Author Archives: Ayesha Haq

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About Ayesha Haq

A versatile chef ...

Chicken Cheddar Sandwiches

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Easy to make, easy to impress and yummy to eat….. Ideal for picnics, tea parties, Iftars, lunch boxes, snacks, etc.

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 1 whole sandwich bread (white or brown)

FOR CHICKEN

  • 1 chicken breast
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1 tbspn soy sauce
  • 1 tbspn hot sauce
  • 1 cup water for boiling the chicken

FOR SPREAD

  • 1 cup chopped baby spinach
  • 2 green onions chopped
  • ¼ tspn mustard powder
  • 1 tbspn cracked black pepper
  • ¼ tspn white pepper
  • 1 tspn chicken salt
  • 1 cup mayonnaise (I use kraft foods)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 slices smoked cheddar cheese slices (processed cheese) (chopped)
  • 1 cup cos lettuce chopped

Procedure:

  • Boil the chicken breast with all the ingredients given for chicken. Let it cool down and shred.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for spread and mix in the chicken.
  • If you want to you can trim off the sides of the bread and spread the chicken mixture on one slice, enclosing the sandwich with the other bread slice.
  • Cut each sandwich into bite size squares or cocktail food size triangles and serve.

Aalu Papri Chaat

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Aalu Papri Chaat is a famous chaat in South Asia Sub Continent. It is a street snack often consumed during shopping or after school or college. The preparation time for this recipe is more than assembling time, but its really easy and each and every second is worth it.

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Ingredients:

  • 1 large potato (cut into small cubes and boiled to perfection, chilled)
  • 1 cup boiled chickpeas
  • 2 cups papri/ Namak Paare
  • 1 large red onion chopped
  • 1 tomato (deseeded and chopped)
  • 2 small green chillies chopped fine
  • 2 tbspns date and tamarid sauce or meethi imli chutney
  • 4 tbspns nimko/ sev (I used Haldiram Navratan)

FOR MINT SAUCE

  • 1 cup fresh mint leaves
  • 1 cup fresh coriander leaves
  • 2 green chillies (small size)/ 1 green chilli (if you don’t want too hot)
  • 1 cup yogurt whipped with ¼ cup water

FOR YOGURT SAUCE

  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1 tbspn sugar
  • ¼ cup cold water

FOR SPICY SAUCE

  •  1 cup yogurt
  • 2 tbspns chaat masala
  • ¼ cup water

Procedure:

  • Cut and boil the potatoes and chop all the veggies.
  • Let’s make all the three sauces:
  1. Mint sauce: in a mortar and pestle, crush mint, coriander and green chillies and add salt. Mix with whipped yogurt.
  2. Yogurt Sauce: Whip all the ingredients together.
  3. Spicy Sauce: Whip all the ingredients together.
  • Now it’s time to assemble the chaat. Due to Papri and yogurt we can’t assemble and keep this chaat for long as the papri will get soggy so please assemble it 5 minutes before serving to get the best taste.
  • In two plates divide papri, chickpeas, onion, tomato, potato ad green chillies for each serving. This recipe will make two servings.
  • Now in the serving plate, first lay a layer of papri, some onion, tomato, chick peas and potato. Drizzle some of each sauce. Add remaining onion, potato and tomato and then another drizzle of each sauce. Drizzle some tamarind sauce and sprinkle some sev or nimko and serve.*Please make sure the sauces and the potatoes are chilled.

Asian Inspired Chicken Vegetable Pasta

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A very famous dish in Pakistani home cooking among young girls and probably a favorite of all age groups. Normally people add all the veggies and the sauce right after the chicken is cooked and then pasta at the end which make veggies soggy and discolored and obviously everything taste like sauce and lose their own taste, so I have told you my technique below where you know when to add what and you get a perfect full of life and taste pasta to see and eat.

Easy to make and yum to eat!

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Ingredients:

  • 500 gms pasta boiled (any pasta)
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 chicken breast cut into thin strips
  • Salt
  • Cracked black pepper to taste
  • ½ cabbage sliced (3 cups approx.)
  • 2 carrots julienne (1 ½ cup approx.)
  • 1 capsicum sliced
  • 3 green onions sliced
  • 1 tspn minced garlic
  • 1 tspn crushed ginger

FOR SAUCE

  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ¼ cup vinegar
  • ¼ cup chilli sauce of your choice
  • 2 tbspns ketchup
  • 1 tspn ground black pepper
  • ¼ tspn white pepper
  • 1 tspn chicken salt/ chicken stock powder

Procedure:

  • In a cup combine all the ingredients given for sauce and mix well.
  • Heat oil in a wok and fry chicken strips with garlic and ginger. Add salt when the chicken turns white. Now add cabbage and carrots and stir fry for 5 minutes.
  • Add the boiled pasta and mix. Add the sauce we prepared earlier and stir for 2 minutes on medium heat. Add scallions and capsicum, top it with some freshly cracked black pepper and mix.
  • Cook further for another minute with constant mixing and stirring and serve hot.

