Chicken Makhani

Who doesn't love some chicken makhani, right? Especially from Sabri Nihari in Chicago...mmm. So I searched and searched online for a good recipe and found one I guess I like more than the rest. This, of course, is MY version of it. BUT if anyone has a better, more authentic recipe please share!! Thanks!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, cup up into small pieces
about a half a stick of butter
1 tbsp tandoori masala
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
2 green chilies
1/2 tsp red mirchi powder
1/2 can of tomato paste
about 1 cup or so of heavy cream
1-2 tbsp Kasoori Methi leaves
a pinch of sugar
salt to taste

A lot of the recipes called for marinating the chicken in yogurt and spices and then grilling or broiling it. Instead, I melt 1/4 stick of butter and add the chicken, tandoori masala, 1 tbsp garlic-ginger paste, and a little bit of salt. When the chicken is cooked, remove and set aside.

In the same pot, add the remaining butter and a little oil if you want, and add the remaining 1 tbsp garlic-ginger paste, garam masala powder and green chilies and cook for a couple minutes. Add the tomato paste and about a half cup of water and cook till it becomes thick. Add red mirchi powder. Add the cream and salt to taste and cook for a minute or so. Throw in the chicken and cook for a minute. It should be a bit thick at this point. Add the sugar and kasoori methi leaves, stir, cover, and remove from heat.

Karhai Chicken

UThis is the way mom makes karhai chicken and its always a hit! And it's super easy!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken
3-4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
a small chunk of ginger, about the same amount as garlic, cut in small pieces to match the garlic
1 cinnamon stick
5 black peppercorns
4 cloves
1 cardamom pod
1-2 green chillies cut in 1/2 inch pieces ((adjust to your preference))
2 large ripe tomatoes chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp dry Kasoori Methi leaves
salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Throw in the garlic, ginger, black peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamon pod the green mirchi and sautee stirring continuously. After a few minutes, or when the garlic starts to take on a golden color, add the chicken and cook till chicken is no longer pink. You can increase the heat at this point. Add the tomatoes, crushed red pepper and salt, cover and cook until tomatoes break down. Uncover and simmer until sauce thickens. Add the kasoori methi at the end.

HELP

Okay gals, I'm in desperate need of new, fun, exciting desi recipes!! If any of you have any please post and save me from the daily stress of "omg what am I gonna make today?!" Much appreciated!

Best Pizza Dough Ever :-)

So I've been making pizza for a good while now, except I never bothered experimenting with any new recipes and kind of just stuck to one. Today, I tried out a new one. I found it on all recipes, but I'm posting it here with my own instructions. I think part of what's cool about this recipe blog is that we get to add little tips and such while writing up our versions of various recipes. This helps the person who's maybe aiming to try a new dish feel more confident about the how and what. You can definitely find these sorts of tips in the comments and reviews section of most websites that feature recipes, but you generally have to go through hundreds of those to understand what to do differently, and even then it's very confusing.

Anyway, sorry about the tangent. I heard we have some new visitors to this blog. I'd like to just say welcome and feel free to comment away :-) Make yourself at home!

Now onto the recipe!


3 1/2 cups bread flour (it's white flour, but a bit different than all purpose flour. works better for pizza crusts and such)
1 package active dry yeast (make sure its the quick/rapid rise yeast, not the slow one!)
1/2 tsp brown sugar or honey
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water (not hot, just warm)
2 tbsps olive oil, or you can use vegetable oil

Fill a large bowl with the water, then dissolve the package of yeast along with the brown sugar or honey in it. Set that aside for 10 minutes. Add olive oil and salt, and stir the mixture. Then add 2 and a half cups of the flour right in that bowl. Mix with a fork. It's going to be a very runny mixture, but stir for a bit. Don't attempt to soften the lumps, that's not going to happen and you don't want that anyway. Then, on a separate flat surface (like a cleaned counter top or wooden board) sprinkle a good amount of the remaining flour. On top of that, dump the flour and yeast mixture. Top with more remaining flour, then start kneading to form a dough. This is a very messy process at first, but it comes together OH so nicely in the end and is totally worth the wait! Keep adding flour and working it into the dough until the dough is no longer sticky. You can use more than the suggested amount of flour in this recipe. However I strongly suggest not using more than an additional half cups or a total of 4 cups. You don't want the dough to be very tough, but soft yet not sticky. Keep kneading for a good 15 minutes.

