My Top Ten Favorite Kitchen Items on Amazon

KitchenAid KSM75WH Classic Plus Series 4.5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, White

KitchenAid is the leader in kitchen appliances, so of course, this classic mixer is going to be at the top of the list. It’s my favorite for kneading dough, and even though I’m not a baker, my 11 year old daughter is starting to learn. This mixer makes it easier for her to get batters and cookie dough mixed well. The best part of this mixer is all of the attachments that work with it, turning it into a versatile machine that will help you get any task in the kitchen done. The Classic version is perfect for any beginner who is looking for a cheaper alternative to the newer versions.

Fullstar Vegetable Chopper – Spiralizer Vegetable Slicer – Onion Chopper with Container 

This handy little chopper has saved me on countless occasions! I hate dicing veggies and to be completely honest, I think my dicing skills aren’t that great. This chopper allows me to dice veggies super fast and doesn’t require a lot of effort. A LARGE Shepherd’s Salad can be chopped up in minutes!

Vremi 8 Piece Ceramic Nonstick Cookware Set

Cookware was never exciting to me until I became a mom. Must be a sign of getting older! This amazing set is SO versatile, and makes my life super easy. I cook a lot of curries and these pieces NEVER stain or stick! Everything slips around as if you have butter or oil in the pan, but you really don’t need it. I love that it’s easy to clean, but the food cooks evenly and really well. The angled frying pan skillet allows you to flip eggs with ease.

Gourmia Digital Stainless Steel 6 Qt/5.7L Digital Air Fryer With AeroCrispTM Technology for up to 80% less fat.includes Non-Stick Basket, Multi-Purpose Rack & 4 Skewers

The Gourmia 6 Qt. air fryer is a new favorite of mine. I never thought I needed an air fryer, since my family has cut back significantly on fried food. This air fryer has allowed us to enjoy things like fried wings without all of the oil. We also use it to heat up frozen pizza (tastes as fresh as the day we bought it!) and snacks like chickpeas and homemade potato chips.

Brita Extra Large 18 Cup Filtered Water Dispenser with 1 Standard Filter, BPA Free – UltraMax, Black

This Brita filter is my favorite because it’s black and looks super sleek. I love clean and fresh tasting water (who doesn’t?!) and in the summer, we go through cold water like, well, water. Fill this up, pop it in the fridge, and fill up your reusable water bottles any time you please. Plus, you’re helping reduce the use of single use plastic water bottles!

CORELLE Livingware 2-quart Serving Bowl Winter Frost White (3)

I love serving curries, rice, soup and more in these beautiful serving bowls. They look elegant and because there’s a pack of 3, you can serve multiple items at once and make your table settings look cohesive.

Vremi Countertop Ice Maker

I’m not lucky enough to have a built in ice maker in my fridge. But, this countertop ice maker is the next best thing! We go through so much ice over the summer, it’s always on hand with this awesome machine! It’s a great compliment to my perfect iced coffee recipe.

Keurig K-Mini Plus Coffee Maker, Single Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Brewer

Speaking of iced coffee, this little mini powerhouse gets me going every morning. It works with the k-cup of your choice. I love that it’s small and fits in a small corner, without taking up precious counter space. It’s also an amazing gift for anyone who is a coffee or tea lover! (These Chai Latte k-cups are a staple in my home!)

BLACK+DECKER 8-Cup Food Processor

This food processor is a great basic every home cook needs in their kitchen. Great for chopping, slicing or shredding, I use it for all three! It’s also great for shredding cheese! The 8 cup bowl makes it easy to transfer ingredients into a pan or another bowl.

Staub Coq au Vin Cocotte, Grenadine, 4.25 qt. – Grenadine

The Staub Coq au Vin Cocotte is the priciest item on my list, but it’s so heavy, durable and easy to clean, that I’m planning on passing it down to my daughters! You can make ANYTHING in this bad boy and it will taste amazing. From chicken curry to roast, this cocotte is perfect for slow cooking food for a deeper and richer flavor.

Advertisement

Monday Masala – Khalida Brohi

Our Monday Masala series highlights female Pakistani entrepreneurs, business owners and bloggers.

