Kebabs : Mughlai love affair

Who doesn't soft and succulent kebabs?? Kebabs have been occupying center stage at any party or get-together for far too long and rightly so!! Easy to eat and no one can stop at just one. While I have been making kebabs for a while this time I tried to make few varieties of them so as to create a home-made version of famous kebab platter.

The platter was made of shami kebabs ( non-veg), shikampuri kebabs ( non-veg and a slight variation to shami kebabs) and dahi ke kebabs (veg). The preparation takes a bit of time so let's get started with the steps.

Shami Kebabs: They are super soft and melt in the mouth. They are as close to the perfect kebabs as one can get, ofcourse there's galauti kebabs as well!! One has to be careful while shallow frying them as they might break very easily.

Ingredients: Chana daal - 100 gm; Lamb mince - 500 gms; Fried onions ( sliced) - 3 medium; Coriander leaves ( finely chopped) - 1 cup; Green chillies ( finely chopped) - 6; Mint leaves ( finely chopped) - 1 cup;Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp; Sale to taste; Oil for shallow frying; Water for boiling the mince. Butter or ghee - 2 tbsp

Khade masale: Caraway seeds - 1/2 tsp; Cinnamon - 4 pieces; Green Cardamom - 16; Black Cardamom - 8;

Dry Spices: Turmeric - 1 tsp; Garam masala - 1/2 tsp; Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp; Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp

Steps:

i. Put lamb mince , all the khade masale and chana daal in a pressure cooker and pour water to cover the meat.

ii. Add turmeric and salt into the mixture and mix well so that there are no lumps of meat.

iii. Pressure cook the mixture for 6 whistles and let it de-pressurize naturally.

iv. The daal should be mushy and everything well cooked. Once cooled blend it in a mixer to get a thick paste. Add roasted gram flour if you find it a bit thin.

v. Mix rest of the ingredients left and mix well. Butter will help in giving a richness to the kebabs.

vi. Heat up a pan with oil.

vii. Create medium size patties and shallow fry each side for 2 minutes. Take care while flipping them so as not to break them.

Serve with some mint-coriander chutney and enjoy!!!

Shikampuri Kebabs: These kebabs are very similar to shami kebabs but have a rich filling inside them. Shikam means stomach so the name. Super soft on the outside and a crunchy filling inside is just heavenly.

Ingredients: Kebab mixture is the same as for shami kebabs.

Filling: Hung curd - 1/2 cup ( details for it mentioned in the next recipe); Onion (finely chopped) - 1 medium; Green chillies (finely chopped) - 2; Coriander leaves (finely chopped) - 2 tbsp; Salt to taste; Walnuts+Cashew+Almonds+Ginger (finely chopped) - 2 tbsp; Cumin seeds ( roasted) - 1 tsp

Steps:

i. It is exactly the same as for shami kebabs but while creating the patties fill them with the filling.

Serve with some mint-coriander chutney and enjoy!!!

Dahi Kebabs: Yes you have read it right; we can make kebabs out of curd. Kebabs are traditionally enjoyed by non-vegetarian people. This kebab tries to balance out the scale in favour of vegetarians. An instant hit in any party and super soft. Some people deep fry these kebabs by coating them in bread crumbs. I have tried to create traditional kebabs by shallow frying them.

Ingredients: Curd - 1 kg; Cardamom powder ( ground green cardamoms by removing the skin) - 1/4 tsp; Green chilli ( finely chopped) - 2; Coriander leaves ( finely chopped) - 1 tbsp; Roasted besan(for binding) - 10 tbsps; Cumin powder ( roasted) - 1/4 tsp; Garam masala - 1/4 tsp; Sugar - 1tbsp; Black pepper ( grounded) - 1/4 tsp; Cinnamon ( grounded) - 1/4 tsp; Cloves ( grounded) - 1/4 tsp; Rice flour - for coating the patties before shallow frying; Salt to taste; Oil for shallow frying

Filling: Chat masala - 1tsp; Walnuts+Cashew nuts+ Almonds+ Green chillies + ginger + coriander leaves ( finely chopped) - 1/2 cup

Steps:

i. Tie the curd in a muslin cloth or a cheese making cloth and put it above a colander in fridge overnight.

ii. Press the curd as much as possible next day to remove all the moisture so as to get a thick lump of curd. You can use the left over water ( whey) to knead chapatis etc.

iii. Now mix all the ingredients except oil , rice flour and filling mixture into the curd and mix well.

iv. Take a portion size of a medium dumpling of the curd mixture and create a cavity and fill the filling into it.

v. Seal it and cover the dumpling with the rice flour and create a pattie size shaped.

vi. You might face some problem while creating the dumpling and filling it but it will ease out for second or third kebab onward.

vii. Heat up a pan with oil.

viii. Shallow fry each side for 2 minutes. Take care while flipping them as they are super soft and might break.

Serve with some mint-coriander chutney and enjoy!!!