Lightly oil a separate large bowl, then transfer the dough in it. Cover with a towel and let it sit in a warm corner for an hour. By the end of that time, the dough size should have doubled. At this point, punch a hole in the dough. Knead some more if you wish. Form into a ball. Then take a pizza pan, oil it, and spread out the dough. You can make a large thick crust, or 2 smaller thin crusts.

After you spread the dough out, let it sit for 15 additional minutes. This will allow it to slightly rise again. While waiting, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Get your cheese and pizza sauce out (I use Bertollis olive oil & garlic) and chop up any veggies (I use lots of bell peppers, onions, etc. You can use canned olives, or you may not use any veggies at all!).

After the 15 minutes are up, top your pizza dough with sauce, cheese, and veggies. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly

P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Okay I dunno if any of you have tried these but they are sooo good, along with almost everything else I've ever had at P.F Chang's. My sister found this recipe and they taste pretty much exactly like the real thing!! Woot.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chicken ((You can ask your butcher to make this for you or mince it yourself in a food processor))
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 can of water chestnuts finely chopped
a few green onions finely sliced
1 tsp garlic-ginger paste ((since we're desi and we have it ready, otherwise 3 cloves garlic minced and about 1 tsp grated ginger))
about 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp hot oil/chili oil/sambal olek ((more or less to your preference))
1 tsp honey or brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cornstarch
some recipes add a couple tsps ketchup ((i didn't))
some recipes also add hot mustard ((also didn't add this))
some recipes also call for hoisin sauce which I also didn't do but I think it would be great
a few whole lettuce leaves, rinsed and set aside to drip dry

Add ground chicken to oil and sautee over medium high heat until no longer pink. Add onions, water chestnuts, and garlic and ginger and stir fry. Add soy sauce, chili sauce, honey, rice vinegar, and whatever else you decide to throw in here and stir fry. Mix the cornstarch with a little cold water and add to the stir fry and stir until the water/sauce is thick but there shouldn't be too much sauce. Mix in green onions and remove from heat. Taste and adjust by adding soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, or honey.

Scoop the mixture onto the lettuce leaves, roll, and enjoy!

Maklouba

I'm currently obsessed with simple yet rich middle eastern food. My good friend made this a couple nights ago for an iftaar and I was in heaven. This is ANOTHER good friends recipe for it. Props Hazima!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken or lamb
2 or 3 cups of rice ((Basmati does NOT work well with this recipe. Uncle Ben's is recommended))
1 tsp garam masala (OR whole garam masala: few cloves, few black peppercorns, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 or 2 bay leaves, 2-3 cardamom pods/elaichi, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds))
couple pinches of nutmeg
3-4 chicken bouillon cubes
pinch of haldi/turmeric
half a cauliflower in small-medium size florets
3-4 carrots sliced thick
1 small eggplant sliced in rounds
2 medium potatoes sliced in rounds
1 medium tomato sliced in rounds or chopped up ((This is totally optional))
salt to taste

Boil the chicken with the garam masala, haldi, bouillon cubes, salt and about 4-5 cups of water. You want a lot of water in the pot so there is stock left over to cook the rice in. Add more if you need. Boil until the chicken is just cooked.

Meanwhile, soak the rice for 20 minutes. Drain, and add a little olive oil and garlic powder for taste. Cut up all the veggies and fry them in oil until golden brown. Don't let them cook too much, they should only be half cooked.

When the chicken is done, remove from the pot and set aside. Strain the stock to remove all the garam masala and other chunks of stuff. You can broil the chicken at this point to give it a little color.

