Non Vegetarian

Easy Mutton Curry

January 7, 2021 By Asha Shivakumar

This Indian style Easy Mutton Curry might just become your family favorite. It’s a good balance of flavors and the mutton is fall of the bone delicious. MUST MAKE!

Happy 2021!

Let’s face it – at this point it is not magic and life is not going to get back to normalcy just like that. lt’s messy and confusing at the moment. So many of us are counting on the little things to get us through the day – a spritz of perfume, fixing your hair – if you can even get that far. For some of us, it could simply be keeping up with a workout and a shower followed

I haven’t made New Year Resolutions in the longest time. A few years ago I stopped making year-long-goals and started making life-long-goals. And for the latter, waiting for a new year, isn’t wise. You need to start the moment you realize you need change. After all, kal ho na ho (translation: there might or might not be a tomorrow) *cliche.but.true*. But a new year seems like a good reason to reflect back and enforce them, stronger! For this year, I’d say: to get by without expectations is my resolution.

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Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani – Best and Easiest Dum Biryani EVER

October 3, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

If you love biryani, this hyderabadi chicken biryani will WOW you. This layered biryani is so flavorful and will become your go to biryani recipes. You will love this easy and delicious recipe!

Can anything be more marvelous than a big pot of Biryani? Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani.

Woke up bright and early ready to embark on the art of making biryani.

We sit down to a mountainous task of peeling those tight headed mini garlic. Turmeric washed chicken gets a soak in a home made slightly sour but sweet yogurt, fresh ginger-garlic-green chili paste, red chili powder and the freshest garam masala. A squeeze of lemon splashes into an eye while I mix with my bare clean hand.

Precision cut onions get piled up on a steel plate just to be dumped in a kadai of hot oil, to get golden fried and caramalized( NO STORE BOUGHT fried onions). The marinated chicken gets cooked in an abundance of oil mixed with ghee, to a perfect 80% percent. On the side, the pleasant fragrance of basmati can be whiffed in the second floor as she starts dancing around in a large pot with spices. A steam rises to the face as I carefully drain the water separating the rice that look like glistening pearls not wanting to stick to each other. The rice is not fully cooked, because she needs to soak in the juices of the flavorful chicken when layered, later.

I line up everything like an organized morning assembly at school.

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One Pot Saffron Chicken Rice

September 22, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Saffron Chicken Rice is a one pot meal that is flavorful, comforting and weeknight recipe made easy! It’s robust, soulful and well balanced, the best recipe you’ll need. This post is sponsored by Spice Tribe.

Biryani, Pulao, Fried rice of any kind is our special meal and brings out the nostalgia in me. Our Sunday meals had biryani as the star, and mom made one of the best biryani ever.

Now, my boys are big fans of biryani or pulao of any kind, always with chicken. This recipe Saffron Chicken Rice is inspired by Turkish pulao, and it’s something I make few times a month, especially during a weeknight….

Peanut Butter Ginger Chicken

September 16, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Marinate and Cook: It’s as easy as that. This Peanut Butter Chicken is an impressive and delicious dish. With gingery tones, warm spices and the sweetness from the peanut butter and honey, it will WOW you. Enjoy with pilaf, quinoa, naan or roti, SO GOOD!

Every time I post a recipe for chicken, I say it’s a new favorite of my boys. It is;). When a recipe turns out well and it’s the most requested, I jump to share it with you. Like many of your favorite chicken recipes on the blog, I hope you love this one too.

This Peanut Butter Chicken is such an impressive meal, the kids loved! I say impressive because of how easy it is to put together and how flexible this recipe can be. Adding peanut butter to this recipe adds richness and a robust flavor. When a dish tastes like it’s been slow cooked or seems fancier than it is, I think it’s a winner. …

Chicken Chaap / Kolkata Style Roast Chicken

August 13, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chicken Chaap. Large pieces of meat are marinated in an assortment of spices and a cashew & poppy seed paste, and they then sit to soak. Slow roasted in fresh ghee, this is one of my favorite chicken dishes from the East of India, Kolkata to be precise. Juicy, tasty, and oh so flavorful.