Dahi Phulki

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Dahi Phulki….. a side dish for Biryani or an appetizer in Iftar or a street snack…… tastes the best in any form. Very simple to make but your guests will be amazed by the effort you have put in….. If you are anything like me who likes to listen compliments…. go ahead. This is your dish!

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cups boiled phulki
  • 1 cup boiled cubed potato
  • 1 large red onion chopped
  • 3 cups yogurt
  • 1 cup cold water
  • 1 tbspn sugar
  • 2 tbspns chaat masala
  • 2 small hot green chillies chopped fine
  • 3 tbspns tamarind sauce
  • 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage

Procedure:

  • In a deep mixing bowl, combine yogurt, water, sugar and 1 tbspn chaat masala and whisk until its smooth. Add boiled pakorian/ phulki, cabbage, onion, 1 green chilli and potato and mix with gentle hands.
  • Take it out in the serving dish, drizzle some tamarind sauce, garnish with some green chillies and sprinkle rest of the chaat masala. Chill for 2 hours and serve.

Paya Curry

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Paya known as Paaye is a Pakistani curry made with simmering goat/ cow’s foot and spices mostly overnight on low flame. It is one of the favorite dishes of Pakistanis in winters but people who love it eat it in any season. If you know Lahore or Lahoris, you will be familiar with “Phajje ke Paaye”, one of the famous vendors of Paaye curry in Lahore. People from other cities of Pakistan come to Lahore to eat his food.

Paaye was not my favorite dish until I tried cooking it myself and adding all the spices according to my taste. This is my authentic recipe of paaye, very rich in taste and flavor. I hope you guys will give it a try and enjoy it with your friends and family. Any comments, please leave below.

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Ingredients

  • Oil 1 cup
  • 1.5 kilo Paya (cleaned and cut)
  • 2 medium sized onions (sliced)
  • 4 tbspns freshly crushed ginger and garlic (not paste)
  • 1 cup plain whipped yogurt
  • Water (as required, quantity given in the method below)
  • 5 green chillies (small)

SPICES

  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbspns red chilli flakes
  • 2 tbspns red chill powder
  • 1 tbspn black pepper
  • 1 tbspn turmeric powder
  • 2 tbspns coriander powder
  • 2 tbspns garam masala
  • 2 cloves
  • 4 peppercorns
  • 1 tspn ground kasuri methi
  • 1 tbspn ground carom seeds

Procedure:

-In a big, deep cooking pot, put washed and cleaned paya, salt, ginger, garlic, 1 onion and 15 cups of water and cook covered on low heat for 12 hours (if using beef paya) or 8 hours (if using goat paya). If the water dries out, add some more.

-When the payas are cooked and tender, in a separate pan fry rest of the onion and add all the spices. Please make sure you don’t burn the spices. (TIP: Combine all the spices in a bowl before frying the onion. This will cut your time of finding the spices in your pantry at this moment). Add the whipped yogurt and mix well on high heat.

-The yogurt will begin to crumble, just then add it to your simmering paya curry. Cook on low heat for 45 more minutes until the oil comes up and the curry gets thicker.

-Add 5 green chillies and serve hot with naan or kulcha.

-Enjoy with family and friends.

Mattar Paneer

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My favorite dish………

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Ingredients:

  • 400 gms paneer (cut into cubes of your desired size)
  • 2 cups boiled green peas
  • 2 onions chopped
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 2 cup water
  • 1 cup cream
  • 2 green chillies sliced
  • 4 tbspns chopped green coriander
  • ½ cup oil
  • 2 tbspn broken cashew nuts
  • 1 tbspn ginger garlic paste

SPICES

  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tspn crushed red chilli
  • ½ tspn cumin seeds
  • 1 tspn coriander powder
  • ½ tspn cumin powder
  • 1 tspn turmeric powder
  • 1 tbspn dried fenugreek leaves
  • 1 tspn garam masala powder

Procedure:

-Heat oil in a pan and fry cashew nuts until they look a bit roasted. Add onion and fry until they are translucent and part golden. Now add ginger garlic paste and cook until the rawness of ginger garlic paste goes away.

-Now add salt, red chillies, turmeric, cumin powder and coriander powder and stir. Add tomatoes and mix well. Add a little water in needed. Cook covered on medium heat so the tomatoes can get tender. After 6 – 8 minutes, mix and mash tomatoes. Remove from flame and let it cool for 5 mins.

-Blend it into a fine puree.

-Heat oil in the same pan and add the puree along with rest of the water. Bring it to a boil and add peas and cumin seeds. Let it cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Now add paneer, cream, garam masala, green chillies and kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves).

-Stir and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

-Garnish with some fresh coriander and serve hot with garlic rotis or boiled rice.

-Enjoy!