I love all kinds of kababs and I don’t mind going the extra mile in making those meaty patties! I find that a kabab is such a staple side when it comes to having a rich South- Asian meal, you cannot not have a biryani without a kabab on the side and this is why I almost always have a batch in the freezer. These little guys are so versatile because you can add just about any spice and herbs as long as you have what it takes to bind the meat/non-meat mixture.

I had my first taste of chapli kababs couple of years ago in a Pakhtunkhwa restaurant in East London. The husband and I both fell in love at the first bite! It was packed full of flavour and with each bite you could taste the various herbs that went into it.

I knew I had to make this at home! I don’t know if its just me or all the home cooks out there that get this high from being able to create a restaurant dish at home (high on deliciousness)! Well, I didn’t really get around to making the kababs until last summer, meanwhile we did made our way back to the restaurant several times for those kababs and karahi dishes. 

The kababs took a few trials, once it was too spicy, too garlicky and another time it was too meaty..so yeh this recipe took some time. I am aware that chapli kababs are traditionally made with lamb or beef, but this one time when the recipe was actually perfect I happened to be making some for a friend who doesn’t eat red meat. You can use whatever meat you prefer.

What you will need:

• 500g chicken mince
• 1.5 onions finely chopped
• 3 tomatoes finely chopped and deseeded
• 1 bunch fresh coriander ( about 2 cups)
• 1 cup fresh mint
• 1 clove of garlic
• 5 green chilies chopped
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp pomegranate powder
• 1.5 tbsp roasted whole coriander
• 1tbsp garam masala powder
• 1tbsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tbsp chilli powder
• 1/2 cup flour*
• 2 eggs
• Oil for deep frying the kababs

Steps:

1.You can use a chopper for the onions, garlic, tomatoes, chilies, mint and coriander. Take the mince in a big bowl and add your fresh chopped ingredients along with the eggs and lemon juice.

2.Dry roast the coriander seeds and blitz them in a chopper, they should be coarse instead of a fine powder.  Add these to the mince mix.

3.Add all the dry ingredients such as the spice powders and the flour.

4.Knead the whole mixture very well (almost an arm work out).  Let this sit for 10-30 minutes, the meat will be infused with the flavours as it sits in the bowl.

5. Before you start making the patties, take a small bowl of water and oil. Oil your hands before you make the patties. Now the patties can be as big or small as you like. Chapli kababs are usually very big but I prefer them a bit smaller.

Take a bit of the meat and roll it out between your palms, flatten each slightly without breaking the patty. Again the patties can also be as thin or as thick as you like. Just remember you will need to fry them a little longer if you make them thick.

6.You can fry the patties right away or you can freeze them at this point. The kababs need to be deep fried.

*just a little note about the flour, don’t add it all at once. Add it as you are kneading, you might not even need the whole half cup or you might need more depending on how wet the the whole thing feels. The mixture needs to feel a bit sticky but still has its moisture. 

I made these kababs quite a few times during Ramadan and they were great with plain pulao and some raita.

I hope you enjoy them chaplis.