Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

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

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Chili Chicken

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Indo-Chinese is super popular in India; although I am not quite sure if it holds the same regard in China. In any case, this week-night chicken dish will knock your socks off. It’s savory, it’s bold, it’s hot, and the perfect thing to make when you are craving something that requires little effort.

Chili Chicken is actually an Indo-Chinese concept – you take the holy trinity of  traditional Indian marinade – ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, and chili powder – combine that with soy sauce and wok-cooking and boom! You’ve got yourself a match made in heaven!

I start off by chopping up boneless chicken thighs into bite-size cubes and marinating them in soy sauce, chilli powder, paprika, turmeric, and ginger-garlic paste. Since this is a chili chicken, be generous with the chili powder. If you are a bit of a wimp, you can of course decrease the ratio of chilli powder to paprika which will still give you intense color and flavor without the heat.

 

 

What makes my chili chicken different than some other recipes is that I also add in a finely diced bell pepper and serrano chilie. It adds a little bit of extra sweetness, plus sneaks in some veggies.

 

Next is ketchup. I know some people might find it weird and gross, but its sweetness balances out the rest of the flavors and it is in fact authentically used in several Indian street foods.

 

 

My secret ingredient is MSG. I always say, “A little MSG hurt nobody.” I know it’s got a bad rep but after doing some research, I am truly convinced that the negativity it has received has been truly overblown.

If you’ve ever watched “Ugly Delicious” on Netflix (if you haven’t, I highly recommend you do, it’s a great food docu-series) then you’ve probably seen the episode on Chinese food where David Chang completely rips apart the notion of “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”  – a name given to attribute GI intolerance to supposed MSG used in Chinese cooking when the reality of the matter is that MSG is found in several products (such as chips, cheese, salad dressing) but people seem to only attribute it to Chinese food  – hence making you critically think about how racism has impacted the way we view ethnic food in American food culture.

After coating the chicken in the marinade, the rest of it is pretty straight-forward; you toss everything together and allow it to cook down until the coating on the chicken caramelizes, forming a lovely charred crust on the exterior of the chicken pieces.

 

 

 

And there you have it! An amazing Indo-Chinese chicken dish. You can eat this up with naan, toss it in noodles, or even roll it up in a paratha like I did here for a killer lunch!

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Chili Chicken

An easy to make Indo-Chinese chicken dish that combines the holy trinity of Indian cooking - turmeric, chili powder, ginger-garlic paste with soy sauce, msg, and wok cooking.

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Chili Chicken

  • 1.5 lb boneless chicken thigh and/or breast
  • 4 tsp soy sauce
  • 3/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
  • 1/2 bell pepper (finely diced)
  • 1 small green chilie
  • 2 tbsp ketchup
  • 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 3/4 tsp msg or to taste
  • 1-2 tsp lime juice (or to taste)
  • 2 1/2 tsp oil
  • 2 tsp hot sauce (such as Frank's) optional

Instructions

  1. Begin by marinating your chicken. Combine soy sauce, turmeric, chilli powder, paprika and add to chicken. Mix well. Let sit for 30 minutes or keep in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

  2. Add oil to a frying pan or wok on medium-high heat. Add and sautee the finely diced bell pepper for a few minutes. 

  3. Now add chicken. Toss and cook for a few minutes. Then add in ketchup. 

  4. Allow liquid to evaporate. With time, the ketchup will caramelize and form a nice charred coating on the chicken. This process should take about 15 minutes. 

  5. Add in your lime juice, hot sauce, and salt. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Garnish with fresh cilantro. 

Thai Fish Tacos

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This recipe combines two of my favorite things in the food world – tacos and thai food.

If you’re  a boring and dull traditionalist who thinks certain foods should only be cooked a certain way, that certain cuisines should not mix with other cuisines, and that fusion is “weird and confusing” then this probably isn’t for you. Heck, most of the recipes on this blog are probably not for you.

But if you’re down for all sorts of cool and creative food combinations, funky alternatives to the typical fare, and vibrant and fun dishes, then you’ll love this. And let me assure you, this recipe totally works!

I begin by making a simple pad thai sauce – a sweet, sticky, sour, salty concoction made with three quintessential thai ingredients – fish sauce, palm sugar, and tamarind concentrate. (If you have a bottle of good quality pad thai sauce already in your cabinet, you may forgo this step.)

 

If you’re already familiar with palm sugar, you’ll know it’s as hard as a brick and so you’ll have to dissolve in water along with the rest of the ingredients over the stove (if you cannot find it, you can always substitute with brown sugar).

I add half of the sauce to the fish marinade, and the other half to the crunchy slaw.

For the rest of the fish marinade, I whiz up some bell pepper, serrano chilie, shallot, and ginger in a food processor along with a bit of lime juice. This combination along with the pad thai sauce ensures that the fish has an amazing depth of flavor. I dare you to make this for someone who claims to hate fish and see if they change their mind.

I let the fish sit in the marinade for about 20 minutes or so and fry it in a pan until both sides are golden brown and the fillet is opaque throughout. Once cooked, I let them sit on a plate and lightly flake the pieces with a fork.

 

 

The slaw is crunchy and delightful; for a thai twist I added shallots, roasted peanuts, and sprouts to cabbage and carrots.

 

 

To assemble these, I heat up some tortillas, add a dollop of mayonnaise to the center, spread it all around, add the flaked fish, and then the slaw. Serve these babies up with some sliced lime wedges and extra sriracha.

