These are delicious wraps with spicy pan fried chicken and cheese that come together in under 30-40 minutes. This is something that will make your children ask for more. They are easy to make and can also be made partly ahead of time. These little scrumptious bites are something you will fall in love with.
For Chicken, you can use Rotisserie chicken or any chicken that’s left over, or any grilled chicken or even chicken kebabs. I cooked my chicken in a tex mex style. I cooked the chicken with some onions and green chilies and added Paprika, cumin powder, chili flakes, cumin powder, Garlic powder, Onion powder and Dry parsley. I also added little Apple cider vinegar and hot sauce to spike it up a little. Just cook everything till the chicken dries up and the sauce coats the chicken completely.
The quesadilla can always be made from store bought Tortilla. I made mine at home with All purpose flour and Corn flour. They are pretty easy to make as long as you have a Tortilla maker. Once you make the Tortilla, add some cooked chicken and cheese, fold them up and place them in the oven for 10 minutes.
The quesadillas can be cut into two to make them look nicer while serving. These quesadillas are scrumptious, filling, easy to make and scrumptious.
Chinese Chicken noodles are a delicious and a quick lunch/dinner that requires few ingredients that are easily available in your pantry. Also it gets from kitchen to dining table in a matter of few minutes. And its just a perfect meal for weekends. Egg noodles cooked with chicken and few veggies with a few sauces mixed in together with Garlic fried in a smokey flavor makes a perfect Asian style Noodles and they come out so amazingly delicious that you will never feel the need to order take out from a Chinese restaurant again. This dish is so mouthwatering that you will making it very often.
My kids can actually eat these Chicken noodles for every other meal. These Chicken noodles are pretty easy to make, I usually add Onions, scallions and green chilies. You can add broccoli and bell peppers as well if you feel like. Usually I also add in corn kernels at times and something that I feel adds a lot of flavor to this dish are Peanuts. The key to preparing perfect noodles is to cook everything separately and mix things together and then add in the mixed sauce. Also, one thing that I feel makes these noodles perfect are cooking them with tongs specially when you mix things together.
One of the reasons why Chinese food does not taste the same at home as in restaurants is that ingredients that are put in Chinese noodles, including the sauce, all are cooked on high heat. The food cooked on high heat and that kind of gives a smoke flavor to the ingredients and the smoked or charred flavor is absorbed pretty fast. A lot of people suggest using a Wok but honestly, I don’t use one and feel my Asian Takeaways tastes better than homemade ones is the smokey charred flavor in the dish. Ingredients are tossed on high heat, really quickly to give the flavor. It sometimes feels impossible to recreate the same flavor at home, of course without the flavor enhancers and God knows all what goes into your food to make it taste so good, but honestly, the food made at home tastes much more fresh and if made using the right recipe with all ingredients in proportion will make a mouthwatering dish.
Now its not possible for everyone to have a Chinese Wok at home. But its always better to cook in a pan that is shaped like a dome. It gives you more surface area to work. For making noodles stir fry or Rice stir fry, a large pan is always good. Tossing in high heat with sesame Oil adds the smokey flavor to the noodles. Enjoy!!!
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!!!
The family that loves fish, finds each and every way possible to get their fish on their dish….Yeah!!! Please ignore my not so funny sense of humor rhyming the words…LOLzzz. My boys love the fish rolls or wraps for school. Making Salmon Tortilla roll is one of their favorite school lunches.
The Salmon needs to be lightly marinated and can be pan fried till crunchy. The marination is simple with garlic powder, black pepper, turmeric [optional, I prefer it], salt, lemon juice and dry parsley. I like my marinade to be simple, since Salmon has a very strong itself. The light marinade helps Salmon have its own flavor and the other spices help enhance it more.
I have people always question me as to why I never try making my Salmon like my other recipes for Indian style fish fry. Believe it or not, just like fishes come in different flavors, adding same spices to 2 different fishes while makes one taste amazingly delicious, makes the other one lose its flavor. Fishes like Mackerel have a very strong fishy flavor. Adding strong spices to a Mackerel and deep frying it after rolling it in refined flour makes it a scrumptious appetizer, where as if I try the same style of cooking on Salmon, which also has a very strong fishy taste would not taste that good. I have been to a few restaurants that serve Salmon cooking it like a fritter/ Pakoda or rolling salmon fillet in flour and serve it as a patty for Burger. I strongly felt that Salmon in such styles loses its taste. Salmon has a wonderful outer texture that makes it super crunchy when you shallow fry it and its best this way.
I always throw in some veggies like shredded cabbage, or chopped lettuce with sliced Onions and sliced tomatoes. Pair the crispy Salmon with the fresh and chopped veggies and sauces makes it flavorful and if you are making them for your kids, its always a great way to sneak in those veggies.
I added corn, that I had boiled and then saute’ed them till slightly crispy. My corn kernels were fresh. I took them off the cob after boiling the corn. It just gets a little easier to get the kernels off. You can always simply saute’e them in a pan by adding a tsp of butter/oil. You can also add a little garlic powder and chili flakes and add that zing to it.
Sauce can always be changed according to your taste. I added the mayo-garlic sauce and hot sauce, but I think mustard sauce or green chili sauce would be good too.
A little twist to our all time favorite fried chicken roll. My kids love the fried chicken roll. We tried it in some restaurant in India a few years back from a popular joint. The roll was amazing crunchy and delicious. Since, we returned, these chicken rolls found a place to our play date parties, since they are a big hit in kids.
