Grilled Tilapia

Tilapia is one of the most wonderful seafood I have tasted. I am someone who loves Fish, but I do not like seafood options that are too fishy in taste. So, for people like me, Tilapia is a great option.

This fish is flaky, tastes mild and goes along great as a side dish, or a light lunch/dinner. This recipe is a quick marination and once its grilled, its just a perfect go to dish.

We loved the whole grilled Tilapia. I did realize that it tastes much better if you buy fresh live fish. Frozen options would be nice too, but there can be nothing better than getting your fish fresh.

Though I always have Mr. Parveez grill the fish for me, but I have given details of grilling the fish in the oven too.

Carrot Masala Toast

This masala toast is a famous snack from Iyengar bakery, which I had never tried. Being from North India, there are these few things that you miss out on. Like the fresh made veggie toast. Ohhh!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love the north Indian malai bread and potato sandwich or paneer sandwich, but I still fell completely in love with this iyengar bakery masala toast.

This was first made by my husband, Mr. Parveez when he wanted to flaunt his cooking skills, show casing how breakfast can be made quick, delicious, light and above all, healthy.

This toast can have variety of veggies put but, the authentic iyengar bakery toast only has carrots, tomatoes, onions with a few spices and chilies. It’s a perfect breakfast for on the run, or a perfect snack for warming up those after school/evening cold winters with a warm drink.

Butter Chicken

Never met anyone who doesn’t like Butter Chicken. Simple, flavorful and so divine. But most of time people never try and make it at home and Butter Chicken becomes an eat out special. Many times I have read where people tried the recipe following a famous chef, but the dish still does not come out as good as the ones at restaurant.

The recipe below and simple to make and the closest you can get to the authentic Butter Chicken flavor.

Bourani Baingan

This is a middle eastern recipe, to be specific, an “Afghani” recipe. There used to be an Afghani restaurant near our old house. Mr. Parveez and I loved the food they served. Beinf authentic Afghani, there rice pilaf would always be served garnished with shredded carrots, cashews and raisins and of course grilled Chicken / meat. But what we loved the most was the Bourani Baingan [pronounced as Bow-rani Bain-jan].

It was served as an appetizer with Afghaan bread called Noni. Bourani Baingan is dish made with eggplants cooked with tomatoes and garlic and served with whipped yogurt on top. I was so madly in love with that dish that loads of time I would give up my rice pilaf and chicken just to have that. And, just like that one fine day, the restaurant shut down for renovation and eventually opened up as a pizzeria. I believe the owner thought that pizza sells more than the Afghani food and preferred changing the business.

And, like they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Meanwhile, we found another Afghani restaurant and loved their food too but, we were deprived of our favorite Bourani Baingan. This is when I decided to follow my taste pallets and come up with the recipe. As I always say, trials and errors till I got it right. This recipe is a perfect dish for a weekend brunch or a perfect appetizer for a small in house party. It goes perfectly with Afghan Noni which you can find in the bread section. Unlike the popular belief of connecting Middle east food with only Non vegetarian food, both these dishes are vegetarian.

Boti Kebab

These are one of the first mutton kebabs I made of for Mr. Parveez and since then they are a family favorite. The kebabs are spicy in flavor, crunchy from outside and soft from inside. These kebabs are steamed before pan frying.

The good thing about steaming is that if there is any extra fat in the meat, it gets drained which kind of makes the kebab a little healthy. To eat these on diet, you will have to pan fry them with as little oil as possible or you could also use those oil sprays. Steaming is different from boiling. Boiling the kebabs might take away the flavor and spice, where as steaming cooks the spice and the meat is completely tender. So, when you pan fry, it only takes a few minutes for the meat to get crunchy and its ready to eat.

A super fab recipe to serve guests as a side dish. Easy to make and easy to please.

Bhuna Gosht Masala

As a kid, I never liked mutton curries. I grew up believing that Goat/Lamb is something I just never enjoy until, I started my cooking experiments and realized that the problem is not with mutton, its the way it was cooked in my house. There were just 2 kinds of curries and I just happened to not like any. Though, I did prefer one and found it a little easier to gulp down somehow. I think the reason that I didn’t have too many options as a kid when it came to food choices is the reason I make so many varieties…LOLzzz.

So, when I started cooking lamb/goat, I preferred cooking them as kebabs. Different kebabs, with bones, boneless, minced meat, but never a curry. I could just never gather courage to make a curry, because I was convinced that it wouldn’t be good.

All that changed after I got married. Mr. Parveez has some fabulous goat curry recipes, passed down from his family and that’s when I started following the recipes and got more confident about it. Experimenting with different flavors added a lot of variety to my lamb and goat dishes. This recipe happens to be one of them.

This dish is a little thick in gravy, so its great to be eaten with phulkas or Rotis or a side dish with Daal-Chawal.

Malabar Chicken Biryani

Malabar food is a Biryani dish from Kerela. The famous dish is made by layering aromatic Rice with chicken masala, mostly made in Ghee. The recipe demands the pot to be sealed with flour or tight cloth, after the Rice and chicken are layered and Biryani is set to dumm. It should be cooked on low heat to get the perfect Biryani that has been one of Kerela’s most popular and beautiful recipes.

