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Shami Kebab

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Servings: 6
Course: Side Dish, Snack
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb boneless beef chuck trimmed and roughly diced
  • ⅓ cup yellow split peas soaked overnight
  • 4 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 inch ginger knob peeled and finely diced
  • 1 red onion roughly chopped, plus ½ red onion, finely diced
  • 2 inch cinnamon stick
  • 2 black cardamom pods
  • 5 dried round whole red peppers available at Indian/Pakistani specialty stores
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 slice white bread wet lightly under a splash of water
  • 1 egg beaten
  • ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
  • 1 tablespoon cilantro finely diced
  • 1 green chili finely diced

Method
 

  1. In a large stock pot, add all ingredients up until the white bread (with the exception of ½ finely diced red onion) and 4 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Drop heat to a simmer and cook until the water disappears and the lentils are fall-apart soft, about 45 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, fold the bread into the beaten egg. Add garam masala powder, diced cilantro, chili, and red onion. Set aside.
  3. Once the meat and lentils are ready, remove the cardamom and cinnamon with a slotted spoon. Place the mixture in a food processor and mince till it has an even consistency and you cannot tell the lentils and meat apart.
  4. Add minced meat to the bread-egg mixture. Mix well until an even consistency is achieved.
  5. Take small fistfuls of the mixture and flatten them into slim patties.
  6. Heat oil in a shallow nonstick frying pan. Place patties in pan and fry each side till it's a deep brown. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Notes

To freeze: Carefully place the raw patties inside Tupperware, and store in the freezer for up to one month. My mother recommends placing them on a tray and freezing them first, and then transferring them to Tupperware or a Ziploc bag.