My love for recreating restaurant-style recipes is REAL! I can control the ingredients and lighten them up as I like. The Nando’s Peri Peri chicken livers and Karachi’s famous Chicken Tikka Samosas are two such recipes I’ve adapted to be lighter and still delicious.

Difference between Indo-Chinese & Traditional Chinese Hot ‘n Sour Soup.

The traditional Chinese recipe features pork, tofu, dried Shiitake mushrooms, dried lilies, and other Asian ingredients, resulting in a rich, umami-flavored broth with a sour undertone. This is the soup you get when you order from any Chinese restaurant outside of South Asia.

The Indo-Chinese, aka Desi-style, hot and sour soup has a tomatoey and chili-based broth. It has a characteristic vibrant red color that sets it apart from all the other soups of the region. One of the popular street-style foods available in India and Pakistan. It is served with a special spiced vinegar that has green chilies cut in it! But don’t worry, you can totally control how much heat you want in your soup.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here are a couple of pointers and notes about the ingredients.

• Chicken broth – I’ve used my own broth recipe for this soup. But you can use pre-made vegetable stock or chicken stock, too.
• Shredded Chicken – The shredded chicken in this recipe comes from my broth, too. You can use any leftover chicken if you are using pre-made broth (or boil a chicken breast separately in salt and garlic powder).
• Chili oil – This is a Chinese condiment that adds a subtle layer of heat to the dish. I make my own chili oil at home, which I use. You can use any store-bought ones, too, or use regular oil instead.
• Chili garlic sauce – This is one of the main ingredients; it gives the soup its color, flavor, and heat. Chili garlic sauce is a type of ketchup that has tomato paste, garlic, and chili in it. The one I use is either homemade or from Knorr, easily available in South Asian stores. You can also make your own (see notes).
• Vegetables & Mushrooms – The standard veggies used in this dish are bell peppers, cabbage, and carrots. But this is your soup! Feel free to use any mushrooms and veggies you like to eat.
• Condiments – The soup uses all the basic condiments like vinegar, hot sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar.
• Thickener – Cornflour or Cornstarch is used to make this soup thick.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

How to make Desi Hot and Sour soup

Here’s a simple pictorial for you to make this soup easily.

Step 1: Sauté the mushrooms in chili oil in a deep pot.

Step 2: Add the vegetables and sweat them at high heat until all the moisture evaporates.

NOTE: Sweating and sauteing the vegetables gives you crunchier veggies and a longer shelf life.

Step 3: Add the shredded chicken, all the seasonings, and sauces to the pot.

Step 4: Add chicken broth and water to the soup and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 5: Add cornflour slurry to the soup and cook at medium-high heat.

Step 6: Allow the soup to thicken and add more cornflour if needed.

Serving

I like to garnish my soup with spring onions, but that is totally optional. This Desi version of the Hot n Sour soup is served with vinegar spiced with sliced green chilies, prawn crackers, and some soy sauce on the side.

You can serve it with some spicy Chicken Shashlik skewers to make a full meal!

Expert Tips

• Stir-frying the vegetables and mushrooms removes all the water they carry. It also kills microbes in the produce. It adds more flavor to the dish and helps increase the shelf life of the soup.
• If you are using store-bought chicken or vegetable stock, don’t add salt till you do a taste test, as store-bought stocks are generally high in sodium.
• I didn’t add any extra salt because all the sauces and the broth carry salt with them. Only season extra after tasting.

Modify Soup for Clean-Eating

Cooking at home already makes your food THAT much more nutritious because you’ll be using fresh, real ingredients to make it.

Here are some things to make your soup even more nutritious:

• Make the Chicken broth at home with organic or grass-fed chicken.
• Use low-sodium Soy sauce and Natural vinegar.
• Make your own chili garlic sauce with the measurements provided.
• Use fresh vegetables and mushrooms.
• You can use oats instead of cornflour as a thickener for your soup. Grind some oats to make powder and add 1 tsp to your soup. Let the oats cook for 10 mins, and you will have a nice, thick soup. Add more if needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Indo-Chinese recipes

Here are some top-notch recipes that I think you will love:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Chicken Hot and Sour soup

A restaurant style Indo-Chinese version of the traditional Chicken hot and sour soup,

Course Main Course, Snacks, Sides and Starters

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 121kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon chili oil see notes
• 1 Litre Chicken Broth see notes
• 2 cup water
• 1 cup Shredded chicken see notes
• 4-6 tablespoon corn starch Start with 4 and see if you need more.
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Vegetables

• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup julienned green bell pepper
• 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
• 1/3 cup sliced mushrooms canned or fresh

Sauces

• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 4 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 cup chili garlic sauce see note 2

Instructions

• In a pot, add chili oil and all the vegetables and mushroom. Saute at high heat for 3 to 4 mins or until all the water from the vegetables evaporate.
• Reduce heat to low and add the shredded chicken and all the sauces. Mix everything together.
• Add chicken broth and water to the pot and turn the heat back to high. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until the soup starts bubbling.
• Mix cornstarch with about 1/2 cup of water to make a smooth slurry and add it to the soup.
• Simmer for another 2-3 mins and allow the cornstarch to cook through and the soup to thicken.
• Adjust seasoning and add salt if needed.
• Serve with prawn crackers, soy sauce and vinegar with sliced green chilies cut into it.
  

Notes

Note 1 – Chicken Broth

For the chicken, you can use:

• 3/4 cup of leftover chicken, shredded
• Grill 1 chicken breast with salt, pepper, and garlic, then shred it to use.

For the broth, you can use:

• 3 cups of premade broth
• Any homemade broth or stock (you can use my chicken broth recipe to do this)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes with added garlic powder per Litre of Water. 

Note 2

Substitute for Chili garlic sauce (make your own sauce):

• 1/3 cup of tomato paste/ketchup
• + 2 tbsp of any red chili paste (like Sichuan sauce, sambal oelek)
• + 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic This is a spicy soup. If you’d like to make a milder version, use regular ketchup instead of chili garlic sauce. 

Other notes

• I didn’t add any extra salt to the soup, because the broth and sauces carry enough salt. Only season extra after you do a taste test. 
• You can use regular oil instead of chili oil.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 121kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 1633mg | Potassium: 178mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1393IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Chicken Hot and Sour soup appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

These simple, delicious Peri-Peri Chicken Livers are Portuguese in origin. They are super popular amongst South Africans, and I thaaaaaaank Nando’s, on behalf of the rest of the world, for introducing this absolutely finger-licking deliciousness to us.

They are saucy, spicy, tangy, and I loveeee love loveee that I can just make this up for lazy dinners when I don’t wanna be in the kitchen for more than 20 minutes.

Also, FYI, my favorite pastime is to find Restaurant foods that I love and then make them at home with nutritious alternatives. It’s cheaper and healthier and gives me my power back, you know? Like my P.F. Chang’s Dynamite prawns or the cult favorite Saudi Champagne are on top of that remake list.

