Dindigul Biryani

The word Biryani is derived from the Persian word Birian, which means ‘fried before cooking’ and Birinj, the Persian word for rice. There are various theories related to the origin of this scrumptious dish. Biryani originated from Persia and was brought to India by the Mughals. I love reading about the Mughal Era and its food in the history. Its amazing to read about so much variety of food flavors that they added to the Indian cuisine…. Gulab Jamuns, Jalebis, Imartis, and so many other rich desserts and numerous curries and the most amazing out of all are Biryanis…so many varieties, so fragrant, so delicious and so different from one another. The best part was that they always incorporated local spices with their Biryani recipes coming up with distinguishably different flavors each time. Each region has a completely different way of making Biryani from another. The state of Tamil Nadu has some really celebrated Biryanis, most of which have evolved in the state’s smaller towns. A beautiful example is Ambur Biryani and Salem Biryani. As the folklore says, Dindigul Biryani actually developed in a particular small restaurant, which is till date super popular for its “Dindigul Biriyani” , they spell it differently. The best thing I like about these South Indian Biryani is that the ingredients are always pretty simple, nothing fancy, nothing that requires you to urgently run to a store and despite the simplicity, the outcome is always so deliciously fancy. Enjoy!!!

Lahori Chicken Chargah

Lahori Chargah Chicken is one of the easiest and yummiest kebabs that I make. I believe there are few different recipes for Lahori Chargah and you might find some recipes different from what I make. My recipe is based on the first and the only Lahori Chargah I have tried.

There was a small restaurant that we used to go to when my first born was a few months old. We had a pediatrician for him who had her office pretty far from our house. Now those days, I wasn’t driving hence we always had to get a weekend appointment since it would otherwise be hard for Mr. Parveez. For some reason we always got an afternoon appointment and despite the appointment and reaching there on time. The lady who ran it had a very limited menu, one kind of Biryani, 2-3 curries and 1-2 kinds of Kebabs. This happened to be one of them that we really loved and this was a part of our regular order. She also made a different kind of Biryani which we later on found out that she actually didn’t make it herself , but used to get from a near by restaurant. We still loved going to the little cozy restaurant as we were pretty satisfied with the little menu with simple dishes, until one day she decided to move and close the restaurant.

That’s when my search for making a perfect Chicken Chargah started. I saw a famous brand name that sold Chicken Chargah masala, so I bought it and followed the instructions. Now knowing how particular Mr. Parveez and I are about the store bought Masalas, we couldn’t really continue with the box Masalas and I had to get down to figuring out and making my own masalas at home and following the flavor, I actually did. Its amazing how flavors communicate with your taste buds and I believe communication is the key to every successful relationship, be it any.

So, there I was mixing in my Roasted cumin powder, Black Pepper, Red Chili Powder, White Pepper Powder and Tandoori Powder with Apple cider Vinegar and Ginger Garlic Paste. The reason for using both Black Pepper and White Pepper is that adding too much of Black pepper tends to make the food bitter, so adding a little gives you the kick and adding White Pepper along side gives you flavor similar to Black Pepper without adding the bitterness to the food. Chargah is usually made using whole chicken but I always use Chicken legs, as I find them better and easier to serve. So, make them anyway you like and enjoy.

Shikari Chicken Rice

This is an invention by only hearing about the dish…Yeah I know I can go nuts when it comes down to trying to make a new dish. This happens to be one that I really planned out well and craved to make it.

Like I always say, every dish has a story. This one has one too. While speaking to a close friend about different Biryanis that we get at famous and not so famous eateries in India, I was told that a popular restaurant served something that was close to Biryani, but not Biryani. That really got my interest. Giving me further details, that its mildly flavored bed of Rice served under these awesomely juicy grilled chicken. I mean who wouldn’t want to act on this description and try and make it. It’s actually not just the details of the dish, but the way it was described and the fact that it topped the list of Chicken and Rice. I had not even seen the dish, yet I was head over heels in love with the dish and felt challenged to make it.

When you are aware of a dish, you tend to study it by searching about different chefs who have made it or by trying the dish out at different restaurants or even making the dish a couple of times to achieve the desired flavor or result. But when its a dish, you have never heard of until now, tried, seen or tasted, and you crave to cook it, you are definitely a crazy chef…LOLzzz. I think I fit the bill.

