This recipe for chicken pakora is desi flavored infused and it is my very own recipe. It is just like normal pakoras but made with chicken and with a different technique and some extra ingredients. When I made it last year in an Iftar party, my guests loved it; the chicken was flavorsome, tender and juicy.
ingredients:
1.5 kilo chicken, cut into small pieces, tikka cut with bones
1 tbspn ginger garlic & green chilli paste
2 tbspns lemon juice
1 tbspn vinegar
Salt to taste
½ tspn black pepper
½ tspn chicken powder
1 tbspn cracked coriander seeds
A generous pinch of carom seeds
1 tspn roasted crushed cumin seeds
A generous pinch of kasuri methi (crushed between palms)
½ tspn garam masala powder
1 tbspn crushed anar dana (pomegranate seeds)
1 tbspn red chilli flakes & powder
A pinch of yellow food color
4 tbspns besan, chickpea flour
A pinch of baking powder
1 tspn levelled corn flour
1 egg
1 tspn yogurt
Oil for deep frying (2 cups vegetable + 2 cup mustard oil)
Method:
In a mixing bowl, marinate chicken in salt, red chilli powder & flakes, lemon juice, ginger garlic & green chilli paste, vinegar, chicken powder, black pepper, carom seeds, cumin, food color & garam masala and keep aside for 40 to 50 minutes at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.
In a separate bowl mix the remaining ingredients (except oil) and add it to the marinated chicken. Mix and keep aside for 10 minutes.
Mix and heat both the oils to 180 degrees Celsius and fry chicken pieces in batches for 7 – 8 minutes.
Chicken salad filled croissants is a beautiful addition to your tea table or Iftar table or any potluck. It is gourmet style yet easy crowd pleaser which will make you look like pro chef 😀
Ingredients
12 mini croissants/ 6 large croissants
Few rocket leaves/ coral lettuce leaves (if rocket leaves are not available)
FOR CHICKEN
2 chicken breasts, large size
2 tbspns olive oil
Salt to taste
Cracked black pepper, a generous pinch
Red chilli flakes, a generous pinch
¼ tspn mustard powder/ 2 tbspns Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
FOR CHICKEN SALAD
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup cream
½ cup sour cream
A pinch of icing sugar
A generous pinch of cracked black pepper
¼ tspn mustard powder
1 tspn hot English mustard
A generous pinch of table salt
Few green sprigs of spring onions, sliced
2 tbspns chopped celery stalks
2 tbspns chopped cucumber
Method
Wash, clean and pat dry chicken breasts. Thaw them with meat hammer until they are 1.5 cm in thickness.
Mix everything given for chicken in a bowl and marinate chicken for good 40 minutes to 1 hour.
Heat a grill pan, brush some butter and grill chicken breasts for 5 minutes per side.
Remove from the grill and let it cool.
Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, mix all the sauces and spices with a whisk. Mix in the veggies.
Shred/ cut the grilled chicken and add it to the mixture.
Cut the croissants from the middle lengthways to fill in the filling but not till the end.
Stuff in a rocket leaf and 1.5 tbspns of chicken mixture (in mini croissant) or 2 rocket leaves and 3 tbspns of chicken mixture (in large croissant) in each croissant.
Arrange all the croissants on a platter and serve.
Dam ka keema is one of my favourites in Pakistani home cooking. It is an ideal dish for all sort of parties, lunch or dinner & sehri/ suhoor in Ramadan. It is best served with plain paratha & rumaali roti but goes good with daal chaawal as well.
Try it & let me know how you go….
Ingredients
1 kg mincemeat (mutton/ beef)
6 medium sized onions, sliced
1 cup oil
2 tbspns ginger garlic & green chilli paste
1.5 cup yogurt (a bit sour)
Coal, for tempering
4 desi moti green chillies/ 2 Bengali green chillies
Heat oil and fry onions until they are golden & crispy but not dark. Take it out in a plate and leave the oil in the pan. Turn off the flame as we will be using the same oil to make the curry.
Combine fried onions, coriander, mint leaves, 1 green chilli, roasted chickpeas, poppy seed, almonds, yogurt and all the spices (except kasuri methi, nigella seeds, pomegranate seeds, garam masala & bay leaf) in blender and make a smooth paste.
