but there are always scenes that pass through my eyes like a movie making me remember when I first saw, or tasted this dish or why am I inclined towards making it and after that each time I make that dish along with the reactions I get is what gets stored in my mind…Weird ??? Totally…LOLzzz

So, for this simple and scrumptious dish, the story is that my Mother in law is a big fan of Pongal. After Mr. Parveez and I got married and every time I traveled to India, we would have family vacations and most of them would be not to far, for instance since we are based in Bangalore, we would always take a trip to Ooty. Now my MIL isn’t a big fan of outside food. In fact she is very precise with her orders and with time I discovered that she mainly always orders dishes that are simple, because her logic is that restaurants always keep fancy dishes stocked up, so if you like eating fresh food, always order something nutritious that barely needs time to cook. Pongal was something she could every single day without a fuss.

Now with Pongal, its definitely a dish that barely needs any prep time. Its simple on the tummy and since it is runny, it can be served to small children as well, just minus the fancy additions we made to our Pongal.

Chettinad Chicken Curry

A beautiful Chicken recipe that sure opens up all your taste buds in an amazingly flavorful way. This curry is spicy and only for the brave of hearts. Now the spice level can always be turned down by adding less chilies than recommended. You can always make modifications to suit your own palate, but the fact is that this is not the curry where you should really be doing this. It has to be made this way for experiencing the real taste of Chettinad.

This recipe is from the southern state of India, Tamilnadu. Chettinad chicken curry is quite fiery. I have tasted this curry as different restaurants, each different from the other. The curry always managed to win our heart. But I had never thought of making it at home until recently that we tried it as a restaurant in Bangalore, the night before we were traveling back home.

First bite of that curry and I just knew that this was the perfect Chettinad curry ever. the spice level just sent us rocking. I just knew that all the ones before this were so modified and I would highly recommend, please do not do that. This curry is amazing and is one of our family favorite too.

Salmon New Orleans

Being Muslims we adhere to eating only seafood when other meat options are not halal. Salmon New Orleans was one of those dishes that we tried at one of our favorite restaurant and were immediately in love with. The only problem is only that the restaurant is pretty far away and as much as we would love to be there every weekend, we cannot.

So one beautiful Sunday, when Mr. Parveez happened to be working on a weekend project, my boys craved Salmon New Orleans and there was no other option than me trying to make it at home. Following the flavors I could remember, this is the closest I can get to the dish, but considering that variations are acceptable in every dish, this dish came out fabulous. The boys couldn’t make out any difference except for what we made tasted more fresh. I guess fresh seafood and mixing of spices at the time does always help. And, this doesn’t mean I am advocating you to stop exploring restaurants, but while sharing this recipe at the time of pandemic Covid-19, I feel this is the best option to try out your restaurant favorite foods at home, as there ain’t any other option anyways.

If I was told before I started making this meal, that it will be done, finish to start in around 30 minutes and that too using just one pan, I would not really believe it, but honestly its true. I seasoned the Salmon with salt and pepper. Make sure you don’t add too much salt, because Salmon usually absorbs salt very quickly, so you might wanna hold your hand a little.

There are always different ways you serve your fish. I like mine with some veggies, preferably carrots, spinach, avocados, broccoli or asparagus. Here I used Spinach and avocados. I first cooked the spinach with garlic, saute’ed it lightly so the flavors blend in nicely without overcooking the spinach and making it lose its color. The light garlic tasting spinach adds that perfect flavor with the sweet salmon and shrimp medley. Another side of avocado slices with a little drizzle of lemon goes in so perfectly. If you like, you can always serve with a buttermilk biscuit like me or with anything you like. A little rice or mashed potato. The side should be a little mellow in taste to compliment the flavor of the fish.

Later we need to melt the butter and whisk a little honey. That’s where the slight sweetness of honey cooked with butter creates caramelization that our salmon will be cooked and come out with awesomely delicious results. I like my Salmon fillets to be thin. I feel that makes them juicer and crunchier. If you prefer them thick, then you can always take a fillet that weighs between 6-8 oz or else you can get thinner fillets that are around 3-4 oz each.

