Tandoori Chicken

Punjabi folks have an unconditional love for chicken dishes and probably, Tandoori chicken is on top of its popularity. Probably, this is one of the most popular starters of North Indian Parties. In winter, folks enjoy bonfire with roasted (tandoori) chicken. Generally, Tandoori Chicken is served with cocktails.

Tandoori Murgi is the pride of Punjabi cuisine and has managed to impress people all over the globe. This popular dish originated during the Mughal era and thus has Mughlai roots. It is named after the type of cylindrical clay oven, tandoor, in which the dish is prepared traditionally.

For preparation of dish, chicken is marinated with a blend of spices and are cooked on Tandoor. Tandoor is heated using charcoal and wood, giving it a nice smoky flavour.

For the chicken marinade, start with the lemon juice, by carefully rubbing it into the multiple cuts of chicken. It is allowed to rest for a while, after which the other elements of the marinade are also combined and spread over the chicken chunks. Few drops of orange food colour can be used to the dish to obtain a vibrant hue. The spices in the marinade can be added according to taste. Keep in mind that proper marination is the key to get juicy, delicious chicken. So it should be allowed to rest for at least 8-10 hours, so that the flavours are well-soaked by the pieces. Once chicken is marinated properly, then it is roasted on Tandoor for authentic smoky flavour.

But handing Tandoor is little challenging in modern days. Hence, I have used my microwave oven for making Tandoori Murgi. Here, these chicken pieces are cooked in the microwave for a few minutes, followed by grilling on both sides. We get soft, succulent and perfectly golden Tandoori Murgi.

It can be served with onion rings, lemon wedges and green chutney. This dish will give you a taste of Punjab, and will positively blow your mind. 

Source: Tandoori Chicken

Butter Chicken

Punjabi folks have an unconditional love for chicken dishes and probably, butter chicken is on top of its popularity. Butter chicken with Naan is inarguably, one of the most popular dishes of north India. Butter chicken is always an attraction for marriages and parties. People love to have delicious butter chicken with naan.

Butter Chicken perfectly sums up the authenticity of Punjab on a plate. The most interesting fact about this dish is that it was initially prepared with leftovers of tandoori chicken! Butter Chicken consists of chunks of roasted chicken cooked in rich gravy enriched with cream (malai) and butter (makhhan).

As with most chicken recipes, the first step is the marination. The curd (dahi) and hot-spice mixture gives the marinade a rustic, tandoori overtone. These spices can be added according to taste. I have also added a hint of orange food colouring to get a wonderful orange hue, but it can be skipped too. Ideal time for marination would be about 6 hours, after which the chicken pieces absorb the marinade and become succulent.

For Butter Chicken to be a success, it is a must to nail the gravy. Traditionally, in butter chicken paste of deep fried onion is used. One of the most important ingredients for gravy is cashew nuts (kaju) that gives it a smooth and thick texture.  Fresh tomato puree is recommended for the recipe for authentic flavour. Amalgamations of tomato puree along with onion- cashew nut paste, other spices and butter ties the dish together.

The roasted chicken is added in this gravy and is allowed it to cook. In the end, Butter Chicken is topped with some cream, the trademark of any Punjabi dish. It can be served with rotis, naan or basmati rice. Trust me; you will need more than one helping of this awesome dish to satisfy your taste buds.

Source: Butter Chicken

Shrikhand Recipe

It is traditional creamy desert from states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, now a day’s relished in every part of India. It comes in different flavours suchs as kesar (saffron), mango, sitaphal/ Sharifa (custard apple), Strawberry and Pineapple.

It is basically made from hung curd, sugar and kesar. Excellence of shrikhand depends on how fine your curd is prepared. Hung curd is the curd made from draining all the water from it. It can be prepared by hanging curd in cotton/muslin cloth for 3-4 hours. Water should be drained appropriately for better result. It should also be taken care that the curd should not be very sour. Fresh curd always gives better result.

As hung curd is very bland in taste, different flavours can easily be added to this for taste. Authentically, blend of saffron, cardamom are sugar are added for flavour. Kesar adds colour and elaichi gives fragrance to hung curd, along with sugar, makes a delicious combination.

For making fruit shrikhand add fruit pulp or puree to hung curd and blend. Like for mango shrikhand use mango puree with small cut pieces of mango. It is recommended to make shrikhand from alphanso mango (i.e kesar mango), since it gives original yellow colour to shrikhand. The more mango you add, better yellow colour will be your shrikhand. It most loved shrikhand among kids and is seasonal.

For preparing sitaphal/Sharifa (custard apple) shrikhand, add seedless pieces of sitaphal. For strawberry flavour, pulp is prepared with Strawberry and is mixed with sugar. Now this is added to curd. Some strawberry chunks are also added to enhance the taste. For, Pineapple flavour, pineapple chunks are added with pineapple crush.

If your hung curd is ready then Shrikhand is a dessert, which can be prepared in very less time. But chilling is a necessary step, which requires time. Shrikhand, should not be served till it is not properly chilled.

It is one of the essential part of Guajarati and Maharastrian nuptial menu. A Gujrati wedding can’t be completed without shrikhand.

For More Information: Shrikhand Recipe

Lapsi Recipe

Lapsi is traditional Indian desserts which need no introduction. This sweet from western India especially from Gujarat, is also a traditional dessert in Rajasthan as well. It is also popular in areas where Gujrati and Rajasthani prominently reside.