Ingredients and Substitutions

You only need a handful of things to make this recipe. But the food police in me won’t give you many substitutions since we are aiming for the real “Nando’s taste”. (Soooorryyyyyy)

• Chicken livers – Wash them and cut them into smaller pieces. Fresh chicken livers always taste better.
• Spices – Coriander powder, paprika, black pepper, and salt.
• Peri Peri Sauce – No substitutions here, amigos. Im sure other brands have peri peri sauce on the market, but I went ahead and used the Nando’s one. So now the trick is to use the one that has the right spice level you like. I went with the Medium, because there are other spices too in the recipe. And I’d say it turned out on the spicier side. So if you’d like it to be less spicy, I’d suggest going for the garlic Peri Peri sauce.
• Garlic and Onion – Any onion would do, no issues. Garlic and onion are going to be finely chopped. This is probably the only cutting needed in this recipe.
• Cream – This recipe calls for cooking cream because its light and thin. But you can substitute with regular thick cream and simply add water to dilute (more later)
• Tomato paste – You have wiggle room here. You can use ketchup if you are out of paste.
• Oil and Butter – The Nando’s chicken livers are creamy, buttery, and spicy. Safe to say this recipe uses both oil and butter. But I’d let it pass if you are out of butter. Use oil only instead.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Instructions

I’ve put together all the steps in a simple pictorial for you to see how easy this is to make.

This is a simple recipe with only 10 minutes of cook time.

Step 1: Add oil and butter to a large skillet or pan. Toss in chopped onion and fry at medium heat until they turn translucent.

Step 2: Add minced garlic to onions and saute for a minute.

Step 3: Add chicken liver, spices, tomato paste, and lemon juice to the pan and saute them.

Step 4: Cook the liver till all the liquid evaporates and you can see oil separating on the sides.

Step 6: Add peri peri sauce and cream. Mix well and cook for 1 minute.

Step 5: Garnish with chopped parsley and some extra butter.

Expert Tips

• Give the chicken liver an acid treatment for about 5 minutes before cooking. You can use lemon or vinegar to do so. This removes any residual smell or odor from the liver.
• Fresh Liver always tastes better than frozen. That is true for all organ meat, really. Other than taste, even nutritionally, it is always better to go for fresh liver and cook it the same day.
• Kitchen scissors are better for cutting the slippery livers.

Serving and Pairing

Traditionally, these creamy Peri Peri chicken Livers are served with baked bread, and more authentically, the Portuguese rolls. Serve it with any bread or loaf of your liking, with butter and lemon on the side.

If you are serving this as an appetizer, then a nice apple chicken stir fry and fried rice as the main course would pair really well with it. You could also do a mild soup like the chicken corn soup, or grilled chicken and salad as the main. I’ve also served it as individual canapes for parties, and they turn out amazingggggg.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Peri Peri Chicken Liver

This is a Portugese style, chicken liver recipe, made with cream and peri peri sauce. It's delicious, spicy and is served with buns of your choice.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine Continental

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 402kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 450 gm Chicken Liver cut into smaller pieces
• 5 cloves Garlic minced
• 2 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Butter Added in 2 increments
• 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice Added in 2 increments
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt or to taste
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
• 1 table spoon Tomato paste
• 1/3 cup Peri Peri Sauce (medium) or to taste
• 3/4 cup Cooking Cream

Instructions

• Add half of the lemon juice to the wash chicken liver asnd set aside.
• In a large skillet or pan, add oil and half of the butter. Add onions and sautee them until they turn translucent.
• Now add garlic and chicken livers to the pan.
• Add all the spices, leftover lemon juice, tomato paste and remaining butter.
• Stir fry the livers for 3 to 4 minutes or until all the moisture evaporates and you can see oil seperating on the sides.
• Add peri peri sauce. Cook for a minute.
• Add cream and cook for another minute.
• Garnish with parsley and serve hot with Portugese rolls or any buns of your choice.

Video

Notes

• Treat chicken liver with vinegar or lemon juice for 5 minutes before cooking to remove any smell.
• If you don’t have cooking cream, use any normal fresh or thick cream and add water to it. (for 100 ml of thick cream, add enough water to make it into 3/4 cup of cream)

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 439mg | Sodium: 900mg | Potassium: 460mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 13584IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 11mg

The post Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken Livers appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

So, if I am being totally honest with you guys, I hadn’t tried Shakshuka before 2019. Ya! IT took me THAT long to try a Mediterranean classic living in the Middle East. How ironic is that! But when I did, I became a loyal fan instantly. Saudi Champagne, Shakshuka, and Arabian Nachos are my favorite finds here in the ME.

What is Shakshuka?

A traditional Shakshuka is a North African/Middle Eastern one-skillet dish made with a spicy tomato stew and poached eggs.  On my quest to find the best Shakshuka, I found that every restaurant had its version of a good Shakshuka. And tbh, I liked pretty much allll of them in a way. Naturally, I am going to share different versions with you over time…because why not! But today I thought I’d start with the basic, authentic, most delicious one!

Pronounced “SHAk-shooo-kah”, the word comes from Arabic, meaning “all mixed up” or “shaken”. This dish is my egg favorite since 2019! .

I mean it’s eggs, it’s a high-protein, delicious, guilt-free meal! Paired with a good sourdough, you have yourself a post-workout meal! Also, eggs for dinner, you guys, make that a thing.

Ingredients

• Eggs – Star of the dish. Use good-quality fresh large eggs.
• Tomatoes – Another core element of this recipe. Choose ripe, juicy red tomatoes. As an alternative, you can use peeled canned tomatoes as well. I’ve made this recipe with tomato puree and finely chopped tomatoes. Both work excellently!
• Seasoning – Salt, black pepper, cumin, coriander, and garlic.
• Bell pepper and onions
• Garnish – Simple parsley would do. To take it up a notch, spread out some feta cheese in the mix.

How to make Shakshuka

I’ve put together all the steps in a simple pictorial for you to see how easy this is to make.

Step 1: Add oil to a skillet. The prepping of this dish starts with chopped onions and garlic sautéed in that oil for 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 2: I like to take the onions to a slightly golden color, and then add chopped red bell peppers. Saute for a minute.

NOTE: The size of the bell pepper chunks is completely up to you. You can go as fine or as chunky as you like.

Step 3: Add tomato puree, spices, and seasonings to the skillet.

Step 4: Cover the skillet with a lid and let the tomatoes cook for 10 minutes or until most liquid evaporates.

Step 5: The tomato base is ready when most of the water has evaporated and you see some oil separation on the sides.

Step 6: Use a ladle to create 4 wells in the tomato base by pushing the tomato base aside. Break 4 eggs right into the wells. Cover the pan again.

NOTE: After oil separation, make sure the tomatoes are a little watery at this point and not too thick. You can add a little more water (about 1/4 cup) if you feel your tomato base has thickened too much.

Step 7: For a runny yolk, cook for 2 to 3 minutes. For well-cooked eggs, cook for 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 8: Season eggs with salt and black pepper. Garnish with parsley and/or feta cheese chunks and serve.

Get your toast going, and serve your Shakshuka garnished with dill or parsley and feta cheese on top. I have had my Shakshuka with Labneh, and I tell you, that combination has blown me away!

Top Tips

• The shakshuka is served directly in the skillet it is cooked in. So remember to choose the “nice” skillet from the cabinet when you make it.
• Always sprinkle salt and crushed black pepper on top of the eggs as well once they are done. Otherwise, the eggs might end up tasting bland.
• The right consistency of the tomato base is like that of a curry. Use this as a benchmark to decide if you need to add more water or increase the heat, and reduce the water from the tomato base.

