Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

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

Indian Fusion

Nihari-Birria Tacos

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When I first made these for TikTok, I basically used my nihari recipe. But I realized that while delicious, it’s just nihari tacos not nihari-birria. So this time around, I tried to combine elements of both which resulted in this amazing hybrid of a taco.

This recipe is a bit involved and so I’ll divide it into five components.

  1. Pressure-cooking the meat: The first part of this recipe is like nihari – I pressure cook the meat in spices and ginger-garlic paste. You can use an instant pot or a traditional pressure cooker.

2. Shredding the meat: After the lamb is cooked down and tender, I separate it from the broth and gently shred it with a fork.  

3. Searing the shredded meat: Since I didn’t sear the meat at the beginning, I actually add it to some sauteed onions and allow it to get slightly crispy and charred with some added nihari masala. This step is important to add extra flavor to these tacos!

4. Consome: I add blended up dried chilies and tomatoes (soaked in hot water) to the left-over broth from earlier.

5. Taco assembly: This is straight-forward; I dip my tortillas in that lovely broth and add the meat and lots of cheese and onion. I cook it the tacos in a cast-iron skillet.

You’ve got the spices of nihari but the dried chilies and taco-component of birria making these truly a fusion taco!

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Nihari Birria Tacos

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs boneless lamb chunks (may also use beef)
  • 1.5 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1.5 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 Tbsp whole spices** (cloves, peppercorns, cardamom, bay leaf, mace, cinnamon etc)
  • 2 cups water
  • 3-4 Tbsp butter/oil
  • 1 large onion (diced)
  • 2 tsp nihari masala (store-bought or homemade)
  • 2 tsp fennel powder

Consome

  • 3 tomatoes
  • 5-6 dried chilies (remove seeds; I used chile de arbol)
  • 1 tsp nihari masala
  • 2 cups remaining birria broth/water

Taco Assembly

  • 20 tortillas
  • 8 oz cheese of your choice
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • cilantro
  • lime wedges

Instructions

Pressure-Cooking the Meat

  1. Combine the salt, turmeric, chili powder, and ginger-garlic paste with the lamb chunks.

  2. Take your whole spices (feel free to use whatever you have on hand. I used 1 cinnamon stick, 1 mace, 3 cardamoms, a couple of black peppercorns and cumin seeds) and tie it in some cheesecloth in the form of a little pouch. If you don't have cheese cloth, then make sure to strain everything at a later step. I'm sure no one wants to bite into an elaichi while eating a taco!

  3. Add the lamb and the pouch of whole spices along with the water in a pressure cooker or the instant pot. (You may also slow cook this in a pot over several hours).

  4. Put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook for about 6-10 whistles. In the insant pot it might take about 40-60 minutes depending on the cut of your meat and how big your chunks are. The meat should be tender and juicy once done. (Note – always wait for the pressure cooker to cool before opening it. I learned this the hard way a long time ago. Just look at my burned hand.)

  5. Once the meat is cooked, remove the meat from the broth. If you didn't use a cheese cloth for the whole spices, make sure to strain the broth.

Broth (Consome)

  1. Take the tomatoes and dried chilies and soak them in some hot water for about 10 minutes or until the chilies have softened. Make sure to de-seed the dried chilies before adding them!

  2. In a blender, blend together the tomatoes and dried chilies until smooth.

  3. Add the tomatoes and chilies mix to the broth we pressure-cooked the meat in. Add some water if needed.

  4. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Feel free to add some lime juice and nihari masala.

Searing the Meat

  1. In a pan, add your butter and sautee your diced onion.

  2. Once the onions begin to brown, add in the shredded nihari-birria meat. Allow the meat to develop some color and get slightly crispy.

  3. Add in your nihari masala, fennel powder, and taste and adjust for seasonings.

Taco Assembly

  1. Dip the tortillas in the consome broth. Cook it in a hot pan.

  2. Add your birria-nihari meat, cheese, onions, cilantro. Fold over on its side.

Paneer Tikka Salad

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mango-cashew dressing ingredients

I don’t have a whole lot of salad recipes on here, so here is one that is incredibly simple to make!