In a large pot or dutch oven, place the browned chicken pieces, then layer nicely with the veggies. You should arrange these nicely and not just dump it all in. Then add the soaked rice on top. Place a plate on top of the rice to weigh everything down ((not to cover the pot with)), and pour the chicken stock into the pot. There should be enough to cook the rice thoroughly. If not, add more water.

Cook on medium till the water boils, then lower it a bit till the rice is cooked through. When it's done, place a large serving platter over the pot and flip it over carefully. When you remove the pot, the maklouba should retain the shape of the pot ((this is why the plate on top of the rice is key)) and be in lovely layers with chicken on top, then veggies, then rice. You may garnish with parsley or toasted almonds or pine nuts.

Note: This may be my desi side lashing out but I feel like there is a lack of oil in this dish. So I feel like I would either add it to the pot before putting in all the layers or drizzle some olive oil on top after flipping the cooked product over onto the platter.

Aloo-Pyaaz Kachoris!

When I asked Zubair what he wanted for iftaar today his answer was "I dunno...something cool." So I told him to find me something "Cool" and I'd attempt. His mom makes these and he loves them so I gave them a go!

Ingredients:

Filling:
2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled, and mashed
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 tsp dhanya/coriander seeds
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 green chili finely chopped ((or as many as you like))
1/3 tsp red chili powder
1/3 tsp zeera/cumin powder
2 tsp lemon juice ((or to taste))
handful chopped cilantro/hara dhanya
3-4 green onions, finely chopped
handful of green peas ((optional))
salt to taste

1 cup maida/all purpose flour

Mix the flour, a pinch of salt and gradual amounts of warm water to form the dough. Cover and set aside.

Mix together the cooled, mashed potatoes and the rest of the ingredients for the filling. You can adjust this to make it as spicy/lemony/salty as you like.

Pinch off a little bit of dough, roll out into a small thin disc, about 2-3 inches in diameter. Put about 2 teaspoons of potato filling in the middle. Dampen the edge of the dough with water and gather all the edges. Pinch them together, and give a little twist to make sure it's sealed well. Give a little smush in between your hands to flatten just slightly. Bake the kachoris at about 300 degrees for about 15 minutes or untill golden brown or deep fry.

Cherry Cream Cheese Danish Dessert Thing

This is sooo yummy as breakfast or as a dessert. Its like a cherry cream cheese danish pie! And so easy!

Ingredients:

2 cans pillsbury crescent sheets

2 tubs of Philadelphia cream cheese softened

1-1/2 cups Powdered sugar, divided

1 Egg white

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 can (20 oz.) cherry pie filling (or whatever pie filling you like)

3 Tbsp. Milk


Unroll one can of the crescent sheets and press down on the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Try to press some up the sides of the pan as well.

Beat the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar, the egg white and the vanilla with an electric mixer (if you have one) until well blended. Spread this mixture onto the crust and then cover that with the cherry pie filling.

Cover with the other crescent roll sheet and try to smush the sides down to meet the bottom crust if you can.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and then cool slightly. Mix the milk with the remaining 3/4 cup of powdered sugar until well blended. Drizzle over the danish. Cut into rectangles and serve! Refrigerate any leftovers in the fridge.

Note: I haven't made this in a couple years but I used to make it regularly for a while and everyone loved it. The only thing I remember not liking about it is that the top crust seemed to get kind of soggy after a while because of the cherry pie filling. But it was still yummy!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

halal extract, 2 1/2 tsps (completely optional)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

one 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips. increase or decrease as desired. i used half a bag. i also used peanut butter, walnuts, etc

preheat oven to 350 degrees

cream together butter, sugars, eggs and extract.

combine flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt. add slowly to the butter-sugar mixture. use hand mixer on slow speed if necessary. the result should be dough of decent thickness.

add chocolate chips to dough. 

with fingers, make golf sized balls of dough (about 25 big ones, or 50 smaller ones). spread on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

now this part is the one that requires the most attention. bake cookies for NO LONGER than 9-12 mins. they SHOULD NOT be completely cooked when you take them out, NOR should their color be exactly golden brown. after taking them out of the oven, make sure  to leave them in a COOL place without touching them for about 10 minutes. this will allow them to continue setting in place and cooking in their own heat which is important to ensure chewy-ness without them falling apart.