There are priceless gems I’ve collected over the years. And we are talking about recipes that have been eagerly written down, cooked, and devoured. When I get back and marvel at how good something has turned out, I always get a hug or big huge proud smile from the owner of the recipe. It requires a great love of food to share a recipe, precisely. It requires precision to get the recipe right, and a big heart to compliment the owner of the recipes. Thanks to my friend Surabi, who shared her mom in law’s famous chicken chaap recipe with me almost 18 years ago.

Chicken chaap is a Mughlai inspired dish. You can find this dish in most restaurants in Kolkata served in an oval platter with a light pulao or biryani. It’s without a doubt my second favorite dish of Kolkata, first being aloo posto. …

Baked Chicken Chimichanga

July 26, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

This baked chicken chimichanga recipe is a healthier & lighter version of the deep-fried one. They come together so quickly: just put it in a casserole dish, bake, and serve. My boys love it and can’t get enough when I cook these.

Authentic Mexican food is vibrant, delicious, fresh, and fun. It is also colorful and spicy, using an amazing array of chillies, both fresh and dried. Many important ingredients are readily available everywhere, such as tomatoes, limes, coriander, red onion, avocado, and corn.

There’s a common perception that Mexican food is both spicy and heavy but, in fact, true Mexican food has both a depth of flavor – with its combination of savory and earthy flavors – and a lightness from its generous use of fresh herbs, vegetables and citrus. In most of Mexico it would be very unusual to put cheese in tacos, enchiladas, or tostadas, for example, and if it were used it would be a Mexican panela cheese (a smooth, fresh, white cheese). One of the dishes that’s considered heavy is the deep fried chimicanga….

Spicy Thai Basil Chicken

July 23, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Stir fries are fast, easy, and delicious. This Thai Basil Chicken will wow you! An incredibly flavorful recipe that truly tastes just like your favorite Thai restaurant take out, or even better. Serve over some rice and a quick impressive meal is ready in no time.

We’ve eaten our share of bad Thai and great Thai food too. One of our favorites, if not the best is Khin Khao, a Michelin star Thai restaurant in San Francisco. Their flavors are subtle and not a single ingredient is overpowering. I definitely love their approach to recipes, and I was definitely inspired when I made the sauce for this Spicy Thai Basil Chicken.

There is so much nuance to Thai food, it’s not just food that’s as hot as it can be. Anyway, the Thai food that we have here is not Thai enough. It is, in fact, in complete adherence to the spirit of approachable Thai food. No doubt, the food is called Thai cuisine, and is cooked widely, especially if you take the common majority’s favorite ‘yellow or green Thai curry.’ But, is that authentic? No, but it’s relatable and palatable for all….

Healthier Salmon Cakes (Salmon Patties)

July 16, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

These healthy Salmon Cakes are a crowd pleaser. A back pocket recipe that I’ve made so many times and is always a hit at home. Requires very few ingredients, healthy and comes together in 10 minutes plus the cooking time. I had to post the recipe when a friend of mine as me if I had a salmon cake recipe that is healthier, and here it is.

Cooking salmon was overwhelming at one point. If you’ve been intimidated by cooking fish in the past, I hear you! I spent years avoiding buying salmon because I thought it would be too complicated to make, or that worse yet, I’d mess it up and ruin a beautiful piece of fish….

Chettinad Prawn Masala

March 2, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chettinad Prawn Masala has few spices, and big bold flavors. This is a recipe from the Southern part of India. This dish comes together quite quickly and very flavorful.

South Indian Curries are always close to my heart though. South India offers a variety of quite spicy curries. The spices are pretty similar in a lot of the curries, just vary a slight bit. But, to my amazement a simple fennel can change the whole flavor of the curry or a few curry leaves. Most of the time a chicken, mutton or even a fish curry is a slow cooked one. This one comes from a place called Chettinad. The local cuisine is simply one of the the most spiciest I’ve ever tried, Chettinad Cuisine….

Peanut Chicken Curry

December 5, 2019 By Asha Shivakumar

If you love a different recipe for chicken you have to try this recipe! This Peanut Chicken Curry is brimming with flavor thanks to all the spices, it’s rich and creamy and it’s amazingly hearty when you finish it off with basmati rice or naan.

Peanut Chicken Curry

Chicken curry is common to several continents including India, Asia and the Caribbean. There are probably a chicken curry in some form that every household loves and makes. My favorite of them though is this aromatic Pepper Chicken Curry, I’m always just craving these flavors. Also, I might be biased because it’s a recipe I learnt from my mom and a favorite of my boys….