01 Jul
Main Course

Punjabi Chikar Cholay

Punjabi chikar cholay is an extremely popular classic street food dish in Lahore and is known to be eaten for breakfast with pooris, naans, parathas or roti. But the dish is so hearty it makes a great meal for lunch and dinner and is the ultimate comfort food.

There are many different versions of chikar cholay, but the important things are that it is a tangy spicy curry with a mushy texture but rich in flavour. The cooked curry should look golden dark brown in colour.

Chikar cholay gets its name from the texture of the curry. Chikar in Punjabi means mud/mush and cholay means chickpeas hence the name chikar cholay because it looks like chickpeas in mud.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Kala Channa Black Chickpeas

Kala Channa, a dish packed full of fibre & protein and it’s one of your five a day! It’s also a very cheap dish to make and it can serve a family of 4-5 people.

I tend to use tinned chick peas just because it’s quicker to cook and great if you forgot to soak the chick peas the night before. I like to serve this dish with hot chapattis and with a cucumber and onion salad. But it also pairs well with boiled basmati rice.

You can now learn how to cook this cheap and yummy dish by following the step by step photos below.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Black Eyed Beans

I love tinned beans as it means you can cook a quick meal if you’re in a rush or forgot to soak beans the night before. Black eyed beans are small and have a creamy texture with a black mark in the middle making it look like a black eye.

This is another simple and quick dish to cook but really tasty. It is a good idea to have tinned beans stored in your cupboard for quick simple meals like this.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Aloo Keema Mattar (Potato Mincemeat & Peas)

Aloo keema mattar is a dish that everyone loves. I have a few different ways of cooking this dish. The different methods give different flavours and textures to the dish.

This is a popular Pakistani meal normally served with roti or naan. However, there are so many things that can be made with leftover aloo keema such as toasties, pastries, desi spaghetti bolognese, shepherds pie, lasagna, etc.

Here is one of the ways I cook this dish…

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Avocado egg smoked salmon on toast

Avocado, you either hate it or love it, and I love it! I love the creamy texture of it and add some flavouring to mashed avocado, it’s delicious.

During winter, I find it so hard to stay healthy, I just want warm comfort food. So I thought why not combine healthy with comfort food? Mashed avocado on wholemeal toast with smoked salmon and a poached egg and a sprinkling of smoked paprika.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Chicken Palak

Chicken and Palak, the perfect combination. I have been eating chicken palak from when I was a young child and it’s one of my favourite things to eat.

It is a classic Pakistani dish cooked with chicken and spinach and with spices. It can be served as a main course or a side dish with rice or chapatis.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Chicken & Veg Stir Fry Noodles

Stir fries are my go to dish when I don’t have much time to cook. There are so many things you can add to a stir fry and using that leftover veg in your fridge is perfect for this dish.

Being Pakistani I like to add a little heat to my stir fries by using a chilli sauce. My favourite chilli sauce for when I cook stir fries is Srirarcha Sauce, which is widely available from most supermarkets. It is made from sun ripen chillies, vinegar and garlic and is delicious in stir fries.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Mixed Sabzi (Vegetables)

Isn’t it amazing how simple vegetables can make such a tasty dish?! Mixed sabzi is a popular Pakistani dish. It’s full of flavour and the best thing about it is you can use up the leftover vegetables from your fridge.

I have used the vegetables that we as a family like in our mixed sabzi but you can use other vegetables too. There are many different variations of mixed sabzi and the one I cook and am sharing with you is a Dhaba style from the Punjab region of Pakistan. It’s tangy, spicy and most importantly very tasty.

Continue reading

01 Jul
Main Course

Lemon & Olive Chicken & Potato Tagine

Having an aunt from Morocco and having travelled to Marrakech I have tried a few tangines and I love them.

A Tagine is a traditional clay plot in which you cook Moroccan, Lebanese, Algerian foods. The clay pot is famous for its cone shaped lid, which helps the steam stay inside the pot and drip back into the pot. It is a but like a modern day slow cooker but better in my opinion.

There are lots of different flavour tagines but today I am sharing a lemon & olive chicken & potato one.

Continue reading