Chatpata Murgh Tangdi Kebab

A unique recipe from Old Delhi, Purani Dilli ki Jama Masjid ki galiyaan. I have literally known that area almost by heart. Okay, may be not the whole area, but definitely the famous restaurants, Kareem and Jawahar happen to be my father’s favorite. I remember as a young child looking forward to going to Jama Masjid just for the food and how much I wished those days that we should have lived in Delhi. My idea of living in Delhi soon changed as I got older thanks to the heavy traffic, but my taste buds still crave the lovely food. I think that might be the only reason most of my Kebabs are inspired by the flavors i experienced as a kid.

It’s one of the kebabs made specially during Ramadan. As much as Jama Masjid is popular for its non vegetarian cuisines, but some dishes are exclusively for this special month. This dish happens to be one of those special ones. The marinade is easy to do and it adds a lot of flavor to the chicken legs. The best part about the marinade is that it leaves the Kebab moist from inside with a crunchy exterior. I cooked these in the oven, but you can always barbecue them or even cook them on a pan. An oven though is always preferred. The second best thing after an oven would be a Gas Tandoor.

I would recommend you to marinate the kebabs for at least 3 hours, but if you happen to be in a rush, an hour in the refrigerator would also be fine. The result might not be as amazing, but still good.

This Kebab chatpata as the name suggests and makes a wonderful side dish to your regular dishes and will also amaze your guests.

Rajasthani Malai Biryani

A recipe close to my heart. Rajasthan is my home state. The land of Marwar is popular for its beautiful and sweet spoken people along with the gorgeous forts and palaces. Its also known for its beautiful colors that can be easily seen in the attires and things people use. We proudly call it our “Rangeelo Rajasthan”.

Rajasthan is mostly popular for its vegetarian food but little do people know that Non vegetarian food of Rajasthan is not only very popular between Non vegetarians but also portrays the love for cooking from the Royal Palaces. Most kings in Rajasthan have loved to cook in their leisure time and they enjoy cooking the traditional Marwar recipes that have passed on to us from generations.

Rajasthani Malai Biryani comes in from the kitchens of the Mughals and clearly shows the bond of brotherhood and relationship shared by Rajputs and Mughals. When Princess Jodha married the Great Mughal Emperor Akbar, the Mughal cuisine was all set to merge like the traditions and fesivals of the two different faiths. This dish uses a lot of chili. Well, that’s what Rajasthan is popular for, but to calm it down it uses cream or malai. Mughals used a lot of cream and dry fruits in the cuisine and most dishes that use a lot of cream or saffron are actually a gift from the Mughal Era. In fact, its surprising how many dishes in Persia or Arab countries sound and look similar to Indian/pakistani cuisine and it clearly shows how the foods welcomed the merge and till today we enjoy and take pride of what our history gifted us.

Gulab Jamun

Every time someone mentions these awesome, sweet, sugary balls, people either tend to get them from a sweet store or if they are home made, most times they are made from the popular mix pack that has you add a few easy ingredients from home, like sugar and milk and fry them and you all set to serve them. But, little do you know that you don’t really need that little pack or run to the store. Making Gulab Jamuns at home, with ingredients you will find at home, is pretty easy and not at all time consuming. The only thing you need is a perfect recipe.

Now, if you ever thought Gulab Jamuns is a gift of India to the world, you are wrong. Gulab Jamuns are actually a gift from the Mughals. All these sweet dishes that used Orange Blossom water or Rose water or screw pine water with saffron are all delicacies that came in from the Middle East and were introduced to Indian cuisine during the Mughal Era.

As the history says, the Gulab Jamuns were first prepared in the era of medieval times in India, derived from a sweet fritter recipe that a Central Asian Turkish invader brought to India. One theory also claims that it was accidentally prepared by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s personal chef. All in all, it is a sweet dish inspired by the Middle east.

The word “Gulab” is derived from the Persian words gul, which means flower and āb, means water, referring to the rose water-scented syrup. Jamun is also defined as a fried delicacy in dipped in sugar syrup. A middle eastern dessert Luqmat al-qadi is very similar to gulab jamun, though it uses a different batter.

These outstanding Gulab Jamuns have a remarkable depth of taste and texture achieved very carefully combining few ingredients to form balls. Fry them slowly in ghee or oil, further soak them in syrup. With such detailed recipe, its hard to go wrong.

