Honey Lemon Chicken Wings

Chicken Wings are an all-time favorite for everyone I know. I had never tried Chicken wings before I came to the USA. Our cuisine in India does not offer kebabs or appetizers using Chicken wings. Initially, Chicken wings were always something we ate outside. It’s not that I didn’t think of trying them but it’s just that Mr. Parveez and I as a couple liked Chicken wings but weren’t that huge of a fan. There was a halal restaurant that made Chicken wings with green masala and every once in a while we would go and enjoy the awesome wings. And, after a couple of years, the restaurant shut down.

Well, that didn’t really inspire me to start making my own Chicken wings. A few months later we discovered another wonderful Halal Gyro place that all make Hot saucy Chicken wings which were great, but with time the restaurant lost its taste of making good food. I believe the management changed and hired a new chef that couldn’t maintain the flavors. This is when I felt I should start making my own.

The first-ever Chicken wings I started making were the Buffalo Chicken wings. The kids loved it and it served as a great appetizer or a side dish for brunches and playdates. Once I spent few years making them and seeing fans increasing, I decided on experimenting with different flavors using wings. That’s when I made the green Chicken wings followed by the Special Haala’s hot saucy Chicken wings and finally these. The main reason behind trying these was that I wanted to come up with a recipe that has a little sweet and spicy taste. This recipe is great for people who find it hard to handle spices.

Why Wings?

Wings are cooked with skin and when pan-fried or deep-fried become crunchy. Any flavors, especially those that are saucy taste great with anything that is crisp.

Why use honey and not sugar?

Honey blends in better with spices than sugar. Sugar tends to crystallize or make the sauce more watery so, honey is the best option.

These wings are lightly sweet and lightly spicy which tantalize the taste buds in a way of playing hide and seek. Spicy and sweet together are a wonderful combination and if you combine that with Chicken wings, the crispy texture of the skin and the flavors mingled along with it are just beyond the word “delicious”. If you like Chicken wings, you should try this recipe.

Korean Chicken Bites

Asian food has so much variety. Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian, and Korean…. all different from each other yet so alike. We have tried all of them but just with seafood. I know it gets difficult to be a Muslim and practice the basics of eating only halal food. I have friends who seem to be comfortable with consuming non-halal Chicken and meat as well, but not us. I feel that when there are ways and options for us to follow these basics then we should.

Well, that doesn’t stop us from trying things we would love to. I believe that’s the best part about having strong taste buds and enjoy cooking. So, here I am with another mouthwatering recipe of a similar dish that I tried with scallops and loved them. I modified the recipe slightly. The scallops that I tried were not marinated or batter-fried, which to me was a little bland and all the flavor only came in through the sauce. The sauce was nice, not too spicy, just with a little kick. So, when I decided to make something similar using Chicken, I decided to add a little crunch and flavor. I, therefore, marinated the chicken, since Chicken has no flavor by itself and absorbs the flavors you add so adding little spice to Chicken is always mandatory. Even if you are adding chicken to noodles, always cook it with a little salt if nothing else.

This Chicken marination is with Buttermilk, chili flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper powder, white pepper powder, oregano, and salt. Leave it to marinate for at least an hour if not longer. Further roll the Chicken pieces in a mix of flour, salt, and corn starch powder and fry them. The sauce has crushed Garlic and Ginger, soya sauce, sesame oil, gochujang sauce [a sweet and spicy Korean sauce available easily in all Asian food markets], Honey, Brown sugar, vegetable oil, and Red chili flakes. I used scallions and sesame seeds for garnishing, but you can always add them to the sauce. I feel the scallions lose their crunch if mixed in the sauce.

Substitute for Buttermilk?

Take equal quantity of milk as of the Buttermilk required and add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to it. Mix well and add chicken to it.

The flavor of this Chicken is sweet and spicy which makes it an excellent choice for all taste buds of all ages unless someone cannot tolerate any spice at all. I find them a great choice for playdates and small get-together parties.

Cooking in advance

You can fry the chicken bites and keep them in the oven too. The oven needs to be preheated. Keep it on warm or at 200F. Anything above it would overcook the chicken making it chewy or burning it.

Sweet Cinnamon Kachori

This is a fusion dish. I had some dough left from the kachoris I made a couple of days before. Being a Marwari, I love the mix of Onions, potatoes and loads of chilies, but that’s not the case with my family who has more of a sweet tooth and as much as they would try and appreciate everything I make, but they make it clear that gulping one down their throat is enough to prove their love for me, and anything more would come under third-degree torture… LOLzzz

So, when I had the dough left, I knew I cannot make something that I crave. I could have made Maawe ki Kachori but I was making something for evening coffee and I needed it to be different and that’s when I thought of making a mix of cinnamon, brown sugar, honey, nutmeg, and mace. So, this was when I thought of making this little scrumptious, crunchy, and buttery kachoris.