Variations

• Add mushrooms to the Shakshuka base, it works so well!
• You can increase your fibre intake by adding some veggies to the tomato base too, like carrots, celery, or green beans.
• Top off the eggs with chili oil and crushed red chilis to up the heat.
• Thyme and oregano are great options for aromatics.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Shakshuka

Typical Mediterranean spicy eggs, cooked in a bed of tomato sauce with onions and garlic

Course Breakfast, brunch

Cuisine Mediterranean/Middle Eastern

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes minutes

Total Time 28 minutes minutes

Servings 2 servings

Calories 420kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 4 tbsp oil
• 1/2 a bell pepper diced
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 3 big tomatoes chopped fine almost paste like in a chopper with a little water – or 1 cup of canned tomatoes
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt + extra to sprinkle
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder + extra to sprinkle
• 1 tsp roasted cumin powder Zeera powder
• 1/2 tsp Coriander powder dhania powder
• A little feta cheese and chopped parsley to garnish

Instructions

• In a skillet pan, add oil, chopped garlic, onion and bell pepper and saute at medium heat.
• Once the onions turn translucent to light gold, add tomatoes and spices
• Add water, cover the skillet pan with a lid and let the tomatoes simmer for 10 to 15 mins at medium flame.
• Remove the lid and stir the tomato gravy. Most of the water should have evaporated by now.
• Make 4 depressions in the tomato gravy and break the eggs into those depressions.
• Reduce the flame to low and cover the skillet with a lit and let the eggs cook for 5 mins.
• Turn off the flame after 5 mins. Sprinkle salt and black pepper all over the egg.
• Garnish with feta cheese and parsley. Serve with toasted bread.

Notes

• The shakshuka is served directly in the skillet it is cooked in. So remember to choose the “nice” skillet from the cabinet when you make it.
• Always sprinkle salt and crushed black pepper on top of the eggs as well once they are done. Otherwise, the eggs might end up tasting bland.
• The right consistency of the tomato base is like that of a curry. Use this as a benchmark to decide if you need to add more water or increase the heat, and reduce the water from the tomato base.
• You can add veggies or mushrooms of your choice to the tomato base to make it more nutrient-dense. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 372mg | Sodium: 145mg | Potassium: 199mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 553IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Easy Shakshuka Recipe appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

With this recipe, I tip my hat to my Bihari roots. Crispy aloo bhujia fry is a popular dish in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India (where my dadi is originally from). And now I make it in my very Pakistani home and love it just as much. You can pair it with dal chawal, or have it with paratha roti or any flat bread of your choice. A chutney on the side and you have the perfect meal!

Ingredients

Here are a couple of pointers and notes about the ingredients.

• Potatoes – Use the potatoes that you are most comfortable cooking with. This is a very easy and forgiving recipe.
• Spices – Whole red chili, cumin seeds, and turmeric are the spices that add flavor to this recipe. They are used in very little quantities only to add some fragrance and subtle flavor.
• Oil – Any neutral oil works. You can also go for olive oil or ghee.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Instructions

I’ve put together all the steps in a simple pictorial for you to see how easy this is to make.

Step 1: Cut the potatoes into 4 thick wedges.

Step 2: Slice the potatoes into thin sections.

NOTE: If you don’t want to do it manually, you can use a mandolin or a slicer to make thin potato slices.

Step 3: Add oil, cumin seeds, and whole red chilies to a skillet or wok. Fry at medium flame for a minute.

Step 4: Add sliced onions.

Step 5: Allow the onions to fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until translucent.

Step 6: Add sliced potatoes.

Step 7: Add spices and mix.

Step 8: Cover the lid of the skillet for 10 minutes and reduce the heat to low.

Step 9: Remove the lid and adjust the salt.

Step 10: Finish cooking immediately or fry bhujia for another 5 minutes at high heat to create some crispy pieces of potatoes at the bottom of the pan.

Variations

Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they will make the recipe

• Spicy – This recipe is generally mild heat-wise. To pack more heat, add chopped up serrano green chilies or more red chili flakes.
• Other Vegetables: I have added sliced carrots and peas in the past to this recipe, which works beautifully.
• Tomato: For a more saucy/wet bhujia, you can add chopped tomato to the onions in the beginning. For a more curry-style potato, try my aloo ki tarkari (potato curry), eaten at brunches.
• Egg: Once your bhujia is ready, create a little space on the skillet and add an egg, topped with salt and pepper.

Top Tip

• DO NOT be heavy-handed with seasonings on this recipe, especially with salt. The potatoes tend to get oversalted very quickly. If in doubt, add less seasoning in the beginning and adjust later towards the end.
• A mandolin or a slicer is better if you want even thin slices.
• This potato fry is made essentially in steam and oil. If you’d like it to be crispy or CRISPIER, let it fry for longer, tossing it once or twice. An additional 5 minutes in the pan will give you a nice golden, crispy potato base and soft potatoes on top. Mix ’em up and you have the perfect combo of both.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Recipes on the blog

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Aloo Bhujia

Quick South Asian recipe made by frying potatoes in oil and simple spices.

Course 30 min meals

Cuisine Indian

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 3 servings

Calories 300kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 medium potatoes peeled
• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds zeera
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 4 whole button red chilies dried
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder haldi
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes or to taste
• 4 tablespoon cooking oil or ghee

Instructions

• Cut your potatoes into 4 equal wedges. Slice those wedges cross-sectionally as thin as you can. Set aside.
• Add oil to a wok/karhayii or skillet. On medium heat, add cumin seeds, whole red chilies to the oil.
• Add sliced onions and saute till the onions become translucent.
• Add the potatoes and remaining seasoning to the skillet and stirfry for 2 minutes.
• Reduce the heat to low and cover the skillet with a lid. Let the potatoes cook for 10 minutes.
• Remove the lid and check one potato slice to see if its cooked.
• Now you can finish cooking here or stirfry the potatoes for another 5 minutes at medium heat to get some bits to get crispy and golden on the bottom.
• Garnish with coriander and serve hot with roti, or dal and rice.

Notes

• DO NOT be heavy-handed with seasonings on this recipe, especially with salt. Add less seasoning and adjust later towards the end.
• A mandolin or a slicer is better if you want even thin slices.
• This potato fry is made essentially in steam and oil. If you’d like it to be crispy or CRISPIER, let it fry for longer, tossing it once or twice. An additional 5 minutes in the pan will give you a nice golden, crispy potato base and soft potatoes on top. Mix ’em up and you have the perfect combo of both.
• For more variations, try adding sliced carrots. 
• This bhujia is best eaten fresh and loses its crispiness if refrigerated. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 400mg | Potassium: 699mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 21IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Crispy Aloo Bhujia fry appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Bihari kababs and Chicken tikkas are both super popular Indo-Pakistani barbecue delicacies. Bihari kababs come from the land of Bihar, made traditionally with beef. Their key traits are subtle spice levels and silky smooth melt-in-mouth protein texture. So naturally, I just hadddd to create a fusion recipe, yaáll know how much I love that. Taking the characteristics of the Bihari kababs, I made a spice blend, fit for a gorgeous chicken tikka!

This tikka is such a great example of South Asian recipes where even low spice levels bring about super flavorful dishes, just like the great Balochistani Chicken Sajji or the subtle crispy aloo bhujia. Ok, I am tooooo excited! Let’s begin!

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here are a couple of pointers and notes about the ingredients.

• Skinless Chicken – For a proper tikka cut you either need breast pieces with wings attached or whole chicken legs. You also have to deeply score the chicken along the lengths to allow the marinate to seep in.
• Neutral Oil – Any vegetable oil, ghee or butter will do.
• Spices – Salt, red chili powder, cumin powder, black pepper, and garam masala powder.
• Fried Onions – Crispy brown fried onions are easily available in any Indian Pakistani grocery store, if you don’t want to fry it yourself. I usually fry some at home, takes around 5 minutes. You can use my crispy fried onions tutorial if you have questions.
• Yogurt
• Ginger garlic paste
• Meat Tenderizer – see “Tenderzing the chicken” section below
• Optional – Coal for smoke and roasted poppy seeds. Both are flavor and aroma enhancers and are easily skippable if you don’t have them on hand.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Tenderizing the Chicken

The chicken texture for this tikka is super soft and more like kababs. To achieve this texture you need to add a meat tenderizer to the chicken.

