This dish is Brain Fry, made from Goat or lamb brain. Being from the Muslim community, I have never known a family who does not make this at home, though the opinion of people differ. People like us are big fans and love it each time its cooked, but then I have my kids, who never enjoyed the texture and taste and no matter how much I tried convincing them, it never worked till now. Keeping my fingers crossed that someday they would like it.
Now, brain fry is very popular in traditional dish and is made in restaurants that serve traditional Muslim food and you will never find it on the menu of all restaurants. This dish is popularly served for breakfast with parantha, along side with paaya curry or even on its own. If you ever want to try this dish, I would recommend you to either try it in Muslim home or if you happen to be in a city in India, popular for their Muslim food, like Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, do try them in the high populated Muslim areas.
This dish is made in a very traditional style. Though its super easy to make, the brain is a little fragile so you cannot cook it the way we cook traditional chicken or meat. Being fragile, you have to make sure you cook it carefully. Turn around carefully specially when you mix it with the masala in the end.
When I was new in USA, Middle Eastern food was one of the first cuisines I was comfortable eating outside, besides Pizza, of course…Lolzzz. The restaurant that we went to those days shut down for renovation after a few years and eventually the owner decided to sell off his restaurant, which is sad when one really enjoys the food at a restaurant.
The food the restaurant had typical Afghani food. Chicken, Meat or fish served with Rice. The Rice pilaf would be White Rice with cashews and Raisins, which I wasn’t really a big fan off and spent the first 5 minutes taking raisins and cashews off my rice. I am one of those weirdos who don’t like sweet flavors with my main dish, specially something as sweet as Raisin. But, something more than this great Afghani Rice Pilaf with Chicken, what I actually loved and enjoyed most was the Afghaan Noni.
Afghaan Noni is an Afghaani Bread, made with Refined Flour or Whole wheat flour, which is then formed into a dough after mixing egg yolk and yeast. You will have to let the dough rise in a warm space until it doubles. The Afghaan Noni requires some egg white to be brushed on top for glaze and you also have to sprinkle some Nigella seeds on top, though its optional.
The dough needs to be left to rise for at least 1 hour, more if you are living in a colder region or baking during the winters. The dough can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 months and in the Refrigerator for 3 days.
I usually serve it with another Afghaani vegetarian dish “Bourani banigan”, which is eggplants cooked with tomato gravy and Garlic and served with sweet Yogurt. It makes an excellent appetizer or even a light lunch. These actually even taste great with a cup of tea. Bread so simple that this recipe is great for beginners as well.
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!!!
When you live in a country far away from home, you tend to
dry more of different cuisines in order to blend in. Ohh yes! You read that
right. We as Indians try our level best to try and blend in sending our
wonderful taste buds on a toss. See, believe it or not, Indian cuisine is one
of the most wonderful cuisines you can come across. So many varieties of food
offered by one country where the food palette from one state to another differs
as much as countries in Europe.
Now, I don’t mean to look down upon other cuisines but I do
feel very proud of my ethnicity. Having tried so many different spices, oils,
vegetables is an experience of its own. So, coming back to living in America,
we tend to please people around us and not or taste buds. Indian food with spices
is actually a very healthy option for guilt free food. Leaving that we indulge
in butter and cheese based cuisines coz that satisfies the masses and we want
to be one of those. But for those of us, who yearn for meals with similar
taste, Italian and Mexican food come the closest.
Being a Muslim and eating only halal, our best bet for food
is either vegetarian or seafood. Also, not trying food made by people who do
not stick to the rules of a cuisine and make it in a fusion way is not my cup
of tea. So, people like me, who want try that authentic Mexican chicken rice
bowl from their favorite Mexican restaurant, eat fish and try to cook same
flavors with chicken at home. I tried my level best to stick to Mexican flavors
to get the authentic taste. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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.
My love for Baklava began in 2003. I was working for a
University in Amman, Jordan. Trying out different foods and adapting myself to new
culture and people is when I first time tried Baklava. Now, Baklava tastes very
different in all middle east countries. I might sound bias but there is nothing
like the Jordanian baklava. Its crunchy, nutty, crispy with just perfectly
sweet. Its hard to decide how much sugar will be perfect for your baklava but
constant practice made me come up with the perfect measure.