Enjoy!

Tips: don't double or half the recipe. it doesn't turn out as good. these proportions are pretty accurate.

also, this makes a good amount of cookie dough. You can freeze it or store it in the fridge for about a week or more if you wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap. 

Tropical Delight

This is amazing. Anytime I've made it for a desi dawat or gathering (minus one evening with Mina because she doesn't like nuts), it's been inhaled and raved about. A friend of mine passed it along to me, dubbing the dish "Jannah in a Bowl"

1 box instant Pistachio pudding mix
1 8oz container cool whip
1 can mandarins (drained and cut in halves)
1 can pineapple tidbits (drained)
1/2 bag of crushed walnuts

Follow directions on Pistachio pudding box to make pudding (it'll say to add 2 cups of cold milk and whisk for a couple of minutes). Into that, add the container of cool whip and mix thoroughly. The mixture now should be a light green color. Add the remaining ingredients, mix, and cover in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Serve as dessert.

Masala Chicken Bites

I don't know if this particular dish has a name, but my MIL just made her own recipe from tasting something at a wedding.

1 lb boneless chicken cut into bite sized squares
Few tbsp sour cream
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp laal mirch
1/5 tsp haldi
Salt to taste
Olive oil

Marinate the chicken with the spices and sour cream - a nice coating, not sparse. Heat oil in pan. Add in marinated chicken and let it cook on one side, medium heat, until tender (approximately 10 minutes). I usually cover the pan. Flip and cook again on medium heat for another few minutes, uncovered. Before removing, put heat on high and 'grill' the chicken so it's slightly darkened and has a nice very-cooked-masala residue on one side. Serve as side (goes well with a rice/daal meal). The end product shouldn't be too dry, but not runny either.

home made pita chips, to go with hummus!

So I learned this recipe from a really good arab friends mom :) It's so simple, delicious, tastes like a real chip and more importantly, its a super healthy snack. It's also a great way to use up leftover pita bread

Basically, lay a piece of wheat pita bread on an ungreased baking sheet, and drizzle well with olive oil. With a scissor, cut the bread into strips (I do triangles, its easy and works great as a dip, plus looks like a real chip). Remember that pita bread is thick, and can be split apart (because people use it to make pocket sandwiches). So make sure you split it apart also

Then lay them all on a sheet evenly (make sure they're not over each other because they won't bake equally) and bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until they become crispy all the way through. It's really easy to be tempted to take them out when they're halfway done, but let them stay in there for a bit bc they become veryyy crispy, like real chips!

You can do this with white pita bread also, but wheat pita chips are more flavorful. Plus healthier!

Hummus

1 can of chickpeas (the regular can, I dunno how many ounces it is, but it only comes in one size I'm pretty sure)
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tahini
Pinch of salt
2 cloves garlic

Method:
Basically, blend everything together. But make sure to use the water from the canned chickpeas. Only drain about 1/4 of it.

Garlic Bread

So garlic bread is a pretty simple recipe. But I was wondering if anyone does things differently, cause I'd love to know.

I just slice up some nice, crusty bread. Then I spread melted butter, and either rub a clove of garlic on it, or sprinkle it with garlic powder. Then I top it with a pinch of shredded mozzarella cheese and bake till its bubbly. YUM!

Any variations/advice is welcomed!

Lasagna

*For non veggie lasagna, follow same recipe as below, but add ground beef to onions and garlic and season to liking. Then add vegetables and sauce, and continue with remaining recipe as usual

One box Barilla’s no boil lasagna (or any other no boil brand)

1 bottle Ragu’s chunky tomato, garlic & onion sauce

1 14-15 oz container of whole milk ricotta cheese

1 two cup packet of shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese

1 two cup packet of mixed Italian shredded cheeses (also can be found in the same area in the store, its got various white cheeses mixed together. If you don’t want that, substitute with another bag of mozzarella, or provolone)

Few tbsps of dried parmesan cheese (the kind you get in a big bottle and have over pizza generally)