Mix this smooth paste in mincemeat and keep it aside until needed.
Heat the same oil in the same pan (as it has the onion flavour) and fry bay leaf, ginger, garlic & green chilli paste until fragrant and a bit golden. Add the mincemeat mixture and start breaking it with the help of spatula.
Cook until it changes the colour.
Cover the pot and cook on low medium heat for 15 minutes.
Now mix in the other spice mix which is kasuri methi, nigella seeds, pomegranate seeds and garam masala. Add ginger juliennes & squeeze a lemon as well and cook further until the oil comes out and the water evaporates.
Heat the coal on flame until it is fully lit, place an onion peel or a piece of aluminium foil on keema and place the burning coal on it. Drizzle some oil and cover it with the lid for 10 minutes.
Garnish with green chillies, mint, ginger & coriander and serve hot with Rumali roti/ paratha or chapatti.
Bhindi gosht…… a very beloved dish in Pakistani home cooking but not my favorite. There was a time when I would know my mother has cooked Bhindi & I will run to my Dado (grandmother) or Chachi (aunt) for something good to eat 😀 Then I got married and my husband loves bhindi so I had to cook for him. I knew how to cook it as I have seen my mother, my chachi & my dado cooking it but I never tried it. So when I cooked it for the first time, no one liked it 😀 as you know I am the master of only my favorite recipes 😀 I cooked bhindi only 4 times in my 13 year marriage. Then my bestie who is also a great chef, Sumaira told me this recipe and I cooked it for my husband & my brother (who also loves bhindi) in last Ramadan (2020) during lockdown and they both loved it ❤ I ate it too and I liked it. Then I add some of my own ingredients like anar dana, carom seeds & fenugreek leaves to make it more interesting and viola!
here we are….. the legendary recipe for Bhindi gosht is here. Try it and let me know ❤
Ingredients:
1 kilo lady finger/ bhindi (ends trimmed, cut into pcs)
1 kilo mutton (backstrap & chops)
7 – 8 medium onions, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbspns crushed ginger & garlic
4 – 6 moti desi green chillies/ 2 – 3 Bengali green chillies/ 2 – 3 Thai green chillies
4 tbspns freshly chopped coriander
1.5 cup oil (divided in 3 parts)
SPICES
Salt 1 tspn/ to taste
1 tbspn red chilli powder & flakes
1 tspn turmeric powder
2 cloves
A generous pinch of dried fenugreek leaves/ kasuri methi
2 tbspns pomegranate seeds/ anaar dana (crushed to powder)
A generous pinch of carom seeds (ajwain)
1 tbspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
A generous pinch of garam masala
METHOD
Combine half of the onions, 1 tbspn ginger & garlic, 2 green chillies, salt, cloves, meat and a glass of water in pressure cooker. Mix and cook until the meat is tender. I cooked for 30 to 40 minutes in pressure cooker on medium heat. Open the pressure cooker and add the 2nd part of oil. Stir fry the meat until there is no water remaining and the meat looks & onions look like masala. Remove from heat.
While meat is being cooked, take a part of oil in a wok and stir fry lady finger until it is light brown and the slime is gone. Take it out in a plate until needed.
Now in the same wok heat the 3rd part of the oil and add 1 tbspn ginger garlic paste. Sauté’ until fragrant and add tomatoes. Cook for sometime on medium heat until the tomato is mushy. Add all the spices except fenugreek leaves, anaar dana, garam masala & carom seeds because we will add these spices at the end as over cooking fenugreek leaves spoils its taste and frangrance & anaar dana, garam masala & carom seeds together give a dark color to the curry.
Cook the tomatoes well, splash some water if needed. Cook until the oil starts separating from the curry. Add the remaining onions and stir fry until the onions are translucent.
Now add fried ladyfinger and mix. Sprinkle some garam masala.
Transfer the meat from the pressure cooker to wok of bhindi and mix. Sprinkle some coriander, leftover green chillies, fenugreek leaves, crushed carom seeds & anaar dana. Cover the wok and cook for 10 minutes on very low heat.
Ayesha's Kitchen 