I made my cajun seasoning at home. You can always use store bought, but in case you want to make it at home, its pretty simple with ingredients easily available in your pantry. A little garlic powder, Onion powder, black pepper powder, white pepper powder, salt, red chili powder, red chili flakes and dry parsley. I believe the actual cajun spice might have a little more spice added to it, but with my caliber this is all I could guess and trust me doing this at home, the results would amaze you.

After this saute your shrimp in the same pan you used for the salmon, along with some more butter and that cajun seasoning. Top your salmon with a few shrimp and drizzle the cajun butter sauce from the pan right over the top. Garnish with a little chopped cilantro or parsley if you like and you’re done.

That’s it. So simple to make but believe me, you will be amazed with the results. This is Restaurant-quality at home with no-fuss. Isn’t that what we all desire?

Hope you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we did.

Kaju Chicken Curry

Cashews are my favorite dry fruits. I can eat them raw, fried, baked, salty, sweet. You name it and I can eat it. So, with my love for cashews, I also enjoy their flavor in my curries. Addition of cashews makes the curry milder, thicker and a little sweeter. Its a good substitute to cream as well. I am not a big fan of using cream in my dishes, I mean I do but as little as possible and mostly its for decoration purposes.

So cashews do mostly make the gravy mild and the sauce turns a little more thicker, but the fact is that you can not put in more than 10-12 cashews pieces, soak them and grind them and add them to the gravy. Be it any curry, adding cashews does add a lot of life and adding a little more makes the flavor of cashews more prominent.

This recipe is one of those where I added more than usual cashews and the curry base has a very strong taste of cashews. Other ingredients have also been pureed to add a balance. In usual recipes that I come up with I also suggest substitutes and for this one, if you aren’t a big fan of Cashew or happen to have any allergies, You can follow the recipe the same way with Almonds. The only stipulation is that you need to soak the almonds and take the skin off. The recipe is easy and has been my kids favorite for quiet some time.

Kaleji Fry

Kaleji/ Liver of Lamb is a pretty popular dish in India, mostly served in Indian Muslim restaurants. Kaleji, Bheja, Paaya, Haleem, Nahari and a few others, are all staple Muslim non vegetarian dishes. With Muslim specialty dishes I mean that you will never find any high class Non vegetarian restaurant serving these. I mean forget high class, you won’t find any non vegetarian restaurant except for that belonging to a Muslim serving authentic Muslim dishes. Now, I never understood the reason behind it. I feel if you can make Biryani, curries, Kebabs then why not Kaleji, but with time I realized that these dishes have to be made a certain way and if you miss the trick, you lose the taste. So, I believe because our community sees our moms and grandmothers cooking them at home, we have the knack to cook it. Besides that, most people would not be very found of trying authentic dishes.

I always tell Mr. Parveez that I enjoy Chinese food more in India than USA. His reply is that Chinese or for that matter even Italian food served in any country beside China or Italy is nowhere close to authentic, which is very true. The indianised Chinese food is so good that I feel if a Chinese tries it someday will definitely settle down in India. Or if the Italians ever tried our wonderful Paneer tikka Pizza or the Tandoori chicken Pizza…LOLzzz.

Coming back to my Kaleji Fry, if you are a Muslim, you know it and if you aren’t and you happen to have Muslim friends, you would know this too. Kaleji Fry is one of the most awaited dishes in our homes, specially on Eid. I mean I can have it all year round except the high cholesterol part scares me and I pretty happy having it 4-5 times every year.

Kaleji/ Liver is served in the west too with some restaurants serving it in sandwiches. I have never tried those so I don’t really have an idea of how good they are but I believe if they are not cooked with spice, I might not be able to enjoy them much. The texture and the flavor would enhance with spice and without it, the Liver itself has a very strong flavor which will overcome all other things you put along with it.

