We are a hard core Non vegetarian family. But, as much as people see our love for non vegetarian food, we equally love vegetarian as well, which kind of goes unnoticed. I don’t blame anyone, since with the huge variety of Biryanis and kebabs that we make, people believe that we can never go complete vegetarian.
Anyways, so I tried this recipe not just to test my veggie cooking skills but also because most of my close friends are vegetarians and that I think is the first reason why I tried a chicken dish with cauliflower.
This dish is as delicious as the chicken one. The good thing is that being vegetarian, it keeps your belly feeling lighter and less bloated. It can be served with plain boiled rice on the side or just by itself. Makes a great side dish or an appetizer.
This recipe of chutney is something you might never find in a restaurant. Its my family recipe, that I grew on.
Chutney is usually taken as a very ordinary dish and we never realize that a good or bad chutney can make our food taste better or spoil the flavor. Chutneys in Indian household is taken casually and its funny but we never realize what an amazing variety of chutneys are served on our tables. I believe even our moms never realized how many they make and serve.
Nevertheless, this recipe comes from my mother. She doesn’t even remember what inspired her to make it but whatever it was, this chutney is one of the best ones and goes really well with Kebabs.
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.
Shami Kebabs are an authentic muslim dish. Any occassion, kebabs are always a part of our dining table/ Dastarkhaan . Among all those wonderful kebabs, Shami kebabs are one of the most popular ones and no Ramadan or Eid are complete without them.
Shami kebabs are boiled meat , chicken, lamb or beef with chana daal, whole spices, garlic and some salt to taste until completely tender. Onions, turmeric, chili powder, egg, chopped green coriander, chopped green chillies and chopped mint leaves may be added in preparing kebab.
The cooked meat is then ground in such a way that is fibrous and does not become a paste. It is then shaped into round patties and is shallow fried.
With increase in vegetarianism and vegans, various new methods and recipes of making shami kabab have emerged in most families. This one is the most authentic one that I have inherited from my family. A little variation to make them taste better.
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 one is different from the regular Manchurian, which is partially dry. This one on the contrary has enough gravy to be served with boiled Rice. I substituted Bell pepper with Big green chili or Badi Mirch to change and experiment with flavor, or if I use the right term, I did that to to make the taste different from the regular dry Manchurian.
Isn’t it funny how playing with flavors id so exciting and yet so easy, even then most of the time people refrain themselves from trying out something new or do not make an attempt to alter the taste that they have inculcated with time. But, the fact is that basic flavor of all food is the same. The difference is only with the timing of when that flavor is introduced to the dish or which member of that family you pick. Like choosing bell pepper, Green chili or ghost pepper, same family, different members and each one holds the capability of changing the taste of your dish completely.
Now, at times, people use ingredients as a substitute and new flavors are invented. I, personally do not agree to substitute ingredients unless you willingly accept to experiment with the flavor. I am against using tamarind in place of lemon. Oh! yes I know people who would do that and even then disagree that they knowingly messed up a dish.
Cooking is an art and we all know that, and the one who masters this art becomes a very respectable artist/ chef and we all wish to be in that group and that’s the reason I created this website and the same reason why you are here. So, my suggestion is stick to the rules of nature. Switch flavors that you can imagine with your taste buds. Introduce new flavors little at a time because then you always have time to improvise. Making mistakes is acceptable but try to not ruin a dish to an extent where it isn’t edible.
This dish is an awesome option for school/ office lunch box. My boys look forward to Manchurian in their lunch box and it goes well with boiled rice.
I always had a soft corner for Chinese cuisine. Despite of all the horror stories about how unhealthy it can be at times, due to high contents of sodium in soya sauce and restaurants using MSG and more. The only thing was that my love for Chinese food was restricted to seafood only since most Chinese restaurants in USA do not serve halal food and if you are a meat eater, you do understand that sometimes, you just want your meat and though, fish is wonderful in taste but, doesn’t give you that satisfaction of meat. So, we got down to trying our own chicken version and when its Chinese and chicken, what can be better than making chicken Manchurian.
Its funny but the first time I tried Chicken Manchurian, I measured the ingredients tsp by tsp, and now I am so pro at it that i can cook this dish with my eyes closed, I mean it. Its a family favorite and the flavors are sweet and sour with a dash of spice and easily impresses anyone.
This version of Manchurian is dry, so its best served as a side dish or an appetizer. You cook serve it with strips of Butter naan [recipe in Bread] if you are looking to make it more fancier.
A lot of people these days are giving up on red meat for health reasons. Though we do not consume Beef at all, and most of my red meat is either Goat or Lamb, a lot of my friends do not consume red meat altogether. Considering that I came up with this recipe of Chicken ke Seekh.
Though nothing beats the juicy lamb when it comes to seekh kebabs, but this recipe does satisfy your taste buds without a fuss.
One day, Mr. Parveez was gone in a meeting, and I was frantically trying to get lunch on the table in time. Looking at the uncooked chicken breast on my kitchen island, confused what to do with it, I asked my boys what they would like. The answer was “Can you make tacos”. I decided, tacos as fate would have it, with two kids hanging on my legs whining about how they were nearing starvation [not to forget the kids are 11 and 7]. And then, I realized I didn’t have any tortillas…. which makes for a pretty crummy taco lunch…. So now I had 2 choices. I could try to pack both of my starving children into the car for one package of tortillas, or I could try to come up with something using what I already had.
Dreading the prospect of trying to wrangle the rug rats into the car, I chose to figure something else out, which is when I came across this amazing recipe for homemade flour tortillas and I owe my undying gratitude to that website [which I forgot to save…ggggrrrr] because not only were these homemade flour tortillas deliciously amazing, it also saved me from dragging my lovely, but kind of crazy, children to the grocery store in pursuit of the store-bought kind of tortillas.
The recipe is delightfully simple. The hardest part for me was trying to roast them which has to be done on super low flame and should be rotated non stop. I found it was easiest to flatten the dough with my hands as much as possible before using the rolling pin. And even if you’re not like me and aren’t used to making chapattis and most of your tortillas come out kind of oblong or misshapen, that’s okay. The shape takes away nothing from the deliciousness.
You don’t have to be disheartened if you don’t have a stand mixer. Though, the directions call for one with the dough hook attached. And If you have a hand mixer you probably have dough hooks too! This recipe works for hand mixers too! And if you don’t have any, making dough with your hand isn’t that difficult either.
Making chicken is fairly easy and doesn’t require any marination or too much prep either. Treat yourself to something delicious and easy….
Chicken baida roti is an easy and scrumptious dish that can be served as a snack or light lunch. Chicken stuffed in the roti, folded into a square and cooked until crispy. Chicken Baida is similar to Katlamma. Chicken keema cooked with the spices and stuffed in the paratha. Its great by itself, without any sides or serve it with chutney. It is an excellent kids lunch box option. The stuffing and dough can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator and make it into a parantha the next morning for a lovely school lunch.
It makes an excellent Sunday/ holiday lunch for me. My kids and hubby love it. Even this is a favorite on play dates when my boys have their friends over. So make it, its easy and will be loved by all ages….