This Paneer Tikka Salad is great for lunch or even as a side dish, and the great thing about it is you can make the paneer tikka in the oven, air-fryer, pan, or grill.

I cut the paneer into cubes and combine into a classic tandoori marinade consisting of tandoori masala, amchur, turmeric, chili powder, yogurt, lemon juice, and ginger-garlic paste. (Feel free to add some pieces of bell pepper and onion to the mix.)

I keep the salad simple with some lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and onion.

This time I paired the salad with a sweeter salad dressing made with mango, cashews, serrano, cilantro, and lime juice. But a homemade ranch dressing is also a great option!

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Paneer Tikka Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz block of paneer
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 Tbsp tandoori masala (store-bought or homemade)
  • 1 tsp chili powder or paprika
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp amchur powder
  • 1 tsp kasuri methi
  • salt (to taste)
  • 1/3 cup yogurt
  • 2 squeezes lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • 1 head romaine lettuce
  • 1 medium-sized carrot
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (chopped)
  • 1/2 small onion
  • your favorite salad dressing (see instructions for details)

Instructions

  1. Cut the paneer into cubes. Feel free to make them as big or small as you'd like.

  2. Combine the paneer with ginger-garlic paste, tandoori masala, turmeric, chili powder, methi, amchur, yogurt, lemon juice, oil, and salt.

  3. To cook the paneer you can either pan-fry, bake, air-fry, or grill. To bake, spread the paneer on a baking sheet at 400F until the cubes appear slightly charred. Flip to cook on both sides.

  4. For the salad, chop the lettuce, shred the carrots into matchsticks, cut the cherry tomatoes in half, and dice the onions. Assemble with the paneer tikka.

  5. Top with your favorite salad dressing. I made a mango-cashew dressing with a mango, serrano, handful of cilantro, 1/4 cup of roasted cashews, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Ranch dressing is also a great option!

Fried Tandoori Chicken Sandwich

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I don’t have much to say here other than this Fried Tandoori Chicken Sandwich is incredibly popular and nothing short of genius.

With that being said, however, I must admit that this is not my own original idea! I was actually introduced to a Fried Tandoori Chicken Sandwich at Wazwan’s in Chicago and after that I knew I would eventually have to try and attempt to make my own recipe at home.

The marinade is almost exactly how you’d marinate regular tandoori chicken (except I used buttermilk instead of yogurt) but instead of grilling the pieces we’re dipping them in a seasoned flour dredge and frying the pieces until crispy.

I pair the sandwich with a simple achaari mayo (literally just achaar and mayo with a smidge of honey) and top it all off with some sliced red onions and shredded cabbage.

This was one of my most popular videos on TikTok and for good reason!

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Tandoori Fried Chicken Sandwich

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Fried Tandoori Chicken

  • 1 lb boneless chicken thighs (about 2 thighs)
  • 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 Tbsp tandoori masala
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste** – use more salt if using homemade tandoori masala mix)
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1-2 squeezes lemon or lime juice
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

Achaari Mayo

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp achaar
  • 1/2 tsp honey

Sandwich Stuff

  • 4 brioche buns
  • 1 small onion (sliced)
  • 1/4 cup shredded cabbage or lettuce

Instructions

  1. Remove any excess fat from your chicken thighs. Feel free to cut them in half and place them in a bowl (4 pieces total).

  2. Take a fork and prick the thighs all over. This will help the marinade seep into the chicken.

  3. Add your tandoori masala (store-bought or homemade), garam masala, ginger-garlic paste, buttermilk, and salt. (Note – store-bought tandoori masala already contains quite a bit of salt so use a smaller amount like I did here. If you are using your own, then feel free to add more salt.) Combine and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside in the fridge for 6-8 hours.

  4. Let's make the dredge. In a separate bowl, add your flour and spices (garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, and salt). Whisk together. Take a few teaspoonfuls of the marinade from the chicken and also whisk into the flour.

  5. Take each piece and coat in the flour mixture on both sides. Feel free to coat twice for extra crispiness.

  6. Deep fry the chicken in oil – internal temp of chicken should be 170 F.

Assembly

  1. For the achaari mayo – combine the mayo, achaar, and honey.

  2. Toast your buns, add your mayo, chicken, and top with some shredded cabbage and onion.