Chapli Kabab

We came back from India after a month...and since then feeling badly jet lagged. The house was a mess but thanks to my maid it has been restored to its previous fashion. I am feeling sleepy almost half the day...and when I am awake, I am feeding myself the outstanding “Mihidana” (fried in pure desi ghee) that my sister-in-law got for us from Burdwan and some of those “Malpua” that my Mami made the day before we left India. Our luggage was surprisingly within the limit and I managed to get some “salpatar plate” and some clay glasses and a set of “bhar” (small clay pots for serving tea at the street side stalls) with a tray as well as a bunch of really fragrant leaves of “Gandhoraj Lebu”. All these were accompanied by our yearly supply of ghee, bori (Bengali sundried dumplings), aamsotto (mango leather), Gobindobhog rice and yellow peas for making ghughni.

There was a handcraft fair in Burdwan. My husband bought a hand from the fair for scratching his back and I got some bamboo baskets. We managed to attend the wedding of a cousin of my husband and in between running the errands between Kolkata and Chandannagar and Hooghly...the month started becoming weeks and then days. Our time was short and we had plenty of things already in our hands, yet...these are the days that will keep me running for another year and I am looking forward to have the same in the next year as well.

I am ending the post with Chapli Kebab that I made almost a month ago. These juicy and succulent kebabs have a striking resemblance with the burger patties and they are ideal as an appetizer with some chutney or meal with some tandoori chapatti and green salad. Large and thick browned Chapli Kebabs, dripping aromatic mutton juice and ghee with some equally spicy chutney is sure to get you hooked.

Chapli Kabab

Makes about 8 large kebabs / kababs

Ingredients:

500gm of minced mutton

1 large onion – finely chopped

6-8 garlic cloves – minced / paste

1 and ½ inch ginger – paste

4 green chillies – finely chopped

2 small tomatoes – de-seeded and finely chopped

2 eggs – 1 raw and 1 scrambled

1 cup of fresh coriander leaves – finely chopped

½ cup of yellow corn flour

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1 tsp whole dried pomegranate seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 dry red chilli

1 tsp garam masala powder

Juice of 1 lime

Salt

Method:

Dry roast the whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds, dry red chilli, black peppercorns and pomegranate seeds on low flame for a minute.

Grind these whole dry roasted spices using a mortar and pestle. Make a coarse powder. Keep this spice mix aside.

Take the minced meat in a bowl and add the chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves, ginger-garlic paste, lime juice, chopped green chillies, yellow corn flour, raw egg and scrambles eggs.

Add the kept aside roughly pounded spice mix.

Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and salt.

Mix all these ingredients with the minced meat using your hand until all the ingredients are nicely incorporated. Do not knead the meat too much or else the kebabs with become dry and otherwise the kebabs will not hold its shape.

Take a large tennis ball size of the minced meat.

Give it a round shape and then press from both of the sides, using your palms, to give it the shape of a burger patty. The chapli kebab / kabab should be thick and well kneaded, so that the chapli kabab retains its shape and it remains juicy and succulent from inside.

Place it on a plate and continue the process until you have finished up all the meat.

Heat enough oil to deep fry in a skillet.

The oil should be medium hot or otherwise the kabab will not be cooked properly.

Place 2 or 3 kebabs in the oil at a time and fry on low to medium flame for 2 minutes and then flip the sides.

 Fry the kababs / kebabs in the hot oil until they become nicely browned from both the sides. The whole process will not take more than 4-5 minutes.

Serve the hot chapli kebabs with spicy mint and coriander chutney.