Shami kebabs with coriander-mint chutney

 

I love kebabs, and its a pity we don't get them as frequently as we did back home. We had this really nice tandoori restaurant near home and my dad would so often go pick up tandoori chicken, seekh kebabs, chicken tikka and the like from there. Even now when i go back home, he gets me the kebabs and it tastes just as nice, but i just haven't had anything close to that here. I mean Tayyabs is good and so is Kadiri's but they are so far away, and i miss those corner kebab places you find in abundance in India.

So the next best thing is to try and make your own. I have a few favourites that i have proudly mastered, like the Afghani murgh malai kebabs, the beef seekh kebabs and chicken tikka, and they make it to the table at most of my parties because they are so easy to make. Shami kebabs on the other hand is a bit difficult to make, i admit, but so frikking tasty and def up there on the kebab list. Like seriously melt-in-the-mouth types.

I had some friends over last weekend and I made these kebabs as starters and served them with a spicy coriander mint chutney, which i must say came out so well. The one time i previously made them, they were bitter...its a problem i always seem to face with coriander leaves when ground. I started putting it together with a plan b in mind, 99 percent sure it wasn't going to turn out nice, but then, it just did...and i decided to post it here before i forgot the measurements.

The recipe is from Maya's Yummy O Yummy, a blog i religiously follow for all my mallu recipes. She's really got some amazing stuff up there so do drop by and check them out. 

Makes 25 to 30 small patties

Ground beef- 1/2 kg

Chana dal- 1/2 cup, rinsed

Ginger- 1 1/2 tsp, peeled and chopped

Garlic- 2 tsp, peeled and chopped

Onion- 1 cup, roughly chopped

Dried red chillies- 2

Salt- to taste

Water- 1/2 cup

To grind

Coriander seeds- 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds- 1 1/2 tsp

Whole peppercorns- 1 tsp

Cinnamon stick- 1/2 inch

Cardamom- 2 pods

Cloves- 4

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup, washed and roughly chopped

Mint leaves- 25 (around 1/4 cup packed)
Onion- 1/2 cup, roughly hopped

Oil- enough to shallow fry the patties
Egg- 1, beaten

Into a pressure cooker throw in the ground beef, chana dal, ginger, garlic, onion, red chillies and salt.

Break the meat down, while mixing in the other ingredients as well.

Pour in the water and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes or for around 2 to 3 whistles.

Once the pressure releases, open the cooker and add the ground mix.

If there is any water, put it back on medium-high heat and cook till the water completely evaporates, while stirring continuously.
Keep aside to cool.

Once cool, transfer the contents of the cooker into a food processor/ blender along with the coriander, mint leaves and onion and grind to a paste.
(I do not have a food processor and my spice mill is too small, I'd have to grind it multiple times, so i used my immersion blender which surprisingly worked fine. I think I've solved my minced meat dilemma for cutlets)

 

Transfer the ground meat to a large bowl and start making small lime size balls and flatten.
You can freeze the patties at this point and continue with the next step once you take them out of the freezer.
When ready to cook, heat oil in a pan, dip the patties in the egg and fry till brown on both sides.
Drain on paper towels and serve hot with the chutney.

Notes: The shami kebabs are traditionally made with ground mutton, but i went with beef. Feel free to use the exact measurement of ground lamb.
The kebabs weren't spicy at all, and so i made the chutney a wee bit spicy, which worked well.

Coriander-mint chutney

 

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup, roughly chopped
Mint leaves- 1/4 cup
Cumin powder- 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice- a generous dash
Green chilli- 1, chopped
Salt- to taste
Yoghurt- 2 heaped tbsp

Blend together all the ingredients, except yoghurt, in a food processor (I used my spice mill).
Transfer to a bowl and stir in the yoghurt.
Adjust seasoning if required.
The chutney stays in the refrigerator in an air tight container for about 5 days.

Minced beef kebabs- Summer BBQ with Waitrose

Summer has been fab, like really fab. I also say it 'has' been because, its gone back to sunless, chilly days and cardi's and jeans. I've also been so busy the past 2 months, this is the first weekend off after ages and i wanted to just vegetate on the sofa. Of course after about 2 hours catching up on Pretty Little Liars and Orange is the New Black, i started getting withdrawals. I realised that I actually like being busy, but not so busy it messes up with my mind.

This year BBQ parties have been scarce, with me working on weekends and with our favourite BBQ couple off on holiday. We still managed a few, and we also did our first BBQ at home as well, thanks to Waitrose. The deal was to get some food recipe inspiration from celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, do a twist on it and serve it at your BBQ. I scouted around Heston's Ultimate BBQ page and wanted to make almost everything there. My first option was the Asian style ribs, closely followed by the steak and parsley sauce. But after some brainstorming (read arguing) with the husband, we finally decided on Hestons beef kebab. A quick shopping spree on Waitrose online, and we had kick started our BBQ weekend.

