Skip to content
LoginRegister
WhatToEat.Today

Recipes with kasuri methi

8 recipes that use kasuri methi, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Paneer bhurji, takes 20 minutes. It is most often cooked with garam masala, kashmiri chilli powder and butter.

Got a few things in the fridge? Search by everything you have

Tangri kebabRoasted marinated chicken drumsticks

Tangri kebab is a signature of the old Punjabi kebab houses of Delhi, from the lanes of Chandni Chowk to the Partition-era restaurants of Daryaganj, and it is still the dish families order for a birthday or a Sunday night out. Drumsticks are slashed to the bone, marinated twice, first in ginger, garlic and lemon and then in a rich mix of yogurt, cream and cashew, and roasted until the edges char while the meat stays juicy. The common mistake is not cutting deep enough: the marinade never reaches the bone and the meat there stays pink. Make three deep slashes on each side. Chef's tip: baste with butter in the last ten minutes, then flash under the grill for a proper tandoor look.

60 minIndianChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bharwan tandoori alooPaneer-stuffed roasted potatoes

Bharwan tandoori aloo is a party piece from the kebab houses of Delhi and Punjab: large potatoes par-boiled, hollowed and filled with a sweet-spicy stuffing of paneer, scooped potato, raisins and cashews, then coated in a tandoori marinade and roasted until charred. It is served as a starter at weddings and festive dinners, and at home it makes a vegetarian centrepiece for a Diwali or Lohri spread. The common mistake is boiling the potatoes until soft, so they split when you scoop them; take them out while a skewer still meets a little resistance in the centre. Chef's tip: keep the hollowed-out potato for the filling, which makes it creamy without needing extra paneer.

65 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tandoori gobhiRoasted spiced cauliflower

Punjabi dhabas that fire a tandoor all day always have a skewer of tandoori gobhi for the vegetarians at the table, and in winter, when cauliflower is cheap and sweet, it is the starter everyone orders with a Lohri bonfire dinner. Big florets are blanched, rubbed with a pungent mustard-oil and yogurt marinade, and roasted until the edges blacken and the inside is tender. The common mistake is either skipping the blanch, so the stalks stay raw while the outside burns, or boiling too long so the florets turn mushy and drop off the skewer. Three minutes in boiling water is right. Chef's tip: a spoon of dry-roasted besan in the marinade makes it cling and gives a nutty crust.

50 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mushroom tikka

Mushroom tikka is a newer member of the Punjabi tikka family, popular in Delhi restaurants and at North Indian weddings, where it sits next to the paneer tikka on the starter counter. Whole button mushrooms soak up a smoky, tangy yogurt marinade and turn juicy and meaty in a hot oven, with charred onion and pepper on the same skewer. The mistake is rinsing the mushrooms under the tap: they absorb water, the marinade slides off and they stew rather than char. Wipe them clean with a damp cloth instead. Chef's tip: roast them hot and fast; too long in the oven and they shrink and leak all their juice.

45 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tandoori soya chaapRoasted soya chaap sticks

Soya chaap started as a meat-free answer for Delhi's Punjabi vegetarians and is now a street-food world of its own: in Old Delhi and along the food streets of Ludhiana and Amritsar, carts roast trays of skewered chaap over charcoal until the edges blister, then finish them with butter, lemon and chaat masala. Store-bought chaap sticks, layered soya and wheat wrapped round wooden sticks, are chewy and meaty and take a marinade beautifully. The mistake is marinating them wet and with runny yogurt, which slides off in the oven; pat the chaap dry and use thick hung curd. Chef's tip: for malai chaap, swap the chilli marinade for cream, cashew paste, white pepper and cardamom, and roast a little lower so it stays pale.

45 minIndianSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khari biscuitsSalted puff pastry sticks

Chai in Mumbai's Irani cafés and Ahmedabad's corner bakeries comes with a glass jar of khari: long, shattering sticks of puff pastry, salty rather than sweet, that flake all over your lap. People dip them in sweet masala chai, which soaks into the layers in seconds, so the trick is a quick dunk. Bakeries usually laminate with margarine or vanaspati; butter gives a richer, cleaner taste, and this eggless home version uses a block of cold butter folded into a plain dough, with a scatter of cumin or crushed kasuri methi on some. The biggest mistake is letting the butter go soft between folds: it smears into the dough and the sticks bake up hard and bready instead of rising into dozens of leaves. Chef's tip: once the sticks have puffed and coloured, lower the oven and leave them in until the centres are dry; under-dried khari go soft in the jar within a day.

185 minIndianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Paneer bhurjiScrambled paneer

Dhabas on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway and Punjabi homes everywhere make paneer bhurji when an egg bhurji won't do: for vegetarian guests, for a fast lunchbox, or when there's a block of paneer waiting in the fridge. The paneer is crumbled and folded into an onion-tomato masala with green chilli, a little garam masala and kasuri methi, and a splash of milk keeps it soft and moist. It goes with butter roti, a buttered pav from the Mumbai stalls, or rolled into a paratha for a tiffin. The common mistake is cooking the paneer too long; it toughens and dries out in minutes. Add it last and heat it through for no more than two or three minutes. Chef's tip: homemade or very fresh paneer crumbles best; grate a firm shop block instead of crumbling it.

20 minIndianVegetarianGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Lauki koftaBottle gourd balls in gravy

Lauki kofta is how North Indian mothers in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh smuggle the humble bottle gourd onto a party table: the gourd is grated and squeezed, bound with gram flour, fried into soft balls and slipped into an onion-tomato gravy. It is a Sunday-lunch and dinner-party curry with phulka, jeera rice or laccha paratha. The classic mistake is not squeezing the lauki hard enough; wet mixture splutters in the oil and the koftas fall apart. Chef's tip: save the squeezed lauki juice and use it in place of water in the gravy, so none of its flavour is wasted.

65 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with kasuri methi