Oil-free Starters
As mentioned in my previous article on “starters”, there is a favourable bias towards non-vegetarian starters. Well, the bias leans towards me and some of those around (me). That brings me to the second most simple non-vegetarian starter recipe which combines great taste with low calories. Here goes,
Chicken Seekh Kababs Recipe
Equipment
- OTG (oven)
- Mixer-grinder
Ingredients
The Goods for Chicken Seekh Kababs Recipe
- 200 gms boneless chicken (or mutton, or prawns)
- `1 tsp red chilli powder
- ½ tsp garam masla powder
- ⅓ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp asafoetida powder (or hing)
- 1 tsp fenugreek leaves
- ½ tsp whole coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp fresh green coriander leaves
- 1 green chilli
- ¼ tsp garlic
- ½ lime juice (that is, juice of half a lime)
- ½ tsp salt (or, as per tase)
Instructions
The Grind for Chicken Seekh Kababs Recipe
- Grind the above ingredients including salt (except chicken and lime juice). Give it a few spurts in the mixer to form a coarse paste.
- Next add the boneless chicken to the ground spices in the mixer, followed by lime juice. (Tip: To extract maximum lime juice from a lime, place it in warm water for a couple of minutes before squeezing it)
- Grind the chicken in another 2-3 rounds of the mixer. Then remove the ground contents in a tart and mix well with the fingers.(Tip: Marinate the ground chicken in ground spices overnight, to allow it to get all the juicier. Some fast-paced restaurants are known to freeze marinated kababs for a month even!)
- Form sausage-like rolls as seen in the featured image.
- Wrap the rolls in an aluminium foilin in, say, 2-inch lengths. Twist the foil at both ends as if wrapping a chocolate.
- The foil-wrapped kababs may be stored in the refigerator and baked the next day. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.(Tip: No OTG oven? No worries. Simply form flat round shapes of the meat paste and tava fry. BIngo!).
Notes:
Note that not a drop of oil goes into the recipe and therefore makes for a healthy yet a lip-smacking starter.
A hot favourite among Punjabis, especially the presence of fenugreek (or kasuri methi) does the trick. Fenugreek, as you may be aware, features as the primary ingredient in most of their fare.
The Showing Off
Garnish the baked kababs with mint leaves, onion rings, lime wedges and green chutney. I’d go along with serving them on wooden trays, to give it an earthy look and feel.
The smoking hot dish makes me feel like Jeeves, the butler, as I come bearing the salver albeit a non-silvery one. A contemporary, female butler.
How many could you invite
Six. Or, four eager ones.
Barbecued shish kababs