Like most of my other recipes, this recipe too is not that
tough. Just be precise with your measurements and oven heat and time. Make sure
the nuts you use are fresh and enjoy the flavor of a wonderful Baklava. It can
be made a day before for your guests and is a great dish for potluck parties
too. The shelf life is a week and can be extended to two weeks if you
refrigerate it. Though it should be thawed before serving.
A sweet dish from the heart of Marwar. Moong daal Halwa is a popular sweet dish made on various occasions in families. Festivals have this Halwa as one of the main sweet dishes.
This is one of my most favorite sweets and Making it perfectly took a little while. I searched loads of recipes and tried recipes shared by friends, but either they were too time consuming or never came out tasting perfect.
Going through trials and errors, I finally came up with this recipe which is easy to make, less time consuming and tastes perfect as well. Moong daal Halwa has a long shelf life. It can be frozen for up to 3 months and in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Moong daal ki burfi. It’s one of my all time favorites. This dish takes me back to my childhood days. This sweet was an Eid special for us. Every Eid, it was a tradition that went just perfect with Eid Biryani, kheer, kebabs, seviyaan, launji, curries etc. For a long time, I believed it’s an Eid dish. I guess these are a few perks of being raised in a diverse culture and having friends from all religions.
Traditionally, Moong daal Burfi is actually called Moong Daal Chakki in my home town Jodhpur. Its a sweet which is loved by the masses and has a chunky, sweet and filling. It can be made a few days in advance if you want to prepare it ahead of time for a party. It makes an excellent party favors too.
Mohanthaal is popularly known as Besan Burfi. I tried searching to find out why it was initially named as Mohanthaal, but couldn’t really find anything authentic to share.
My home town still has a store in the old city that calls it “Mohanthaal” and I prefer that to calling it plain Besan Burfi. Though, I am not a big fan of Ghee, in spite of belonging to the city where most people proudly belong to the blood group of “ghee positive”, but certain dishes have to use ghee to have the authentic taste and this is one of those dishes. So, if you are thinking of substituting your ghee with oil/butter, Please don’t.
If you are health conscious, eat less and control it. Its not good to give up on taste. I always ask people to stick to the original flavor of certain dishes. Its lovely to have fusion dishes once in a while, but make sure your fusions or changes to a dish do not make it lose its original flavor.
Every time someone mentions these awesome, sweet, sugary balls, people either tend to get them from a sweet store or if they are home made, most times they are made from the popular mix pack that has you add a few easy ingredients from home, like sugar and milk and fry them and you all set to serve them. But, little do you know that you don’t really need that little pack or run to the store. Making Gulab Jamuns at home, with ingredients you will find at home, is pretty easy and not at all time consuming. The only thing you need is a perfect recipe.
Now, if you ever thought Gulab Jamuns is a gift of India to the world, you are wrong. Gulab Jamuns are actually a gift from the Mughals. All these sweet dishes that used Orange Blossom water or Rose water or screw pine water with saffron are all delicacies that came in from the Middle East and were introduced to Indian cuisine during the Mughal Era.
As the history says, the Gulab Jamuns were first prepared in the era of medieval times in India, derived from a sweet fritter recipe that a Central Asian Turkish invader brought to India. One theory also claims that it was accidentally prepared by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s personal chef. All in all, it is a sweet dish inspired by the Middle east.
The word “Gulab” is derived from the Persian words gul, which means flower and āb, means water, referring to the rose water-scented syrup. Jamun is also defined as a fried delicacy in dipped in sugar syrup. A middle eastern dessert Luqmat al-qadi is very similar to gulab jamun, though it uses a different batter.
These outstanding Gulab Jamuns have a remarkable depth of taste and texture achieved very carefully combining few ingredients to form balls. Fry them slowly in ghee or oil, further soak them in syrup. With such detailed recipe, its hard to go wrong.
