Hot Chicken Sandwich

We all love sandwiches, specially hot/warm sandwiches if well made just make your taste buds dance and enjoy every bite. There are so many varieties that I make and my boys still never seem to have enough. I sometimes feel that they look at me and see a food invention machine because I work according to their wants and cravings and sometimes, invent something by mixing up 2-3 of their favorite flavors which makes up a new dish and is loved by all.

This Sandwich seems to be one of those. My boys are big fans of hot and saucy Chicken wings. Once when our nearest Halal grocery store was out of Chicken wings and my boys were craving them, I made Boneless chicken and mixed them up with Hot and spicy chicken wing sauce and they loved it. It was like an added variety which was created in a fluke. Not just the chicken wings and the boneless hot chicken stripes became popular in my house, even their friends started making requests to make them for play dates and I did.

After few weeks, and making multiple different sandwiches, I came up with the idea of hot chicken sandwich. Not sure how my critics [my husband and kids] would react, I made it without a discussion of what they would think of the combination. Trust me, this will just blow your mind and the people you make it for will not stop praising for serving them with something so wonderfully delicious.

The recipe is pretty simple to what it turns out to be. I am pretty sure if you ask someone to guess the recipe after the first bite, they will assume it to be something difficult, but honestly it’s pretty simple and easy to make and if you just follow the recipe steps as elaborated you will not just be able to serve a great sandwich, but also your chicken will have a super crunchy and crispy exterior and the inside will be juicy and flavorful.

So, basically to start with I cut the boneless chicken to thin long strips. I then marinate the chicken in egg, milk, lemon juice and spices for around an hour. You can definitely do it longer if you wish. Usually 30 minutes is fine too. Make sure the chicken is completely soaked in. After that the chicken has to be rolled in a mixture of flour, spice and crushed cornflakes. We then deep fry the chicken pieces. The sauce is made using hot sauce and butter. I also used extra red hot chili powder, which you can always omit if you do not prefer your hot chicken less spicy. Add the chicken pieces to the sauce and then add them to the long Italian bread along with sliced onions, garlic mayo sauce and shredded cheese. Let them bake in the oven at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Serve hot/warm. Enjoy!!!

Lahori Murgh Chhole Curry

Lahori Murgh chhole curry is an authentic and traditional pakistani dish. Since it originated from Lahore, its kind of a significant part of Pakistan’s Punjabi cuisine. Its amazing that I always connected Lahore with Murgh chhole curry, yet I have a few wonderful and close friends from Lahore, who I have known for a few years now have never made Murgh chhole. I think they find it a part of their everyday cuisine and do not realize how fancy it could be for people like me. This is basically a breakfast dish, and goes great with Tandoori roti or Kulche, just like Nahari. But unlike Nahari, you can serve this dish with Rice and Phulkas too. 

So, you might wonder what inspired me to cook Murgh chhole curry. it was actually an Indian chef that inspires so many like me. I happened to watch one of his shows where he mentioned that during his college days in Boston, he travelled to NYC and visited a small restaurant owned by Pakistani Guy. The chef mentioned that he was in love with the dish after the first bite and asked the owner for the recipe, which he gladly wrote down roughly on a napkin in Urdu and the chef still holds on to that napkin with the recipe. I just loved the story and since I believe that the flavor of every dish has a story, so does this. Well, it doesn’t always have to be my experience, but its definitely something that I will always remember each time I cook or eat or read about Murgh chhole curry and so will you.

Though, this recipe is not from my favorite chef and its created by the inspiration I got by watching some shows that display different cultures and cuisines and also show how certain dishes that are popular in certain regions are made. I followed most things that were shown, but since they never discuss the ingredients and their quantity in detail, we do have to manage few things on our own and honestly, the fun of playing with spices and flavors gives me immense fun.

I made the curry using Ghee, but you can always use any Oil of your choice if you desire. Initially I tempered the Ghee with small dry Red chillies, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick, green cardamom and Bay leaf. I added finely chopped onions and curry leaves and cooked till they turn pinkish brown and added Ginger garlic paste. Further, I added Red chili powder, Turmeric Powder, Black pepper powder, Coriander powder and little salt, foolowed by chicken and boiled chhole [chickpeas]. Add a few chopped tomatoes, green chilies and yogurt. Garnish with some jalapenos and thinly sliced Ginger.

