I’m always grateful that I was raised British and Indian – not one or the other, but also not half of each.
I fully embraced my English side in the sports I played, my circle of friends, the music I listened to in my teens and even the way I dressed. However, on weekends, I was still surrounded by family, knew members of the local Indian community, could speak the languages of my heritage and thankfully knew about my own culture and the history of India.
I am also grateful that I knew Indian food wasn’t just a spicy curry on a Friday night. That said, when you’re 17 and it’s a Friday night after football practice, there are few more wholesome activities than going for a mixed grill and a pint (or three) of Cobra with your team. An Indian mixed grill is invariably terrible. It’s almost impossible to cook lamb, chicken and seafood to the perfect cuisson, then put it on a raging-hot sizzler platter and send it out across a pub without getting at least one of them wrong. The only saving grace – other than those onions taking on all the meat juices – was the seekh kebab.
It’s a pretty nondescript name; seekh just means skewer. It’s typically minced mutton, sometimes chicken, and can be as simple as the Peshwari versions that contain a few herbs and cumin, or as complex as the Jawahari version that we stuff into chicken wings whenever I’m feeling particularly mean to the chefs working on the grill section in Bibi. The Hussainabad seekh is inspired by the famous Karachi street food and the small foodie neighbourhood of Hussainabad.
The key ingredient that keeps this kebab juicy is the ground almonds, which not only lends it sweet fattiness, but also swells with the meat juices as it cooks. And to bring about some of that Friday night magic, I’ve stolen a trick from Kian at Berenjak and baste the kebab and add a small herb salad with a tomato water dressing for extra umami and moisture.
BiBi, The Cookbook: Stories from my Bibi by Chet Sharma is available now, published by Phaidon
Phaidon
Hussainbad mutton seekh kebab recipe
For the tomato pav bhaji dressing
- 50g reduced tomato water (see below)
- 2.5g Pav Bhaji Masala
- 25g cold-pressed sunflower oil
- A pinch of dried mint
- 1g coriander stem
For the dressed herb salad
- 12g coriander leaves
- 12g mint leaves
- 8g Thai basil leaves
- 4g pickled burgundy wood sorrel
- 8g Indian onion, thinly sliced
- 8g tomato pav bhaji dressing
For the mutton seekh kebab
- 2.5g coriander seeds
- 2.5g deggi mirch
- 1.3g royal cumin seeds
- 1.3g black peppercorns
- 0.8g black cardamom seeds
- 7.5g fresh peeled ginger, finely diced
- 5g garlic, finely diced
- 5g kosher salt
- 2.5g black salt
- 5g green bird’s eye chilli, finely diced
- 10g coriander stem, thinly sliced
- 5g mint leaves, cut into a chiffonade
- 250g mutton shoulder (30% fat) 10g ground almonds
You’re aiming to make eight kebabs.
To make the tomato pav bhaji dressing
- Blend all the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. Pass the dressing through a fine chinois.
To make the dressed herb salad
- Mix all the herbs with the onions and dress the salad with the pav bhaji dressing just before serving it.
To make the mutton seekh kebab
- Preheat the oven to 160°C and lightly roast the coriander seeds on a tray for 3 minutes.
- Grind to a fine powder with the rest of the spices.
- Mix the spices, diced ginger and garlic, salts, green chilli and herbs with the mutton shoulder and mince through the thick disc of a meat mincer once.
- Portion into two 150g balls. Wet your hand and shape into a kebab along a wide metal skewer. Repeat to make three more kebabs.
- Set up a charcoal grill. When the charcoal is ready, grill the kebabs, rotating regularly, until fully cooked.t
Serve each kebab along with the dressed herb salad.
Take 1kg datterini tomatoes and 10g kosher salt. Pulse the tomatoes with the salt in a food processor, just enough to break the tomatoes (do not blend smooth, otherwise the consommé won’t be clear). Put the tomatoes in a superbag and leave to hang over a container in the refrigerator for 2 days. Set the pulp aside for another use. Simmer the tomato water until reduced by half. Chill immediately. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
BiBi, The Cookbook: Stories from my Bibi by Chet Sharma is available now, published by Phaidon
