Kebab made easy

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One of our prime reasons to eat out — other than when we are too bored to cook at home — is that we feel that we won’t be able to reproduce our favourite dishes as the restaurants do.

This, however, is not always true. While some professional equipment does help make the process easier, with a few innovations we can cook restaurant-grade dishes at home nine times out of 10.

Chicken Reshmi Kebab
This silken kebab has always been the exclusive domain of Mughlai restaurants. It is even quite tough to find this at roadside kebab stalls that dot cities like Hyderabad, Lucknow and Delhi.
A few simple tricks, however, will enable you to make this kebab as good as the restaurants.

Ingredients
400 gm boneless chicken breast, cut into pieces

For the marination
2 tsp garlic past
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp melon seed paste
2 tsp cashew nut paste
2 tsp raw papaya paste
2 tsp gram flower
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
6 tsp hung curd
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp melted butter
Lime wedges and onion rings to serve.

Method
Mix all marination ingredients with the chicken and marinade for at least two hours. Thread the chicken pieces on the skewers tightly so that it forms a uniform cylinder. On a flat frying pan, heat the oil and butter and place one of the skewers directly on the oil. Fry on low heat, while turning the skewer till chicken is browned. You can use more skewers if your frying pan is bigger.
Once all the chicken is cooked, grill the skewers while turning over the open flame of the gas (at high) to give it the right colour, for around four minutes.
Serve with onion rings and lime wedges.

Shammi Kebab
Ingredients
400 gm mutton keema, made

into a paste in a food processor
2 medium onions, chopped fine
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp green chilli paste
3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped fine
Salt to taste
4 tbsp chana dal, boiled and mashed
1 egg
Oil for shallow frying

Method
Mix all ingredients thoroughly and marinade for one hour. Make into small round balls and flatten slightly.
Heat oil in a shallow frying pan and fry the kebabs in batches on low heat, cooking each side for around 3 minutes before flipping them over.
The kebabs should be a uniform brown colour.
Serve with lemon wedges and onion rings.