• Raw papaya paste – This is the best, tasteless option out there. You simply buy a jar of green papaya paste or whip up some at home. This will give you the exact texture we are going for.
• Meat tenderizers. 1/2 teaspoon of a meat tenderizer will also get the job done.
• Yogurt and Vinegar – This is a weak tenderizer. You need overnight marination for this combination to work on the chicken muscle fibers.

IMPORTANT TIP: Once you’ve added the papaya paste or meat tenderizer to your chicken, DO NOT marinate for more than 2 hours. If you prefer longer marination times, go for yogurt and vinegar instead.

Instructions

I’ve put together all the steps in a simple pictorial for you to see how easy this is to make.

STEP 1 Wash and pat the chicken dry. Deeply Score the chicken pieces along their length.

STEP 2 Combine all ingredients for the tikka marinade in a blender.

STEP 3 Make a smooth paste.

STEP 4 Marinate the chicken for 1 hour making sure all the cuts are deeply penetrated

STEP 5 Layout the chicken onto a lined baking tray.

STEP 6 Bake for 20 to 25 mins at 180C or 375F, flipping halfway through. Glaze with any leftover marinade when flipping.

PROPTIP: Turn on the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes towards the end to get that nice grilled/charred crispy bits.

Expert Tips

Here’s a recap of all the things that’ll make you ace this recipe:

• Score the chicken pieces deeply to allow the marination to penetrate through.
• Don’t throw away any leftover marinade. Glaze it on the chicken when you flip it over.
• If you are baking the tikka, turn on the broiler for the last 1 to 2 minutes to give it that charred crispy top.
• If you are marinating the chicken in advance for a barbecue party, skip the meat tenderizer and only add it 30 to 40 minutes before grilling or baking.
• Go for bigger chicken cuts for this recipe to give it the proper chicken tikka feel.
• Glazer the chicken with oil after once ready, to prevent it from drying out.

Pairing and serving suggestions

Honestly, it works perfectly as a stand-alone dish. Serve it with sliced onions and lemon on top with mint green chutney on the side. Damnnnnn, I am salivating. But on days, you feel like having “meals” type meals, here are some classic suggestions

• Pair with a homemade paratha, roti, or naan.
• If you are leaning towards flatbreads, a side of aloo ki tarkari (potato curry) or cholay ka salan (chickpea curry) would go perfectly with it.
• To keep it low-carb, pair it with a hearty nice salad like my evergreen kachumbar salad.
• A simple pea pulao/ matar pulao and yogurt.

Frequently Asked Questions

Similar Recipes for you

If you liked my Bihari tikka, you will love these Pakistani Chicken recipes.

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Bihari Chicken Tikka

A Bihari masala style marinated, melt in your mouth chicken, grilled or baked in the oven

Course 30 min meals, Chicken Recipes, dinner, HEALTHY RECIPES

Cuisine Fusion Food, Indian, pakistani, South Asian

Diet Halal

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4 pieces

Calories 166kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 4 pieces Chicken legs with thighs, skin removed and cuts along the length of the pieces. around 1 kg chicken
• Oil for cooking
• 1 piece coal for smoke

Chicken Marinade

• 1 large onion sliced and fried golden or 1/2 cup or prefried onions
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 2 teaspoon cumin seed powder roasted is even better
• 2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 2 tablespoon raw papaya paste or 1/2 teaspoon meat tenderizer.
• 1 tsp roasted poppy seeds optional
• 2 tablespoon oil

Instructions

• Wash and pat your chicken dry. Add cuts along the lengths of your chicken pieces.
• Add all the ingredients of the marinade to a blender. Make a smooth paste.
• Marinate the chicken pieces in the heavy marinade, covering all the slits. Cover the chicken and let it marinade for 2 hours not more. (If you wish to marinate longer or overnight, then skip the papaya paste)
• Remove the chicken from the fridge atleast 30 mins before you plan to cook it.

Cooking Methods

• On a BBQ grill –

  This is pretty straightforward. You fire up your grill and grill on both sides till it's nice and charred.
• Pan frying.

  Pan fry the pieces on a grill pan at high heat on both sides for about 4 mins each. Then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and let it cook for another 10 minutes. You can smoke coal at this point if you like.
• Baking and air frying-

  Preheat oven to 180 ℃ or 375 ℉. Grease a pan with oil or butter and place your chicken pieces on it. Coat the chicken with oil as well. Bake for 20 mins, 10 mins on each side. You can glaze the pieces with oil or leftover marinade when you flip them over. Broil for 1 minute towards the end for a nice charred finish. You can smoke it with coal at this point if you like.
• Serve with some extra lemon slices to squeeze on top, onion slices and mint chutney.

Notes

• The spice level of Bihari Chicken tikka is mostly moderate, you can add more red chili if you’d like a high spice level. 
• You can prepare all types of chicken cuts with the same marination. Reduce the salt to 1 tsp if using small boneless cubes.
• For a dairy-free recipe, you can substitute yogurt with 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
• Raw papaya paste makes the chicken super tender and gives you an authentic Bihari chicken texture. DO NOT leave the chicken uncooked for more than 4 hours the marination has papaya paste.
• If you don’t have the paste, then marinate your chicken overnight to allow the lemon and yogurt to soften the chicken. 
• You can use the same recipe on fish fillets

Nutrition

Serving: 1piece | Calories: 166kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 67g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 1199mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 368IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 0.3mg

The post Bihari Chicken Tikka appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

What is Khatti Dal?

Khatti literally translates to “sour”. This recipe uses tamarind to add a nice tart/tangy flavor to the dal. Hyderabadi Cuisine in India/Pakistan is notorious for using tang as a prominent flavor in their recipes. And that is where khatti dal originated from too. Their tamatar ka khatta (tangy tomato chutney) pairs sooo well with so many pulaos outside of their Cuisine too.

Khatti dal (tangy dal) is usually made of red lentils (masoor dal) or split pigeon pea (arhar dal/tuvar dal). It’s eaten with steamed rice, paper, and other sides made with meat or vegetables. (my favorite being fried fish)

2 of my khalas (maternal aunts) got married into Hyderabadi families. And I love all the authentic and traditional Hyderabadi food that I’ve gotten to experience through them over the years. And now, that I have so many of you as readers of this blog, I can’t wait to share more.

Ingredients

You need basic South Asian pantry staples to recreate this dal at home. Here are a couple of notes on the list:

• Lentils – We usually make this dal with red lentils which is masoor dal. But people also make it with split pigeon pea (tuvar/arhar dal). Masoor dal is easily available in most stores around the world, distinctive of its orange color.
• Tomato, onion, and garlic – These are staples for any South Asian recipe. Only use fresh tomato for this recipe. No puree, paste, or canned tomato.
• Seasoning – You need standard spices like turmeric, salt, red chili flakes, red chili powder, green chilies
• Whole spices – These are fried in oil and added on top of the dal. Mustard seeds, curry leaves, and cumin seeds are the main trio that makes this dish Hyderabadi
• Oil – Any neutral oil like vegetable oil is used for this recipe. You can also use coconut oil etc for your recipe, just remember these oils have a slight aroma and flavor of their own too.
• Coriander leaves – Chopped coriander leaves for the garnish.

