This recipe of chicken kebabs comes from the era of Mughals. I know, most all kebabs do. Kebabs are a gift to the food world by the Middle East. The variety, the flavors and the fact that they are grilled in different ways can leave your taste buds joyful and crave for more.
I believe for a fact that when the Mongolians and the Persians rulers came to India, it wasn’t an invasion. I know during that era it does look like an invasion because all the wars were for power and land and the greed to appear mightier and stronger than other rulers always seemed to drive warriors crazy where they seemed to be baffled by the prosperity of the neighboring kingdoms and invasion seemed to be the only way to satisfy your hunger for more. But, leaving all that aside, the Mughals brought in a lot of architectural science, spices and methods of cooking. They came to settle and make India more diverse and that’s what I fail to see in Indian news today.
I am proud to be an Indian, a country where friendship and mutual respect comes much before religion. Where Eid is celebrated with as much love as Diwali. Where Hindus are always at your house on Eid to taste awesome Biryani and your mom makes sure she cooks vegetarian food separately for your 2 vegetarian friends. Where stories of Jodha Akbar is less of Akbar, the Emperor who invaded India and more of the love between a Mughal Emperor and a Rajput Queen. India a country, that proves its a place accepting all religions and stands tall with its cultural heritage.
With all that, food plays a very important role. The spices like cinnamom, cloves, cardamom and saffron changed the complete look of flavors and when mixed with Indian chilies, the result was food from Paradise.
This recipe goes back to the era of Jahangir / Saleem and the story that I read said that he had a great knowledge of spices and had the chefs prepare dishes according to his taste. This recipe comes in as one of his favorites.
Now, with the history books I read, I do get an idea of the ingredients but they aren’t a 100% of what were used in the original recipe. Therefore, these recipes are mine but they should be close to what the original food must have tasted. Each recipe that I share can have common ingredients, but they are completely different for each other. The only way you can find out is by trying.
We were in South Carolina. One of my favorite places for a vacation. Gorgeous beaches, lovely weather and awesome drives. Our vacation to South Carolina has mostly been a summer visit and since we love driving down to South Carolina, our stay is usually 8-10 days.
South Carolina being a beach front, it is rich in seafood and we love it, but staying somewhere for 10 days and not getting your meat/chicken is difficult. So, believe it or not I freeze my chicken and meat and then take them in an ice box with frozen ice bags, that ensures the chicken stays frozen till we complete our 12 hour journey.
I tried this recipe as a fluke and the result was extra ordinarily amazing. This tangdi kebab can be made with boneless chicken as well.
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.
Mr. Parveez hails from Bangalore / Bengaluru. Now, if you ever want to eat good non vegetarian food in Bangalore, the right place is a Muslim wedding. There is no restaurant that can cook that much variety and that too with so much flavor.
I tried these Harabhara kebabs first time on our Valima, the after wedding party which is a celebration from your in laws and is as grand as the wedding. So, we were served with at least 25 varieties of foods that comprised of lip smacking Biryani, yummilicious curries, delicious sides and breads, awesome sweets and scrumptious kebabs and these kebabs were one of them. It was love at first sight and since then, my Father in law [God bless his soul] made sure these were always part of the menu for all the family weddings or parties.
Now, as much as I loved these kebabs, I could never get my hands on the recipe. The caterer was always sweet enough to say “Bhabhiji, we will cook it for you whenever you desire them”, which indirectly means “We ain’t sharing it, its our own”.
Eating these awesome kebabs every trip to India, I had to come up with my version of it. I tried and these are very close to the actual dish. They are pretty easy to make therefore, if you happen to be a new cook, this is an awesome recipe to impress your family or guests. If you make it with boneless chicken, these could make great filling for rolls too.
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.
I lived in Jordan for 2 years. One of the dishes that I loved the most was Shwarema. Now, Shwarema is popular in the whole middle east or middle eastern restaurants but there is a huge difference between Shawaremas from different countries are very different from each other. Where Shwarema from Dubai or Saudi is filled in pita, Shwarema from Jordan is filled in a thin roti kind of bread.
The best part was that the Shwarema had some garlic sauce in between and was served with pickled olives and cucumbers. It would be soft, juicy, mildly spicy and flavorful….so tried making what I liked. It tastes very close to the original Jordanian Shwarema and if you are like me and want more flavor from the chicken then the bread, this dish is for you.
This is great for kids, the flavor isn’t too strong that they can’t handle. Makes a great wrap for school/office lunch, or a picnic roll. It tastes great even when it has cooled off so you don’t have to worry about it not tasting too good when eaten later.
These chicken seekh kebabs are fast track and guilt free. I made them one day when I was running short of time and I wanted something not too fancy, or heavy but something nice. I am sure we all go through one of those days when we want to eat something nice but then time is short and we don’t want to consume that makes us feel bloated.
And the fact is that Mr. Parveez always prefers his lunch to be something nice, yet light. You might be confused thinking that being husband to a wife who could spend her life time in the kitchen, how does he manage to think this way. Well, let me tell you, Mr. Parveez is a food loving guy but he is also a Man of self control. He has his days, with Biryani and gulab Jamuns to name a few, but, he never goes over board with rest things. He would make sure he eats within limits. And to make sure nothing tempts him, he always asks me to come up with less oil/ no oil/no carbs versions of food and I take them as a challenge and invent the best to my capability.
So, it was one of those days and I managed to come up with this recipe. Its great for on the go lunch, lunch boxes, light dinner and kid play dates. Its a great dish if you are carb conscious or a health freak.
I love reading and its funny but I can read anything if I don’t have much of an option. One such time was while we were travelling and I came across a book that was based on cuisines from Kashmir. Though the book didn’t have any recipes but I did come across the ingredients mostly used and that Murgh paras kebab is popular chicken kebabs using kasoori methi and eggs as the main ingredients. The rest are what I felt would make the dish flavorful.
This dish is not very spicy and the taste on bell peppers and onions add a very earthy flavor to the dish.
This is a lovely side dish that goes well with dal-chawal. I love the flavor of kasoori methi with chicken and therefore, you will see it finding its place in a lot of my recipes. The fact is that even a spoon enhances the flavor of the dish and brings out the flavor of the spices as well.
These kebabs are easy to make, little crunchy on the side since we add a little corn starch to it, soft from the inside thanks to the yoghurt and absolutely flavorful. If you are looking to impress guests or just have a little fast track kebab on the side at your dinner table, this is your go to dish.
Its an easy one to make so if you are a new cook, try this one.
This recipe was an invention on a kids play date. The kids wanted fried chicken, well kind of fried and something that tastes close to tandoori, and it shouldn’t be something that they have already tasted. Oh Boy! Do you have kids who can test your creativity to a complete different level. Well, fortunately I do…LOLzzz. And as much as it tires and drains me out at times, it leaves me with the happiness of being able to create more recipes and compete with my own self to come up with something better.
