Shami Kabab
Boiled and ground red meat, pan-fried into round meat patty— A Ramzan or Eid speciality
- Cooking time3 hours
Calories260kcal
Shami kabab is well loved not least because it is one of the easier kababs to make at home. While producing good kababs generally requires special grilling, charring or tandoori techniques, shami kabab can be easily prepared at home with no special equipment. Popular among Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian communities, this snack resembles a pan-fried, ground-meat patty. It is best made with a lean, boneless red meat of your choice (mutton, beef, lamb, etc.).
Ingredients
Serves
17 kababs
- 1 kg mutton/beef (boneless)
- 200 g chhola'r dal (soaked overnight)
- 100 g onions
- 8 pcs dried red chilli
- 20 g garlic
- 30 g ginger
- 4 pcs bay leaves
- 20 g salt
- 10 g mint leaves
- 16 g green chillies
- 30 g raisins
- 10 g lime juice
- 4 g shahi garam masala
- 5 g ghee
- 1 pc egg
Method
- Soak chhola'r dal overnight.
- Roughly chop ginger and garlic.
- Transfer meat and chhola'r dal to a pressure cooker. Add onions, ginger, garlic, dried red chillies, bay leaves, and salt. Pour enough water for boiling. The meat needs to be tender but dry. In a pressure cooker on low heat, our meat cooked in 45 minutes; we added 400 grams of water. You may read the recipe notes for a better understanding.
- Once the meat is tender, cook off any excess water on high flame. Discard bay leaves.
- Transfer everything to a grinder jar. Grind on lowest setting until mixture is uniform. You may have to scrape down your jar once or twice. Don't grind it too smooth else the kababs would lose its texture.
- Once done, transfer the ground meat to a large mixing bowl and add a beaten egg to the mixture. Add chopped green chillies, chopped mint leaves, and raisins. Sprinkle shahi garam masala. Squeeze in lime juice. Add ghee. Now, using your hands mix everything thoroughly.
- Divide the mixture into 60 g portions. Apply ghee on your hands. Compact the mixture in your fist. Now, shape into a 6 cm disc. Patch up cracks, if any. Chill kababs until you're ready to serve, or freeze them for later.
- Heat vegetable oil, 1 cm deep, to 180°C. The oil should reach half the height of the kabab. Fry each side of the kabab on medium heat for 2 minutes. Drain from the oil.
- Garnish with thin slices of boiled eggs. Serve hot with coriander and coconut chutney along with a salad of onions and cucumber.