TAMARIND

Tamarind (emli) – This is the star of this recipe and the main ingredient that brings out the tart flavor. Most grocery stores hold tamarind in either its original raw form, in a block form or a ready-to-use pulp bottle. If you use raw or block tamarind, you will have to soak it in hot water for 10 mins to release the pulp. Then you can simply use your hands to squish the block to release the pulp. Strain and use. To skip this entire process completely, simply get the ready-to-use tamarind pulp. The quantity of tamarind depends on your own preference. You can always add more or less depending on how much tanginess you like.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Step By Step Instructions

All dals are usually prepared in 3 easy steps – Soak, Boil, and Baghaar.

Once you soak the dals, almost all dals require 2 cooking steps. One step is boiling the lentils to soften them up. And the other step is making Baghar/Tarka. A baghar (tempered spices) is a process of adding fried spices to a dish, either as the first or as the last step. This dal uses a finishing tarka.

How Long to soak the lentils?

This has become an ongoing debate amongst online communities mostly because someone somewhere read the word “antinutrients” online and freaked out. In simple words, anti-nutrients are just some chemicals found in naturally occurring pulses like legumes, beans, and lentils. They are usually removed by soaking them before cooking and cooking itself. (you can read more about anti-nutrients here if you want). Red lentils are the smallest-sized lentils out there, and 30 min of pre-soak time is enough to get rid of any anti-nutrients in the dal.

STEP 1 – Rinse the dal with water at least once and then soak the dal in water for 20 to 30 mins.

STEP 2 – Boiling the Dal

STEP 2a- Add spices, tomato, and soaked lentils in a pot with water and bring to a boil. Now cover with a lid and boil for 20 mins or so

STEP 2b– After the end of 20 mins, use a hand whisk to mash the tomato into the dal. Whisk the dal to make sure all the dal is mushy and you have a nice somewhat smooth dal mix.

PROTIP: Keep the lid of your dal slightly askew, to prevent your dal from boiling over and dripping all over your stovetop. If your dal is not disintegrating to form a nice soupy consistency, then use a hand blender to quickly reach your soupy consistency.

STEP 2c– Soak a small block of tamarind in a bowl of hot water for 15 mins to release the pulp

STEP 2d– Use a fork or a spoon to break the block and release all the juices from the pulp.

STEP 2e– Pour the tamarind liquid into the dal through a strainer.

STEP 3 – MAKING THE TARKA

STEP 3a– Add whole spices, garlic, onions, and curry leaves in a frying pan and fry in oil.

STEP 3b– Fry them until the onions turn golden brown.

STEP 3c– Add the tarka (tempered spices) to the dal.

STEP 3d- After adding Tarka, cover the dal with a lid for 5 mins. There is no mixing involved. Simply allow the tarka to sit on top of the dal till you are ready to serve.

While the Tarka sits on top of your dal, the flavors and aroma infuse together to create a simple yet delicious dish. When you are ready to dish out, garnish with chopped coriander or cilantro and serve hot with rice and all the amazing combos mentioned below

Expert Tips

• For the reasons mentioned above, it’s always best to soak dal before using it, this removes anti-nutrients and reduces cooking time. Discard the water that was used for soaking and use fresh water to boil the dal.
• Some versions of masoor dal or any dal, sometimes take too long to disintegrate in the water to give a smooth consistency. On those days I like to use my hand blender to quickly give my dal the consistency I want. You can find one here on Amazon.
• You can use the microwave to reheat dals, but they are best reheated on the stove.
• Let your dal sit in the pot for 10 mins after you’ve added your tarka/tempered spices, this helps in infusing the flavors in the dal.

What is Khatti dal paired with?

Eaten with rice or roti, these are other things you can pair with khatti dal

• Papad and Achar like Carrot Pickles (gajar ka achar)
• Any vegetable curry like Lauki ki bhujia (Bottle Gourd mash)
• Spicy masala fish fry
• Spinach and potato cutlets
• Grilled Chicken Tikkas

Recipe FAQs

Similar recipes

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Hyderabadi khatti dal

A traditional sour Red lentil recipe from the Hyderabadi Cuisine of India/Pakistan, eaten with rice

Course dinner

Cuisine South Asian

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 249kcal

Author Wajiha

Equipment

• Hand blender optional

Ingredients

For Lentils

• 1 cup red lentils masoor dal
• 1 large tomato with the stem removed
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder haldi
• 2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 4 whole green chilies

Other

• 2 inch block of dry tamarind or Emli soaked in 1 cup hot water see notes
• coriander/cilantro for garnish

For Tempered spices or Baghaar

• 1/2 an onion sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic sliced or chopped
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds rye daana
• 7 to 8 curry leaves
• 5 to 6 whole red chilies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 cup oil or less if you want

Instructions

• Soak lentils for 30 mins to 1 hr. Discard the water
• In a pot add lentils and all ingredients for the lentils along with 4 to 5 cups of water.
• Bring the lentils to a boil, then reduce flame to medium and cover the pot. Do not cover the pot all the way through, leave the lid a little askew. You can also use a pressure cooker for this step
• After 30 mins or so, use a whisk (or a dal ghotni) to whisk the dal around and make it more uniform. Let the dal simmer on the stove.
• In a bowl, soak tamarind in hot water for 5 mins. Use a sieve to strain the tamarind to get puply water and remove all the impurities in the sieve. Collect all the water released from it. Add it to the dal.
• Cook for another 10 mins to cook the tamarind.
• Turn off flame.

Baghar – Tempering the dal

• In a pan add oil and all the ingredients for tempered spices. Fry them at medium flame until the onions turn a nice golden brown.
• Put the tempered mix on top of the dal and let it sizzle.
• Make sure you get all bits of tempered spices into the dal.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice and papad.
  

Notes

• You can also use tamarind paste instead of tamarind blocks. Just mix the paste with water to make a diluted version and add to the dal. I’ve given standard quantities, but feel free to add more tamarind if you like.
• Your dal can stay in the fridge for up to 5 days.
• You can freeze your dal for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 249kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 17g | Sodium: 878mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g

The post Hyderabadi khatti dal appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

This one pot chicken and noodles is inspired by a Chinese dish called La.Zi.Ji, that one of my friends from China introduced me too. And holly molly! is that spicy! Its spicy enough for me to tear up honestly! so I used the same idea, just reduced the spices enough for me to handle it, (beware, this still has a spicy kick) and made a noodle dish out of it.

I love making Asian style food at home, these noodles and Chicken Shashlik skewers are my current obsession!

Steps to make these Spicy Asian Noodles

Tempering spices and frying garlic

I just wanted to show you a close up of all the whole spices you will need for this recipe, along with a truck load of garlic, because garlic is love ok?

This recipe only uses dried red chilies to spice up the dish. BUT, since it gets cooked in the sauce and in pasta for a good 20 to 30 mins, it basically adds a CONSIDERABLE amount of heat to the dish. So put a hold on the red chilies, if you aren’t a fan of spicy food!

Saute your whole spices and chopped garlic in oil until you get a nice golden color from the garlic. I’ve used sesame oil for this recipe, because it compliments all the ingredients perfectly!

And once you’ve fried your garlic, well that’s it my friend! Let the dumping of ingredients begin.

I start by adding chicken and veggies that take time to soften up. And then add all my seasoning. Just make sure your chicken changes color before you add the rest of the ingredients.

Dump in the rest of veggies, water, and noodles. I used spaghetti noodles, but really you can use any noodles that you like. The water quantity needs to be enough to drown your pasta in it. I added about 5 cups of water, this gives me enough water to cook the noodles and leave some water behind to make it saucy.

How much water you want depends on how you like your noodles. Add more to make soupy noodles, or dry up the whole thing if you want it to be dry. That’s really something that I will leave up to you.

Alternatively, you can also boil your noodles separately and add it in your chicken broth.

