Chicken Kaju Pepper

The Art of Chicken Curry

Chicken curries thrive on variety. As a staple on so many tables, chicken invites innovation—it’s a canvas that welcomes bold spices, gentle herbs, and unexpected twists. Every dish benefits from a fresh perspective, but chicken especially calls for creativity to keep our taste buds curious and delighted.

Because it’s such a frequent favorite—for both cooking and serving—I’m often asked to create new flavor profiles. And I absolutely love the challenge. Experimenting in the kitchen is one of my greatest joys. But I believe experimentation should be done with care—just enough that if something veers off track, it can still be salvaged and turned into something delicious.

That’s the beauty of cooking: it’s forgiving, flexible, and full of surprises. And with chicken curry, the possibilities are endless.

A little pepper wisdom from today’s kitchen adventure 🌶️ This dish was a flavorful experiment—and a successful one at that. Black pepper can be bold, but even a pinch too much can tip the balance. So I reached for white pepper instead: subtle, smooth, and just the right kind of heat. The result? A dish that’s warm, complex, and absolutely delicious.

Why Cashews?

Creamy, nutty, and quietly powerful. Cashews are my secret to richness without heaviness—a subtle sweetness that dances beautifully with the warmth of pepper. While coconut milk and cream have their place, cashews bring something deeper, smoother, and more balanced to the table.

Korean Chicken Bites

Asian cuisine is incredibly diverse—Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian, Korean—each with its own distinct flavors, yet somehow connected through similar ingredients and cooking styles. We’ve tried dishes from all of them, though only with seafood.

Being Muslim, it can sometimes be challenging to stick to the basics of eating only halal food, especially when so many amazing dishes are off-limits otherwise. I do have friends who are comfortable eating non-halal chicken or meat, but for us, that’s not an option. I truly believe that when there are ways and choices available for us to stay true to our beliefs, we should hold on to them.

But that doesn’t stop us from trying the dishes we love. That’s the beauty of having curious taste buds and a passion for cooking—you can always find a way to make something your own.

So here I am with another mouthwatering recipe, inspired by a dish I once tried with scallops and absolutely loved. I made a few tweaks, of course. The original version wasn’t marinated or batter-fried, which left the scallops a bit bland, with all the flavor coming only from the sauce. The sauce itself was good—mild, with just the right kick—but I wanted more depth.

When I decided to recreate the dish using chicken, I added some crunch and extra flavor. I marinated the chicken first, because chicken on its own doesn’t have much taste—it takes on whatever you give it. A little spice, a touch of seasoning, even just a bit of salt can make all the difference. Whether you’re adding chicken to noodles or tossing it in a sauce, never skip that first layer of flavor.

For the chicken, I marinated it in a mix of buttermilk, chili flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, white pepper, oregano, and salt. Let it sit for at least an hour—longer if you can—for the flavors to really soak in. After marination, roll the chicken pieces in a mixture of flour, salt, and cornstarch, then fry them until golden and crisp.

The sauce is what ties everything together. It’s made with crushed garlic and ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, gochujang (a sweet and spicy Korean sauce that’s easy to find in most Asian stores), honey, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and red chili flakes. Once the sauce thickens, toss in the fried chicken pieces until well coated.

For garnish, I like using scallions and sesame seeds. You can add the scallions directly to the sauce, but I prefer sprinkling them on top—they stay crisp and give a nice contrast in texture.

Substitute for Buttermilk?

To make buttermilk at home, take the same quantity of milk as the buttermilk required and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to it. Mix well and let it rest for a few minutes before adding the chicken.

The flavor of this chicken is a perfect balance of sweet and spicy, making it an excellent choice for all taste buds—kids and adults alike—unless someone prefers completely mild food. I find this dish a great hit for playdates, family gatherings, or small get-together parties.

Cooking in advance

You can fry the chicken bites and keep them in the oven. The oven needs to be preheated. Keep it on warm or at 200°F. Anything above it would overcook the chicken, making it chewy or burning it.

Thai Chicken Curry

We’ve always loved Malaysian and Thai cuisine, but finding halal options has been a challenge. It was actually Mr. Parveez who first introduced me to both. What I love most is how familiar the flavors feel—there’s a comforting connection between Indian food and these cuisines.

Thai food, for example, often uses peanuts, red chilies, and coconut milk or coconut cream as its base, creating a beautiful balance of spice, sweetness, and creaminess that reminds me of home, yet with its own distinct character.

