First, sorry guys for having gone missing for quite some time. Was having one of those phases of staying away from the Net, spending some time out in the outdoors, with friends, family.
In fact this recipe was cooked up with my BIL (Brother-In-Law) on a lazy Thursday afternoon. What do two guys on holiday do? They plan for an afternoon of beer, and then decide beer is great with barbecue, and head to Walmart to splurge $100 on a barbecue set and beer, only to realize that they have nothing to cook. So necessity became the mother of the "Sheesh Kebab".
So here's the recipe that we turned out after another frantic trip to the local store.
Ingredients (Serves 3 adults and one very hungry dog):
- Lean beef/ beefalo mince - 400 gm
- Onions- 2 large
- Garlic- 4 large cloves
- Green chilli- 3 large
- Paprika powder- 1 tbsp
- Pepper- 1 tsp freshly coarse ground peppercorns
- Cumin- 1/2 tsp (roasted and ground fine)
- Salt- To taste
- Bamboo skewers- As required
- Butter/ Oil- To baste
Preparation (Marination/ Precooking time-1/2 hr, Cooking Time- 1/2 hr):
First, take bamboo skewers and put them in a jar of clean water so that they soak through. Not necessary, but sure does help to prevent the skewers from burning out and breaking up on the grill. Next chop onions, garlic and green chilli into small pieces, blend to smooth paste. Add paprika, ground pepper, salt, cumin. Fold into the ground thawed mince. Leave to marinate.
Start grill and wait till coals are formed (for novices trying out for the first time like we did, it's the stage that the fire burns without smoke but with enough heat). Spread out the coals. Meanwhile, mold the mince around the skewers. If the meat keeps falling off, try to squeeze as much water as you can out of the mince when you are putting it on the skewer. The idea is to spread it as evenly and as thinly as possible for even cooking. The thumb rule I would say is to have a thickness between skewer and surface of a third or half a centimeter.
Baste the surface of the seekh's with a dash of oil. Place on grill. Keep turning at intervals. You will know that the meat is done from the smell. Visually speaking, the meat turns a light brown and then a dark caramel colour.
Tips:
- Don't run out of beer. Kidding apart, try pairing this with a salad. On a hot summer day you could throw in a quick 'mojito' - Crushed mint, lemon, white rum, little salt, ginger ale, ice. Heaven