It is also called as “Fada (broken wheat) ni lapsi” in Gujarati. This broken wheat (daliya) Gujarati recipe is known for its goodness worldwide. It is very easy to make, only time requires, is to cook broken wheat properly. One can cook it in pressure cooker as well as in a thick bottom pan. But it takes more time to cook in pan than pressure cooker, so I would suggest cooking it in pressure cooker. Once this broken wheat roasted in ghee (white butter) is cooked and it swells, it’s time to add jaggery, you can also use sugar instead. If you are making it in jaggery it is advisable to dissolve jaggery in some water first and later add this water to cooked daliya (broken wheat). Cook it till all water is evaporated; now sprinkle powdered cardamom and thin cut slices of almonds to it. One can also fry nutmegs in white butter and add to the recipe. Broken wheat has several health benefits along with being rich in fibres. This recipe is not only divine but at the same time healthy too. Some people also use sugar instead of jaggery. Adding Cardamom gives alluring fragrance to this dessert. Cardamom is not only good for fragrance but it also good for digestion. Jaggery rich in iron, adds more benefits to this recipe. Overall this one recipe is completely rich and beneficial for health in all aspects.

It is made on special occasion and festivals. Once prepared, serve it hot with a teaspoon of ghee on it. Follow the step by step recipe and relish this luscious dessert with your family. It is also a delicacy of “Gujrati Thali” as well as “Rajasthani Thalis” in restaurants. 

For More Information: Lapsi Recipe

Mughlai Chicken Curry Recipe

Mughlai food is probably one of the most liked cuisines. It is popular because of its classic taste and richness. Typical aroma of food makes it different from other cuisines. For the authenticity of flavor, spices are dealt out with a heavy hand for wet grinding, dry pounding or chopping.

For Mughlai Chicken curry, chickens are doused in highly seasoned marinade. Like any other Mughlai dish, large quantity of spices is used here. Use of appropriate spices in right quantity is essential for the authentic taste of curry. Nuts are also widely used in Mughlai dishes for richness as well as flavour.  Marination preparation is the key secret of the recipe. For this onions are fried in oil, then are mixed with other spices and nuts and are ground to smooth paste. This paste is mixed with curd and salt and is used as marinade. Marination timing is also important, the time will be given to it, and the curry will be tastier.

For More Information: Mughlai Chicken Curry Recipe

Tandoori Wrap Recipe

Tandoori flavour is highly popular in India. Here, there is a little twist in this recipe. In tandoori wrap, stuffing is prepared in grill or Tandoor, whereas wrap is prepared on gas stove as other Indian Pancakes.

For stuffing, cottage cheese (paneer), cauliflower (gobhi), carrot (gajar) and French beans (phaliya) have been used. But some other vegetables can also be used to introduce variation in the recipe. Marination is the most important step in any Tandoori recipe. It is responsible for the tandoori flavour of the rolls. Hung curd (dahi), black/rock salt (kala namak), cumin powder (jeera), chilli paste (mirch) and hot spices (garam masala) are combined to give the distinguishing taste. These spices can be added and adjusted according to taste. The steamed vegetables are allowed to sit in the marinade for about 20 minutes, as it enhances the flavour. To obtain this, the dish is better to cook in a tandoor or cylindrical clay oven. But in this recipe, a clever cooking technique is used which does not require the use of tandoor, and hence saves a lot of time and effort. It can be prepared in the grill mode of microwave, which needs less cooking time and gives tandoori effect to the vegetables.

For More Information: Tandoori Wrap Recipe

Chicken Do Pyaza Recipe

Chicken Do Pyaza has always been attraction on dinner table. This dish is very popular in almost all part of northern India. In Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh this dish is very popular. In other parts of world, where Mughlai cuisine is relished, this recipe is usually adored.

It is a very popular dish of muslin cuisine. Do Pyaza, means meat cooked in ghee with twice the quantity of onions. The story goes that Mullah Do Pyaza was one of the nine jewels of Akbar’s court. He was a gourmet and no mean cook to boot. The dish Do Pyaza is an example of his culinary ingenuity.

Mullah’s home was open house and by dinner time the guests were well over the list. To keep the party going, the Mullah would clap his hands time to time indicating to the kitchen that more onions should be added to the meat curry. And thus did Mullah Do Pyaza accidentally discover that the proportion of double the quantity of onions to meat was quite the best and was so created Do Pyaza.

I have learnt this recipe from my mom, who was actually a brilliant cook. I have tried Do Pyaza  in many places but none of them could match my Mom’s Do pyaza. For Do Pyaza recipe, quantity of onion used is very important. It should be higher than the used chicken. I use both grated as well as chopped onions for this recipe; this gives wonderful flavor to the recipe. Frying of chicken in initial stage gives additional flavour. Blend of spices like cumin, coriander, red chilli and aniseed are added to the recipe that gives additional flavour to the recipe. If chicken stock is available, it should be used instead of water for gravy preparation.  A mixture of curd and cream is added for extra richness.

In Parties, it is one of the most relishing curries. Accompanied with Naan, Shermal or Tandoori roti this dish tastes amazingly good. It also goes nice with rice and Mutton Biryani. 

For More Information: Chicken Do Pyaza Recipe