Melt in your mouth Lamb Kebabs

Galouti Kebabs are a speciality of Lucknow and legend has it that they were created for an old toothless nobleman. These are absolutely delicious melt in your mouth kebabs and have a smooth almost creamy texture.

Today I am going to share a recipe  for similar kebabs with  you which my better half has perfected over the years.

Preparation time: 1 and a half hours

Cooking time: 10 minutes

To make the kebabs you'll need:

For the mince mix

• 400gm lamb mince from the shoulder of lamb  

          deboned and passed twice through the mincer ( ask your butcher to do this for you)

• 100gm of grated raw green papaya

          note to novice cooks - peel papaya before grating :-)

• One cup of hung yogurt

          yes, hang the yogurt tied up in a muslin cloth to drain excess water, it'll take about two             hours for this if you used the yogurt from a supermarket, takes longer if you're using                 yogurt made at home

• 1 cup of shelled  finely ground roasted Bengal gram ( sieve before adding to mince)
• 4 cloves of peeled garlic 
• 1 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
•  3 green chillies
•  Dry ground spice powder - 4 cloves of garlic, one inch stick of cinnamon, 4 green cardamoms, little mace and nutmeg - grind finely (sieve before adding to the mince)

For smoking the meat

•  4 cloves 
•  3 green cardamom
• 1 small stick cinnamon
•  One large tablespoon of Ghee/clarified butter
•  One or two small pieces of charcoal

For the Chutney

• 100 gm Green coriander
•  One large red onion
•  One large tomato
•  2 green chillies
•  Juice of 1 lime
•  Salt to taste

For Garnish

• Raw onion rings
• Cucumber, tomato salad with chopped cilantro

Put the mince in the dough maker attachment of your mixer grinder, add the ground Bengal gram and hung yogurt. Make a fine paste of the ginger, garlic and green chillies and add to the minced meat. Add the ground dry spices and mix well.

Take out the mince mix into a large bowl preferably stainless steel, make a well in the middle of the mince, in this well keep a small stainless steel bowl ( katori). On your kitchen stove heat two -three pieces of charcoal till they are red hot, be careful and use a tong to keep them in the katori. Throw the whole spices for smoking onto the charcoal and add a tablespoon of ghee. Quickly cover the large bowl with the mince and katori in it with aluminium foil, you'll have to be quick so the smoke does not escape. Leave the mince to smoke  for 30 minutes and get high on the dry spices!

It's a good idea to refrigerate the mince for an hour or two before frying the kebabs, the mince binds better and is easier to handle :-)

For the chutney, just blend all the ingredients together till you get a nice green spicy paste.

Heat ghee in a frying pan and shape the mince into small burger patties and cook for 8-10 minutes on each side, you could also turn the patties over so each side is a light golden brown and then put a lid on the frying pan for 2 minutes so the patties come out nice and melt in your mouth soft.

Serve with onion rings and green chutney, if you want to make a meal rather than just a snack, then heat up some paranthas or naans, if you can't find them then just heat up some tortillas!