I am so excited for today’s Monday Masala! I reached out to Khalida Brohi of The Chai Spot because I am so enamored with her story.

Photo courtesy of Khalida Brohi.

She is the author of I Should Have Honor , a powerful memoir about Pakistani tribal life. Her experiences in Pakistan led her to found Sughar Foundation, a non-profit providing socio-economic empowerment to women in tribal communities in Pakistan. They are trying to end the consequences of exchanged marriage, child marriages, and honor killings.

Khalida is the embodiment of a fearless, smart and inspiring Pakistani woman, which is exactly what we at My Pakistani Kitchen are trying to promote and celebrate. She is a social entrepreneur, author, non-profit executive director, public speaker and lover of chai. Her work is obviously intertwined with her love of helping others.

She was kind enough to participate in our Monday Masala feature, despite being busy being a superhero! At least, that’s what I call her. Her newest location has opened up in New York and I am super excited to visit soon.

How did you get started in this business?

When David (Dawood) and I fell in love in 2014, we knew the universe brought us together, but at the same time we didn’t know how to make our union possible. David belongs to an Italian-American family in LA and I am from a small village in Balochistan part of Pakistan. Not only were we from totally different worlds, but our worlds had many misunderstandings towards each other that kept us apart.

In those days, Chai became one of the biggest sources of creating the powerful and peaceful space for dialogue and conversation between our families and paved the way for us to be with each together. Most often, the process of getting people to not be afraid of each other is the toughest challenge to face because there are ingrained beliefs in our societies that lead us to judge each other long before we even get to know each other. With persistence and teas in hand, we were engaged in Venice Italy and later had a ten day long wedding in Karachi. Instead of using our money for a second wedding celebration in the US, we realized we want to instead use that money to launch an initiative that helps us tackle global misunderstandings and fear in the most loving manner.

The Chai Spot in Sedona Arizona, was launched within three months of that plan and from then on your love, your support and your purchases have kept us successful and we launched our second location in Manhattan.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Managing our wonderful Chai Spot team, greeting guests, and hosting small events in our tea lounge space.

 

PEACOCKS! My fave! Photo from The Chai Spot NYC

 

What kitchen gadgets can you NOT live without?
Our mortar and pestle to grind the variety of spices we use for our teas.

What’s your favorite thing about your kitchen?
Our glass Ball jars with multicolored hand woven cozies encircled around them

Can you give us your favorite recipe?
Our recipes are top secret! Please come in to our new Chai Spot to try our many different options.

The Chai Spot has two locations, one in Arizona and one in NYC. Please be sure to visit!

The Chai Spot NYC
156 Mott Street
New York, New York 10013

      The Chai Spot Sedona
#B201, Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village
Sedona, Arizona 86336

 

Be sure to follow The Chai Spot on Facebook and Instagram!

Click here if you are interested in being featured in our Monday Masala series!

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS.

 

 

Monday Masala – Lubna Habibi

Our Monday Masala series highlights female Pakistani entrepreneurs, business owners and bloggers. 

Today, we have the famous Chef Lubna Habibi of The Clay Oven! With two locations in New York, she’s busier than ever, but was kind enough to talk to us for Monday Masala!

How did you get started in this business?

I loved to cook since I was a child. By profession, I was an electrical engineer. I started to cook for my coworkers and invite them over for dinner parties and my husband got tired of us constantly hosting and jokingly suggested to open a restaurant. The rest is history!

What does a typical day look like for you?

A day for me is always looking forward to the next day! People tell me I should slow down now that I’m 59 but I don’t have the term “slow down” in my dictionary. I love working a 14 hour day and I don’t see myself slowing down any time soon 🙂

When you are short on time, what are your go-to recipes or meals?

After 30 years in this business, you tend to manipulate every recipe into a 20 minute affair. My favorite is a quick and easy Tandoori Wings recipe that is super simple but very delicious!

What kitchen gadgets can you NOT live without?

A very good quality knife! You can do a lot of things in the kitchen with a great quailty knife!

What’s your favorite thing about your kitchen?

My incredible coworkers. We make a really great team and that makes everything flow really nicely!

Can you give us your favorite recipe?