I did my own (no fuss) version of it, slightly Indian seekh kebab in nature, and served it with a side of pickled onions, cucumber and tomato salad, asparagus wrapped in parma ham, cous cous, pita bread, a yoghurt sauce and some Indian style corn on the cob. I also made a pitcher of raspberry vodka spritzer and for dessert, a meringue roulade with strawberry coulis. I invited some friends over and held the BBQ party in our common park next door. It was a laid back evening with great company, good food and fab weather.

Summer is still not over, so if you are looking for inspiration to whip up a BBQ feast, then you know where to look.

Serves 4

Beef mince- 400 gms

Onion- 1 small, finely chopped

Garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp

Green chilli-  2, finely chopped (adjust according to preference)

Almond powder- 20 gms

Coriander leaves- a handful, finely chopped

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Ground cinnamon- a generous pinch

Egg- 1 small, lightly whisked

Salt and pepper- to taste

Oil- 3 tbsp

Wooden skewers- 1o to 12, soaked in water for abut 2 to 3 hours

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients until well combined.

make sure you break down the beef mince and nicely incorporate all the masalas and ingredients into the meat, mixing with your hands if possible.

If you think the mix appears to be a bit loose, add some more almond powder.

take small portions of the meat in your hand and press on to the skewers, binding well.

make sure you don't use too much meat on the skewer, or else the weight would make it fall off.

Fire up your bbq and place them on the hot grill, rotating them every couple of minutes.

They should be done in about 10 minutes. Do a check by slicing off a bit and if you don't see any pink meat, you're good to go.

Remove from heat and serve warm.

I wrapped my kebabs in a pita bread along with cous cous and salad and doused some yoghurt sauce on top whereas the husband kept dunking his kebab in the sauce, which he said brought out the flavours much better.

Recipe for the Meringue Roulade can be found here

With thanks to Waitrose for the bbq grill and the voucher for the food and ingredients. 

Minced meat- 2 ways

This is a pretty lame post and and even lamer pic...no patience for food styling and all. So apologies in advance.

Remember I mentioned my cousins were visiting..well we ended up partying it hard over the weekend and was lethargic whole of Monday. Needless to say, we had a blast, but in the process these are the things I learned:

1. Red wine gives me a hang over

2. Gin and tonic is my new found love which brings me to the next point

3. NEVER mix your drinks

4. Next time think a hundred times before deciding to order an entire case of wine off the Internet.

5. Thank the inventor of the dish washer again and again.

So after all that I spent whole of yesterday in bed watching silly mallu movies and making do with left over food for dinner. Had to get off my ass today because of some important deadlines I had to meet but I'm still pretty pathetic with regard to stamina. I have to rest and be ready for Thursday when they will be back from Ireland :)

I had only mince meat and that too quite a bit of it and so decided to go berserk with it since it was raining and windy and incredibly cold to go out and do grocery shopping.

Basic kheema recipe

So with half kg minced meat I made a kheema sorta thing and used that for my empanadas. I was kinda bored with my basic mince meat recipe and so tried out this recipe by PreeOccupied which came out really well. Its a keeper I'd say!

Pizza dough Empanadas

I made use of my leftover pizza dough to make these simple empanadas and they taste pretty darn good.

Pizza base mix- 1, 100 gm packet kneaded according to instructions. Alternatively, follow this recipe.

Cheddar cheese- 1.4 cup (optional)

Butter melted- 1/2 tbsp

Flour- to dust the working surface

Pre heat the oven to 220C

Once the dough has puffed up the first time, knock it back and make about 6 to 7 lemon size balls out of it.

Dust the working surface with enough flour and roll each of it into a circle or oval shape.

Fill with enough mince meat (about 1 tbsp for each circle) and cheddar cheese (if using) and cover carefully. With the tip of your finger, seal it and use a fork to create impressions around the edges if you want to.

Place them on a baking tray lined with a baking sheet because oil might ooze out and make a mess. You don't want to end up scrubbing the tray.

Using a basting brush, generously butter the empanadas for that brown colour. You can also do the same with egg if you please. I was lazy.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and serve hot with sour cream:)

Minced beef Kebabs (seekh kebab)

With the remaining 200 grams I decided to make seekh kebabs. Something I was very doubtful about, but turned out incredibly yum and it was so darn easy to make.

Minced lean beef- 200

Onion- 1 small, roughly chopped

Green chillies- 3, thinly sliced

Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup, washed and roughly chopped

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp

Egg- 1 small

Gram flour- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Wooden skewers- 8 or more

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes

Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl till well combined. If it happens to a be a bit loose, add some more gram flour.

Take small portions in your hand and press it on to the skewers, binding well. If its too heavy then it might fall off (yup I learned from my mistake).

Place them in a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in an over preheated at 220 C for 20 minutes, turning them occasionally.

You get absolutely delicious and juicy beef kebabs. Serve them with cucumber raita or just a salad.

Notes: Use bread crumbs instead of gram flour

You can make them into patties as well and use the same for burgers.