This makes a fabulous dish and if you haven’t tried it yet, Please do so now. This goes great with Roti, Parantha, Tandoori Roti or Boiled Rice. Enjoy!!!

Haala’s Zingers

My boys prefer home lunches and also love varieties for their lunch. When I use the word variety, I mean that they would not want a dish to be repeated in 2-3 weeks and believe it or not, its a lot of pressure to make something that tastes great and that they would love it as well.

These chicken burgers are a very close copy to a famous food chain. These are easy to make and can be easily made by beginners as well. The chicken does not have to marinated for too long and even the process of marination is with pretty simple ingredients. This is great dish if you have boneless chicken available and haven’t thought of anything in mind, and need to get things ready in a rush.

My boys love these zingers and believe these are one of my best creations. Since its not possible for us consume Chicken outside in USA, trying to come up with our own is the only option. But, since India has a halal option for almost all food joints, we have tried the burger and my kids actually told me that this tasted way better [I know, I am raising them well to please their mother]. But, I like the fact, that its fresh, homemade and you know what you are putting in your child’s plate. You might be able to air fry the burger. Though I have an air fryer, I always feel that it makes food extremely chewy. And then again, when you are cooking at home, ingredients are more fresh, no preservatives are added so, cooking things the way they should be cooked makes kids happy too. I am against messing up food giving it the label of being healthy. You don’t want your kids to go off basic food. You just teach them to make healthier choices and eat well.

I usually make this and serve it with a different spicy sauce . The recipe for the spicy sauce is in the sauce section. A blend of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce and mustard sauce goes perfectly with this spicy zinger chicken burger to give that kick to this sandwich.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken is most common, easy and easily available chicken kebab. The Chicken Tandoori can be made in small pieces, Chicken legs. My Mother used to make Tandoori Chicken for almost the whole world and I mean it, the whole world. My friends who loved non vegetarian food loved her Tandoori Chicken.

Tandoori Chicken though is a fusion between Middle eastern or Mughlai Grilled chicken mixed in with Indian spices and must have been an experiment by Mughal Khansamas to incorporate and use the local chilies along side of the Afghan or Persian spices.

There is a very funny story to this too. My mother had a best friend from school, who moved to Kolkata after marriage, and one of her daughter’s fell sick and the doctor recommended Chicken soup to her. When the family traveled to Jodhpur, the daughter had already became a hardcore non veg lover, but had not ventured out with other varieties. So when they came, she requested my mother to make soup for her which my mother delightfully fulfilled. Then one fine day, my mother was making Tandoori Chicken for some guests when her friend’s daughter happened to be at our house. The fragrance of Tandoori Chicken is hard to say no to, hence she wanted to try it out. And that was it, Tandoori Chicken found itself a fan for life. And my Mother would never ever make an excuse for not cooking or going through the pain of fulfilling her special request despite her busy schedule.

Well, what I meant was that Tandoori Chicken was kind of the only Chicken kebab that my mother made and it was out of this world and loved, not just by us but even others. Now, I make huge varieties of Kebabs and Tandoori chicken also happens to be one of those, but when it comes to adding chicken to your pizza, Tandoori chicken is the best. One you don’t really need an old fashioned Tandoor to make it. It can be made in your oven or incase of boneless, it can easily be made in a pan too.

A simple marinade of Yogurt, chili powder, salt, tandoori powder, red food color, Ginger garlic paste and lemon juice is sufficient to bring out an extremely delicious kebab dish. Its one of the best and the easiest kebabs i have ever made.

Dumm Aaloo

Potatoes, whether they are made in anyway or style, boiled, mashed, baked, fried or roasted, are one of the most loved and easily consumed vegetable around the world. Potatoes are believed to have been domesticated around 7,000 -10,000 years ago near modern day Peru, South America. Today, nearly a third of the world’s production is harvested in India.

So how did the Potato reach India? The Portuguese introduced potatoes to india in the early 17th century and cultivated it around the western coast. The name Batata is actually Portuguese. By the end of 18th century, it was being grown around the northern hilly areas of India. This amazing vegetable was born in India and dishes made of potatoes spread to each and every corner of the country.