Tandoori Chicken Wings

2 lbs wings

2 tablespoons garlic ginger paste

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon cayenne paper

1 teaspoon paprika

4 tablespoons yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt as your requirements

Marinate 2 hours then you can bake or BBQ.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, then broil for 4 minutes to give a barbecued look. I love to do it on flame. This recipe was featured on Newsday and Channel 12.

Be sure to follow The Clay Oven on Facebook and Instagram!

 

The Clay Oven has two locations:

SMITHTOWN

863 W Jericho Turnpike

Smithtown, NY 11787

HAUPPAUGE

601 Veterans Memorial Hwy

Hauppauge, NY 11788

 

 

Click here if you are interested in being featured in our Monday Masala series!

 

A Grandmother’s Love

Growing up, I was blessed to know and spend time with all of my grandparents. I had a special and different relationship with each of them.

Today, I am only left with my Nani. Nani and I have always had a special relationship. I don’t even call her Nani, but rather, Ummie. I try to spend as much time with her as possible, as I know what a blessing it is to have her in my life.

Friday night, I picked Nani up and brought her to my mom’s house. We love a Friday night sleepover and since I live right upstairs, it’s a great way for us all to get together. The next day, we made basaar together!

Just some of the ingredients we used for basaar!

 

Now I realize everyone doesn’t know what basaar is, but I mentioned it in this post. It’s a Kashmiri spice mix. I’m not ready to share the entire recipe here, since I’m still learning (and Nani doesn’t measure ANYTHING!). We spent an hour toasting spices, grinding them up and mixing it all.

 

A sample of the spices we ground up! Seen here: cinnamon, cumin, methi seeds and black elaichi seeds.

Part of the reason I wanted to learn Nani’s recipe was to have something of hers that I can have for the rest of my life. Nani is one of those people in my life that I can call whenever I want and ask her how to make something and she’ll tell me. She tells me even when I don’t ask her. We talk a lot about food and recipes, life, work and family. I can sit with her for hours watching cooking shows and judge them harshly, and then laugh hysterically afterwards.

Even when my grandmother scolds me, I know she does it from a place of love. And even though I’m almost 35 years old, I still listen to what she tells me to do. After I had my second daughter, she told me to eat lots of fruit and drink milk.

If you still have your grandparents in your life, treasure them. They are so full of wisdom, love and they have our past within them. So much of what we do in the kitchen has been passed down from our ancestors. Whether it be basaar, the way you cook daal or what kind of atta you use for roti, you have more history in the kitchen than you think.

On that note, I think we should end with the best advice my grandmother has ever given me and will apply to EVERYONE. “Cook with love, because if you don’t, nothing will taste good.”

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS.

Monday Masala – TeaforTurmeric

On Mondays, we talk to Pakistani female entrepreneurs, bloggers and business owners. Today, we have Izzah from TeaforTurmeric!

Izzah’s blog is filled with delicious meals that are healthy, but don’t sacrifice the taste we have come to love.

Seriously, this is the stuff dreams are made of. And it was made in an Instant Pot! http://www.teaforturmeric.com/2018/08/instant-pot-butter-chicken/

How did you get started in this business?

I started my blog a bit sporadically, not knowing how intense the online entrepreneurship journey would be. But now that I’m in it, I love every bit of it! I hope to continue it as a part of my career.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I’m a mom, so you can say it’s not as efficient in terms of work. But I do wake up early and that helps me get centered while getting some work done!

When you are short on time, what are your go-to recipes or meals?

Easy Masoor Dal (and it’s on the blog too), Chana Masala, and Fish

What kitchen gadgets can you NOT live without?

Rice Cooker, Instant Pot, Kitchen Aid..I’m all for simplifying life with kitchen tools!

What’s your favorite thing about your kitchen?

I have 2 pantries 😉

Can you give us your favorite recipe?

http://www.teaforturmeric.com/2016/11/easy-slow-cooker-nihari-beef-stew/

Thanks Izzah for participating in our Monday Masala series! Head over to her Instagram for some absolutely mouthwatering pics and show her your support!

 

Click here if you are interested in being featured in our Monday Masala series!

 

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.