When I moved to New Jersey I was blessed with some amazing Pakistani neighbors. I learnt a lot about Muslim cooking from Sajida aunty. I also learnt about Shan masalas and how amazing they are. I love making things from scratch but I also see no harm in getting some external help. These masalas taught me how to make my first biryani. And shammi kabab was something I learnt from aunty too. Aunty is an amazing cook and so well organized. I must say I have learnt a lot from her. Here is a shammi kabab recipe. I use these as lettuce wraps fillings and top off with onion, tomatoes, cucumbers and what ever dressing you like. I use garlic Mayo and chutney. I also make burgers and kaathi rolls of these and if we are in a low card diet east it as is for dinner. I also used my instapot for this recipe coz it doesn’t make me get up and run to the cooker every few minutes. It’s ok to put it in pressure and leave it and forget it till you have time to go back to it. By that I mean an hour or so. These kababs are very delicate. So please be gentle with them. They break easily. You could add more bread crumbs to make them firm. I add a little less to keep the carb content low. Typically an egg is also added to the mixture but there were pretty moist since I used chicken thighs. If you use chicken breast and feel the mixture
has dried out you could add an egg.
What do you need.
One packet of Costco frozen thighs/breast. Should be a pound or a little more. Cut up to small pieces. 1 cup chana dal washed 5-6 tbs Shaan shammi kabab masala 5-6 garlic pods 1 inch ginger 5-6 green chili’s (optional) Salt to taste. The Shan masala has salt added. 2 cups of water 1 cup fresh bread crumbs. You could use store bought too. Half cup cilantro chopped Half cup mint chopped half cup finely chopped onions oil to shallow fry.
Let’s get cooking. 1. In an instapot add chicken, dal, ginger, garlic, green chili and Shaan masala and 2 cups of water 2. Pressure on high for 20 mins 3. Let the pressure naturally release. If you are in a hurry you could do it manually. 4. When you open the lid set the instapot on sauté and start to mash the mixture. 5. Let this mixture cook till you can see the mixture has dried up and is holding its shape. Check salt and add more if needed. 6. Transfer to a food processors. Grind to a fine paste. Transfer to another bowl. 7. Grind 2-3 bread slices in the food processor to make crumbs. 8. Add the bread crumbs, onions, mint and cilantro and mix well. 9. In a cast iron pan or a nonstick pan heat some oil on a medium low flame. 10. Make small patties and sauté on a medium low flame. A very hot pan will break the kababs. 11. Flip to crisp the other wide after 3-4 minutes. 12. Enjoy as appetizers, rolls, burgers or lettuce wrap.
The only thing that you truly need is patience. To dry out the liquid and sauté on both side to make them crisp. These will be a crowd pleaser.
Sending you flavors from My Kolorful Kitchen.