So, I am not aware of the Chicken served is with bones or without, but going according to my Biryani basics, I picked Chicken with Bones and marinated the chicken with spices and Yogurt for around 2-3 hours. Though my chicken came out delicious, I still recommend that a chicken is more flavorful if marinated overnight or for at least 6-8 hours, though in today’s time and age, things happen unplanned and we have a little time before we decide what we need to cook. For all those times, marinate, cover, and place the chicken in the refrigerator. Refrigeration helps blend the flavors faster and better. Once I was ready to cook them, I took them out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 400F or 180C. I placed them on the grill with a tray underneath to catch the dripping. The cooking time was around 25-30 minutes, with an extra 5 minutes of high heat grill, since I wanted them to look well done. If you want, you can cook them in the oven and do the latter process in a pan, or on naked fire. Any which way will give you great outcomes.

I made a gravy as well to spike up the layers of Rice. The gravy was made very similar to Biryani Yakhni shorba. For initial whole spices, I added fennel seeds along with cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, and cumin seeds. I further fried the onions, taking half of it out for garnishing and using them while layering the Rice. That was followed by Ginger garlic paste and spice powders. Further adding tomatoes and Yogurt, combined with green chilies, mint leaves, and coriander leaves. I also added the marination left behind after the chicken is taken out, so it gets a little flavor from the chicken as well since we aren’t cooking the chicken in the gravy.

This is a lovely recipe for a weekend Brunch or to display your cooking skills to those uninvited guests, when you don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. It’s a pretty quick fix to traditional Biryani and modern-day Chicken over Rice. One of my self invented and the best recipes ever…Enjoy!!!

Tughlaqi Chicken Kebab

Tughlaq Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Turkish-Indian origin which ruled over the Delhi sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. Though Tughlaqs weren’t anywhere like Mughals who built numerous monuments in India and mingled and married princesses and came to India with a vision of settling down, but they weren’t too different either. Mohammed bin Tughlaq is the most famous ruler amongst all the rulers of that family and the dynasty expanded its territorial reach during his reign with the help of military campaign. As much as a lot of people while reading Indian history don’t appreciate these Persian or Turkish rulers entering the Indian territories, the fact that we fail to understand is, that it was a norm back then, just like today it is for each nation to compete and show their might by showcasing their missile or nuclear power. I enjoy reading history and love to read about how different kings ruled over their kingdoms, the culture, their traditions and specially their foods.

When the Tughlaq dynasty reigned, the Persians were still getting accustomed to the spice India offered and as much we take spice marinades and cooking like a walk in the park today, since our food palettes know the taste that each spice would give out to a dish, it wasn’t that easy when the blending took place in those old kitchens. Its easier to experiment with flavors now except if you go all out experimenting with something totally new. Getting back to this recipe, the name to this dish comes from someone who loves coming up with awesome names. After the name I started reading history about the Kitchen during the era of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq and discovered though the name came in a fluke but I did discover that this kind of recipes made it to the initial Turkish-Indo recipes. This recipe has a blend of both sides. The hint of Indian spices, the use of Ginger and Garlic which is inspired from Turk-Persian rulers, the idea of marinating chicken before cooking and of course frying them till crunchy. So, with all that I stick to the name and believe the name is apt.

This recipe has a mix of spices with flour and corn starch powder, fried with curry leaves served with my Garlic mayo sauce and some sliced Onions. Its a quick, easy and delicious recipe. Enjoy!!!

Chicken Kalmi Kebab

The origin of Kalmi Kebab is from the Mughal era, of course, I mean where else will Kebabs so delicious can come from except for the Mughals. The Mughals introduced Kebabs to the Indian cuisine and when their Kebab making skills were fused with the spices of India to give super delicious and scrumptious dishes. This dish now is very popular in Hyderabad and is very prodly an addition to the Nizam cuisine, which of course is greatly influenced from the Mughals.

Tangdi Kebab are everyone’s favorite. Tandoori kebabs are pretty popular amongst people and mostly when we think of Tangdi kebab, the first kebabs that come to mind are the red tandoori kebabs.

With the huge variety that Chicken offers in the “World of Kebabs”, these happen to be one of the easy ones and definitely something beginners can easily cook to impress. The kebabs need marination time, overnight is not needed, 3 hours are enough. If you are running out of time, marinate and wrap them up with cellophane or a tight lid and leave them in the freezer for 15 – 30 minutes. Not any longer or the chicken pieces would freeze.

The chicken can be cooked in the oven as well, but going through the traditional way for cooking Kalmi Kebab, I decided to pan fry them. With pan frying, the besan cooks properly adding crunch to the chicken, which otherwise in the oven to take longer. Again, you might prefer the oven and if you do, its 350F/180C for 20 minutes each side.

