Imposters we love

Hallo Lovely Readers, 

It's February already! The shortest but most action packed month for us (we celebrate our wedding anniversary💒 and multiple family birthdays🎂). 

And the weather has been A-mazing! With foggy mornings and super cold temperatures. Do need to mention this year, the 🌫 fog has been merciless; and caused disruptions galore to traffic situations. But for that 'oh so cozy' cold weather😍 all is forgiven. 

So far I've turned out all ALL my winter jackets (well thanks to the pandemic I have to wash em daily🙄 and winter wear is never easy to dry) 

Some days it was so cold I ALMOST pulled out my heavy-duty duck feather jacket & the faux suede. Oh yeah faux is fine! I've never been obsessed about labels or the need to have authentic stuff (the affordability is another factor😆) so I have never shied from the word faux. 

Hey! do you know there are imposters in foods too. Let's park the nut kingdom hoaxes aside; but in the kebab world there is one particular imposter - Shami Kebab

Here is my two bit analysis, what's first thing that comes to mind when you hear kebab? Largely grilled food, right!

But this delicious imposter 'Shami Kebab' is a sneaky full deep fried crossover agent😎 (still delicious though 😁)

Weirdly we rarely ate Shami Kebabs when back home. Kebab was always something grilled, but once we tried Shami Kebabs in a Iftar buffet here, our fascination for it began. And it is so easy to make too.

RECIPE:

Time Taken: 90 to 120 mins

Yield: 20 mini kebabs

Method:

1) Soak for 3 hours min or max overnight half cup of chana dal to rehydrate. Drain the water and keep aside before making the kebab mixture. 

2) You need 300 gms of boneless chicken or chicken mince. I had mince already at home so I used mince instead. Marinate with salt for 30 mins. 

3) Roughly chop 1 large onion, small tomato (optional), 2-3 galric cloves and half inch of ginger. 

4) Heat oil in a pan, add a cinnamon stick, 4 - 5 green cardamoms, 2 cloves; Saute for 2 minutes. Then tip in the chopped ingredients.

5) Finally add the chana dal, let it coat in oil well. Then add the mince, half tsp turmeric pd, 1tsp chilli pd, salt as per taste. Mix well. 

6) Add 1/4 cup of water and cover with lid. Continue cooking till the dal is fully cooked and mince too. Make sure all thr moisture dries up. 

7) Cool this mixture. And then grind it up to a paste. I was thankful that I choose Chicken Mince coz it was so easy to grind it without adding any water. But if you are using boneless chicken just add one egg to the mixture to give it the moisture to grind it. 

8) If you have not added the egg, do it now. Mix well and check for seasoning. 

9) Heat oil enough for deep frying. With greased hands shape golf ball sized kebab mixture into a thick disc or a patty. And drop them in hot oil. Do not disturb them till they become lightly golden on one side. Flip and continue frying till an lovely earthy brown. 

10) Remove from oil, drain off excess and then serve hot with gravy & bread/rice of your choice. 

We love this so much I make batches of the mixture n freeze it for later use 😉.

Cheers!!!