Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

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

Recipes

Butter Shrimp Curry

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I know how much you all love Butter Chicken and Butter Paneer, so I’m sure you’ll also enjoy this Butter Shrimp recipe.

Butter Shrimp also known as Jinghe Makhani is a great weeknight shrimp curry (literally took me 30 minutes to make and that’s including washing the dishes) with a creamy and nutty gravy.

My version is pretty standard – for the gravy I sautee onions, ginger-garlic paste, spices, cashews, and tomatoes in butter which is all grinded into a fine consistency and turns creamy  and rich with the addition of heavy cream. Except instead of heavy cream I substitute half and half (it’s a little lighter on the calories) and add a good amount of crushed kasuri methi at the end.

Serve with some basmati rice or naan. Simple, straightforward, and delicious!

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Butter Shrimp Curry

Ingredients

  • 6 Tbsp butter (divided)
  • 1 lb shrimp (peeled and deveined)
  • 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste (divided)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups sliced onion
  • 1 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup cashews
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 3/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1.5 tsp cumin powder
  • 1.5 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp tandoori masala
  • 1/2 tsp fennel powder
  • 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 2 tsp kasuri methi
  • lemon juice (to taste)

Instructions

  1. Begin by melting two tablespoons of butter in a pan. Add your shrimp (peeled and deveined) and 1/2 tsp of the ginger-garlic paste. Cook until the shrimp is pink. This should only take about a minute or so.

  2. Remove the shrimp from the pan and in the same pan add the remaining butter.

  3. Sautee your sliced onions. Once they start turning brown, add in the remaining ginger-garlic paste and the tomato paste. Cook for a few minutes. The tomato paste should begin to break down and caramelize.

  4. Now add in your salt and spices. Cook for a minute or so.

  5. Now add in your cashews and allow them to turn lightly brown (if they are not already roasted). Add in your roughly chopped tomatoes. Stir and set aside.

  6. Now we're going to take the gravy we just made and blend it into a smooth paste. Use either a blender or chopper and add it to your machine once it has cooled down.

  7. Now take your smooth gravy and pour it back into the pan on low heat. Stir in your half and half and then the shrimp we cooked earlier.

  8. Lastly, stir in some crushed kasuri methi and a few squeezes of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

  9. Serve with basmati rice or naan.

Chicken Tawa Pulao

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Tawa Pulao is different than other pulaos in that it’s made with rice that’s been already cooked – just like fried rice!

You can put whatever veggies or protein you’d like in tawa pulao. For this recipe, I used boneless chicken, onions, carrots, bell pepper, and serrano peppers.

In the same steps you’d take to make fried rice in a wok, I basically sautee everything on high heat in separate batches. But instead of adding in soy sauce and oyster sauce, we’re using Indian spices and flavors here.

Additionally, instead of using regular chopped tomatoes, I took a short-cut with tomato paste which has the benefit of ensuring that the rice rice does not get mushy as it can with too much moisture from tomatoes.

For the rice, I use day-old basmati rice and to add a little extra kick to the tawa pulao, I combined in a little bit of my favorite lemon achaar.

This is an awesome week-night or meal-prep dish that never fails to disappoint!

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Chicken Tawa Pulao

An Indian version of chicken fried rice

Ingredients

  • 4 cups day-old cooked basmati rice
  • 1 lb boneless chicken
  • 2 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste (divided)
  • 2/3 cup onion
  • 1/2 cup bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup carrot
  • 2-3 serrano or jalapeno chilies
  • 3 Tbsp tomato paste (divided)
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 2 tsp achaar (optional, use whatever brand or type you like)
  • salt to taste
  • 4-5 Tbsp oil
  • green onions or cilantro (for garnish, optional)

Instructions

  1. Add oil to a hot wok or pan. Begin by sautéing the boneless chicken (cut into bite-size pieces) in half of the ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric, and chili powder. (You will use the remaining tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste when sauteeing the rice.)

  2. Once the chicken begins to develop some color, add in the veggies – carrots, bell pepper, onion, green chilies (feel free to de-seed them if you want it to be less spicy.) Allow the onions to become translucent.

  3. Toss in the remaining spices – cumin, coriander, garam masala. Cook until fragrant.

  4. Add about half of the tomato paste (about 1.5 Tbsp) – the remainder will be used for the rice. Cook the tomato paste down until it starts to caramelize.

  5. Remove the chicken and veggies from the pan or wok. Add more oil (if necessary) and the remaining tomato paste and ginger-garlic paste.

  6. Now sautee your rice in the ginger-garlic paste and tomato paste. Gently break up the rice grains. (To ensure the fried rice doesn't get mushy, make sure to use rice that is at least a day old).

  7. Add the achaar and make sure it coats the rice evenly. (This is optional, if you don't want it spicy, leave it out.)

  8. Toss in the chicken and veggies that you sautéed earlier into the rice. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

  9. Top with green onions or cilantro.

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!