Shami Kebabs: Lamb kebabs with mint onion stuffing

Out of all the kebabs, shami kebabs are one of my favorites. Invented for a toothless nawab of Lucknow during the reign of the Mughals in India, these kebabs were made so fine that no teeth would be required to eat them and they would just melt in the nawab’s mouth. Or so the story goes. Who knows what the truth is. But whatever be the origin, my taste buds are thankful for their existence.

The recipe for these shami kebabs differs slightly than the tunde ke kebabs I have posted earlier. While both of them are soft and silky smooth in the mouth, unlike the tunde ke kebabs, shami kebabs have a mint-onion stuffing in them. And while the original tunde kebab recipe claims to have 160 spices in it, the spices more or less in both the recipes I use are the similar with a slight variation in the quantities.

I have made this shami kebab recipe (adapted from one of Nita Mehta’s recipes) many times before and have always used the pressure cooker. This time when I was making them for the blog, I thought of cooking the meat in the slow cooker and it worked just fine. If you have read my about me, you know how much I hate cleaning the pressure cooker. I don’t know why but I do. So to avoid using it, I thought maybe I could try cooking the meat in the slow cooker. And am happy to say it worked just fine.

I used my Vitamix to grind the meat, but a food processor will work just fine. Make sure that the meat is ground to a very smooth paste. That is what makes the kebabs silky smooth and gives them the melt in the mouth texture. There should not be any amount of water before blending the meat mixture into a paste. You can keep the meat mixture in the refrigerator and use within 2-3 days. I generally shape all the kebabs and bake them on a greased parchment lined baking tray  in the oven. Once baked, I freeze them stacked  between layers of parchment paper, shallow frying them as and when required.

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Shami Kebabs: Lamb kebabs with mint onion stuffing

 

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Cuisine: Indian

Serves: 15-18

Ingredients

• Pressure cook together---
• ½ kg mutton mince (keema), washed and drained well, squeeze water through the strainer
• ¼ cup channa dal--- soaked & drained
• 1 onion, sliced
• 10 flakes garlic- chopped
• 2" piece ginger, chopped
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds,
• 3-4 cloves
• 2 green cardamom
• 1 black cardamom
• ½ " stick cinnamon
• 4-5 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-3 dry whole red chillies
• salt, according to taste
• ½ cup water

for the filling:

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped (or to taste)

Instructions

1. If using the pressure cooking, put all the ingredients in the pressure cooker and cook to give 2 whistles. Keep on low flame for 2 minutes after the second whistle and then remove. Let the pressure drop. Once pressure drops uncover the cooker. If any water is left, return cooker to heat and dry out water.
2. If using the slow cooker, put all ingredients in slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high setting. I did occasionally give it a stir now and then. Once the lamb looked cooked, I removed the lid and let the water dry out for a few minutes.
3. Dry grind the minced meat mix in blender or food processor. Make sure not to add any water. The mixture should be dry else the kebabs will break while frying. You can discard the hard residue of illaichi, bay leaf, etc. Make sure the mixture is smooth.

For the filling:

1. Mix together the chopped onion, mint, cilantro and green chillies.

To prepare the kebabs:

1. Oil your hands a bit and make two tiny balls. Flatten both and sandwich them together with a tsp of the filling mixture. Press gently to stick together.
2. Shallow fry in a little oil in a non stick skillet on medium heat till brown.

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