Now the sugar I used is soft brown sugar but you can use any kind you want to. White sugar is fine as well, but just remember to either use granulated sugar or just grind the sugar a little. Adding cinnamon, nutmeg and mace was a wonderful addition to the flavor. Somehow, the combination reminded me of this “cheeni ka parantha” that’s a huge hit between kids in most Indian homes and cinnamon rolls put together.

Though I made these with leftover dough, I am sharing the recipe for the dough in this recipe. The dough can be used for any Kachoris that you’d like.

Though, I don’t think adding nuts to something like this is a good idea but, you can always try crushed nuts as an addition. Any variations or creation of taste buds added to a dish is what cooking is all about. Enjoy!!!

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.

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.

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.

Korean Barbecue Chicken

We love chicken, Biryani, Kebabs, curries, soup. Its easy to cook and loved by all. I am always on a lookout for new recipes, specially recipes that can be eaten by kids from all cultural backgrounds. Indian foods offer large variety of kebabs, but sometimes kids just want a different flavor altogether, and I am always trying to experiment with different flavors.

We once went to this wonderful Korean BBQ Restaurant. We could only stick to the seafood since the chicken or meat wasn’t halal. The live BBQ was awesomely set up on our table and though they do serve with different salads and Rice bowls with sauces, but the there was nothing that we enjoyed more than the seafood. The amazing part was that the seafood they got was not marinated, and they carried marination sauce bowls that they would brush on the seafood and this was the first time I ever came across a marination that can be put directly while the food is being cooked. That’s when I felt I had to try this at home with Chicken or meat, and that trying turn finally came after almost a year.

I marinated the chicken slightly with salt and vinegar. The Indian me wanted to add a little ting to it before I started cooking it. It was lovely making the sauce, I tried to make it as close as I could to what I had tasted. the kids loved it and it can be made with ease and in when you have little time in hand. There are some modifications to make it look pretty, you may or may not. Enjoy!!!

Baklava

My love for Baklava began in 2003. I was working for a University in Amman, Jordan. Trying out different foods and adapting myself to new culture and people is when I first time tried Baklava. Now, Baklava tastes very different in all middle east countries. I might sound bias but there is nothing like the Jordanian baklava. Its crunchy, nutty, crispy with just perfectly sweet. Its hard to decide how much sugar will be perfect for your baklava but constant practice made me come up with the perfect measure.

Like most of my other recipes, this recipe too is not that tough. Just be precise with your measurements and oven heat and time. Make sure the nuts you use are fresh and enjoy the flavor of a wonderful Baklava. It can be made a day before for your guests and is a great dish for potluck parties too. The shelf life is a week and can be extended to two weeks if you refrigerate it. Though it should be thawed before serving.

Mango Banana Smoothie

Have you ever had problems feeding your kids enough fruits? Well, I do. I love the fruit and vegetable servings designed by the food pyramid. If you pay attention to the food pyramid, you might realize that your kids aren’t consuming enough.

We do make loads of shakes at home, but most of the shakes would have sugar, milk and fruit and there wouldn’t be anything too fancy. Most of the shakes were just Mango or banana. Then one day, we ventured out the world of smoothies that became a huge trend in early 2000. I felt it was an excellent way to serve your kids everything they wouldn’t consume if they saw…LOLzzz.

With all this came in my reasons to start making my own smoothies. The boys love it since its the best thing they can have on the go. Smoothie makes an easy, fast, filling and super healthy breakfast.

Mix in your choice of flax seeds and hemp seeds and it would not just make it more delicious but also a super healthy breakfast. For a great smoothie, you have to make sure the milk is chilled. You can always put the milk in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, and it would make your  smoothie much better than normal.

 

Mango Cream

Like most Marwaris, I also grew up eating Fruit cream as a fast and go to dessert. As much as its an easy and impressive dessert to impress your guests and loved ones, its not everyone who can make it the authentic way. Now, every time I use the word authentic for “Fruit cream”, people usually give me a very confused look. But what they fail to understand is its not just mixing in fruits, sugar and cream.

A fruit cream is best when the cream is whipped with sugar making those stiff peaks and making it fluffy at the same time. Your fruits should always be fresh and the additional sugar should be based on the fruits you are using and how sweet they are. Small little things and make big changes to your dish.

But here, we aren’t making fruit cream, I am making Mango cream and that too with a little twist. My first time trying to make Mango cream was whipping the cream and mixing in a few mango pieces. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t nice but it was definitely not satisfying as a chef.  Instead of making the whole serving with just mango flavor, I divided into half vanilla and half Mango.

The recipe below might remind you of Mango Panacotta, though similar but its very different. Panacotta requires a little more effort and cooking time where as this is you to go recipe and can easily be made in a rush with almost no prep time.