Galavat kabab

Galavat Kabab

Next in the series of kababs is the galavat  kabab. This kabab caught my fancy because of the story behind its origin. Supposedly an elderly nawab was very fond of the good things in life (as nawabs usually are!!). However due to his old age he had lost his teeth and dentures were not available then. So what was he to do??Apparently his khansama or cook came up with the idea of marinating the mutton keema with a tenderizer like papaya. This allowed the elderly gent to enjoy his delicacy without much fret.

Papaya and pineapple are two excellent meat tenderizers. Papaya contains an enzyme called Papain which catalyzes the break down of proteins and makes the meat so succulent.  Once you marinade the meat overnight it reduces the cooking time as much. Moreover for healthier cooking I prefer to shallow fry my kababs. Just a little bit of oil, fry on high heat on both sides to seal in the flavours and then cover and let it cook in its own steam.

Ingredients

750 gm mutton mince

2 tbsp raw papaya paste

1 onion, puréed

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp vinegar

Salt to taste

2 onions chopped

2 tbsp roasted gram flour

1 ½ tbsp roasted ground coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

½ cup chopped fresh coriander

2 tbsp chopped mint

Pound separately

1 tsp methi seeds

1/2  nutmeg

Small piece of cinnamon

Marinade the mutton mince with papaya, puréed onion, ginger paste, garlic paste, vinegar and salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Add pound masala, gram flour, fresh coriander, mint, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, chopped onion.

Cover and keep for another hour. Now form small kababs and shallow fry in a pan till cooked.