Check and adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and chopped green onions on top and dig right in!

How long does it stay fresh in the fridge?

It can survive pretty well in the fridge. For upto a week easy. I wouldn’t recommend freezing it though.

What can I serve with it on the side?

I love that these Asian chicken noodles are a meal on its own. But if you are in the mood to throw an elaborate menu together; here’s a few things I think would go really well together with these Spicy Noodles

• Dynamite prawns as a starter
• Crunchy cashew salad
• Fried rice
• Crispy Beijing beef for the rice.

Alternates, fixes and remixes

Substitutions

• You can use regular white vinegar instead of red grape vinegar
• You can use honey instead of brown sugar
• If you don’t have whole red chilies, you can also use red chili flakes instead.
• Use regular cooking oil if you don’t have sesame oil
• Use a cup of fresh chicken stock instead a chicken bouillon cube

Fixes

• If you find your noodles to be spicy, add a half cup of water with a little corn flour, sugar, vinegar and a few tablespoons of ketchup.

Remixes

• Make a full vegetarian version of the recipe, by using cauliflower bits instead of chicken.
• You can also add coconut milk to create a thai-style noodles.
• Go ahead and use any veggies that you like.
• I’ve used basic spaghetti to make this recipe, but feel free to try any noodles that you’ve got at home. Turns amazing with udon noodles btw.

More fun recipes to try

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Spicy one pot Asian Chicken noodles

An easy Asian syle spicy chicken and vegetable noodle recipe, ready within 30 mins and only needs one pot to cook!

Course Pasta Dishes

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 417kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 200 gm dry noodles. half a pack of any noodle you like
• 500 gm boneless chicken cut up in 1 inch cubes
• 9 to 10 cloves of garlic 25 gm
• 8 to 9 dried red chilies 3 gm
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anises
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red grape vinegar
• 1 cup tomato paste

Vegetables

• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup bell peppers cut up in squares
• 1 cup cabbage cut in 1 inch squares.
• Sesame seeds and chopped green onions for garnish

Instructions

• In a large pot, add oil, chopped garlic, bay leaves, dried red chilies, cinnamon stick and star anise. Saute at medium flame, until the garlic turns golden brown.
• Add chicken cubes to the pot, along with any veggies that take longer time to cook. (In my case, I added peas and carrots). Add salt, sugar, soy sauce and red grape vinegar. Saute till the chicken changes color.
• Add in a chicken bouillon cube and tomato paste. Throw in the remaining veggies and stir for a minute.
• Add 5 cups of water and your noodles. Stir around the noodles to make sure they are not clumped together. Cover the pot and let the noodles simmer at medium high flame for 10 mins.
• Remove the lid, and stir around and cover again. Cook for another 5 mins.
• Check to see if your noodles are done. You can adjust the seasonings now. You can decide to keep your noodles saucy, dry or soupy, by adding more water if need be.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on top for garnish and serve hot.

Notes

The red chilies pack in a lot of heat in the dish. Reduce the chili quantity of you are can’t handle spices.

Feel free to use any veggies you like.

All substitute are given in the blogpost.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 417kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 680mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 16g

The post Spicy One Pot Chicken Noodles appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

If you’ve been following me for a while, than you know, I am a sucker for recreating restaurant style recipes at home, and Indo-Chinese is my favoriteeee genre! This recipe joins the list of my other classic restaurant remakes like the Dynamite Shrimps, Crispy Beijing Beef , Sichuan Chicken, and Nando’s Chicken livers.

What is Chicken Shashlik

The word ‘Shashlik’ means skewered grilled meat, synonymous with “Shish” kebab in Turkey. It was traditionally made with Mutton and the internet says it originated from Central Asia and Russia. The Chicken Shashlik, while delicious, is somehow not as well known as other more popular Desi Chinese dishes like the Hot and Sour soup, or the Chicken manchurian.

Like most fusion recipes, the Shashlik too, was made by restaurants either owned by Chinese immigrants in the lands of India/Pakistan or by locals serving the immigrants.

The modern day shashlik can now be made in skewers or sticks (like this recipe), or simply like usual Chinese stirfry or gravy. Both are delicious btw

What to pair it with

• This version of the recipe is great as a stand alone dish! Simply served with some spicy sichuan sauce on the side.
• You can also pair it with fried rice or simple pulav rice like matar pulao
• You can also serve it on a bed of garlic fried noodles
• On my low-carb phase, I like pairing it with a simple green salad
• Prawn crackers are a great side for these shashlik sticks.

Ingredients and Substitutions

The ingredients used to make this delicious dinner are super basic and easily swappable with substitutes in your pantry.

• Chicken – I used breast piece cut up 1 inch chunks. You can use thigh pieces too for a more tender and juicy chicken cut.
• Vegetables – Onions and Bellpeppers (aka capsicums) are the “crunch” of the skewer. You can swap it out for any other crunchy vegetable you’d like to thread in. The tomatoes are added for flavor that they give once they are charred on the grill pan, so I wouldn’t recommend swapping them out with anything.
• Spices – You need salt, white pepper powder, cumin powder and Kashmiri Red chili powder. This kind of red chili powder is mild but has a beautiful red color. If you’d like to cook more Indian/Pakistani food, I’d suggest you get a pack from your Asian grocery store. Or you can simply use paprika if you don’t have this in your pantry.
• Sauces – The marinade uses your typical Chinese sauces like the Soy Sauce, Red Vinegar, and tomato paste. But worry not, use regular vinegar if you don’t have the red one. And use tomato ketchup if you are out of paste! Told ya this was an easy recipe.
• Other – Then you need garlic paste for marination and vegetable oil for grilling. Use any neutral oil that you cook with at home.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Instructions

This chicken shashlik just needs a couple of easy steps to come together. Chop, marinate, thread and grill!

STEP 1 – Marinate Chicken in all the spices and sauces listed.

STEP 2 – Chop up the vegetables in 1 inch squares.

STEP 3 – Add the chopped vegetables to the chicken and marinate for 30 mins.

STEP 4 – Thread the chicken and the vegetables onto a wooden or metal skewer. (Don’t throw away the leftover marinade)

STEP 5 – Place the skewers onto a greased grill pan on the stove at medium heat.

STEP 6 – Flip the skewers over using a tong after 5 mins. And glaze with the remaining marinade left in the bowl.

Serve hot with your favorite pairing combo. I like to serve the sizzling grill pan directly onto the table with a mat underneath. Serve it with Chicken Corn soup and make it a complete meal.

TOP TIPS AND ADVICE

• IF you are using wooden skewers like me, than soak them in water for 30 minutes before using. This makes them more pliable and they don’t burn easily while on the grillpan.
• Because of the tomato sauce, there will be some spluttering in the pan. IF you are new to cooking and grilling, either cover the pan with a lid while they on the stove or wear oven mittens to avoid any splatter on your hands.
• Since its been a while since I’ve been cooking, I usually just flip the skewers using my hands. But you should use tongs to flip the skewers. If you are afraid of any splatter, then remove the pan from the heat temporarily. Flip all the skewers and glaze them. Then put it back on the heat.

