We love Fish in all kind of different ways. We love it grilled, curry, fried, steamed, baked. Any which way, we love it. Since we cannot eat non halal food outside, it refrains us from eating Chicken or meat burgers outside and I ended up making my own in different styles. Yes! I make around 4-5 different kinds of Chicken and meat burgers at home. Now, you know even if you know how to cook 1000 different kinds of meals, you kids would still want something more and you have to super creative at times to satisfy those little minds.
So, after completing my creative journey on satisfying the “not so little” tummies with my chicken and meat burgers, the demand came on to Fish Burgers. My first question was that why would I make something that we can easily eat outside to which the reply was an explanation…simple one and harsh too… It’s a time to stay at home and we aren’t going out to eat either. And, of course that was enough to convince me into making Fish Burgers.
I used Tilapia Fish fillets. You can use any other fish fillet of your choice. Going for a fish which does not have a very overpowering flavor is always better when you marinate and roll it in flour. I personally feel that any fish like Salmon or Kingfish will only taste nice in a burger if you spice them up and fry them without rolling them in flour. It’s my personal outlook and you can always choose to differ. I mixed in the spices with the fillet, rolled them in a mix of flour and corn starch powder. Later pan fried them. Once cooked and crunchy from both sides. Spread some butter on both half of the butter and just heat them a little on a pan. Toasting the burger is optional, so you can always omit this step. You can also grill place them in between burger buns with Onion, Tomato, Lettuce, garlic mayo sauce and Hot sauce. Sprinkle some dry parmesan cheese powder.
These burgers don’t take too much time and very satisfying as well. You can also serve the fish fillet with the veggie only without the burger as a fish salad.
Salmon is an all time favorite for us. Any day, any way, Salmon on the plate not just looks appealing but also is very healthy and tastes absolutely delicious. Sunday lunch/brunch made with Salmon is a Parveez family special. Not just loved but also a favorite for our friends.
Its amazing how my friends who drop in on weekends request a good Salmon fajita and I very happily make it for them. Salmon is easy to make, marination doesn’t need to be for too long and if you use fresh fish, the flavors come out even more amazing.
I serve my fajita with and without tortillas. Many times people find tortillas to be a must with their fajita, but I kind of take it easy and a lot of times make my fajita without tortillas too. This time I made the tortillas at home, but store bought are almost as good and can be substituted with homemade, except the freshness and preservative free food cannot be substituted.
Rice and beans with grilled Salmon make an excellent accompaniment and so does grilled veggies and sour cream. Rice and beans can be eaten separately with the Salmon too, without adding them to the tortilla. I also like some cheese and raw onions, but that’s always a personal choice.
A little bit of guacamole adds a lot of flavor. Avocado adds a little softness and buttery flavor to the fajita and the crunch of Salmon and veggies with the buttery guacamole is very fancy together. I usually add green chilies and tomato to avocado to make my guacamole so its little bit on the spicier side, but you can always make it a little bland or less spicy.
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.
We are big fans of cakes, along with a million other things. Basically, we are foodies and love everything that’s edible for us and delicious. New York style crumb cake tops the list. The bad part is that now that we moved from being 10 minutes away from NYC to being an hour away from NYC. That makes us kind of deprived of eating our favorite cake as much as we would like to.
Therefore, the lady, that is me decided to give it a try. It came out fabulous and very close to what we like. Easy and not too time consuming either. The best part that I like about crumb cake is that it requires no icing, so you save all that extra time and tastes great.
It’s best for evening snack & tea parties . It also tastes fabulous on those special Sunday breakfasts or holiday breakfasts, when you feel like cooking the one dish and serve it with hot milk and coffee. I find this cake a better alternative to creme cupcakes and Donuts, at least for mornings, that need to be sweet and less guilty, if not guilt free.
This is a recipe from Bangalore. All Bangalorean Muslims love to cook varieties of Non vegetarian food and one of the commonly made food includes, Surmai / King Fish Fry. As much as its a part of all da’awat or get together, it is made quiet often at homes, since it makes a perfect side dish with Dal Chawal.
I was introduced to this kind of fish after becoming an official member of The Parveezes. My father in law was a real foodie. May his soul rest in peace, he would travel an hour or two to get the best fish fry for the family. My husband, Mr. Parveez has loads of fond memories of various restaurants and places he went with his father as a kid and my boys are always happy listening to his childhood stories.
My Father in law was a friendly guy and he would make a little more effort with people who served good food, to get a hint of what all ingredients they use… its funny but I think that’s how all us foodies are. a close by market to that restaurant sold some masala in a packet that my Father in law started buying since it was recommended by the cook of the restaurant. Since then every time he went to buy the fish, he would get loads of packets of those masala so, we could mix up some lemon juice and ginger garlic paste with fish and fry them. The fish would be very similar in taste to that from the restaurant.
For the first few years after we got married, I would bring those masala packets from Bangalore and every now and then use them on special occasions only, since India trip was only once a year. Then one fine day, I thought of giving up using the masala packet and make my own, so we could enjoy the yummy fish more often. I wouldn’t say it was exactly same as to what we get from the restaurant, but very close and close enough for us to not crave the fish when we visited Bangalore.
Not just that, my late Father in law loved the fried fish I made with homemade masala and since then, there was no looking back. This masala makes your King fish taste even better. Its an easy marination and makes a quick fish side dish that goes great with Sambhar and boiled Rice.
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.
Buffalo Chicken Wings can easily come under one of the most favorite chicken dishes in America. Fried and crunchy wings, dipped in hot sauce is not just finger licking good but amazingly satisfying and juicy. This amazing dish is mandatory on game nights. And, if you happen to be an Indian family like us, and have men [my hubby and 2 boys] who happen to be fans of almost all sports, you need to learn this dish.
Chicken wings make it to our living room during cricket matches, Basket ball, Soccer and even wrestling. Yupp, we watch them all and if possible, sometimes over movies as well.
A few years ago, we discovered a halal restaurant that served Chicken Wings. That’s when we started bringing them in every game time. But with time we lost interest, since the fried wings with sauce would become soggy by the time we would bring them home and serve. So, Mr. Parveez gave up on eating wings altogether and our sports days were “wingless”..LOLzzz.
One fine day, while picking up my regular halal meat, I happened to ask the butcher if he sells wings separately. As much as the question sounds silly today, you have to understand that it was coming from a woman who has never bought them in her life. So, I got some chicken wings and hot sauce and came up with this recipe. It might be a little different from your regular chicken wings, slightly more spicier but trust me, its better. You could always reduce the spice level if you prefer.
So, since then, there was no looking back. These chicken wings are loved by our friends, friends of my kids. In fact, my son once told me that his friend was telling the whole class about the amazing wings he had on his last play date at our house, which of course made my son very happy and proud.
A wonderful recipe to win hearts.
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.
The Jordanian / Palestinian Shwarema is served with thin bread. This is the recipe for the thin roti for chicken shwarema. If you enjoy your juicy chicken and less of the the bread, this is for you.
