Tag Archives: Curry

Delhi Style Butter Chicken

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My mum and sister were visiting me last month and my sister wanted to eat butter chicken. She started liking butter chicken on her Turkey trip and since then she has been trying to make it at home.

I made this for her and all the people on table loved it. I combined 2 3 recipes from internet, gave it my own twist and it tasted ahhh mayyy zingggg!

P.S If you are looking for sweet, westernised, british, gora type butter chicken then please scroll down because this is the actual Punjabi – Delhi style butter chicken Burrrrrrrrah! 😁 its hot, its tangy, its spicy and its flavourful, so lets dig into the recipe…..

Ingredients

FOR CHICKEN MARINATION

2 tbspns mustard oil

1 tbspn Kashmiri or deghi red chilli powder (this chilli is low on spice, high on colour)

1 tbspn red chilli flakes

A generous pinch of aamchur powder

1 tbspn coriander powder

1 tspn cumin powder

1 tspn chaat masala

A small pinch of kasuri methi

A generous pinch of black pepper

1 tbspn ginger garlic and green chilli paste

Salt to taste

2 tbpns yogurt

500 gms boneless chicken (mix of thigh and breast fillet or if you want more flavour, use thigh piece only) cut into 2 inch cubes

FOR CURRY

100g onions (1 and half onion)

500g tomatoes (4 medium sized 🍅)

50g cashew nuts (1/3 cup)

2 tbspns vinegar (trust me on that!)

1 tbspn ginger garlic and green chilli paste

1 tbspn coriander powder

1 tspn cumin powder

A generous pinch of garam masala

1 generous pinch of kasuri methi (crushed between palms)

4 to 6 Kashmiri chillies

1 tspn red chilli powder

Salt to taste

A generous pinch or 1/2 tspn brown sugar to balance the tang of tomatoes

4 tbspns oil

A knob of butter

3 to 4 tbspns cooking cream

2 green cardamom

A generous pinch of cumin seeds

Method

🐓Let marinate the chicken first. In a mixing bowl splash some mustard oil and add all the spices and mix. Now add ginger garlic and green chilli paste along with chicken pieces and mix well. Coat all the chicken in this mixture and allow it to marinate for 30 minutes.

🐓Now mix in yogurt and keep aside for 30 more minutes.

🐓Heat oil in a pan and cook this chicken until the chicken is 95% done and the masala is curdled. Cook for further for 2 minutes on high heat to give that char on the chicken pieces. Remove from flame and keep aside until needed.

Lets prepare the curry….

🐓Heat oil in a deep cooking pan or wok and crackle cumin seeds. Add roughly chopped onions and salt and cook until translucent. Now add roughly chopped tomatoes, cashews, vinegar, kashmiri red chillies and all the other spices except kasuri methi and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add a cup of water and cover the lid.

🐓Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Remove from flame and allow it to cool a bit.

🐓Pour the mixture in blender and blend it to a smooth paste.

🐓Now in the same pan, melt some butter and add a splash of oil. Pour in the curry and cook for 3 – 4 minutes on medium heat. Add sugar and stir.

🐓Now add cooked chicken along with all the masala and cook for further 5 to 6 minutes.

🐓Finish off with cream, kasuri methi and coriander leaves.

🐓Serve hot with roti or steamed rice.

If you like it, dont forget to give a thumbs up 👍 and share it with your friends and family ❤️

Beef Korma (Recipe 1)

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Beef Korma is a famous wedding dish of rural Pakistan specially in the province of Punjab. Local people there call it “Kattay da salan”; “katta” as in calf and salan referring to a type of curry from Mughlai cuisine. Now it is becoming famous in urban home cooking as well. People make it on Eid al Adha and enjoy with their family and friends.

This is my very own recipe of beef korma and everyone in my family loves it. Tender veal curry pieces cooked in onion & yogurt based, mildly spiced, rich sauce served with hot naan or tandoori roti is just amayyyyy – zingggg!

Ingredients:

1 kg beef curry pieces

2 medium sized onions (sliced)

1 cup oil + ghee mix

1 cup yoghurt

2 tbspns ginger garlic (crushed)

3 cups water

Few drops kewra water (optional)

SPICES

Salt to taste

1 tspn red chilli powder

1 tspn red chilli flakes

1 tspn Kashmiri red chilli powder

1 tspn turmeric

2 bay leaves

6 peppercorns

6 cloves

2 pieces of cinnamon

4 cardamoms

1 tbspn crushed cumin

1 tbspn coriander powder

1 tspn garam masala

1/2 tspn black pepper

METHOD

– Pressure cook meat in 3 cups of water, 1 tbspn ginger garlic and salt. Cook until meat is 70% done.

– Heat oil and ghee in cooking pan and fry onions until they are golden and crispy. Take out the fried onion and let it cool down. Remove the oil pan from heat and let it cool down a bit as well.

– Put the oil pan on the flame again and add all the spices except black pepper and garam masala and stir. Add remaining ginger garlic paste and stir for few seconds. Scoop out the meat from the stock and add it to the spice mix and fry on medium heat. Add some stock as well and leave it on low heat to simmer.