One such dish is the Dum Aaloo. This dish has numerous variations in our country. It is prepared differently in different states and regions, depending on the taste, spices available, cooking styles of the regions. This is one of the most fancy ways of cooking Potato curry.

Its usually made with baby potatoes, but I just preferred cutting my big potatoes to pieces. You can always use whatever you prefer using. My logic was to get more sauce on my potatoes and making them a little more flavorful and spicy. But you can always pick baby potatoes if you prefer the sweetness of potatoes with a little spice. This curry goes well with parantha and Roti or as a side dish. Enjoy!!!

Salem 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. As the folklore says, Salem Biryani actually developed in a particular small hotel, a military hotel to be precise. Its funny but most of the restaurants serving Non vegetarian Biryani in Tamil Nadu are referred to as “Military Hotel”.

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.

Murgh Haleem

Haleem has originated or is inspired by an Arabic dish, “Harees” which is made with meat, ghee, wheat, rice and whole pulses. The Persian name for the meat – wheat dish is “Hareesah”, which unlike Haleem is bland and uses lesser amount of pulses as well. An author once also suggessted that the version of Haleem made in India should have its name revised as “Daleem” since it uses a variety of Daals / Pulses.

Like so many other dishes that proudly make a mark in Indian/Pakistani/ Bangladeshi cuisines, Haleem was also introduced to Hyderabad recipes during the Mughal Era. The research shows that it came to Hyderabad during the Mughal period via Iran and Afghanistan. Adding the local spices and ingredients to it was definitely an upgrade from the original Arabian dish.

It says that it was during the rule of the sixth Nizam, Mahbub Ali Khan when Haleem was being revised to suit the Indian taste buds. The addition of spices made a huge difference to the dish and it did take effort and time to make it what it is today. By the the time, the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan made his way to the throne, Haleem had become an integral part of the Hyderabadi cuisine.

With time, it became popular amongst all Muslim rulers and royal chefs made few changes here and there to make it more appetizing. The basic Haleem recipe comprises of a variety of lentils, meat/ chicken , and spices which are pounded together and cooked on a low flame for about 12 hours, which in todays time and age sounds time consuming and insane. Even today, if you wish to taste autjentic Haleem, you will have to take a trip to the Muslim areas of popular cities and visit those restaurants that are popular for their food and do not care much about the ambience. Honestly, I call them food lovers Paradise. As soon as you are close to those places, you can follow the fragrance of delicious food with your eyes shut. If you are like me, and can ignore the tables put close together and with people staring at you while you eat, you should visit these places at least once when you are in these popular cities. Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Mumbai’s Mohammed Ali Road, Hyderabad’s Char Minar and Bangalore’s Frazer town is where you will always find authentic Muslim cuisines which are pocket friendly and wonderfully delicious. These days you will also find places where they offer great seating arrangements for families as well.

However, the local spices give the Hyderabadi version a peculiar taste and flavor. I once saw a TV show based on Hyderabadi cuisine and watching Haleem being cooked was a delight. Haleem is prepared using Daals, mutton/Chicken, Broken wheat, Rice and a blend of spices. Everything is cooked together and then mashed together to bring in the perfect taste. Haleem has to be prepared in Ghee. It definitely is high in calories but its nutritious as well, and that’s what makes it the perfect dish to open your fast with. Even today, traditional Haleem is prepared in Brick – mud ovens or Bhattis on firewood and takes anywhere between 8-12 hours to be prepared. Basic Haleem recipe only used Mutton, but with time, chefs added more variety and Chicken Haleem or Murgh haleem came out as a lighter version of the traditional Haleem. I love both, but Chicken Haleem seems to be liked more in my house and therefore is cooked more often. I am sure you will love the recipe as much as we do. Enjoy!!!

Shredded Chicken Burger

My boys prefer home lunches and also love varieties for their lunch. When I use the word variety, I mean that they would not want a dish to be repeated in 2-3 weeks and believe it or not, its a lot of pressure to make something that tastes great and that they would love it as well.

