Seekh kebab

Ingredients

• Minced beef — fatty, 20 per cent1 kg
• Onions — wrung dry2
• Ginger garlic paste2 tbsp
• Green chillies4
• Coriander50 g
• Garam masala1 tbsp
• Ground coriander1 tbsp
• Ground cumin1 tbsp
• Green papaya paste — as a tenderiser1 tbsp
• Chickpea flour — toasted2 tbsp
• Vegetable oil40 ml
• Naan — to serve5
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Grate the onions finely and wring them dry in muslin, discarding the juice.

   12 min

2. 2

   Toast the chickpea flour in a dry pan until it smells nutty and let it cool.

   6 min

3. 3

   Mix the mince with the onion, ginger garlic paste, papaya, spices, coriander and chillies.

   10 min

4. 4

   Work the mixture ten minutes, until it turns tacky and pulls back at your hand.

   12 min

5. 5

   Fold in the chickpea flour and chill the mixture for at least an hour.

   65 min

6. 6

   With wet hands mould the mince onto flat skewers in an even two-centimetre layer.

   15 min

7. 7

   Grill over hot coals four minutes a side, basting with oil. Serve with naan.

   15 min

About the dish

The mince is worked until tacky and always chilled. Warm, it will not hold on the skewer and drops into the coals at the first turn.

The onion is wrung dry in muslin. Its juice in the mince is the main reason a kebab falls apart: in the heat that water turns to steam and tears the meat.

The skewers are flat and wide. On a round one the mince spins with the turn and one side stays raw.

Worth knowing

• — The mince has to be fatty. Lean mince will not hold on the skewer and comes out dry however long it is worked.
• — The papaya tenderises with an enzyme, but exactly one spoon goes in. More and the mince turns to paste within an hour.
• — The coals have to be strong. Over a weak fire the kebab starts weeping and slides off the skewer before a crust forms.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

680 kcal

Protein

46 g

Fat

40 g

Carbs

32 g

More from Pakistan

• Nihari — Beef shin stewed overnight in a thick spiced gravy with marrow, bound with a wheat-flour slurry.
• Chapli kebab — Flat beef patties with cornmeal, tomato and whole coriander seeds.
• Haleem — Meat, wheat and pulses cooked down and beaten into one smooth thick mass over six hours.