– Crush the fried onions into coarse paste (in mortar and pestle) and add yogurt, garam masala and black pepper and mix.

– Add the yogurt mix to the meat and stir. Add remaining stock, check for salt, adjust the salt if needed, stir and put the lid on. Add kewra water.

– Cook covered for 20 to 25 minutes on low – medium heat.

– Check if the meat is tender and the oil is separated from the curry. If not, give another 5 to 10 minutes.

– Korma is ready!!!! Take it out in the serving dish and serve hot with rotis.

Butter Chicken

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Butter chicken, another North Indian delicacy, very famous and almost available in every Indian restaurant and take away but all of them does not taste good or authentic. With this recipe you can get the most authentic and great flavour of butter chicken because it has been mastered after 4 trials.

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR CHICKEN

  • 4 chicken thigh fillets (cut into big chunks/ 3 pcs. Per thigh fillet)
  • 1 tspn roasted gram flour (besan)
  • Salt to taste
  • A generous pinch of chicken salt
  • 1 tspn red chilli powder
  • 1 tspn cumin powder
  • 1 tspn special masala (a pinch of nigella seeds, a pinch of garam masala, a pinch of kasuri methi, a small pinch of ajwain, a pinch of black pepper corns and a pinch of cloves grind into a powder)
  • 1 tbspn yogurt
  • 1 tspn mustard oil
  • 1 tson ginger garlic and green chilli paste
  • A pinch of meat tenderizer

FOR CURRY

  • 3 tbspns oil
  • 2 generous knobs of butter
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 big cardamom
  • 3 small cardamoms
  • A stick of cinnamon
  • ½ tspn cumin seeds
  • 1 tbspn kasuri methi
  • 3 tbspns cooking cream
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 large tomatoes (cut into chunks)
  • 1 tbspn tomato paste
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • A small piece of ginger
  • 3 tbspns cashew nuts
  • 2 small green chillies
  • Some cream and chopped coriander for garnish

Method:

FOR CHICKEN

  1. Wash, pat dry and cut chicken into chunks.
  2. Apply all the dry spices and ginger garlic paste mixed with mustard oil and keep aside for 20 minutes.
  3. Now add gram flour and yogurt and mix well. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
  4. Heat the grill plan to high and grill the chicken chunks to 3 mins per side. (Do not flip over and over, just 2 flips are fine)
  5. Keep aside until needed.

FOR CURRY

  1. Heat oil and sweat the onions. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and all the whole spices along with cashews. Saute for around 2 minutes and add tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook on medium heat with the lid on until the tomatoes are mushy.  Add water if needed.
  2. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for a bit. Take out the bay leaf and cinnamon. Now add 1 cup warm water and blend it to puree.
  3. Pass it through the sieve to get the silky smooth curry and discard the residue.
  4. Heat the same pan and melt 2 knobs of butter. When the butter is melted and hot add the curry. Let it simmer for 2 minutes, then add fenugreek leaves by crushing between your palms to get the extra flavour and fragrance and add cream. Stir and add the grilled chicken and let it cook in the curry for 1 minute.
  5. Take it out in the serving bowl, let it cool for 2 minutes and then garnish with cream and coriander.
  6. Serve with boiled rice/ naan/ garlic naan.

 

Malai Kofta

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Malai kofta/ kofta makhni is an Indian Punjabi vegetarian dish. Soft paneer and potato balls, lightly spiced and fried, simmered in a silky smooth mild curry, served with hot garlic roti, naan or rice is a delicacy from North India which is served in almost every Indian restaurant around the world. My personal favorite is from “Aangan” restaurant on Derrimut road in Melbourne, Australia. I loved it so much that I have to figure out the recipe after 20 different recipes trial.

So this recipe is my configured recipe after trying 20 different recipes from known youtube chefs….. ❤

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR KOFTAS

  • 1 cup boiled, peeled and grated potatoes
  • 2 cups grated paneer/ cottage cheese/ ricotta cheese
  • 4 tbspns broken cashews
  • 4 tbspns finely chopped green chillies (I use Bengali/ Thai green chilli because it is rich in flavour and heat, you can use any of your choice and adjust it according to your heat tolerance level)
  • 2 tbspns finely chopped green coriander
  • 1 tspn roasted crushed cumin seeds
  • 1 tspn crushed coriander seeds
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tbspn corn flour
  • 1 cup flour (to coat the koftas before frying)
  • Oil for deep frying

FOR CURRY

  • 2 generously big knobs of butter
  • 3 tbspns cooking oil
  • 1 large onion or 2 small onions (chopped)
  • 2 large tomatoes (cut into chunks)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tspn red chilli powder (preferably Kashmiri red chilli because it is rich in bright red color)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 green cardamom
  • A piece of cinnamon
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 tbspn ginger and garlic paste
  • 2 green chillies
  • 2 tbspns raw cashews
  • 1 tspn cumin powder
  • 2 tbspns cooking cream
  • 1 tspn kasuri methi