And there you have it! A recipe that contains the flavors of a pad thai but in a fun summer-time-by-the-beach taco package.

 

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Thai Fish Tacos

A fish taco with pad thai flavors and a crunchy slaw consisting of cabbage, carrot, shallots, peanuts, and sprouts. 

Servings 9 tacos

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb fish fillet (tilapia, cod, halibut)
  • 7-8 tortillas (flour or corn)
  • 1/4 cup sriracha mayonnaise (optional condiment)

Pad Thai Sauce (divided) (you may substitute with store-bought)

  • 1-2 tsp tamarind concentrate *or to taste
  • 1.5 tbsp palm sugar *may substitute with brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tsp lime juice
  • 1/2 cup water

Fish Marinade

  • 1 shallot
  • 1 serrano chilie
  • 1/4 bell pepper
  • 1 small piece ginger
  • 2-3 tbsp pad thai sauce (see above)
  • 2 tsp lime juice

Slaw

  • 2 cups cabbage
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 carrot
  • 1/3 cup sprouts
  • 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
  • 2-3 tbsp pad thai sauce (see above)
  • 3/4 tsp red chili flakes
  • salt (to taste)

Instructions

Pad Thai Sauce

  1. Combine ingredients (palm sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, tamarind, water) in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved and sauce has slightly thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings. ***Note: The amount of tamarind concentrate you add will depend on the brand. Darker brands are more concentrated and tart so add conservatively. **** Allow to cool.

Fish

  1. Begin by making your marinade. In a small food processor or blender, whiz up the bell pepper, chilie, shallot, lime juice, and ginger. Coat your fish fillet(s) in a shallow bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoon of the pad thai sauce to the marinade. Adjust for seasoning. Let sit for 20 minutes.

  2. Bring a frying pan to medium-high heat. Add a little bit of oil to coat the pan and fry the fish fillets on both sides. The fish will be ready to turn once the flesh turns opaque about half-way up the side. 

  3. Let the fish sit on a plate and gently flake with a fork. 

Slaw

  1. Chop up all your ingredients (cabbage, carrots, peanuts, shallots, sprouts) finely. Combine well. Dress with pad thai sauce, chilli flakes, and lime juice. Adjust for seasonings. 

Taco Assembly

  1. Warm your tortillas in the oven or over the stove. Add a small dollop of sriracha mayo and spread around. Then add a generous helping of fish and top with slaw. Serve with lime wedges and sriracha. 

Ras Malai Ice Cream

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Ras Malai is a traditional Indian dessert most often served at weddings. It consists of a sponge-like discs soaked in a sweet milk syrup flavored in cardamom and saffron. It’s got an interesting texture – some hate it and liken it to wet paper, others love it and find it incredibly addictive.

Well no matter how you may feel about ras malai, you are going to love this ice cream.

And no, this is not kulfi (which is made with khoya). I’ll save that recipe for another day.

And the best part is that it requires no ice cream machine at all!

I am not a fan of the three-ingredient no churn ice cream – sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, sugar that’s swept the food blogging world by a storm in the past few years. It tastes like sweet whipped cream to me. Not ice cream.

So instead, I decided to go with a lovely semifreddo base. Semifreddo in Italian translates into “Semi-frozen” and is a cross between gelato and soft-serve. To start off, I whisk egg yolks and sugar together over a double-broiler until it thickens and turns pale yellow. I then fold in heavy cream that’s been whipped into stiff peaks to give it a heavenly airy-like consistency.

Since this is ras malai, I of course added saffron and cardamom. But since most Indian desserts contain those two ingredients anyway, that in itself is not enough to get someone to recognize that this indeed is a ras malai ice cream.

My secret ingredient is ricotta cheese.

Okay, do not freak out. I know what you’re thinking. Ricotta is not found in Ras Malai whatsoever. 

But I’m telling you, It’s genius. Ras malai is made out of milk that’s been curdled and strained – the makings of cottage cheese or paneer. Ricotta gives this ras malai ice cream a very similar texture without giving a funny taste.

To round everything about, I add in a squeeze of lemon juice and stir everything together. I pour it all into a tubberware container with a lid on it (or if you want to go that traditional semifreddo shape, you can use a loaf pan) and plop it straight into the freezer. This ice cream takes about 6 hours to freeze or preferably overnight.

And there you have it, a super fun ice cream that is sure to wow all your guests! It’s bold, it’s sweet, it’s creamy, and is the complete embodiment of an Indian summer in a cone.

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Ras Malai Ice Cream

A no machine ice cream using a semifreddo custard base flavored with saffron and cardamom

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 5-7 saffron threads
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom powder (or to taste)
  • 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (full fat)
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp crushed almonds and/or pistacchios optional

Instructions

  1. Set up a double broiler. Add an inch of water to a pot. Bring to a boil. Find a bowl that fits over the bowl without touching the water. 

  2. In the bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar. Add on top of double broiler. Lower the heat. Whisk vigorously for five minutes, or until mixture has turned a pale yellow. Do not let eggs overcook and scramble or else you will have to start over!

  3. Remove custard from double boiler and allow to cool. 

  4. Using an electric or hand-held mixer, whip up the heavy cream until you get stiff peaks. Once custard has cooled, fold it into the mixture.

  5. Soak the saffron strands in 1 tsp of hot water. Add to the ice cream. 

  6. Add in your ricotta, lemon juice, cardamom. Combine thoroughly. 

  7. Pour into container and cover. Let it freeze for at least 6 hours or ideally overnight.

  8. When serving garnish with chopped nuts (optional).