Since we only consume seafood, we often miss out on many flavors from different cuisines. So, trying them at home becomes our only way to experience them—and honestly, I think it’s a blessing in disguise. It’s not just about learning to cook something new; it’s also a healthier way to eat.

When you cook at home, you choose fresh ingredients, you control what goes into your food, and you serve it right away. That freshness doesn’t just elevate the flavor—it adds real nutritional value too. Every bite feels cleaner, brighter, and more satisfying.

This curry is quite simple to make. I used store-bought Thai red curry paste—since I wasn’t too sure about balancing all the flavors on my first try, I didn’t want my experiment to stray too far from the authentic taste.

For the vegetables, I used bell peppers, onions, scallions, and garlic. You can always add baby corn or any other vegetables you like. That’s the beauty of Thai curries—there’s so much flexibility, and every combination brings a slightly different flavor and texture to the dish.

Serve it with some boiled Rice and enjoy it warm.

Pasta with Garlic Chicken and Mushroom

This is a great recipe and cooks pretty quickly as well. I am not a fan of Alfredo sauce with my Pasta and honestly the boys were never big fans of cheese sauce either but when I came across dish that has Mushrooms and Chicken cooked with Garlic, it kind of sounded interesting.

So I got down to trying and cooking my own. I love Mushrooms, but the kids aren’t a big fan so the dish had to be interesting enough. Roasting garlic in the oven enhances the flavor in a dish. So, I roasted garlic with skin with olive oil, salt and pepper till its soft and mushy. Cook the chicken pieces in a pan with little oil, salt and pepper. Further adding butter and oil to the same pan and added the mushed garlic and a little chicken broth followed by mushrooms. After it comes to a boil added a little heavy cream and further the cooked chicken. I also added Red chili flakes and White pepper for extra flavor.

This dish can be served by itself or with Rice too, since its a little saucy, but I personally felt that it goes on best with pasta. I served it with Spaghetti Pasta and a side of Garlic bread. Trust me, my boys who do not like Mushroom at all loved this dish. This dish easily qualifies as an awesomely flavorful and delicious dish. The taste is that of a dish you’d get at a high end Italian restaurant. It might seem a little complicated but trust me if you follow the recipe and make it once, you will become pro and will manage making this dish in no time. This dish is actually perfect for those surprise dinner dates. This impresses anyone and everyone.

Chicken Veggie Wrap

With all the different kinds of foods that we consume, at times you just feel that your tummy needs a break. You feel you need more veggies, less oil, fewer carbs, in all just a healthy meal. But, the problem that people like me face is that we also need something that tastes scrumptious and good along with all the health benefits.

Specially, if you have children as demanding as mine, you basically fight a battle. When the demand is to make veggies look more appealing and to make their protein go leaner without them noticing. That’s when dishes like this are invented.

Now this isn’t your regular Chicken veggie wrap. Its a little different. The wrap that I have used is not a Tortilla, though you can always use a home made/ store bought Tortilla. The Chicken I used is boneless thigh meat, but you can also use Chicken breast. I cooked it with little Olive oil, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Red chili flakes and white pepper powder with Vinegar. Once the Chicken was cooked, add Bell peppers and Onions. Further, just add hot sauce to add a little zing. Wrap everything in lettuce leaves with some onions and chilies/jalapenos and further in a roti or whole wheat tortilla with some garlic Mayo sauce and enjoy the scrumptious bites of goodness and health.

Cod Fish with Roasted Veggies

We love all kinds of Sea Food. Curries, Fried, Grilled, any which way we love them. This dish makes a great option if you are on a diet, or looking for low carb options or following keto recipes. This is a quick recipe for lunch and a super nutritious one too.

I used Frozen cod but if you have fresh Cod available, that would be great. My boys love fish and grilled veggies or just cold salads on the side of a pan fried fish. These kind of dishes are easy, scrumptious, fits the budget, healthy and delicious. This is a perfect recipe when you are running short on time.

I use basic spices like Red chili flakes, Garlic powder, Onion powder, White pepper powder and Tandoori masala. I also added some dry parsley for flavor. You can always mix and match and use the spices you like. I personally don’t like much of cinnamon or Red chili powder on cod fish. I also feel that Black pepper makes it a little bitter so I prefer white pepper powder. Add a little Lemon juice and the marination is just perfect.