Mewa Baati

If you like Gulab Jamuns, you will definitely like these. These are almost the same recipe as Khoya Gulab Jamun with a filling of dry fruits inside. Change the shape to make it look different from regular Gulab Jamuns. I made them oblong, you can always make them bigger and round if that appeals you more.

Mango Lassi

Mango Lassi is a popular name in Indian houses during summer, specially the Mango season. I personally have always loved sweet and sour lassi, but those days I never realized that Lassi could have fruit flavors as  well.

The maximum innovation I tried during our Ramadan was Rose Lassi, which was basically sweet lassi with Rose syrup, not really an innovation. With time, and thank you to all wonderful exposure that I got, I came across Mango Lassi. As a Mango lover, it was definitely something that I wanted to master.

It’s an easy drink to make and very refreshing, specially during summer evenings. I prefer using real mangoes for lassi than mango puree. I feel the taste is more pure and the natural sugar from Mango gives it a great taste.

Kesar Pista Milkshake

After my successful trial of Kesar Pista Kulfi, I wanted to make kesar pista milkshake. It was during one of those hot summer afternoons when my boys returned from their soccer camp, they needed something cool and filling. Mostly its a fruit smoothie/ chocolate/ vanilla milkshake, but once in a while its always good to try something different and pure Indian…LOLzzz.

Before I give out other details, let me tell you this. So, there was this not too fancy Indian restaurant but, they had great Kesar Pista Milkshake. Too much competition and unable to maintain made the restaurant shut down. The best thing about that milkshake was that it had kesar pista ice cream in the bottom that would melt slowly and make the milkshake more cooler and thicker.

Since we didn’t have that restaurant anymore and also I had started making this awesome Kesar pista kulfi, this had to be my next step. It was one of the best things I ever made. There were few trials and errors till it came out to be as perfect as we would love it to be.

A little bit of Kesar Pista Kulfi at the bottom of the glass adds a lot of thickness to the Milkshake. The milkshake needs to be made with Milk and ice cream blended together. A little bit of sugar can be added if needed, but I definitely don’t recommend it. You might feel that the ice cream blended with milk might decrease the sweetness and flavor but actually adding sugar will make it extra sweet , since there is extra ice cream at the bottom of the glass too.

 

Kesar Pista Kulfi

I love Ice creams and Kulfis are my complete favorite. Kesar Pista Kulfi are one of the first Kulfis that I tried and have been a big fan of the Kesar Pista Kulfi ever since. In fact, for a very long time, I refrained from trying any other flavor of Kulfi. Those days I couldn’t imagine in the wildest of my dreams that I would be trying so many different flavors of Kulfi and create my own too.

Saffron is not just an expensive spice but a very flavorful one too. We took a trip to Dubai and visited the famous spice souk. Oh my God! what an amazing place. The fragrance throughput that market amazes and kind of is soul satisfying. Its so pure that if you rub a little on your hand, that fragrance won’t leave your hand for hours. So, during our first trip to Dubai, I bought 500 gms of saffron. Yupp!  You read it right, half a Kg of Saffron. The thing is that when I travel to different places, I don’t mind spending money on stuff that’s authentic and pure. The quality of spices that you will find in Dubai/Middle East is something you might never find in other places. I have met a lot of people praising Saffron from Spain, and finding it better. But, I believe they haven’t had the privilege to try the Saffron from Middle East.

I would have actually bought a few more spices too, but considering the amount of shopping I had done, my luggage couldn’t have taken more. Coming back to the Kulfi. So, when I started making my own ice creams is when I thought of trying the Kulfi and the first one that came to my mind was Kesar Pista Kulfi.

As much as the flavors convince you that its difficult to make something so amazingly flavorful by yourself. Believe me and follow the recipe step by step and amaze yourself and your loved ones with the super delicious treat.

Jalebi

Indian word jalebi is derived from the Arabic word zulabiya or the Persian zolbiya, another name for Luqmat al Qadi. This recipe was brought to Medieval India by Persian-speaking Turkish invaders. In 15th century India, jalebi was known as Kundalika or Jalavallika. The versions kept changing and ultimately the Mughals made it “Jalebi”, the way we all enjoy it today.

There is no Indian/ Pakistani/Bangladeshi I met who haven’t shown their love for Jalebis to me. Its heavenly, crispy, sweet and melts your heart. My hometown, Jodhpur makes the best Jalebis in this world. If you don’t believe me, take a trip to the most gorgeous city of Rajasthan, land of the last palace built in India and the land to Rao Jodhana, “Jodhpur”.