The great town Calicut, now known has Kozhikode is known for its amazing cuisines along with beautiful beaches. The place has had many settlers and the cuisines show an influence of the the travelers from different countries that had once been the part of Calicut’s gorgeous history. Biryani of course shows a clear influence of Persin / Mughal era. the local cuisine is known for its sumptuous non vegetarian food and Chicken Biryani seems to be one of the top favorites.

Coming back to today’s recipe for Malabar Biryani, its usually made with Chicken, but I am sure the recipe would work great on Meat and Fish too, though you might want to change the proportion of spices. The Malabari call the cooking of this Biryani to be a “Pakki method” in which Rice and chicken are cooked separately and then layered and put to dumm.

Malabar Biryani is usually cooked in Ghee. The liberal use of ghee along side of whole spices, like Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and star anise make an awesomely fragrant dish. I am not a big fan of cooking the whole Biryani in Ghee, so I have been slightly careful. But you can always substitute Oil for Ghee if it suits your taste buds. This dish is spicy, but not spicy enough to make you cry. So, if you like Biryani, but aren’t a fan of Indian food that’s “hot”, this dish is for you.

Malabar Biryani uses Khaima Rice and I tried to look for a good quality Khaima Rice in United States. Since my search didn’t give me any results, I am sticking to my original long grained Basmati Rice. My Mother in law loves her Biryani cooked with Jeerakasala Rice, which is close or same as Khaima Rice. So, if you do happen to find a good brand, Please use it and also let me know in the comment section. The extra water in the Rice is drained and the rice is cooled slightly. Unlike the absorption method of cooking, this method of cooking rice in an open pan in excess water and draining it like pasta will always give you perfect Rice thats needed for a good Biryani.

The chicken is first cooked in onions, ginger, garlic, fresh cilantro, mint and green chilies and yogurt. Tomatoes can or cannot be used. I saw different recipes and I preferred the one with tomatoes. Once the chicken is all cooked, layer it with the Rice and seal the Biryani with a cloth and a tight lid. Adding some kind of weight to the lid is advisable too. I usually keep my Biryani in the oven but you can always dumm it on the gas at low flame for around 30 minutes.

Thalassery Chicken Biryani

This recipe is from the land of Kerala. Thalassery food has a distinct  flavor. Thalassery town of Northern Kerala, that has a blend in Arabian, Persian, Indian and European styles of cooking as a result of its long history as a maritime trading post. Thalassery is very popular for its delicious Biryani. Unlike other biryani dishes, Thalassery Biryani, originally uses jeerakshala/kaima rice instead of the usual long grained Basmati Rice. I used Basmati Rice since I cannot see my Biryani any other way. My Mother in law still prefers the kaima rice over Basmati rice, even for Biryani. Kaima rice has its own exclusive flavor and they have a wonderful fragrance as well, but I just come from a very Mughlia thought and prefer my Rice grain to be beautifully long

The influence of Arabian/Mughal culture is evident, especially in the dishes of the Muslim community of Kerala and Thalassery Biryani happens to be one of those dishes that shows it Mughlia flavors and is still enjoyed by all.

We, personally as a family love the food made in Kerala, vegetarian and Non vegetarian. You will find us taking time out if any of the hotels are celebrating “Kerala food festival week” during our stay in India. The best thing I enjoy about Kerala cuisine is the fact that the flavor of each ingredient comes out distinct in its own way making the dish complete. The way the cuisine has its ingredients listed and the process in which you add the spice changes the flavor of a dish. With Kerala cuisine , they make sure that no one ingredient over powers the flavor of the other ingredient. In fact, they blend in symphony making the dish delicious and exclusive.

Chatpata Murgh Tangdi Kebab

A unique recipe from Old Delhi, Purani Dilli ki Jama Masjid ki galiyaan. I have literally known that area almost by heart. Okay, may be not the whole area, but definitely the famous restaurants, Kareem and Jawahar happen to be my father’s favorite. I remember as a young child looking forward to going to Jama Masjid just for the food and how much I wished those days that we should have lived in Delhi. My idea of living in Delhi soon changed as I got older thanks to the heavy traffic, but my taste buds still crave the lovely food. I think that might be the only reason most of my Kebabs are inspired by the flavors i experienced as a kid.

It’s one of the kebabs made specially during Ramadan. As much as Jama Masjid is popular for its non vegetarian cuisines, but some dishes are exclusively for this special month. This dish happens to be one of those special ones. The marinade is easy to do and it adds a lot of flavor to the chicken legs. The best part about the marinade is that it leaves the Kebab moist from inside with a crunchy exterior. I cooked these in the oven, but you can always barbecue them or even cook them on a pan. An oven though is always preferred. The second best thing after an oven would be a Gas Tandoor.

I would recommend you to marinate the kebabs for at least 3 hours, but if you happen to be in a rush, an hour in the refrigerator would also be fine. The result might not be as amazing, but still good.

This Kebab chatpata as the name suggests and makes a wonderful side dish to your regular dishes and will also amaze your guests.

Palak ka Parantha

We love Palak/ Spinach and if you follow my recipes, you would know that I always try to find new ways of making spinach. Sometimes, with meat, chicken and so many types of different daals or making palak in different kinds of dry curries as well.

After all those I felt making Palak ka parantha for breakfast would be a great idea. We love methi parantha and the recipe was simple and great, so I decided to use the same recipe for Palak parantha.

The good thing with palak parantha is that the kids enjoy eating it too with yogurt and it makes a great and healthy breakfast. Its a great option for lunch too and you can conveniently eat it on diets as well.