Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

Appetizers

Mango Tamarind Wings

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These Mango Tamarind Wings are from my Sad Girls Cookout Series where the people are lonely and depressed, but the food is always bomb.

I’ve been meaning to post a wings recipe for a long time, so here it is! I am incredibly pleased with the outcome – they’re sweet, sticky, spicy – everything a good wing is supposed to be.

For the marinade, I blended up a mango, a serrano pepper, and lots of garlic. For acidity, I add tamarind concentrate (you can also use fresh tamarind from the block that has been soaked or the pulp) soy sauce for salt, and some chili powder and onion powder. It’s incredibly simple and perfect for the summertime.

Serve these up with some ranch dressing, and you’re in business.

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Mango Tamarind Chicken Wings

Grilled wings marinated in mango, tamarind, serrano pepper, garlic, soy sauce, onion powder, chili powder.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs chicken wings
  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • 1 Tbsp tamarind concentrate*** (amount needed will vary depending on brand or if using fresh pulp)
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 pinch of salt (or to taste)
  • 1 small mango (or 1/2 of a large alphonso mango)
  • 1 serrano pepper
  • 7 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
  • ranch dressing (optional to serve wings with)

Instructions

  1. Let's start off by making the marinade. In a small food processor, add your mango, serrano pepper, and garlic. Whiz it all up. Add to your chicken along with the remainder of the ingredients – oil, soy sauce, salt, tamarind concentrate, onion powder, chili powder. Cover and marinate in the fridge for a few hours. (Note – the amount of tamarind you add may vary depending on if you are using fresh tamarind from the block or can also depend on the brand of concentrate of pulp. Some are more concentrated and hence more sour than others. Always taste before adding.)

  2. Fire your grill up and grill on both sides. Baste with leftover marinade and/or melted butter and oil. The crust should char up a bit. Usually it takes about 8-10 minutes per side (depending on how hot your grill is). The internal temp should reach around 170-175 F. Serve with store-bought or homemade ranch dressing.

Chaat Fries

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If you love chaat and you love fries, you will absolutely these chaat fries.

These fries are perfect for iftar – they’re cheesy, spicy, and incredibly addictive. Forget the samosas, everyone will go straight for these and ravage them in seconds.

I made my own oven-baked fries by using a method I learned off of Adam Ragusea’s youtube video where you boil your fries first and then bake at 450 for an hour. No frying required and you get the crispiest fries!

But if you’re pressed for time or want to take a short-cut, feel free to a buy a bag of frozen fries and season them a little bit with your favorite seasonings (I recommend garlic and onion powder, a bit of tandoori masala) – it will work just fine.

For these chaat fries to be extra delicious, I melted pepper-jack cheese over the fries and topped them with rajma chaat.

Rajma are basically red kidney beans and although they are perhaps less commonly used in chaat than chickpeas, I think they go really well on fries.

To make the rajma chaat, I sautéed some onions in ginger-garlic paste and added a couple of spices: turmeric, chili powder, cumin, coriander, and lots of chaat masala.

I added the layer of beans to the fries and then all the regular chaat fixings – tamarind chutney, cilantro chutney, onion, tomato, cilantro, yogurt, sev.

This is a fun appetizer where you can make everything from scratch if you’re up for it (homemade fries and chutneys, fresh red kidney beans) or everything store-bought if you want to spend a little less time in the kitchen (frozen fries, jarred chutneys, canned beans). Either way it will be delicious!

***Note – I didn’t take pictures of the step-by-step process because I made a Tik Tok video for it that I’ve uploaded to instagram as well. Follow me on Tik Tok: fatimasfabkitchen and IG: fatimasfabulouskitchen (video is in my highlights).

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Chaat Fries

loaded chaat fries – rajma chaat on top of cheesy fries

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  • 28 oz fries (store-bought or homemade)
  • 8 oz pepper-jack cheese (may substitute with mozzarella or cheddar)

Rajma Chaat

  • 1 12 oz can of red kidney beans (or 1 1/2 cup freshly boiled beans)
  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 2 tsp tomato paste (may also substitute 1 chopped tomato)
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp amchur
  • 1 tsp chaat masala
  • salt (to taste)
  • lime juice (to taste)

Chaat Fries Toppings (feel free to use whatever chutneys you'd like)

  • 1/2 small onion (diced)
  • 1 tomato (diced)
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro
  • 3 Tbsp tamarind chutney
  • 3 Tbsp cilantro chutney
  • 3 Tbsp yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp sev

Instructions

Rajma Chaat

  1. Drain and rinse your kidney beans. Add your oil to your pan and sautee your diced onion in ginger-garlic paste.

  2. Add your tomato paste and allow it to cook down. (You can also use a regular tomato instead.)

  3. Add your beans and spices. Add a little water to loosen it up. Cook for a few minutes and set aside.

Fries

  1. Season and cook your fries however you'd like. If you want to take a short-cut, feel free to use store-bought fries. (I made my own oven-baked fries using a method that requires you to boil the fries first and then bake at 450 for 45 minutes. The fries are wonderfully crispy!).

  2. Add your fries to a baking sheet and top with cheese. Melt in the oven using the broiler setting until cheese has melted.