Though I would always fry my chicken but then when a dish is made more often, it sometimes makes you switch to a healthier option and that is exactly what I did with my fried chicken roll. Instead of frying it in oil, I substituted my fryer with my oven to make the chicken a little more healthier. The bread/Roti that i made for the roll is also cooked on a skillet without using oil.
Its funny that a person like me who isn’t very conscious about what she eats and I also truly believe that flavors shouldn’t be played around with and I made sure of that with this one too. This dish came to perfection after a few trials and errors and this is the final outcome, as good as the regular one.
Now, the first try for making the chicken without frying was cooking it in the air fryer. I am not sure if people achieve a lot of success while using air fryers, because I don’t seem to like them much. I have an air fryer from one of the best companies and I did follow all the instructions as well, but the chicken came out very chewy and the outer part wasn’t as crunchy either. I tried again and this time sprayed a little oil. The result was great exterior and very chewy inside.
Then I decided I should give my oven a try too and though everyone has their preference, but trust me on this one that the oven gives you much better results than an air fryer. There is definitely a little more work where you will have to turn the pieces around mid way cooking to ensure the chicken is cooked evenly from all sides, but, it’s totally worth it.
The sauce that I used to assemble the roll is pretty simple to make. The recipe is available in sauces. If in case its not, please feel free to remind me. Being a homemaker and a mother to two boys, I do forget updating things…LOLzzz
Meanwhile, please do go through the recipe. I am sure you will love to try it too. Its easy, simple, and healthy. Enjoy!!!
Chicken Piccata is a popular Italian dish, that is sliced, dredged in flour, then sauteed in a sauce containing lemon juice, butter, and capers. We always wanted to try the dish because it looked so delicious with the clear butter sauce and capers, but since Italian restaurants here do not make it halal, we could never try it.
The sauce is basically made using the leftover oil/butter used to cooking the chicken. You can always be a little more creative and add some lemon juice and red chili flakes with/or chicken stock can be added . You can always add chopped onions, shallots and chopped garlic too.
Serve with chopped parsley and slices of lemon. After reduction, butter/oil is stirred and can be drizzled over the chicken, along with the capers. Its an excellent dish for a small lunch where you have to rush. Since the dish doesn’t need any marination, it comes from pan to plate in minutes and is different variety compared to the regular Italian dishes, which require time and tomatoes.
This dish is great for beginners and the way you plate it with capers with the exterior crunch and soft chicken inside makes it easy to impress your guests.
I first tried something like this in 2009 when we took a trip to Agra. The Mughal Sheraton was just not a super cozy and comfortable hotel but also the chefs there served amazing delicacies and this dish was one of those that I tried.
The first look at the dish makes you feel that it must be somewhere close to Tandoori chicken but its only when you taste it, is when you realize that both dishes are not even faintly close and share no resemblance in taste. While Tandoori is all spice and cooked on grill, this dish contains corn starch and is pan or tava fried.
The funny coincidence is that 2 years after we visited Agra is when I finally got down to trying this dish and funny enough, I do not remember the original name of the dish. This is pretty close to what we have tasted but then again this is my version and recipe. My friends and family always loved it and so I am sharing what is different and a truly fantastic recipe.
Buffalo Chicken Wings can easily come under one of the most favorite chicken dishes in America. Fried and crunchy wings, dipped in hot sauce is not just finger licking good but amazingly satisfying and juicy. This amazing dish is mandatory on game nights. And, if you happen to be an Indian family like us, and have men [my hubby and 2 boys] who happen to be fans of almost all sports, you need to learn this dish.
Chicken wings make it to our living room during cricket matches, Basket ball, Soccer and even wrestling. Yupp, we watch them all and if possible, sometimes over movies as well.
A few years ago, we discovered a halal restaurant that served Chicken Wings. That’s when we started bringing them in every game time. But with time we lost interest, since the fried wings with sauce would become soggy by the time we would bring them home and serve. So, Mr. Parveez gave up on eating wings altogether and our sports days were “wingless”..LOLzzz.
One fine day, while picking up my regular halal meat, I happened to ask the butcher if he sells wings separately. As much as the question sounds silly today, you have to understand that it was coming from a woman who has never bought them in her life. So, I got some chicken wings and hot sauce and came up with this recipe. It might be a little different from your regular chicken wings, slightly more spicier but trust me, its better. You could always reduce the spice level if you prefer.
So, since then, there was no looking back. These chicken wings are loved by our friends, friends of my kids. In fact, my son once told me that his friend was telling the whole class about the amazing wings he had on his last play date at our house, which of course made my son very happy and proud.
A wonderful recipe to win hearts.
Chicken sizzler is just such a super amazingly happy dish. I feel your hunger just grows by a 200% , seeing that sauce sizzle on that hot iron plate and the sizzling sound is so very pleasing.
Sizzler is best with boneless chicken or fish served with boiled rice and your choice of vegetables. I love the sizzlers in India, the spicy, smoky flavors at our favorite joint is just like a dream come true for people like us, who are so far away and that we don’t get halal sizzlers in USA, or at least not around us. So, for people like us, we invent our own.
So, there is a very sweet story to share as well. Mr. Parveez saw me longing for sizzler and bought me these wonderful iron sizzler pans and they were lying in my pantry closet waiting to be inaugurated. So, finally one day, while kids were at school and Mr. Parveez was working from home and I decided to test my gift. Usually, I always prefer making new things in my own time and keeping it a surprise and once I was done making it, the look on Mr. Parveez’s face is hard to express in words. I do have a picture of him but, he would not allow me to post it here …LOLzzz. It will always be treasured in my personal collection.
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.
