Tag Archives: Pakistani

Gaajar Ki Kheer (Carrot & Rice Pudding)

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Another winter sweet dish from Pakistan. We get really good, juicy, red carrots there in winter season and they are used in various sweet dishes, pickles and Murabbas (sweet pickle) and here I am gonna tell you a beautiful recipe with is made of carrots, ground rice and milk scented with cardamom and kewra. This dish is also very popular in Pakistan, specialy when it comes to home cooking. People make it as sweet dish after dinner. It is very nutritious but a bit fattening but anything taken in moderation is not bad for you….. Lets get started!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup basmati rice
  • 2 litres of full cream milk
  • 4 carrots (peeled and grated)
  • 1 cup raw sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup Khoya
  • 4 – 5 cardamom pods (crushed in mortar and pestle)
  • 4 tbspns kewra water
  • Some sliced almonds and pistachios

FOR KHOYA

  • 250 gms full cream milk powder
  • 150 ml full cream

Procedure:

-For khoya combine the two ingredients and microwave for 2 minutes without mixing.

-Take the bowl out stir and make a paste. Microwave the paste for 2.5 minutes. Take it out and allow to cool.

-Khoya is ready

-Take ¼ of khoya and put it in fridge for garnishing the final product.

-In a thick bottomed deep pan, pour some milk and let it half boil on medium heat. Stir occasionally; we don’t want milk to stick to the bottom.

-Meanwhile take 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup of basmati rice and microwave for 4 minutes. This will speed up the process of soaking the rice in water for 30 minutes or 1 hr. Take out the rice and crush them in mortal and pestle or in a blender with some cold milk.

-When the milk is about to boil add carrots, sugar, cardamom and ground rice. Stir.

-Let everything cook on low – medium heat with occasional stirring.

-When it gets thick and rice is fully cooked add khoya and mix. Cook for 10 more minutes and remove from heat.

-Spoon the mixture in a deep serving bowl and let it cool down a bit on your kitchen counter. Then refrigerate for 6 hours.

-When it is time to serve garnish with some almonds, pistachios and reserved khoya and there you go! You are ready to delight your guests.

Khoya is a traditional ingredient of South Asia which is widely used in South Asian sweets (gulaab jaman, barfi, Peda, etc.) and sweet dishes (gajar ka halwa, kheer, rabbri Milk, Zarda, etc.). It is basically milk solids which is mainly obtained by boiling and cooking milk to an extent when all the water is evaporated and only dough like thick milk solids are left. This method is mostly used by Halwaii (the person who make sweets for shops). As this method is very time consuming so just to cut down some time I have this easy and less time consuming method for you (which i mentioned above). The taste and quality is almost the same. Hope you guys like it 🙂

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 Boneless Handi

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Another very famous Pakistani restaurant menu item, now popular in Pakistani home cooking as well. Perfect blend of spices added in boneless chicken curry ……. yum……

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 2 boneless chicken thigh fillets
  • 2 boneless chicken breast fillets
  • ½ cup oil
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 1 ½ cups yogurt
  • 7 – 8 green chillies (5 sliced)
  • ½ cup chopped fresh coriander
  • Salt to taste
  • ½ tspn chicken salt (optional)
  •  1 tbspn red chilli flakes
  • ½ tspn turmeric
  • 1 tspn coriander powder
  • ½ tspn garam masala
  • ½ tspn chaat masala
  • 1 tbspn grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tspn crushed fresh garlic
  • 1 tspn kasoori methi/ fried fenugreek leaves
  • 2 tbspns julienne ginger

Procedure:

-Cut fillets into medium sized (smaller than bite size) chunks.

-Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced onion until they become translucent. Add ginger, half of the green chillies, chaat masala and garlic and fry for 1 minute on medium heat or until onion gets golden brown.

-Add chicken and salt and cook until the chicken gets white in colour. Now add all the spices and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes on medium – high heat.

-Add yogurt and cover the pan. Let it cook for 15 minutes on low – medium heat. Add garam masala and fenugreek leaves and let it simmer until the oil starts to separate.

-Dish out and garnish with fresh coriander, left over green chillies and ginger juliennes.

-Serve hot with tandoori roti & fresh salad.