Recipe FAQs

More Indo-Chinese recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Chicken Shashlik Dry

An Indo-Chinese style, chicken and vegetable skewers marinated in fusion style sauces and spices, served with rice

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Diet Halal

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Resting time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8 long skewers

Calories 150kcal

Author Wajiha

Equipment

• bbq sticks wooden or metal
• A grill pan or an outdoor bbq

Ingredients

• 500 gm boneless chicken cut in cubes
• 2 medium bell peppers cut in 1 inch squares
• 2 large tomatoes cut in 1 inch squares
• 1 large onion cut in 1 inch squares
• extra oil for frying/baking

Marinade

• 2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1 teaspoon white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 2 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder see notes
• 4 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon red vinegar
• 1 tablespoon oil for marination

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients for marinade in a bowl and mix. Add your chicken and coat it in the marination.
• Add the chopped vegetables in the chicken and coat it with the marinade. Keep aside for 30 mins
• Use wooden or metal skewers to thread the vegetables and chicken. If using wooden skewers, always soak in water for 10 mins before using.

Nutrition

Serving: 1skewer | Calories: 150kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 901mg | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1436IU | Vitamin C: 48mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Chicken Shashlik Dry appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

What is Chicken Karahi

Karahi or Kadai means “wok” in Urdu/Hindi. The dish got its name from the wok it’s cooked in. These South Asian woks are usually cast iron and heavy bottom and the chicken is traditionally cooked in enough oil and tomatoes to not stick to the pan. The chicken karahi originates from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly Northwest Frontier) province of Pakistan.

The OG chicken karahi is essentially a “dry curry” cooked with minimal spices and soft, tender tomatoes. So it doesn’t hold a lot of liquid gravy as the classic Chicken ka salan does. The distinguishing features of an authentic chicken karahi are a red tomatoey base, garnished with ginger, cilantro, and green chilies

And like all great creations, the classic Chicken Karahi has also inspired a truckload of variations and fusion-style recipes. Balochi Karahi and White karahi are popular examples! Remind me to share those recipes with you too!

Normally the Karahi made in restaurants is made in a Wok and then covered by a conical lid like a Tagine. It’s a quick recipe and an active one at that. Where the chef constantly keeps stirring the chicken in oils and tomatoes on an open fire. For ease, I’ve adapted the recipe slightly to be more suitable for home cooking.

What makes karahi authentic?

With so many recipes all around the internet for karahi, it is possible that you will come across recipes that use onions and/or yogurt in their recipes. And I tell you, as a karahi purist, It IS a crime! A crime I tell you, to add onions or yogurt or any third ingredients to make the base of this curry! The variations of karahi have all sorts of ingredients and that’s fine! But if you are making the Original karahi, it needs the tomatoes to take the centre stage! It will hold a slight tang because of the tomatoes, adding onions (which are inherently sweet) balances off the tomatoes and then essentially give you a basic typical South Asian curry.

Notes on Ingredients

As I said, the ingredients used are super basic, and with the exception of maybe 1 or 2, you will probably have all the other ingredients at hand.

• Chicken – So for the traditional recipe, I would prefer you go with bone-in chicken cut into small pieces with the skin removed. You should get about 16 to 18 pieces of a normal 2 lb chicken.
  
• Spices – This recipe uses basic spices like freshly ground black pepper, salt, and cumin powder. The only 2 fancy ingredients you need are the Dried fenugreek leaves and Kashmiri red chili powder. The Kashmiri red chili powder is milder than regular red chili so you can use a larger amount without making your gravy overly spicy. It brings that beautiful red color to your dish without packing in a ton of heat.
  
• Green Chilies – The green chilies used for karahi are literally called “karahi mirchen” in Urdu. These are essentially lighter green in color and super mild tasting. They are also essentially bigger and similar to jalapenos.
  
• Garlic paste – Most curry recipes call for garlic ginger paste but for Karahi, we are going to garnish with julienne cut ginger slices so the basic paste we use is simply garlic to prevent an overpowering gingerness. (is that a word?)
  
• Tomatoes – The star of the show! My only recommendation is to go for the reddest, most ripe tomatoes available to you. Any type would do! But my insta friends in the west have recommended Roma tomatoes unanimously.
  
• Oil/Ghee – I personally prefer karahi in ghee or a combination of ghee and oil because of that added aroma it gives to the recipe. But any neutral oil works perfectly fine. Traditionally, the recipe uses a larger quantity of oil, but I have scaled it down a bit for cooking at home.
  

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Options

All ingredients used are fairly easy to find, but let me hook you up with some alternatives just in case.

• Chicken – I don’t recommend using larger pieces, but you can use boneless chicken for this recipe if you like. You will just need to reduce a little more liquid than you would need to in the case of the bone in chicken.
• Kashmiri Red chili powder – You can use paprika powder instead, in the same quantities. If you are going to use regular red chili powder, use half the quantities as Kashmiri red chili powder is milder.
• Green chilies – IF you cannot locate “karahi mirch”, your best substitute would be regular fresh jalapenos or any other mild green chilies you can get your hands on.
• Dried Fenugreek leaves – I would personally never want to skip this ingredient because of the aroma it brings to the dish, but since Karahi is an easily adaptable recipe, you can skip it on a bad day.
• Tomatoes – Ok whole canned tomatoes work surprisingly well with this recipe!

Step by Step Instructions

Preparing tomatoes

So this is an additional step if you are using fresh tomatoes, you can skip this if you are using canned tomatoes. This step will take 5 mins but will reduce your active sauteeing and cooking time by 15 mins!

Add cuts on the bottom of the tomatoes in the shape of a cross and remove the stem areas

Put the tomatoes in a bowl and let it soak in boiling hot water for 10 mins.

Drain the liquid and now you should be able to peel off the skin of the tomatoes with ease. Cut them into halves.

NOTE: The stem region of the tomatoes doesn’t tenderize well and leaves little bits of tomato flesh floating around in the karahi. This step ensures you get a nice smooth karahi base.

Making Chicken Karahi

Add your raw chicken to a pot with oil/ghee, at high flame.

When your chicken turns white, add garlic paste and saute for 2 mins.

NOTE: This step is most important in sealing in the juices of the chicken and giving it a slight sear from the pan. Don’t rush this step and allow the liquid from the chicken to evaporate completely before proceeding to the next step.

Then you can add in the spices after all the water from the chicken has evaporated.

Toss in the tomatoes, and reduce the flame to low.

Cover the lid and allow the tomatoes to soften up for about 5 to 10 mins

When you remove the lid, you will see water leached out from the tomatoes. Increase the heat back to medium-high at this point and add green chilies. Put the lid back on

After 10 mins, you will see oil separating on the sides of the wok/pot. Reduce the flame to low and add the finishing spices

Mix the karahi well. You can add the garnish in the pot/wok or when you dish it out on the serving platter.

Garnish

Normally, the garnish is simply used for decor. But for chicken karahi, the garnish is just as important as the dish itself, they add the remaining flavors to tie the dish together. We garnish the karahi with 3 main ingredients

• Julienne cut ginger slices
• Julienne cut green chilies
• Chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

Pro Tips

• While cutting the tomatoes in halves, if you or anyone in your family suffers from kidney problems, remove the seeds of the tomatoes.
• Always use a large wok/pan for chicken karahi. You want to give ample room to your chicken so that it doesn’t get crowded and they all can fry rather than steam.
• Always let the water from the chicken evaporate completely before adding the spices. This ensures there is no residual “smell” of raw meat lingering, and also ensures that your chicken has been properly seared/fried in oil.
• Follow the temperatures mentioned in the recipe, to make the best curry!
• Crushed black pepper is another key ingredient in this recipe! Make sure to use freshly ground black pepper for that top-notch taste.

Leftovers Ideas!

