Social distancing while some of our favorite summer events get postponed (or even canceled) can be disappointing. Thankfully, for those of us who love the Queens Night Market and its delicious international cuisines, have no fear! You can bring the market to your kitchen with The World Eats Here by John Wang and Storm Garner, available now!
Named one of Esquire’s Ten Best Cookbooks of 2020 and an Amazon Best Book of May, The World Eats Here not only offers up 88 taste-of-home recipes from the market’s renowned vendor-chefs, but also shares their inspiring tales of home, work, and family. As The New York Times wrote of the cookbook: “each of the recipes, and the accompanying profiles, is crammed with compelling details.” This is a can’t-miss read—and we’re sharing an exclusive excerpt and recipe featuring Maeda Qureshi and her savory Tandoori Chicken Kati Rolls below! Read on for more, and be sure to grab your copy today.
***
Maeda Qureshi
THE PAKISTAND
Pakistan
Maeda trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, graduating in 2011. While there, her curiosity for culinary nutrition through hands-on cooking experience brought her to believe in a “food first” approach that led her to enroll in Columbia University’s nutrition program. Now she is a clinical dietitian at Elmhurst Hospital and the owner of the Pakistand, a pop-up restaurant that serves traditional and fusion-style Pakistani cuisine. All profits go toward charities supporting childhood education in Pakistan.
Women do have a hard time in this industry. I know I did. When I applied to places for my externship for the Culinary Institute of America, people couldn’t tell from my résumé if I was male or female. There’s this one place I showed up for my interview, and the guy said, Oh, I didn’t know you were a girl from your name. And I was like, Well, here I am. Are you gonna test me as a potential intern? He said, Yeah, I don’t think you’d be good for this. It’s really intense; it’s hard for the guys. I don’t think you’ll be a good cook. He didn’t even check my skills out, just walked me out the door before I could get into the kitchen. Normally you do a stage—a one-day assessment of how you do in the kitchen: They give you stuff to do, like chop stuff, make a sauce. And he refused to let me prove myself, just because I was a girl. So that was really depressing.
When I was born, my parents couldn’t figure out what to name me, so my dad went around different mosques in Brooklyn, where I was born, asking guys, like, What should I name my daughter? And I want something unique, not something very common. And someone said, What about Maeda from Sura Maeda? Sura means ‘chapter.’ It’s a chapter in the Quran, our holy book. The guy said it’s like ‘feast’ with an abundance of food, or a dastarkhan, which is a cloth that we typically put on the floor to eat. And it just symbolizes—you know—abundance, food, happiness. So my dad was in love with the name, came back to the hospital and told my mom, This is what I want to name my daughter.
When I was in kindergarten I was actually in ESL ’cause I couldn’t speak English. My parents only spoke Urdu at home. I was always shocked—I was born and raised here, how can I be in ESL? But my parents knew I’d learn English when I went to school, and they wanted to make sure I was in touch with my culture and the language—’cause that’s not something you’re going to learn in school.
All our neighbors were from Pakistan, so it was like a big cultural thing. Like Ramadan was amazing, ’cause we would share whatever we made and give it to our neighbors. There was always this floating plate that everyone had—like my mom had her signature plate design, and let’s say she made biryani: She would put biryani on that plate, cover it with paper towel, and say to me, OK, go give it to them. And that plate would come back to us later in the week with other foods that they’d made, just to return the plate, you know? You can’t give an empty plate back to the people that gave you food!
Pakistani Tandoori Chicken Kati Rolls
Kati rolls are traditionally sold as street food in Pakistan, but they’re increasingly available in cafes and small restaurants. Typically they’re made of tandoori chicken or grilled beef, topped with sliced onions and green chutney and wrapped in flaky paratha bread. Maeda’s recipe doesn’t call for the traditional clay tandoor oven, which creates a beautiful char with heat going up to 1,000°F (540°C). She’s adapted the recipe to use in a conventional oven or on a charcoal grill.
Makes 5 servings
TANDOORI CHICKEN
- 8 ounces (225 g) skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
- ½ cup (115 g) nonfat Greek yogurt
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves, grated
- ½-inch (13 mm) piece peeled fresh ginger, grated
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon Indian red chile powder (lal mirch), or cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
GREEN CHUTNEY
- 1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems
- ½ cup (120 ml) lemon juice 5 green Thai chiles, stems removed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 frozen parathas
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- To make the tandoori chicken, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), or prepare a charcoal grill for a smokier flavor. Place the chicken on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or grill directly on the grill, until cooked through.
- To make the green chutney, blend the cilantro, lemon juice, chiles, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor on high until smooth, about 2 minutes, and set aside. If the mixture is too dry, add a splash of water while blending.
- To make the kati rolls, thaw and heat the parathas in a dry skillet over medium heat until crispy, about 4 to 5 minutes each. Transfer each to a plate and place 4 or 5 pieces of the chicken, some of the red onion, and a drizzle of green chutney on the center. Fold in the sides, wrap up tightly like a burrito, and enjoy.
***
We hope you enjoyed this excerpt from The World Eats Here, by John Wang and Storm Garner. We hope to see you soon at the Queens Night Market, and in the meantime, be sure to grab a copy of the cookbook, available now!