Method:

  1. For koftas, combine everything (except oil for frying and flour for coating) in a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt and mix until it combines into a tough dough. We add corn flour in these koftas because it absorbs all the extra moisture and this helps in frying the koftas without breaking. It will be difficult to shape out koftas from this tough dough but it is doable.
  2. Roll the koftas in plain flour and shake off the excess flour. Refrigerate for 15 mins.
  3. Meanwhile, lets prepare our curry.
  4. For curry, heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, cardamoms, cinnamon, green chillies and onions. Saute until the onions are translucent BUT NOT BROWN. Add ginger garlic paste and cashews and saute for further 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are mushy. Add 2 cups warm water and let it simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on.
  5. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep pan, take out the koftas from the fridge and deep fry until golden brown.
  6. Take the curry pot off the flame and let it cool. Take out the bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Pour the mixture in the blender and blend it into a fine puree. Pass it through a sieve to collect the silky, smooth curry. Discard the residue.
  7. In the same pot, melt some butter and pour the silky curry in it. Simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add cream and crush the fenugreek leaves/ kasuri methi with your palms and add to the curry. Mix gently.

Now you have 2 options:
1. Either put koftas in the curry now and simmer for 1 minute and turn off the flame and serve with a garnish of cream and coriander.

2. Or plate the koftas in the serving dish and pour over the curry and serve with a garnish of cream and coriander.

 

 

Chicken Manchurian

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Chicken Manchurian is a ketchup based sauce dish very popular in Pakistani Chinese Cuisine. You get it in every Chinese restaurant and its community’s favourite. The sweet and sour taste blends very well with chicken fried rice or egg fried rice or beef chilli rice and even with boiled rice…… Try it and fall in love with it 🙂

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR CHICKEN

  • 2 boneless chicken breasts (cut into medium sized cubes)
  • Some salt
  • Some black pepper
  • 4 tbspns corn flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbspns chilli sauce
  • 1 tbspn vinegar
  • Oil for deep frying

FOR SAUCE

  • 2 cups hienz tomato ketchup
  • 2 ½ cups chicken stock (chicken cube in hot water or chicken powder dissolved in hot water)
  • Few spring onion (green part – for garnishing)
  • 2 tbspns olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 ½ tbspn corn flour dissolved in ½ cup water
  • 3 tbspns chilli sauce
  • 1 tspn chilli flakes
  • 2 tbspns soy sauce
  • 1 tspn sugar
  • Some salt
  • Some black pepper corns

Procedure:

-In a mixing bowl combine chicken with all the ingredients except eggs and corn flour. Mix well.

-Now add eggs and corn flour and mix well. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

-Heat oil in a pan and fry chicken pieces until they are brown.

-Take them out on a paper towel and make the sauce.

-In a mixing bowl combine all the seasonings, ketchup and chicken stock. Mix well ad avoid lumps.

-Heat olive oil in a wok and add chopped garlic. When it begins to change its colour add the sauce we made. Bring it to a boil.

-Now add corn flour mixture with constant stirring until it gets to the consistency you like your Manchurian to be.

-Now add fried chicken pieces and leave on stove on low heat for 5 minutes. Garnish with some spring onion and serve hot it egg fried rice.

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Chicken Shaljam (Chicken & Turnip Curry)

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Another not very popular but popular Pakistani home cooking dish. I like it, its yummy, and really really easy …..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo chicken cut into curry pieces
  • 2 large turnips cut into 4 thick wedges each
  • 2 onion medium sized sliced
  • 250 gms thick yogurt
  • 4 glasses warm – boiling water
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 tspn ginger paste
  • 1 tspn garlic paste
  • 2 big cardamoms
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 – 6 peppercorns
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbspn red chilli flakes
  • ½ tspn turmeric powder
  • 1 tspn garam masala
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 tspn fenugreek leaves
  • 1 cup chopped coriander
  • 4 – 6 green chillies (half sliced, half as they are)

Procedure:

-Heat oil and fry onion until they are brown and a little bit crunchy.

-Take them out with a slotted spoon and turn off the flame. The oil will be hot enough to fry spices and we do not want to burn the chillies.

-In the same oil, add all the spices (except garam masala and fenugreek leaves) and garlic and ginger paste and stir. After a minute turn on the flame and add chicken and salt. Stir fry on medium high heat until the chicken starts getting white and then golden.

-Add turnip wedges and mix.

-Now add water and reduce the heat and let it come to a boil. Meanwhile, crush the fried onions in mortar and pestle. Mix with yogurt and add this yogurt mixture to the boiling chicken stock.

-Keep the flame low to medium and cook it covered for 30 minutes. Take off the lid and add coriander and green chillies and simmer the curry to your wish. If you need runny shorba type of curry, then take it off the heat now or for a little thick curry let it simmer for 10 more minutes. Add garam masala and fenugreek leaves and serve hot with home-made chapatti.