Three Simple Recipes For Eid al-Fitr From Chef Nabila Kadri
You may have heard of Supernormal — an impressive restaurant serving Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong-inspired dishes in Melbourne. The talented chef (from the team at Supernormal) Nabila Kadri is one of the masterminds behind their intriguing menu. After growing up in India, the Middle East and Dubai, Nabila had to make the difficult choice between aeronautical engineering and cooking as her calling. Settling for the latter, she came to Australia and began her career.
We asked our Nabila to share some easy crowd-pleasing recipes for Eid al-Fitr with our readers.
Lamb Keema (Minced Meat) Samosas
Fried food in Eid is a must. You can replace the minced lamb with chicken, soybeans or any vegetables of your choice.
Ingredients:
300g lamb keema
1 tbsp neutral oil
1 tbsp grated garlic
1/2 tbsp grated ginger
3 chopped green chillies
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
Toast & coarsely grind 1 tbsp coriander seeds & 1 tsp cumin seeds
2 medium onions, diced
Samosa sheets
Cooking Instructions:
In a hot pan, add keema & a big pinch of salt. Sear it & break up the big chunks. Cook until all of the water from the keema evaporates & it’s cooked through.
At this point, add an extra tablespoon of oil & saute the keema along with ginger, garlic & chillies for a few minutes.
Add the coriander-cumin powder. Saute for a couple of minutes. You can add a pinch of black pepper and garam masala if you like, however, keeping it simple is the key here.
Finish with onions and coriander leaves.
Let it cool completely before using the fillings.
Make a little paste with flour using it as glue to seal your samosas.
Once the mix has cooled down, fold the samosa sheets into cone shapes, and fill them up with filling (not too much or else they will burst on frying). Seal the samosas with the flour glue.
Deep fry on medium heat until golden and crispy.
Serve with a green chutney while hot.
Butter Chicken Biryani
Easy to whip up and loved by all. It’s a crowd-pleaser for sure. Serves 2-3.
Ingredients:
400g boneless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 cup hung curd or Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1/2 cup tomato puree
3-4 chopped green chillies
1/2 cup crushed fried onion
1/2 bunch of chopped mint and coriander leaves
50g Butter
Wholespices: 1 Bayleaf, 3 green cardamoms & cloves, 1 cinnamon stick & 1 black cardamom
Masala Mixture:
1 tbsp mustard oil + 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder, 1 tsp hot chilli powder, 1 tbsp coriander powder, 1 tbsp biryani masala powder, 1/4 tsp crushed kasuri methi
For Rice
400g Biryani Basmati rice
2 tsp Salt + water for boiling
1 Bayleaf
3 green cardamoms & cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom
Juice of half a lemon
For Layering the Biryani
Handful of fried onion, coriander and mint leaves 1/2 cup of cream
2 tbsp water infused with saffron
Cooking Instructions :
Mix all the ingredients for the masala base with the chicken (Smoke it with charcoal for 5 minutes if you have time). Let it rest for 30 minutes on the counter.
Heat butter along with a tablespoon of the leftover oil from frying the onions and saute the wholespices. Cook the chicken masala until oil separates on the sides (15 minutes) and finish with cashew paste. Taste & adjust seasoning. Simmer for another 5 minutes and set aside.
Bring water up to a boil with salt & wholespices and lemon juice. Add the soaked rice and boil for 12 minutes before straining.
Layer the rice on top of the butter chicken masala, do it a couple of times forming layers and finish with more fried onion, mint and coriander leaves. Finish off with cream, saffron water, drizzle of ghee on top (I am pretty generous with my ghee).
Cover & let it steam (high heat for 5 minutes and then low heat for 5 minutes) Rest for another 10 minutes.
Serve hot with some yoghurt or a green chutney.
Green Chutney with Samosa (Herb Sauce)
This versatile Green Chutney can be served with snacks, kebabs, samosas and more.
Ingredients:
Bunch of coriander
Bunch of mint
10g garlic
8g ginger
100g red shallots
3-4 green chilli
Cooking Instructions:
Blend the following ingredients: a bunch of coriander leaves, a bunch of mint leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 inch piece of ginger, 1 shallot (take out the middle core) (onion is optional. I make it with & without onion, both versions are delicious), 3-4 green chillies (adjust according to your preferred heat level), juice of half a small lemon to season and a pint of salt.
