A little twist to our all time favorite fried chicken roll. My kids love the fried chicken roll. We tried it in some restaurant in India a few years back from a popular joint. The roll was amazing crunchy and delicious. Since, we returned, these chicken rolls found a place to our play date parties, since they are a big hit in kids.
Though I would always fry my chicken but then when a dish is made more often, it sometimes makes you switch to a healthier option and that is exactly what I did with my fried chicken roll. Instead of frying it in oil, I substituted my fryer with my oven to make the chicken a little more healthier. The bread/Roti that i made for the roll is also cooked on a skillet without using oil.
Its funny that a person like me who isn’t very conscious about what she eats and I also truly believe that flavors shouldn’t be played around with and I made sure of that with this one too. This dish came to perfection after a few trials and errors and this is the final outcome, as good as the regular one.
Now, the first try for making the chicken without frying was cooking it in the air fryer. I am not sure if people achieve a lot of success while using air fryers, because I don’t seem to like them much. I have an air fryer from one of the best companies and I did follow all the instructions as well, but the chicken came out very chewy and the outer part wasn’t as crunchy either. I tried again and this time sprayed a little oil. The result was great exterior and very chewy inside.
Then I decided I should give my oven a try too and though everyone has their preference, but trust me on this one that the oven gives you much better results than an air fryer. There is definitely a little more work where you will have to turn the pieces around mid way cooking to ensure the chicken is cooked evenly from all sides, but, it’s totally worth it.
The sauce that I used to assemble the roll is pretty simple to make. The recipe is available in sauces. If in case its not, please feel free to remind me. Being a homemaker and a mother to two boys, I do forget updating things…LOLzzz
Meanwhile, please do go through the recipe. I am sure you will love to try it too. Its easy, simple, and healthy. Enjoy!!!
Chicken Piccata is a popular Italian dish, that is sliced, dredged in flour, then sauteed in a sauce containing lemon juice, butter, and capers. We always wanted to try the dish because it looked so delicious with the clear butter sauce and capers, but since Italian restaurants here do not make it halal, we could never try it.
The sauce is basically made using the leftover oil/butter used to cooking the chicken. You can always be a little more creative and add some lemon juice and red chili flakes with/or chicken stock can be added . You can always add chopped onions, shallots and chopped garlic too.
Serve with chopped parsley and slices of lemon. After reduction, butter/oil is stirred and can be drizzled over the chicken, along with the capers. Its an excellent dish for a small lunch where you have to rush. Since the dish doesn’t need any marination, it comes from pan to plate in minutes and is different variety compared to the regular Italian dishes, which require time and tomatoes.
This dish is great for beginners and the way you plate it with capers with the exterior crunch and soft chicken inside makes it easy to impress your guests.
I belong to Rajasthan and I love almost all dishes that are from Rajasthan. Though Jodhpur, my home town is very popular for its Laal Maas, but its also very well known for its “asli ghee mein bani dishes”. One of my all time favorite is Malai Kofta. My home town, Jodhpur has some super amazing small restaurants that serve super delicious Malai Kofta. These restaurants are so small that they will never show up on a google map, but a true Jodhpuri knows how to get around and satisfy their taste buds.
Growing up, I loved going to all those restaurants, it was just so much fun and now, every time I visit my hometown, I revisit all these restaurants for the love of my hometown food. this is the closest I could get to the Malai Kofta flavor of Marwar.
We live in New Jersey and its a land of snow storms and regular snows that go up to 5-6 inches, and we get stuck at home. To most people, snow days are boring but, for us its a fun day at home. My boys love demanding for warm soups and breads and sometimes they even join their mom in the kitchen and we cook together.
So one such day, we were surprised by day off at school due to snow. I believe it was the prayer before bed that my boys made…LOLzzz. Its funny how much they love school but more than that they love the surprise holidays due to snow. Anyways, so my boys wanted some wanted some nice kebabs and then they came up with how much they miss eating KFC in India and the spicy chicken wings in India are their absolute favorite comfort food.
So, we got down to making everyone happy. Its a snow day and you are stuck, you cant step out and we all need something to warm up our heart and soul 😉 . So while, boys go out to play in the snow, I started marinating the chicken and preparing the powder to the best of my ability to make it taste close to KFC if not better.
See, KFC in India serves halal food. I do not know about other places but the one in Bangalore definitely does. They have improvised the recipe by adding spice to the chicken and the flavors are fabulous. So when you have boys who are blessed with awesome taste buds, it gets pretty competitive for a mom, trust me and the fact that Indian moms are always trying to prove to be super cooks to their children and I am no different.
After playing in the snow for a couple hours when my tired and hungry boys came in to grab a bite, they were not just surprised but also very satisfied and loved this dish. Its a must share for all those of you like me who are far from home and need the kick in your regular fried chicken.
This recipe was made when I once thought of making fried chicken for a play date. The children whom we were expecting didn’t consume too much spice. This recipe has moderate spice, easy to handle by kids and its super crunchy.
Once upon a time, we did get frozen chicken tenders or chicken nuggets. This was around 11 years ago, me a new mom trying to have my son taste everything out there ..I have no idea why I never wanted to try cooking things on my own with a fear that all these “gora khana” or “American food” cannot be tried at home. I believe its the motherhood, when new does not let you pay attention to other things that you might enjoy exploring. Funny, right but that’s a reality. Ask any new mom, its Baby, Baby and Baby and times when you get to breathe for yourself, all you want is your Pj’s and a cup of coffee, or wait a warm plate of reheated noodles, store bought, left overs from the restaurant or anything.
My older son suffered from reflux and believe it when I say, that I was ready to feed him anything that his body would not convert to vomit. It’s sad but a fact that store bought chicken tenders were preferred over home made Biryani, and I felt that my cooking skills were so bad that he prefers store bought. It took me a while to understand that being a little child finger foods made him happier and that helped him keep the food down. So, during those days, to keep my sanity I would buy anything that my son enjoyed eating. After around 2 years, once the home food made its place in his taste buds, I started feeling that the frozen chicken nugget is too much junk and I stopped bringing them in altogether. By the way, all along Mr. Parveez always told me to give up bringing in all the garbage from the frozen section. My husband has always been against frozen food.
So, years later, the play dates started increasing and it was getting hard to satisfy the little tummies with sandwiches and cheese toast so, I finally came up with my own version of chicken tenders and if you try this recipe, there will be no looking anywhere ever. Its easy to make and never met a kid [or even an adult] who didn’t take seconds.
This dish was a play date day invention. My boys had friends over, all wanted chicken, but some wanted spicy, other not so spicy and the rest preferred something with cheese. These balls have different fillings, some are filled with ketchup so they are a little sweet and sour, some have green chili chutney and some have shredded cheese. The kids loved them and it was an instant hit.