Assembly

  1. Top the cheesy fries with cooked rajma beans. Then add your diced tomatoes, onions, cilantro, chutneys, yogurt, and sev. Fries are ready to serve!

    (*note – melt the cheese and top the fries a few minutes before serving so the cheese remains melted and hot when eating).

Chicken 65 Bao

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This week I made a Tik Tok account (follow me: fatimasfabkitchen)!  My gen Z cousins – Afsah, Amena, and Ammaar (no they are not triplets), had been raving about how this was THE app to go viral on. At first I was skeptical; the 60-second phone-recorded videos don’t even compare to the high quality youtube videos that take days and weeks to painstakingly conceptualize, film, and edit – but I understand the appeal. Most of us don’t have the time, money, or tech knowledge to make high-end content that will get you thousands of subscribers on a highly saturated platform; also youtube did a great disservice to brilliant creators by demonetizing. (that’s a different discussion for another day).

My Chicken 65 video did receive quite a few views and likes, and I have to say it’s nice to finally get noticed after years of food blogging. Now that I’m on break and quarantine, I have all the time in the world to grow an audience on Tik Tok and drive my parents insane.  

The Chicken 65  (don’t ask me why it’s called that, I have no idea) is a spicy and crunchy deep-fried chicken dish seasoned with several spices and added to tempered curry leaves. Apparently it is Hyderabadi (usually served in weddings), but my mom never really made it growing up so I learned about it by eating out and word-of-mouth.

I thought the Chicken 65 would be perfect served in a fluffy bao bun and a carrot, cucumber, cilantro, and onion slaw with a kimchi mayo (it’s just kimchi juice and mayonnaise). It’s an adorable sandwich that packs a punch –spicy chicken, a bright and vibrant mayo, and a crunchy slaw.

For the bao buns, I am not even going to bother to try coming up with my own recipe because I just use Asian At Home’s Seonkyoung Longest’s recipe (she is AMAZING, please google her if you don’t know who she is). You can also save time and buy it at the store (you can usually find them in the frozen section).

This is the stuff I would serve in my hypothetical pop-up restaurant. This recipe has that Signature Food status. Go ahead and make these (I know most of you have that free time now), you won’t be disappointed!

****UPDATE: I have updated this post to a newer version of this recipe that doesn’t require deep-frying. It is much crispier and requires less oil. Enjoy!

*****A lot of people asked me how to make the Bao buns from scratch. I use Seonkyoung Longest’s amazing recipe. Here is the link – https://seonkyounglongest.com/bao-buns/

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Chicken 65 Bao

Chicken 65 (A Hyderabadi Indian fried chicken dish) served in fluffy bao buns with a tangy kimchi mayo and crunchy carrot, onion, cilantro slaw

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  • 8-10 Bao Buns (home-made or store-bought) *may substitute with Pilsbury Grands! Biscuit Dough

Chicken 65

  • 1 lb boneless chicken thighs
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup corn starch
  • 1/2 tsp salt to taste; use less if using store-bought spice mix

Spices (May substitute with 2 Tbsp of store-bought chicken 65 mix)

  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder or to taste
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder

Bhaghar (Stir-Fry Ingredients)

  • 4 curry leaves
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 3 serrano chilies to taste, may de-seed
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste (or fresh garlic and ginger chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp yogurt
  • 1 tsp sweet chili sauce (to taste)
  • lime juice to taste
  • 1 Tbsp cilantro (garnish)

Sweet Chili Mayo

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp sweet chili sauce (or to taste) may also use kimchi to make kimchi mayo

Slaw

  • 1 carrot (shredded)
  • 1 small cucumber (matchsticks)
  • 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1 Tbsp cilantro

Instructions

Chicken 65

  1. Wash and cut your chicken thighs into cubes. Add your spices, corn starch, salt, and egg. Mix thoroughly. Do not add the yogurt or ginger-garlic paste at this step. We will be adding it later because we don't want the mixture to be too soggy and not crisp up. Note – if you are using a store-bought chicken 65 spice mix such as shaan, add only a pinch of salt since the spice-mix already contains plenty of salt.

  2. In a wide pan or skillet, add 1/2 an inch of oil or enough to shallow-fry. Once the oil is hot, add a handful of chicken pieces. Make sure not to over-crowd the pan. Fry until golden brown. Remove onto a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil.

  3. Wipe down the pan. And add another tablespoon of oil. Add in your curry leaves, mustard seeds and serrano chilies (cut into matchsticks). Cook for a few minutes. The mustard seeds should pop. Now add in your ginger-garlic paste, chili sauce, yogurt, soy sauce. Cook for a few minutes. Now add in your chicken. Stir and garnish with fresh lime juice and cilantro.

Bao Assembly and condiments (kimchi mayo and slaw)

  1. Steam your bao buns in a steamer according to package or recipe instructions.

  2. Mix together your kimchi juice and mayo – kimchi mayo. Combine slaw ingredients (onions, carrots, cucumber, cilantro) together. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

  3. Spread a little bit of kimchi mayo inside the bun. Then add your chicken and your slaw. Ready to serve!