Kaleji fry made on Eid brings me happy memories of back home, sharing food with my cousins and looking forward to getting money on Eid and then making plans on how to spend it. Kaleji was one dish that we all looked forward to and no matter where we were, would always be present to be on the table at lunch because our favorite Kaleji would be served.

The dish is pretty easy and makes an excellent Suhoor or Iftaar dish for Ramadan as well. And of course, it has to be one of the side dishes for Eid, thats mandatory. The Kaleji should be not overcooked so it doesn’t become rubbery, just a few minutes after it changes color, you kind of know its cooked. Always try and get fresh kaleji from the meat store if you are buying it. It goes great with Pita bread or phulkas.

Masala Poori Chaat

Masala Poori or Masalpoori is a popular chaat in Southern states of India, mainly Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This chaat can be made spicy and sweet, and of course the best way, which is sweet and spicy.

I think all chaats need to have “Tikhi-Meethi”, which is sweet and spicy in hindi. A chaat has to have medley of flavors that just make you happy. Chaats should make you remember and enjoy good times. See, people usually don’t realize but more than any sweet dish, chaats spread more happiness. Sweet dish is a part of every family and usually made or brought in from sweet shop every time for an occasion, big or small, sometimes not so important and sometimes made even without an occasion. But, Chaat, people mostly don’t make it at home and when they step out to enjoy their favorite chaat, its more like an event.

If you happen to be a chaat lover like us, and enjoy making them at home, this is a recipe for you. This chaat is different from all other chaats, the difference is North and South, literally. This one is more cooked, blended, mixed in and a little more effort from our regular chaats, but the end result is all worth it.

This chaat is mostly made with peas and sometimes with Chickpeas/Kabuli Chana. I have made both ways and I feel the Kabuli Chana is much better so preferred in my house, but you can always substitute and follow the same steps. Peas do not need to be soaked so you can always make this chaat in around an hour if using peas. Make sure you follow the steps of mashing and blending, the flavor would not be the same if you omit those steps. The chaat is served warm and would fill you like a meal, so I recommend it more for tea parties or chaat evenings than an appetizer. It is also a great option for Ramadan Iftaar, if you have an hour gap between Iftaar and dinner. Also, I prefer making my papdi at home, and I make it with Whole wheat flour. Nevertheless, using store bought Papdi gives exactly the same fabulous result. If you want to make yours at home, feel free to follow my recipe. You can also substitute whole wheat with All purpose flour as well.

My better half, Mr. Parveez introduced me to this chaat. It was his college days when he would be out with his friends, after college and at times bunking classes enjoying mouthful of flavors and mostly it was Masala Poori. All in all, loads of wonderful memories. Now, I can definitely bring back his wonderful carefree days, but every now and then I help him remember them with a smile by offering his favorite chaat.

Stir Fried Chicken

Indian Chinese dishes are pretty popular with people. I experimented this dish which c is made with crispy chicken chunks. Its lightly tossed in a spicy chili sauce.

You will like this dish if you like the Indo Chinese fusion dishes. Its wonderfully delicious and the technique in various dishes where the flavors are combined always makes the dishes scrumptious.

If you have never had this dish before then definitely try it out. If you enjoy takeout dishes like sweet and sour chicken, then you will probably enjoy this dish as well. It uses the Chinese takeout technique of ‘deep frying and tossing it in a thick sauce to coat it’ that most of us are very familiar with but uses a dark spicy chili sauce instead of the usual sweeter sauces.

This recipe is a dry chili chicken version, however if you prefer the gravy version of chili chicken then just double up the sauce recipe to make it more saucy. The type of peppers you use in this dish will be your preference, depending on how spicy you like your food. Though my kids are pretty good with taking spice, I used bell pepper and dry Red chilies to flavor it up.

I personally LOVE crispy foods, but find it slightly irritating when it when it is 60% batter and 40% chicken. This dish is lightly coated and therefore has a very light crispy exterior. This makes for a less greasy end product as well.