Its a funny connection, but Mr. Parveez’s family hails from the Mughals. We would still like to find details of the connection but for now we only are aware that the family are indirectly the descendants of the Mughlia Dynasty. My husband considers himself the rebirth of one of the Mughal rulers and looking at his taste for food and lifestyle choices and the way he treats the guests, I quiet firmly agree to it…LOLzzz. Since he married me and I am from Jodhpur, he always reminds me of how the Mughal rulers had a crush on women from Marwar. We all know about Maharani Jodha, but the Mughal family had another queen from Marwar and that too from my hometown, Jodhpur. The queen to King Jahangir and Mother to King Shah Jahan was from Jodhpur as well.

Vibrant colors of Jodhpur keep you cool and the warmth of the beautiful people melts your heart. The city where Ghee flows like river and a popular joke among people is that people of Jodhpur are always “Ghee Positive”. Coming back to Jalebis, sweets make morning breakfast in Jodhpur. The most popular breakfast is Doodh Jalebi or Doodh Fini.

When Mr. Parveez and I got married, I knew has a sweet tooth and believe it or not, living in Jodhpur, I cannot eat jalebis. It shocks many, including my better half, but I think I just don’t like any sweets that swim in sugar syrup. Anyways, I told Mr. Parveez during our first visit to Jodhpur after marriage that Doodh Jalebi is a popular breakfast. He thought I was just bluffing and smiled as if he did believe me. To his surprise, that was the first breakfast served to him since everyone knew he likes jalebi and my poor husband thought, “Yeah I do like them but only as dessert and not as the main course. I still remember his face and I still can’t stop laughing at his situation.

Anyways, the jalebi were definitely something to die for, or may be not, but definitely something that would make your trip to Jodhpur very sweet. So, those days, I could have never even thought of trying to make Jalebi at home. Years later, living away from home and seeing 3 men looking for the taste of India in pathetic Jalebi made by the Indian sweet stores here, I decided to venture and make my own.

I never have any leftovers when I make these Jalebi and most of the time they finish in a jiffy when they are fresh. So, if you are making them beforehand, I suggest you make extra. Jalebi are best when consumed fresh. These can stay upto a week, if refrigerated and for 2 days on room temperature.

Gajar ka Halwa with Vanilla Ice cream

Gajar ka Halwa is our winter favorite. The lovely sweetness of carrots mixed with sugar and milk and a hint of cardamom with desi ghee leaves you taste buds asking for more.

We always loved the idea of warm Brownies and vanilla ice cream. In fact, my kids are big fans of warm brownies/ cake with Ice cream. Its a desert that they would give away their lunch for. Anyways,  Mr. Parveez happens to be almost  the same when it comes to warm Brownies with Ice cream. With time he wanted try warm halwa with cold ice cream. I wouldn’t have tried making this had it come from someone else, but since it was my biggest food fan, I had to try it.

Warm Halwa and cold ice cream is a super awesome combination. Its something you will only understand after you try it. In this recipe I am sharing the recipe for Gajar ka Halwa and how I combined it with Vanilla ice cream. You can always check the Vanilla Ice cream recipe in the Dessert/ Sweet section.

Aflatoon

My hubby hails from a family where, good food was always appreciated. God bless my father-in-law’s soul. I hear so many food stories from Mr. Parveez, that it truly amazes me on how well he has been introduced to so many delicious dishes.  He has so many different and unheard delicacies that his father brought home every now and then.

The funniest part is that my father in law never let out his secret, not even after the children grew up, not even after they got married, not even after they had children. No matter how much you ask, he would never give out the address to the places, instead he would drive by himself and get you what your heart desires to eat….So, this aflatoon happens to be one of my hubby’s favorites.

This recipe will taste quiet close to pumpkin pie, but it way less in calories and carbs. This goes great for special day breakfast or tea time. It tastes awesome with Masala chai or coffee.

Ohh!! Did you think the story ends here….NO, there is more, I have tried to make this dish almost 5 times to make it taste the way my hubby’s taste buds remember from his childhood…OK! now you think I sound crazy…Well, if you had a man who loved you so much, making him feel happy is all you would want to do…and trust me, the way to a man’s heart and to make sure his heart is your home, the path needs to be carved out through is taste buds to his belly…LOLzzz… Life is beautiful and it stays beautiful and blessed when you color it with love around you….Enjoy!!!