2 eggs

3 cloves of garlic

olive oil

Crushed red pepper flakes

Italian seasoning mix (this is a really handy seasoning to have on hand. It has thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley, etc. adds lots of amazing flavor)

Garlic powder

1 packet frozen chopped spinach (thawed for a couple hours beforehand)

1 mixed frozen vegetable packet with green beans, peas, carrots, and corn (also thawed for a couple hours beforehand)

1 medium sized onion

1 large bell pepper

Canned or fresh mushrooms

Canned or fresh black olives

1 jar of fire roasted red bell peppers (you’ll find these near the pickles)

Chop onions, mince garlic cloves with knife and sauté both in olive oil together. Add in the bag of thawed mixed veggies along with bell peppers, but not the spinach, olives, mushrooms, or fire roasted bell peppers. Stir fry the veggies on high heat for 10 minutes until most of the water has dried up. Add in the bottle of tomato sauce, red chilli pepper flakes to taste, some garlic powder, and 2 tsps of Italian seasoning. Stir, then take off heat and add mushrooms and olives. The reason you add these later is because you don’t want them to get mushy, since they’re canned. Set mixture aside.

Wash spinach in a bowl of hot water, then drain in a fine drain bowl (not the one with the big wholes, or it’ll wash away in the sink!). Then squeeze it to get the majority of the water out (trust me, there will be a LOT). In a separate bowl, lightly beat both eggs. Add ricotta cheese and mix well. Add one bag of mozzarella, along with the spinach, and mix well. Season the mixture with some Italian seasoning if you wish.

Preheat oven to 375. Now it’s time to layer. Spread some sauce/veggie mixture on the bottom of the tray first. Then use 3-4 of the lasagna sheets to cover it. Then take the ricotta mixture and spread over pasta layer. Use your hands to spread evenly, since it’s a sticky mixture, and a spoon may not work well. Now take the other bag of shredded cheeses (either the Italian mix, or the other mozzarella bag) and sprinkle some over the ricotta mixture, plus parmesan if you wish. Now add more sauce, then layer the fire roasted red bell peppers from the jar, then sheets of pasta, then more cheese. Repeat till you have as many layers as desired or until you finish both mixtures. The top most layer should be tomato sauce, over the pasta sheet. Over the tomato sauce, add only the last of the shredded cheese. Sprinkle parmesan. 

Cover tray with foil and bake for 50 mins to an hour at 375. Take the foil off toward the end and bake uncovered for 7-8 minutes. 

Tip:  It's easier to cut pieces and serve after its cooled down a bit

Crepes

Slightly more than a 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk or half n half
1 tbsp sour cream (not necessary though, you can definitely do without)
Slightly more than a 1/2 cup of flour
4 eggs
Vanilla or any other essence/extract, or rose water

Filling options:

Cardamom seeds aka ilaichi, and saffron (if you want desi style)
Some kind of fruit of your choice, chopped up. Berries and banana work great.
Cool whip or some kind of whipped cream
Nutella


Method:

Pour the milk and sugar in a pan and cook on very low heat for 5 minutes or so or until the mixture is slightly thick. Then remove and let it cool for a couple minutes. In a separate bowl, beat all 4 eggs well with a beater, till slightly frothy. Add the flour and milk/sugar mixture, making sure the latter isn't too hot or it'll cook the eggs! Then beat everything altogether. At this point, add the cardamom and saffron if you want to. If you do, don't add the vanilla extract or rose water. If not, then add a half tbsp of either. The mixture should be very thin, that's how you want it. If you're used to the consistency of cake batter etc, don't worry, this is far from that. It should almost feel like a heavy egg mixture, not so much floury.

