The Indian subcontinent · Volume 23, The Court, the Chilli and the Temple Kitchen
Shikampuri kebab
Hyderabad, the Nizami court
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 1 hour
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Hyderabad, the Nizami court, its own kebab invention rather than a regional cousin of Lucknow's galouti. A spiced meat exterior wrapped around a cool, creamy centre, built on contrast rather than on a single melting texture.
As tradition built it
Makes 12 patties. About 1 hour.
Ingredients
- 500 g minced mutton
- 2 tbsp chana dal, boiled soft and drained
- 2 onions, finely chopped, half fried until golden
- 3 green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 lemon juice of 1 lemon
- 150 g thick hung yoghurt
- A small bunch fresh mint, finely chopped
- enough to shallow-fry, about 1cm deep oil, for shallow frying
- to taste salt
Method
- Combine the mince, boiled dal, half the onion (raw), ginger-garlic paste, garam masala and salt, and grind or pound together into a smooth, well-combined paste. Divide into 12 portions.
- For the filling, mix the hung yoghurt with the mint, the fried onion, the green chilli and a little salt.
- Flatten each portion of the meat paste into a disc in the palm of your hand, place a small spoonful of the yoghurt filling in the centre, and fold the meat around it to seal completely, reshaping into a flat patty.
- Shallow-fry in a little oil over medium heat for around 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deeply browned and cooked through.
- Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon juice, while the filling is still cool against the hot exterior.
What a modern chef changes
A filling held genuinely cold against the heat, for a sharper version of the dish's whole point.
Rung 2, applied to contrast rather than to pounding
Method
- Pipe the yoghurt filling and freeze it in small discs before assembling the kebabs, so the centre stays properly cold rather than merely cool by the time the exterior is cooked through.
- Sear the assembled kebabs briefly in a very hot pan rather than a longer, gentler shallow fry, for a properly crisp, well-browned crust in under the time it takes the frozen centre to fully thaw.
- Finish with a few drops of green chilli oil rather than folding all the chilli into the filling, so the heat arrives as a separate, later note against the cold cream rather than being pre-mixed into it.