These chicken buns are easy to make and can be easily made by beginners as well. The chicken does not have to marinated for too long and even the process of marination is with pretty simple ingredients. This is great dish if you have boneless chicken available and haven’t thought of anything in mind, and need to get things ready in a rush.

My boys prefer this in the hot dog bun Sandwich, but this chicken would taste great even with a tortilla and Roti wrap too. I have tried them with ciabatta, french long bread and croissants as well.

I usually make this and serve it with a different spicy sauce . The recipe for the spicy sauce is in the sauce section. A blend of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce and mustard sauce goes perfectly with this spicy shredded chicken to give that kick to this sandwich.

Tava Kaleji Buns

One of the most important holidays that we have, as Muslims is Eid-ul-adha’a. The concept of sacrificing in the name of Allah, for Allah is divine, holy and extremely purifying. The meat is divided into 3 parts, one for the less privileged, friends and relatives and the last part for us. Sharing what you have with people makes us more humble and makes us care more for the community.

The day also brings in huge varieties of dishes. We, as Muslims are always on a lookout for new meat dishes and the more we go exploring, the more better and more creative we need to be. It always has to get better from the past year. With all that in mind, we are now in time and age where the kids aren’t satisfied with just kebabs and curries. The fusions have become so popular that not trying them at home makes you feel left out. Also, the fact that our generation is more adventurous in trying new ways of consuming foods and new cooking styles are always welcome.

This is basic Kaleji recipe that is served with buns. At my mother’s place, everyone was always excited about consuming Kaleji/ Liver. It was made with overload of Onions, green chilies and spices. Its dry, with little juice or separated Oil that its cooked with. On the other hand, Mr. Parveez’s family prefers consuming Kaleji in the form of a curry. This recipe though cooks Kaleji with curry masala and its cooked in a way till it gets dry. After that the cooked Kaleji is placed between the lightly toasted buns with cheese.

This dish is great for kids play date and tea parties too and are an excellent choice for brunch as well.

Chicken Hari Bhari Udaan

Doesn’t the name sound super funny? Or weird? Well, I will tell you the story behind the name. To start with, this recipe is completely made up by me. Now you might think, that isn’t a big deal for someone who presents herself as a chef. Yeah, probably not. But the things used to make this dish were the Chicken wings which otherwise are only used for recipes made with hot sauce or masala. So when I thought of coming up with a name. Chicken wings added the ‘udaan’ which means flight, Chicken of course is Chicken, and since I used Green masala, it’s “Hari Bhari”…I am sure you will love the recipe as much as the name.

This dish is super spicy. While making it I could feel the rush to taste it and when I did, it was one of the most amazing flavors I have ever created. Just make sure that if aren’t the bravest of heart then you need to keep a glass of water next to you.

This dish is made from the heart, there was no basic recipe, nothing that I have tasted before, nothing similar seen or heard of either…. just something I wanted to cook at that moment. If you enjoy spiced-up food and enjoy something that makes your mouth sizzle for a few hours after you have consumed it, this is a must-try.

I had Chicken wings and boneless chicken and I felt like combining both with loads of spice. Do you ever have a spice craving? I do, Big time, and even though I know it would hit me hard later, but I want my taste buds to party and feel satisfied as well… As much as I love different spices, spice mix with coriander leaves, mint leaves, and green chilies have always been my favorite. In this dish, I also added Black pepper powder with some whole spices and most importantly, the green chili sauce and Anardana powder.

Fennel seeds to me are a little underestimated and I believe they add a lot of fragrance to your spicy food, just like cardamom powder to your sweet dishes, and even though adding it to your dish in the initial minutes makes your house smell like a fancy Indian Restaurant, not a lot of people use it.

I used Chicken wings and little boneless chicken, but you are free to use any chicken with or without bones. Just that if using Chicken with bones, it adds more flavor since the sauces extract juices off the bones. Any which way you make it, this dish is will surely make your mouth water. You don’t have to stick to Chicken, you can also try the sauce with Fish, preferably something that is not very strong in taste, something like Haddock or Cod Fish or Whitening fish would be a better option. For the vegetarian option, you can always use Soya chaanp or Paneer, or Tofu. The sauce mix is great and is a fabulous mix for any protein preference you like.