Melt butter in a pan on very low heat, making sure the entire pan is greased with the sides included. If you have those measuring cups, use the 1/3 cup to spoon batter and pour in the middle of the pan. Then move the pan around slightly till the batter forms a circle (it kind of will automatically when you start pouring it, but just to even it out). Cook for a few minutes of low heat, it's a process requiring patience because you absolutely canNOT increase the heat. In addition, you have to wait for the top of the crepe to cook without turning it over. That's why the batter has to be so thin. After the top part is cooked (won't look well done or anything, but cooked), pour your fruit or nutella or whatever filling in the middle of the crepe, then start rolling the crepe up from one end, covering the filling, until the entire thing closes up nicely right in your pan. Or, if you don't want to roll it all up, at least 'close' it like a book - one half over the other, so the filling melts just enough from the heat of the crepe.

Then take it out and dive in while it's still warm!

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits

I found this recipe online somewhere. It turned out exactly like the real thing. They're a hit every time!

2 cups Bisquick. baking mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup cheddar cheese -- shredded
1/4 cup butter -- melted
1 tbsp garlic powder
Tbsp of dried parsley flakes




Preheat over to 375. Mix the milk into the Bisquick mix well, with a spoon, then mix in cheddar cheese. The batter should be thick enough that you can put spoonfuls using an ice cream scoop on a baking sheet. It will have lumps but increase the quantity of milk slightly if you think its way too thick or lumpy. Then with an ice cream scooper, spoon on to a baking sheet and into the oven until golden brown. Right before taking them out of the oven, mix the melted butter, garlic pwdr, and parsley together in a sauce, then individually brush it all over the top of each biscuits. You can also use a spoon to spoon on the mixture over each biscuit. Then remove from oven and ENJOY.

Chicken Pot-Pie

This is one my favorite Gora style comfort foods.

Ingredients:

2 cans of Pillsbury crescent roll sheets or pie crusts
1 lb chicken breast, cut in small cubes
one large onion, diced same size as chicken
3 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 carrots, sliced, not too thin
2-3 celery stalks, sliced same size as carrots
about 4 tablespoons butter
about 4 tbsp all purpose flour
about 1cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
Parsley flakes
Italian seasonings
Crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Melt one tbsp butter and add a tbsp of oil. Saute onions for a minute then add minced garlic. Throw in the chicken cubes and cook till they are no longer pink. Add the carrots and celery and cook till tender but not too soft. Add salt and pepper and other seasonings to taste. Set aside.

In another pot melt the butter and add the flour. Cook for a minute or so until the mixture is smooth and thick. Slowly add the stock, stirring. Cook and stir until smooth. This will be the creamy gravy stuff inside the pie, so it should be a thick liquid, coating the meat and veggies, but not too runny. If it is too runny, add more flour. If it's too thick, add more stock. Add salt and pepper and seasonings to taste here as well.

Combine the chicken/veggie mixture and the gravy mixture. Unroll the crescents/pie crusts and lay one down into a lightly greased pie dish. I use a glass pyrex pie dish. After pressing lightly down into the dish, trim off extra from sides. Pour in the chicken/veggie/gravy mixture. It may seem like a lot of filling but the pie will need that much. Lay the second crescent sheet/pie crust over the filling and press down the sides so it sticks to the bottom layer of crust. You may brush the top with an egg wash for color if desired. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and cooked through.

Raspberry Fizz Punch

This is super easy but every time I make it for a party everyone loves it! Woot.

Ingredients:

equal portions of pink lemonade and sprite/sierra mist/7up
raspberry sorbet
fresh raspberries
fresh mint leaves, lime slices, or cool whip to garnish (optional)

In a large bowl, add the pink lemonade and lemon-lime soda of your choice. Drop in big spoonfuls of the raspberry sorbet until the surface is full of floating spoonfuls. Drop in the raspberries on top of the sorbet. Add a few sprigs of mint, small lime slices or tiny drops of cool whip just a garnish. As the sorbet melts, it'll create a frothy, foamy, fizz on the surface of the punch! It's yummy!

