Channa in Sheep’s Clothing

 

 

That right there is a Shammi Kebab. It looks divine – juicy and lightly charred. The fragrant aroma of Oriental spices hits you first. It tastes delicious –  rich and meaty followed by a wonderful nutty texture that just crumbles in your mouth. It is a Shammi Kebab through and through.

One catch though. It is made of Bengal gram (channa)

This stuff

Not this stuff…..

 

Nobody we fed this kebab to, believed that it was anything but meat. They just kept having one after another, non stop, trying to figure out how it could be vegetarian. In fact neither could I when I first tried it sandwiched between burger buns and onion. It tastes and smells just like meat!

Channa in disguise!

Its very simple to make.

This is what you will need –

1. 1 cup Bengal gram
2. 2 onions
3. 1 inch ginger
4. 10 cloves of garlic
5. 1 tea spoon black pepper      
6. 1 tea spoon roasted cumin
7. 4 cardamoms
8. 2 dried red chillies
9. few pieces of  cloves
10. small stick of cinnamon
11. 1 quarter of a nutmeg
12. 2 small flakes of mace
13. salt to taste

Black Bengal gram soaked overnight and then pressure-cooked with onion, garlic and ginger. This is your meat.

Once its nice and soft, mush it together to make a dough adding regular shammi kebab spices-

coriander, pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, mace , dried red chillies . Now pat it into shape.

Add not more than a teaspoon of ghee or oil to a frying pan (if you add more, the kebab will break apart). Then very lightly fry your kebabs so that the two sides are lightly charred.

You can eat it as a kebab with a bit of lime. You can use it as a patty for a burger. You can use it in open sandwiches. This stuff is extremely versatile.

There you go. Meaty vegetarian goodness.