Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

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

Recipes

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.

Saffron Panna Cotta

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Guys I found halal gelatin! Which means I can finally attempt a panna cotta recipe – something I’ve been meaning to make for so long.

Panna Cotta is straight-forward to make and only requires a few ingredients – cream or milk, gelatin, and some sort of flavoring – typically a vanilla bean.

Since I’m not adding anything tart on top of the panna cotta (such as fruit), I wanted to make sure the Panna Cotta base wasn’t too sweet or rich. So I decided to stir in a bit of Greek yogurt which really did help balance everything out and enhance that melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Feel free to top the Saffron Panna Cotta with pistachios and whipped cream or some saffron milk (saffron strands soaked in warm milk) for extra decadence.

The best thing about Panna Cotta is that it only takes minutes to put together!

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Saffron Panna Cotta

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp gelatin *** (I used the Halal Hearthy Foods brand)
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 5-6 strands saffron
  • 3 cardamom pods (or pinch of cardamom powder)
  • 1/4 cup greek yogurt

Instructions

  1. In a small ramekin or bowl, add your gelatin. Pour the tablespoon of water over the gelatin. Set aside.

  2. In a saucepan, add your milk, cream, cardamom, and saffron.

  3. Cook the cream mixture on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the saffron infuses into the cream. The cream mixture should turn yellow.

  4. Now add in you soaked gelatin to the cream. Whisk until the gelatin is dissolved.

  5. Remove from heat and remove cardamom pods.

  6. Whisk in the greek yogurt.

  7. Pour the Panna Cotta mixture into your ramekins/serving dishes. Feel free to brush the ramekins with a bit of oil – will make it easier to remove from molds later.

  8. Allow the Panna Cotta base to come to room temperature. Then place in fridge for at least 4-5 hours.

  9. To help remove the Panna Cotta from the ramekin when serving, run a pairing knife around the edges. You can also add the ramekin to a bowl of hot water for 20 seconds. Flip onto a plate.

  10. Serve the Panna Cotta as is or with whipped cream and pistachios on top.

Sambar

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Sambar is one of my favorite daals to eat. I think what makes it so great is that it has a wonderful sweet and sour taste due to the outstanding combination of jaggery (Indian cane sugar) and tamarind.

Another thing that makes sambar distinct from other lentil dishes is that it contains several different vegetables. There is no hard and fast rule of what vegetables you can or can’t use, though some are pretty traditional (i.e – drumstick vegetable). I definitely like to have peas and carrots in my sambar along with shallots, okra, eggplant, and bell pepper.

There are different variations of sambar. I’m showing a masoor daal version today, but you will also find sambar made with toor daal.

There are basically three steps to making sambar – 1. Cook the lentils 2. Cook the veggies 3. Put it all together and finish with the baghar (tempering) step.

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Masoor Daal Sambar

Ingredients

Daal

  • 1/2 cup toor daal (you can also substitute with masoor daal, which is my favorite)
  • 1 tomato
  • 5 curry leaves
  • 1 pinch asoefitida
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1.5 cups of water

Sambar Veggies (Total = 3 cups chopped, use whatever veggies you like)

  • 3 Tbsp oil
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 pinch asoefitida (hing)
  • 2 tsp chopped garlic
  • 2 shallots
  • 1/2 cup eggplant
  • 1/2 bell pepper
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1/4 cup peas
  • 4-5 okra fingers
  • 1/4 cup drumstick vegetable optional
  • 1/4 cup water
  • salt to taste
  • 2 Tbsp sambar spice mix (storebought or homemade)
  • 2 Tbsp jaggery or brown sugar (or to taste)
  • 1/4-1/3 cup tamarind pulp or concentrate (or to taste)

Bhaghar

  • 1.5 Tbsp oil
  • 3/4 tsp mustard seeds
  • 3/4 tsp cumin seeds
  • 6-7 curry leaves
  • 3-4 dried chilies

Instructions

Daal (lentils)

  1. Wash your daal really well and add to a pot with about 2 cups of water. Add your curry leaves, turmeric, chili powder, aseofitida, ginger-garlic paste, and curry leaves.

  2. Bring the pot to a simmer and allow the daal to cook. Once the lentil is completely cooked through, turn off the heat.

  3. Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend until relatively smooth. (You can keep it a little chunky if you like).

Sambar Veggies

  1. Prep the vegetables that you would like in your sambar. Cut them into thick pieces or to your liking. I listed above the vegetables that I like to use.

  2. In a pot or pan, heat some oil on medium-high heat. Add your cumin and mustard seeds.

  3. Once the cumin and mustard seeds start popping, add your shallots. Sautee them and add your ginger-garlic paste.

  4. Cook the rest of the vegetables in the order of how long it takes for them to cook. Add the sambar spice mix along with the salt.

  5. Add a little bit of water and allow the veggies to cook down. Make sure they don't get mushy.

Putting it together

  1. Add the daal that you cooked earlier to the pot of vegetables.

  2. Stir in the tamarind and jaggery. *Note – the amount of tamarind you use will depend on how diluted your tamarind is with water. Always start with a small amount and taste and adjust as you go.

  3. Feel free to add more water if sambar is too thick.

  4. In another small pan, do the baghar step. Add a little bit of oil to a pan along with the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and curry leaves. Once the mustard and cumin seeds start to pop – remove from heat and add to sambar. Stir and serve.