Tomato Chutney (Tamatar Ki Chutney)

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Versatile chutney. The tangy taste of tomato, freshness of mint and kick of lemon juice. MUST TRY!!!!!!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup fresh mint leaves
  • 1 bunch fresh coriander
  • 1 medium sized truss tomato (cut into big cubes)
  • 4 small green chillies
  • 1 red onion (cut into big cubes)
  • ½ tspn chaat masala
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • Some salt
  • 1 tspn red chilli flakes
  • A pinch of garam masala

Procedure:

-In a mortar and pestle, grind all the veggies into chunky sauce. Add lemon juice and all the spices. Mix and serve with anything you want.

Sindhi Biryani

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Sindhi Biryani is one of the mos popular type of biryani in town after Bombay Biryani and Karachi Biryani & I like it the most as it is not very spicy and it is very aromatic. It is a special delicacy of Sindh Province, Pakistan and one of the popular dish in Pakistani home cooking as well ……. Try and fall in love with it ..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups basmati rice
  • 2 kgs mutton chops
  • 4 big potatoes cut into thick wedges
  • 6 onions
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 250 gms yogurt
  • 4 bayleaves
  • 8 big cardamoms
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 1 tbspn peppercorns
  • 1 tspn cloves
  • 2 tbspns crushed ginger
  • 1 tbspn crushed garlic
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbspns red chilli flakes
  • 1 tspn cumin seeds
  • Some mace and nutmeg
  • 8 dried plums soaked in warm water for 5 mins
  • 2 tbspns kewra essence
  • 1 bunch coriander chopped
  • 1 bunch mint leaves chopped
  • 4 pieces cinnamon
  • 1 tbspn heap full of garam masala
  • 3 lemons (cut into slices)
  • Some yellow food color
  • 1 cup oil

Procedure:

-Heat a cup of oil and fry onion until they are really golden and crunchy.

-Take them out in a plate for later use. ( reserve ¼ onion = 2 onions for later use)

-Turn off the flame and add all the spices except garam masala in the hot oil and let it splatter. Now add garlic and ginger and mix. Turn on the flame again and add meat.

-Stir fry meat and add salt.

-When the meat begins to get grey and a bit cooked add water and give it a boil.

-Meanwhile crush the larger portion of onion in mortar and pestle and mix the paste with yogurt. Mix in half of the chopped coriander and mint leaves and garam masala powder and add this to the boiling meat and let it cook on low heat for 30 – 35 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles and then add potatoes and cook on medium – high heat covered until the water evaporates, potatoes are tender and masala is formed. Now add soaked dried plums and mix.

-Boil rice to 3/4th strength and discard the starchy water or you can do what I do. Cook rice in rice cooker (very easy method).

-Now in a separate deep cooking pot lay a layer of rice then some sliced tomatoes, then half of the meat curry then some lemon slices some chopped coriander and mint leaves and then repeat the whole order of layering again putting coriander, mint and green chillies on the top. Drizzle some kewra essence and ome yellow food colour and cook covered on low heat for 5 minutes (if you have cooked rice in a rice cooker) and for 15 minutes (if rice are boiled in a vessel to 3/4th strength).

-Now gently mix the rice and curry layers and dish out.

-Garnish with some crunchy golden fried onion and serve hot.

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Gulab Jaman (Semolina free)

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Semolina free gulab jaman…. all milk & extremely easy to make ………

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups full cream milk powder
  • 2 tbspns self raising flour
  • 1 tspn baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 – 3 tbspn ghee
  • Some almonds, pistachios and silver edible foil for garnishing
  • Oil for deep frying

FOR SHEERA (SUGAR SYRUP)

  • 3 cups water
  • few cardamo seeds
  • 3 cups raw sugar
  • ½ cup brown packed sugar
  • 1 tspn kewra essence

Procedure:

-In a saucepan put everything given for sheera and stir to a boil.

-In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients (except eggs) given for gulab jaman and mix.

-Now whisk two eggs and gradually add them to the dry ingredients and knead. Knead the dough and if it is sticky leave it for 5 -minutes.

-Heat oil to the point where you drop a small ball of dough, it rests at the bottom for some seconds and then rise to the surface of the oil with a little bit of hissing. To get this temperature you may have to repeat this temperature test twice or thrice.

-Now with clean hands roll 12 – 14 balls or ovals from this dough and drop 4 – 6 at a time (depending on the size of your pan) to fry. When they come up to the surface of the oil keep moving the balls gently to get even colouring. When you get the desired color take the balls out of the oil and put them in hot sugar syrup.

-Dish out, garnish with pistachios, almonds and edible silver foil, and serve.