I grill or saute the bell peppers and Asparagus in the same pan as the fish once i am done cooking the fish. I feel it adds a lot of flavor from the fish and the spices to the vegetables. This is a great dish if you want to involve your budding teenagers and teach them easy and quick dishes.

Murgh Hyderabadi Biryani

Hyderabad has numerous varieties especially when it comes to Biryanis. I have tried making a wide range of different styles of Hyderabadi Biryanis. Each one has its own distinct flavor and ingredients. I always love how beautifully the heritage of Nizams is displayed in Hyderabadi food.

The dishes are not just rich in ingredients but also the recipes show how rich the food culture has been with the Nizams. We always hear stories of how generous the Nizams were when it came to entertaining and welcoming their guests. How lavish their Dastarkhaan or tables were. The curries, Haleem, so many varieties of sweet dishes that are served with oodles of dry fruits and cooked in clarified Butter are evidence of how much effort the Nizams made their Khansamas/chefs put into food.

The Nizams were very influential. The history showcases the rich taste not just in Gems and Jewelry, but also in food. The use of Milk solids, Ghee, Dry fruits of different kinds is pretty common in most dishes. This dish has a paste of poppy seeds, cashews and coconut. Though the spice level isn’t too high, the Biryani uses a paste of green chilies and you can always increase the green chilies if you wish to make it spicier. Using Kewra with food color makes the Biryani smell rich and inviting as well. Besides that the Biryani is pretty easy to make. This dish is great for Beginners too. Enjoy!!!

Murgh Zafrani Tikka

These kebabs were a fluke cum delicious, they are juicy and soft. These were made while I was thinking of making some Kebabs for lunch and I couldn’t decide on what to make and finally the idea of going a little different than usual gave birth to this scrumptious invention. These kebabs have a pretty simple marinade and are pretty impressive for the way they taste compared to the effort that’s put in.

Some dishes need be improvised where as some super fab one where you just follow your heart and make them trusting your taste buds. This is one of those fab recipes which were made just following my heart and turned out a keepsake. To start with I made these kebabs using Chicken Breast. I have mentioned in my other recipes as well that Chicken breast tend to make dishes a little dry, specially kebabs. So, the thing that you can you can do to make your kebabs moist using Chicken breast is to add more ingredients that are cream based. Ingredients like Yogurt, cashew puree, cheese, cream and even buttermilk. In some cases even adding a little extra butter adds a lot of moisture to the kebabs. Therefore, Murgh Zafrani Tikka, you can pick any Boneless Chicken Thigh and leg meat or Chicken Breast. Your kebabs will be juicy, moist and absolutely delicious.

Addition of different spices was a little adventurous and I just followed my taste buds. Initially I marinated the chicken chunks in Ginger garlic paste, green chilies, Lemon juice saffron and salt. I left the juices to mix in for 30 minutes, which added a perfect flavor to the Chicken. Saffron added a lot of fragrance along with flavor. I am in love with saffron. It happens to be my favorite spice and I love to add it to my dishes be it sweet or spicy. The spice just gives out an amazing fragrance when added to your dish.

I further added Yogurt and spices. Cumin Powder, Tandoori Powder, White Pepper and Turmeric Powder were what I used since I wanted the flavor to be not too spicy and not too mild either and something that would enhance and bring out the flavor of Saffron. To add a little crunch I added some Besan which was dry roasted before adding. Adding a little Kasoori methi adds a different flavor to the kebabs.

You can always cook them on the pan too by adding a little oil or you can also use the Oil spray. Kebabs are something that cross out all the restrictions and can be made anytime anywhere. I fail to understand recipes that only require an oven. That should never be the case. So, oven, no oven, grill, no grill…as long as you have these kebabs marinated the right way and have fire, these kebabs can be cooked in no time. I generally do not serve them with the stick unless I make them for a kid’s party. If you are using the wooden skewers, always soak them in water for 20 minutes before adding your kebabs to it. Soaking in water doesn’t let them burn in the pan or oven while cooking.

These kebabs are very easy to make and perfect for beginners. Since it doesn’t require any grinding or blending, they are prefect if you want to add an extra dish to your table without putting in too much time into making it. These Kebabs are on the milder side so if you aren’t a fan of something outrageously spicy, this is a perfect recipe for you.