Afghani Style Potatoes with Tamarind

Ingredients:

1 small onion thinly sliced
2 or 3 medium potatoes
1 tablespoon imli/tamarind pulp
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
pinch of turmeric powder/haldi
1/2 teaspoon of pisa garam masala
red pepper flakes ((to your taste))
salt to taste

Soak the imli in warm water to soften and set aside. Boil the potatoes until about half cooked. Peel the potatoes and cut into large cubes. Sautee the onions until light golden brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste, haldi, and garam masala. Smash and squeeze the imli in the water to get as much pulp/juice as you can and pour that into the pot along with about 1/2 cup of water, and cook for a couple minutes. Add the potatoes, red pepper flakes and salt and cook for a few minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and the water becomes a bit thick or slightly dried up. You can adjust the imli, red pepper flakes or salt to your taste.

Desi Flavor Lasagna

Ingredients

Oven ready lasagna pasta
1lb Kheema
Laal Mirch
Haldi
Salt
Dhanya
Shredded cheese of choice (mozzarella)
Kidney beans
Corn
Chopped vegetables (assorted - I generally use bell peppers, celery, onions, chilies, garlic)
Bottle of spaghetti sauce
Olive oil/something similar


Sautee garlic & onions in some olive oil. Add Kheema & masalas to taste. Cook until browned, tasty, and tender. Add bottle of spaghetti sauce + some additional water to make it lightly soupy. Chop vegetables into bite sizes and add. Toss in kidney beans & corn. Simmer sauce until vegetables are tender. Taste to test spiciness/flavor.

Layer lasagna pan as follows bottom up - SAUCE/PASTA/CHEESE. PASTA/SAUCE/CHEESE. PASTA/SAUCE/CHEESE. PASTA/SAUCE/CHEESE on top. Cover with foil and put in oven at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes.

chiku ice cream

Since the last two posts were kulfis, I figured I'd go with the flow and add my chiku ice cream recipe.

1 bag frozen sliced chikus (found at Indian grocery stores like Patel Brothers, etc)
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1 container of Cool Whip

Blend all the ingredients (make sure there are no seeds left in the chikus!) and pour into a tray. Freeze about 8 hours and serve. :) You can also pour this into the little 4 oz. cups for individual servings.

Other ice cream recipes are pretty much the same, just switch out the fruit - you can make strawberry or mango or whatever you want. I've tried it with mango puree, which turned out pretty good except there were some ice flakes frozen in.

For kulfi, replace the chikus with 16 oz heavy whipping cream, add two slices of white bread, ground almonds and pistachios, a pinch of elaichi powder, and coconut powder (the coarse kind). Decorate the top with ground almonds and pistachios too. I tried adding green food coloring (the liquid drops) to make it like pista kulfi, but it seemed like that caused ice flakes to form.

An Easy(ier) Kulfi Recipe!

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
1 small can of cottage cheese

Blend aforementioned ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add flavoring* of choice. Freeze for 4-6hrs. Serve.

*My SIL used mango pulp and it tasted nice. I added in already mixed/crushed pistachio/cashew/almonds. I forgot to add some green food coloring, but that would've been a nice touch. It was a hit with the ILs. The cans of milk could be substituted with LOW FAT/FAT FREE and it doesn't do too much to the taste difference.

easy creamy kulfi recipe

4 slices of white bread

1 tbsp rose water (but if you dont have it, no biggy, tho it does add a really nice fragrance and slight yummy rose flavor) 

Little more than a handful of almonds (or other nuts, like pistachios, or any mix of nuts if you want)
5 cardamom pods
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 12 oz can carnation evaporated milk
1 big container of Cool Whip (leave this in the fridge for a couple hours before making this recipe, you dont want it thick and frozen like it usually gets in the freezer)


Grind the nuts and cardamom (without skin) into a fine mixture. In another food processor/chopper, break down the slices of bread into fine bread crumbs (they'll be soft though not crispy bread crumbs obviously). In a blender, mix the bread with the nuts mixture, add the evaporated milk, cool whip, condensed milk and blend blend blend. Add rose water and blend some more. Pour into trays and freeze for 6 hours or preferably, overnight

DELISH


BTW, everyone loved it including myself but I thought it was slightly too sweet. I was thinking next time I'll add 7 oz of unsweetened condensed milk and 7 oz of sweetened, just to go easy on the sweetness.

Post away your favorite/personally experimented upon recipes! :-)