As I said before, the dish is great for beginners and super easy to make. If you are a great cook, this dish makes an excellent side dish to your party and the flavors show great efforts. Hope you enjoy making it as much as I did.

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.

Mughlai Biryani

This Biryani is very close to my heart. This recipe was shared by Mr. Parveez, some 4 years ago and since then it has been a family favorite. My younger son calls it “Mogli Biryani”, since he feels that Mughlai is very close to”Mogli”, and I am sure somewhere he also believes that this recipe came in from the Jungle book…LOLzzz.

Mr. Parveez came across an article about Mughal migration and food and thats when he learnt that the initial use of spices in Biryani was actually white pepper and not the chilies. Though with time, chilies made a very special place in the Biryani recipes and no Biryani recipe seem to be complete without them, but that wasn’t the way it all started.

Black pepper has a very strong flavor and if you use it often, you would know that using black pepper even little more than required makes the taste of a dish bitter, therefore you need to be careful when handling that spice. Unlike, black pepper, white pepper is easier to handle and does not add bitterness if slightly over used.

This dish has flavors from the Middle east. it isn’t too spicy so it matched perfectly with Mirch ka saalan or Baghare Baingan or khatte Baingan. I have made this for my son’s school party for teachers and it was a big hit. You can use regular chicken cut to medium or small size pieces, though I preferred using chicken legs. It doesn’t change the taste but definitely enhances the look. I have used green chilies, but from the article that I read, it wasn’t a requirement so, the use is optional. Also the garnishing with boiled eggs is completely optional. You can also use cashews, and/or almonds to garnish if you feel like.

 

Marwar Tangdi Kebab

I belong to the desert region of India. The land of forts and palaces, “Rajasthan”. When you think of Rajasthani or Marwari cuisine, ghee, daal baati, churmas and ker saangri are one of the first dishes that come to your mind. Very few people realize that marwari cuisine has loads of non vegetarian dishes as well, which are equally [a little more for me] delicious.

The land of Marwar brings me the memories of Khada masala Gosht, Pathreeli Raan, Laal Maas, Murgh ke Sholay, Rajasthani Malai Biryani and of course the Tangdi Kebab. Rajasthan is the land of Rajput community and most of the non Vegetarian dishes are a gift from them. Even till this date, a lot of Royal families are very fond of good food and you will see the Kings and Queens cooking for leisure.

These Kebabs make a great appetizer and have impressed my guests most of the times and have always been complimented on the great dish. These Tangdi kebabs are spicy, crunchy and flavorful and taste very different from the regular tangdi kebabs. Its a must try for every Kebab lover.

Jama Masjid Tangdi Kebab

As a kid, Delhi was like second home to me. I hail from Rajasthan and having my maternal family from U.K., we always were either travelling or having family over and Delhi had the closest international airport. Even besides that, there were numerous reasons for visiting Delhi.

Now, if you have ever been to Delhi, you know its a food heaven and if you want to taste delicious non vegetarian food, Jama Masjid is the place. Wonderful restaurants with hot steaming food, kebabs, curries and Biryanis served with pillow soft naans.

The funny part is that many of those restaurants have opened their chains in New Delhi or other areas but the food tastes best when you visit Jama Masjid. I think its my love for the crowd and those hustling markets and the sound of Rickshaw driver yelling that connects to my childhood and memories of going to Jama Masjid with my father and enjoying the food at those restaurants, makes me relive those days and therefore, I still prefer going to puraani Dilli or Old Delhi.

This recipe is one of my favorite kebabs from Jama Masjid. I could never get the recipe of the original kebabs but through experimenting with flavors, I cracked the recipe and remembered my childhood flavor. A recipe worth trying.

Murgh Peshawari Raan

Peshawar is an ancient city in Pakistan. Over the centuries, Peshawar was ruled by Mughals and then by British giving it the unique historical traditions and culture.

Peshawar is an old walled city and has rich culinary tradition. It has a famous place called “Namak Mandi” which has nothing to do with selling salt but serves variety of delectable foods. Known for using minimum spices and sometimes just salt, Namak Mandi dishes are char grilled or made in Kadhai. Not just that, the dishes are also popular for retaining the original flavors of the main ingredient. So, the first rule to make any Peshawari dish is to make sure that the main ingredient does not lose its taste and the spices added only work towards enhancing its flavor.

All along Peshawari kebabs are lip smacking delicious, easy to make and for some reason remind you of those awesome street foods in metro cities of India.