Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

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

Recipes

Chicken 65 Wings

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I thought I’d switch it up a little and adapt my Chicken 65 recipe for wings!

The wings are deep-fried in a cornstarch and egg batter and coated in a sweet and sour sauce and traditional bhagar ingredients – mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, ginger etc.

Feel free to use a short-cut with a store-bought Chicken 65 spice mix (Shaan is fine) or make your own (I’ve listed the spices I used in the recipe instructions).

It’s nothing short of a show-stopping appetizer – especially for an iftar party!

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Chicken 65 Wings

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs chicken wings
  • 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 Tbsp chicken 65 spice mix (store-bought or homemade)
  • 1 Tbsp yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • salt (to taste)
  • oil (for frying)

Sauce

  • 2 tsp oil
  • 6 curry leaves
  • 1/8 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/8 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 jalapeno or serrano
  • 1 tsp ginger (cut into matchsticks)
  • 1 tsp chicken 65 spice mix
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2-3 Tbsp red chili sauce

Instructions

  1. Combine the wings, ginger-garlic paste, chicken 65 spices, cornstarch, yogurt, water, and egg. For the spices I use about 1/4 tsp of turmeric, paprika, chilli powder, black pepper, garam masala, cumin, coriander, and onion powder each. (If you are using a store-bought spice mix, go easy on the salt because most already contain it.)

  2. Allow the chicken to marinate for about a half-hour or so. (Optional, may skip this step).

  3. In a heavy-bottom pot or pan, add your oil. Fry the wings in batches at 375 F until golden brown.

Sauce

  1. Now let's make the sauce for the wings. In a pot or pan, add a teaspoon or two of oil.

  2. Toss in your cumin and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, drop in your curry leaves, ginger, and sliced jalapeno. Sautee for a minute or two.

  3. Now add the remaining sauce ingredients – soy sauce, more spices, red chili sauce. Stir and combine. Note – if you like your wings on the sweeter side, feel free to use a sweet chili sauce.

  4. Now toss the wings in the sauce (you can also individually dip each one) and serve!

Aloo Baingan

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Aloo-Bhaingan (translated as potato-eggplant) is a standard Indian vegetable curry that’s great to eat with roti or rice.

A couple things I do to make this curry even better –  

  1. Instead of simply adding the eggplant into the gravy, I like to thinly slice the eggplant and pan-fry it on both sides which makes for an all around more flavorful dish.
  • I also pan-fry the potatoes instead of just having them boil in the curry. An extra step, yet more flavorful. You get the subtle taste of french fries in the curry.
  • Tomato paste! Adds a more intense tomato-flavor and acidity that the grocery store tomatoes simply cannot give you.
  • Kasuri Methi – It’s one of my favorite things to put into Indian curries and will definitely elevate the dish.

Don’t forget to check out my TikTok video tutorial as well!

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Aloo Bhaingan

An Indian Eggplant and Potato Curry (Vegan!)

Ingredients

  • 1 eggplant
  • 1 medium-sized potato
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tomato
  • 1/2 bell pepper
  • 1 jalapeno
  • salt (to taste)
  • 1.5 tsp cumin
  • 1.5 tsp coriander
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1.5 tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
  • 1-2 squeezes of lime juice

Instructions

  1. Dice all your veggies. For the eggplant, I like to chop them into thin slices. Set them all aside.

  2. In a wide pan, heat up some olive oil. We're going to begin by pan-frying our eggplant in batches on both sides until lightly brown. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on both sides.

  3. Remove the eggplant from the pan and in the same pan we're going to add some more oil and shallow-fry our potato. I like to dice the potato into small pieces because it cooks faster. Make sure to season with salt as they cook.

  4. Once the potatoes become golden brown and crispy, remove them from the pan. In the same oil we shallow-fried the potatoes, you're going to make the gravy for the curry.

  5. Begin by sauteeing the diced onions, bell pepper, and jalapeno.

  6. Once the onions become translucent, add the ginger-garlic paste and a pinch of salt. Cook for a minute. Now add the tomato paste and allow that to really cook down and caramelize.

  7. Toss in the spices (cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chili powder). Cook for another minute or so.

  8. Now add your chopped tomato and the water. Bring to a simmer.

  9. Once it comes to a simmer, add the eggplant and potato you fried earlier into the gravy. Pop the lid on and turn the heat to low. Cook for about 10 minutes or so. The eggplant will absorb all that flavor.

  10. Remove the lid and toss in some crushed kasuri methi and lime juice. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Garnish with cilantro.

Butter Chicken Pasta

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This recipe is a combination of what TikTok seems to love the most – Butter Chicken and Gigi Hadid’s Penne Pasta without the Vodka.

A couple things I do differently here than my standard Butter Chicken Recipe –

  1. I add a good helping of tomato paste. Tomato paste enhances the flavor and it’s what Gigi Hadid uses in her viral pasta.
  2. Cashews are optional. While I love the nutty flavor in butter chicken, for this pasta I think you can omit them and save yourself the trouble of pulling out the immersion blender.
  3. Pasta water. This thickens the sauce nicely.
  4. Cheese! This is self-explanatory.
  5. I went a bit lighter on the amount of spices. You can certainly double up on the spices measurements if you’d like. But since I’m putting this in pasta with cheese, I added less garam masala which made for a more sweeter sauce.

This Butter Chicken Pasta is nothing short of comfort food at its finest!

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Butter Chicken Pasta

A cross between Butter Chicken and Gigi Hadid's Penne Pasta.

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 lb pasta of your choice
  • 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Chicken

  • 1 lb boneless chicken
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Pasta Sauce

  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 2 small onions (diced)
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 3 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1.5 tsp cumin
  • 1.5 tsp coriander
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • salt (to taste)
  • two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1 cup reserved pasta water
  • 1 cup half and half (may substitute with heavy cream)
  • 2 tsp kasuri methi

Instructions

Chicken

  1. Dice your boneless chicken into small cubes. Combine the chicken, ginger-garlic paste, chili powder, turmeric, and salt. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. If you do not have time, you can skip the marination and jump straight to sauteeing.

  2. In a large pan, add a tablespoon or two of oil. Sear the chicken on each side until brown. Remove from pan. In the meantime, bring a pot of salted water to boil for your pasta.

Pasta Sauce

  1. In the same pan you pan-fried the chicken pieces you will make the pasta sauce. Begin by melting the butter.

  2. Add the diced onion and cook until transluscent. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and tomato paste.

  3. Allow the tomato paste to really cook down and caramelize. Now add your spices – paprika, cumin, coriander, garam masala, sugar, salt to taste. Cook for a minute.

  4. Now add your two cans of tomato sauce (8 oz each). Stir and bring to a simmer. (At this step you can begin to boil your pasta.)

  5. Once it's simmering on low heat, slowly stir in your yogurt. This will ensure your yogurt doesn't look messy and curdled in the sauce.

  6. Now toss your chicken that you cooked earlier into the sauce. Allow the chicken to simmer in the sauce.

  7. While the pasta boils, take some the pasta water and add it to the sauce. This will help thicken the sauce. Allow it to reduce down.

  8. Add in the half and half (may also use heavy cream).

  9. Toss in your pasta, grated cheese, extra butter (if you'd like), and kasuri methi. Combine. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

  10. Serve and enjoy!