Tag Archives: Pakistani

Beef Korma (Recipe 1)

1 Reply

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.

Chicken Pakora

Leave a reply

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:

  1. 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.
  2. In a separate bowl mix the remaining ingredients (except oil) and add it to the marinated chicken. Mix and keep aside for 10 minutes.
  3. Mix and heat both the oils to 180 degrees Celsius and fry chicken pieces in batches for 7 – 8 minutes.
  4. Serve hot with mint sauce, imli sauce & ketchup.

Dam Ka Keema

Leave a reply

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
  • 4 tbspns coriander leaves
  • ½ cup mint leaves
  • 7 – 8 almonds
  • ¼ cup roasted chickpeas
  • 2 tbspns ginger juliennes
  • 1 lemon

SPICES

  • ½ tspn poppy seeds
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbspns red chilli flakes & powder (heapful)
  • 1 tspn turmeric (heapful)
  • 1 tbspn meat tenderizer (raw papaya paste)
  • 1 tbspn coriander powder
  • 1 tbspn roasted and crushed cumin
  • 1 tspn black pepper
  • 1 tspn kasuri methi, ½ tspn nigella seeds & 2 tbspns pomegranate seeds (make powder together)
  • 1 tbspn Shan Bihari masala
  • Garam masala

FOR GARNISH

  • Ginger juliennes
  • Green chillies
  • Mint & coriander leaves (chopped)

METHOD

  • 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 (Ladyfinger cooked with Mutton)

Leave a reply

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Now add fried ladyfinger and mix. Sprinkle some garam masala.
  6. 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.
  7. Serve hot with roti.

Daal

Leave a reply

A very simple and easy word to say but if cooked with this recipe, has a lot of flavor and chatkhara in it…. This is my very own recipe which is a crowd pleaser because I work hard on my daal roti ❤ 😀 Daal roti/ daal chaawal (daal with rice) is everything; its easy, its quick, its cheap, it is a great comfort food, it is nutritious, it is high in protien, it satisfies all the desi cravings….. what else you need from daal? 😀 (It is great for weight loss as well…. if not cooked this way 😀 because I make it rich by adding butter, sometimes ghee and cream to it)

But 1 thing for sure….. This is the best recipe for daaaaaal….. you will not find another one! I sometimes pair it with chicken haandi or any vegetable curry like aloo bengan, bhindi fry, aloo katli, etc. and sometimes with keema tikkian or shaaaaami kebab, hence it is a friendly dish which can create a spicy duo with anything 😀

 Ingredients

  • 1 cup moong daal
  • 1 cup masoor daal
  • 1 cup channa daal
  • 2 chicken cubes/ 2 tbspns heapful chicken powder (OPTIONAL)
  • 1 tbspn chilli flakes & powder
  • 1 tspn turmeric

FOR TADKA

  • 2 scoops desi ghee & a splash of olive oil
  • 1 large onion (cut into thin rings)
  • 1 tomato (chopped)
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tspn cumin seeds
  • 8 – 10 curry leaves
  • 2 desi green chillies

FOR GARNISH

  • Fresh cream
  • Green chillies
  • Chopped coriander leaves
  • Some garam masala (optional)

METHOD

  1. Combine all the lentils in a mixing bowl and wash. Soak in warm water for about 2 hours. Discard the water.
  2. In a deep cooking pan, add lentils & 6 cups of water along with salt (if you are not using chicken cubes/ chicken salt), red chilli flakes and powder & turmeric. Bring everything to a boil and cook until it reaches the consistency of daal.
  3. Remove from flame and add some chopped green chillies & coriander.
  4. In a frying pan, melt some ghee and add a splash of oil. Fry onions until they are golden and crispy and add the other ingredients given for tadka. Cook until the tomatoes are soft and add it to daal. Stir.
  5. Scoop out in the serving bowl and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle some fresh cream/ cooking cream and garnish with leftover green chillies and coriander. Serve with boiled rice or paratha.

Missi Roti aka Besan ki Roti

Leave a reply

Missi Roti is also known as Besan ki roti and it is very famous in Pakistani & Indian home cooking. Not something you will find on every restaurant’s menu like paratha or tandoori roti but at home everyone knows this. So next time someone from Pakistan tries to be a burger and say they dont know missi roti don’t believe them 😀 they all have eaten it once in their life.

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup wholemeal flour (aata)
  • 1 cup gram flour (besan)
  • 1 small red onion (finely chopped)
  • 4 – 5 small green chillies (finely chopped)
  • 2 tbspns chopped green coriander
  • Salt to taste
  • Red chilli flakes to taste
  • A generous pinch of carom seeds (ajwain)
  • 1 tbspn cracked coriander seeds
  • ½ tspn crushed cumin seeds
  • 1 tbspns crushed pomegranate seeds
  • Some luke warm water to knead the dough
  • Ghee/ butter/ oil for frying the roti (I prefer ghee as it smells, tastes and feels more traditional)

Method:

  1. Mix everything (except oil & water) in a mixing bowl and knead a dough by mixing in water gradually. The dough should be firm to touch and not sticky.
  2. Pour some oil over the dough and keep it aside covered with a kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
  3. Divide the dough into 4 parts and make balls. Flat those balls like a roti/ chappati by dusting some aata on it and with the help of rolling pin.
  4. Preheat the griddle/ tawa on medium heat and place one roti on it.
  5. When it starts changing its color flip the side and apply some ghee on it. Flip the side and apple some ghee on the other side and cook until the roti is light brown.
  6. Do the same with other 3 rotis and serve hot with Lassi, achar, raita, chutney or Pakistani mangoes.

Ayesha’s Kitchen