TBH, I’ve rarely had any karahi leftovers, but when I do, I always find myself converting it into one of these dinner options:

• Make Tahiri Rice – Simply add soaked basmati rice along with water into the leftover karahi, along with a little bit of salt to make the very popular yellow rice known as “tahiri”. An example of tahiri rice on my website is the popular Fish tahiri!
• Sandwiches – The saucy chicken bits are great for making a spicy sandwich with onions, lettuce, and mayo.
• Quick biryani – Layer the leftover karahi with some boiled rice, and sprinkle some chat masala on top with fried onions and food coloring. Cook at low flame for 10 mins and viola you have a quick biryani at your hand! See this Quick Karahi Biryani recipe for more information!

What to serve with Chicken Karahi

Chicken Karahi falls in the category of “dry curry”, where you don’t have a lot of liquid gravy. So chicken Karahi pairs really well with all desi flatbreads like Naan, Chapati, parathas, or Tandoori Rotis. Some in my house all like to pair it with good ól Daal chawal (lentils and rice), I would recommend Hyderabadi Khatti Daal for that pairing!

Related Pakistani Chicken Recipes

Hope you decide to try this Chicken Karahi recipe! Please don’t forget to leave a rating and comment below! If you take a picture then tag me on Instagram! Thank You!

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Pakistani Chicken Karahi Recipe

A classic restaurant style Pakistani chicken curry, made with minimal spices and lots of tomatoes.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian, pakistani

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 325kcal

Author Wajiha

Equipment

• 1 wok or karhayi

Ingredients

• 500 gm bone in chicken cut into small pieces
• 600 gm fresh roma tomatoes
• 1 ½ teaspoon table salt or to taste
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1/2 cup ghee or any neutral oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder (zeera)
• 2 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder see notes
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder all spice
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed blackpeppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves kasuri methi
• 4 large Pakistani green chilies see notes

Garnish

• 1/2 inch ginger julliene cut
• 1 tablespoon coriander/cilantro leaves finely chopped
• 4 whole Large green chilies julliene cut

Instructions

Preparing Tomatoes

• Add cuts in the form of an x on the base of the tomatoes and remove the stem from the top.
• Put the tomatoes in a bowl and pour hot boiling water on them. Make sure they are covered atleast 80% in the water. Cover the bowl and let the tomatoes sit in the water for about 7 to 8 minutes
• After 7 to 8 minutes you will see the skin of the tomatoes peeling from the cuts. Discard the water. Peel off the skin of the tomatoes and discard the peels
• Cut the tomatoes into half and chuck them back in the bowl. Now using a potato masher or your hands, mash the tomatoes. They are now ready to be used.

Preparing the Curry

• Put a medium to large wok on medium high heat on the stove and add oil.
• Add in your chicken and saute for 2 to 3 minutes or until the chicken starts to get brown scorch marks from the wok.
• Add garlic paste, salt, red chili powder and cumin powder. Saute for another 2 to 3 mins.
• Now drop in your prepared tomatoes and saute for 2 mins.
• Reduce the heat to low and cover the wok. Cook for 5 to 8 mins or as long as it takes for all the tomatoes to leech out water.
• Once you see all the water leeched out, add green chilies and bring back the heat to medium high and cook for another 8 mins or until you see oil seperating
• Now reduce the heat to low, and add your finishing spices: crushed black peppercorns, dried fenugreek leaves and garam masala powder. Simply mix and your karhayi is ready.
• Garnish with ginger, green chilies and cilantro leaves. Serve with Naan, paratha or Rice

Notes

• Kashmiri red chili powder can easily be substituted with paprika powder. Kashmiri red chili is milder than regular red chili powder. IF you are using regular Indian red chili powder then use half the quantity mentioned.  1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder = 1 teaspoon paprika powder
  1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder = 1/2 teaspoon Indian red chili powder
• Large Pakistani green chilies are mild and easily tolerable heatwise. You can easily use fresh jalapenos, or pablanos or any mild green chilies instead. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 113mg | Sodium: 209mg | Potassium: 730mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1455IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Pakistani Chicken Karahi appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Bonus: Perfect for those “breakfast for dinner” kinda days too!

Easy step by step khageena

Khageena or egg bhurji is one of those very upfront, no-brainer recipes. So even if you aren’t familiar with Indian or Pakistani style of cooking, you will still nail it!

Typically prepared in a wok, khageena can also be made in pan. It’s a little heavy on the onions which gives it that texture and bite!

You start by sauteing the onions in a little oil and allow it to turn translucent.

Once your onions turn translucent, you add in green chilies and all the spices. Pakistani or Indian spices are raw and strong. So you need to let it cook or temper it in the oil for about a minute or two before proceeding to the next step.

Add finely chopped tomatoes and let it cook for about 2 mins. Most khageena recipes don’t use tomatoes. But my family recipe includes 1 small tomato in the scrambled eggs, and I looooove the slight acidity it adds to the whole dish.

When your tomatoes are softened up, ever so slightly, add your eggs and chopped coriander.

TIP: Always break eggs separately in a bowl to check if they are ok and have no brown spots in the egg whites.

After adding eggs, slowly stir through the eggs with a spatula for a minute or 2 or until the eggs looks cooked and you can see oil on the sides.

Serve hot with toasted bread, parathas or buns!

Some Khageena FAQs

Can I add more veggies to this scrambled eggs recipe?

Absolutely! The most complimentary veggies to add to this recipe are spinach and fenugreek leaves. You can skip the coriander and add another green of your choice. You can also add shredded carrots.

Is this recipe too spicy?

That is a subjective question. But I’d say by someone who eats spicy food, that this dish is NOT that spicy. But you can skip the green chilies the first time you make it, just to be safe.

How do I add more seasoning?

Never over season this dish, the spices and salt can get strong very quickly. So I’d say stick to the measurements mentioned in the recipe card, and if you feel like its not spicy enough or seasoned well, then you can a bit of salt or red chili flakes after the eggs are done.

Can we eat the khageena later?

All cooked eggs like this scrambled eggs or shakshuka etc are best eaten fresh. But you can refrigerate it overnight and eat it the next day. I wouldn’t keep it in the fridge any longer than that.

Can I make this recipe in less oil?

One of the key ingredients in this recipe is the quantity of oil. My personal suggestion would be to use the exact quantity, and remove the eggs on a kitchen towel that would allow to soak up any extra oil. But if you really are on a calorie budget, you can decrease the oil levels, however, it will definitely alter the taste a little bit.

Other Egg/Breakfast recipes

Shakshuka
Aloo ki tarkari (potato curry)
Chickpea curry
Easy soft Pancakes
Khara masala keema (breakfast mince)
Date and Melon Smoothie

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khageena

Khageena is a Pakistani dish that is essentially a spicy scrambled eggs recipe eaten for breakfast with flatbreads. It is also known as anda bhurji or egg bhurji in India

Course Breakfast & Brunch

Cuisine South Asian

Prep Time 7 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 17 minutes minutes

Servings 2 servings

Calories 367kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 medium onions slices
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 green chilies cut into smaller pieces
• 1 small tomato finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coriander chopped finely

Instructions

• Break 3 eggs in a bowl and set aside.
• Add oil in a pan along with sliced onions. Saute the onions for 3 to 4 mins at medium flame, or until they turn translucent.
• Add in your green chilies, spices. Saute for another 2 mins.
• Add tomatoes and allow it to soften for 2 mins.
• Add the eggs in the pan and let it sit for 2 mins before mixing with a spatula.
• Cook the eggs for another 2 mins and add chopped coriander. Mix well.
• Drain all the excess oil on a towel paper and serve the eggs with paratha or bread.

Notes

Remove the green chilies if you don’t eat spicy food a lot.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 367kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 33g | Cholesterol: 279mg | Sodium: 132mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 8g

The post Khageena – Pakistani spicy scrambled eggs appeared first on Butter Over Bae.