The word “kabab” is Turkish for “grilled meat.”
Kababs have their origin from middle east countries and they are made by grilling minced meat or chicken. In India, Kababs are more famous in the Awadh or Lucknow region.Kebabs are also of different types – Kakori Kebabs, Galawati Kebabs, Shami Kebabs, Boti Kababs, Patili-ke-Kababs, Ghutwa Kababs and Seekh Kababs are among the known varieties.
There can be two ways by which chicken or meat kakabs can be made. Either the chunks of meat or chicken are marinated and then grilled on a charcoal grill or the minced meat or chicken is used to make round or cylinderical shaped patties and then grilled.
My family loves chicken Kababs and I started making them at home since we moved to US. Whenever I used to make them earlier, my husband used to be concerned about the fat content and proper cooking of kababs. He then suggested me to steam the kababs first before grilling. Steaming may extract the fat from the meat and help in proper cooking of the chicken.
In these Kababs, I also added few veggies along with the chicken and spices and then steamed the kababs before grilling them on pan. Believe me the taste was awesome and we were able to enjoy these deicious kababs without gulit. They were thouroughtly cooked because of steam and also were then grilled in just a tea spoon of oil as my purpose of grilling was not to cook them from inside but just to make the outer side crisp and brown. They just tasted out of the world when we ate them with mint coriander chutney and onion rings.
- Minced Chicken breast or Chicken Keema- 300 gms
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 green chillies chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1/2tsp garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp ginger paste
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1tbsp chopped coriander or cilantro leaves
- 1 tsp Vegetable oil, plus extra for shallow frying
- salt to taste
- Take a big bowl and mix together minced chicken, onion, ginger, garlic paste, green chili, salt, coriander leaves, bell peppers, oil and all the spices.
- Cover the bowl with a plastic cling wrap and keep the bowl in fridge for 1 hour.
- After an hour, take out the mixture , grease your hands with oil and shape equal potions of mixture into kababs.
- Place in a steamer and let them steam cook for about 10-15 mins.
- Remove the kababs and lightly pat them on a paper towel.
- Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan, and cook them over medium heat, until lightly brown on both sides.
- Serve hot with green chutney and onion rings and ENJOY!
- 1 If you don't have steamer then you can steam the kababs in idli mould also.
- 2 You can also add spinach, or any other vegetable of your choice into the kababs.
For how long chicken to be steamed if done in Idli stand?
15-20 minutes will be good