Murgh Malai Tikka

These are most juiciest and softest kebabs I have ever made. Yet they are amazingly flavorful. My story for Murgh Malai Tikka is connected to my older son. My older son, who is a handsome teenager now used to have GERD as a kid. For those of us who have kids suffering from refluxes and unable to keep their food down, we know the pain. For those who have kids who are picky eaters, we know the struggle. Unfortunately, for my son, he was both a picky eater and suffered from a reflux and that continued for the first 2 years of his life. But, as they say there is always a ray of good hope and things started to get better once he turned 2.

Now once he started eating real food, his choices went more towards dishes that were spicy but considerable mild at the same time. That was when during one of our outings he tried Malai Tikka and he was so much in love that we placed another order of the dish, which of course he didn’t touch because we forgot that he was two and as much as we loved to feed our super fussy toddler, his tummy could only take so much. But, this was the time when I decided that I should start making my own Malai tikka kebabs at home.

And of course, like everything else dishes also require experiments and some times way too many. So, with this one my initial experiments weren’t that bad but they weren’t successful. The first try, I made them with Chicken breast. Although with some kebabs Chicken breast comes out dry, but honestly with this recipe make one of the most moist kebabs ever. Chicken breast is a great choice for curries and for dishes that require you to mince the chicken, but this is something tried and tested, while making Murgh Malai tikka, you can pick any Boneless Chicken Thigh and leg meat or Chicken Breast. Your kebabs will be juicy, moist and a taste to die for! The second mistake was to only rub in yogurt which didn’t make them too different from the other ones that I was already making.

Secondly the addition of different spices also was a little adventurous but finally a few experiments later I discovered that the key to a perfect Malai Tikka wasn’t just Yogurt and cream but also cheese. A little bit of shredded cheese might sound weird and you might feel that cheese is the last flavor you want to taste in you desire when you bite into your Malai Tikka, but trust me, no one ever knows. I guess its a pretty well guarded secret…LOLzzz. Well, now you know. The cheese needs to be shredded and you can only add Mozarella which isn’t too strong in taste. Adding anything like Cheddar will definitely ruin the taste.

I make these tikkas by marinating them in Yogurt, Cream, Ginger garlic paste, Shredded cheese, Black pepper, White pepper, Cumin powder, Red chili powder, Salt, Turmeric Powder, Tandoori Powder and cashew paste. Besides that I also add some fresh chopped Coriander leaves and Green chilies. I believe there is nothing that can enhance the flavor of spices more than fresh herbs. Though I make these kebabs in the oven, but they have been grilled to perfection on our outdoor grill as well by Mr. Parveez and they come out perfectly juicy and delicious. You can always cook them on the pan too. Kebabs are something that cross out all the restrictions and can be made anytime anywhere. I fail to understand recipes that only require an oven. That should never be the case. So, oven, no oven, grill, no grill…as long as you have these kebabs marinated the right way and have fire, these kebabs can be cooked in no time.

I generally do not serve them with the stick unless I make them for a kid’s party. If you are using the wooden skewers, always soak them in water for 20 minutes before adding your kebabs to it. Soaking in water doesn’t let them burn in the pan or oven while cooking.

These kebabs are very appealing and inviting and an instant hit. They melt in the mouth, while the spices give you a light kick, the cream base cools your taste buds down making these irresistible little chunks soft and juicy and delicious enough for you to lose the count of how many you relished.

Chicken in the Egg

This is a fluke dish, like so many other ones. My boys love eating Tandoori chicken and during the covid 19 stay at home days, their super inquisitive minds always came up something new and they were adamant that I implement those ideas and make something for them.

So, one day my older one said, can’t you make Chicken rolls in something that isn’t Roti or bread. I first thought of adding them to Lettuce and making Lettuce wraps, but I was out of Lettuce or Cabbage, so I came up with the idea of making Omelet and wrapping some chicken in it. I initially couldn’t decide how to spice up my chicken, as in what kind of marinade I should use and then I felt trying it with my Tandoori chicken would be the best idea.

Tandoori Chicken was marinated for an hour with Yogurt, ginger garlic paste, tandoori powder, Red chili, salt and Lemon juice. The omelet was made with whisked eggs, salt and white pepper powder. I cooked the Tandoori chicken on a pan, though you can always grill or bake yours if you want to. This is an easy dish, you can always cook it for a playdate, easy snack, Game time snack or even Lunch and Dinner. Enjoy!!!