You know you're making a really good Pulao...
...when people come running into the kitchen to know...
...what it is that you're cooking.
I'm Tarika welcoming you to Get Curried,
Where today, I'm going to show you how to make a Seekh Kebab Pulao.
So let's get started.
Now in a Pulao, you will always taste the spices without actually seeing them,
The secret to that is a really good stock.
So I have about 4 cups of chicken stock here,
This is plain chicken stock which I've just put on a low simmer right now.
To which, I'm going to add a whole bunch of spices.
Might seem like a lot, but trust me you need this amount.
So I'm going to add 3 tbsp of Cumin seeds or Jeera.
About 2-inch chunk of Ginger.
3 tbsp of Black Peppercorns.
About 6 Red Chillies.
6 Garlic Cloves.
6 Green Cardamom pods.
6 Black Cardamom.
About 5 sticks of Cinnamon.
And 4 Cloves.
Now just all at once, I'm going to add all of these spices to this stock.
And just let this cook till it reduces to almost half.
Take the heat up slightly,
And when it starts to come to a simmer, turn it back down to low,
And just let it cook till it reduces to about half.
And the colour will change completely.
While that stock simmers away and becomes really fragrant,
We are going to make the Seekh Kebab masala,
For which, we also need some toasted whole spices.
So, we're going to start with a tbsp of Cumin Seeds or Jeera.
2 tbsp of Coriander Seeds.
2 tbsp of Bengal Gram Dal or Chana Dal.
And 1 tbsp of Black Pepper.
The stock has started to simmer,
So I'm also going to add about a tsp of salt.
Very important, you want to season this well.
And since it started simmering,
I'm going to turn the heat back to low.
Now, I've already toasted these spices and let them cool.
So what I'm going to do is just transfer them into this jar of my mixer,
So that I can grind them up.
Wow, that's so beautifully ground up and so fragrant.
Now to this, I'm just going to add some more spices...
...just to mix them together in this jar.
A tbsp of Garam Masala.
2 tsp of Red Chilli Powder.
1/2 a tsp of some Chilli Flakes.
1 tbsp of Garlic Powder.
And just break in a few strands of Mace.
Wow! that is so beautiful, look at that colour,
This is natural colour, no added colour.
And we're ready to use this delicious masala.
But we're going to hang on to the mixer,
Because we have to get the chicken ready for the Seekh Kebabs.
I've got about 450 grams of Boneless Chicken Breast pieces,
Which I've just cut up into cubes here.
And I'm going to transfer them into the mixer.
And no, you cannot substitute this with Chicken Kheema,
The reason being, because this way we're going to make a very...
...pasty consistency of the minced chicken,
Which is very different from kheema.
I'm just going to grind this up slightly,
We will grind it more later as well when we add the spices.
Now to this, I'm going to add some deep fried,
Yes, deep fried sliced onions.
Just sprinkle those in.
2 Green Chillies.
1 tsp of Ginger paste.
And about 4 tbsp of the Seekh Kebab Masala that we made earlier.
Last but definitely the most important, about 1 and a 1/2 tsp of Salt.
And just grind this all together.
Perfect, that's just the consistency that I'm looking for for the chicken.
I'm just going to empty this out here into a bowl.
And divide it into about 10 portions.
That'll help me shape the Seekh Kebabs.
I'm just going to grease my hands with a little bit of oil,
That'll help me shape and potion these kebabs.
I'm looking for about 10 portions of this,
And the best thing about these home-made Seekh kebabs...
...is going to be that we don't need a Tandoor or even an Oven.
We're going to cook this on the gas top.
I'm going to use this skewer to shape these Seekh kebabs.
Just again dip my hand in a little bit of oil.
Just shape these slightly and slide them on to the skewer like this.
And just flatten and thin them out.
And very gently just slide it out of the skewer,
And place it on this platter.
I'm done shaping the Seekh kebabs,
So now we're going to start cooking them,
Now like I said you don't need an oven,
All you need is a frying pan with a lid,
Just make sure you have a lid that fits the pan.
There's no oil in this pan, it's on a low flame,
And I'm just going to start placing these Seekh kebabs in the pan.
Just make sure you give a little bit of space between them.
Very important, this must be a non-stick pan.
That's it, keep this on a low flame,
Cover it, let it cook on this one side for 5 minutes,
And exactly after 5 minutes, flip the side to cook it...
...on the other side for another 5 minutes.
It's been 5 minutes and you can see the steam in the pan.
Beautiful!
Let's just see how it's cooked on that one side,
Because now it's time to flip it over.
Oh beautiful! Look at that colour.
And again, just cover it keeping it on a low flame,
And cook it on the other side for another 5 minutes.
It's been 5 minutes,
And, now I can't even begin to tell you how fragrant this room is.
I'm just going to pull out the Seekh Kebabs,
And place them on this platter.
They've cooked through beautifully you can just...
...tell from the texture and the colour.
While the kebabs cooled down,
I've also strained the stock water, that's right.
So there's just the stock water and not the whole spices in it.
I'm going to use about 1 and a 1/2 cups of this,
Because, I'm using 1 cup of Basmati Rice,
Which I had soaked in water, I've strained out the water now.
So now it's time to start cooking the Pulao.
For cooking this Pulao, I really prefer using a heavy-bottomed pan,
And I prefer using a small burner,
Because this way I can control the heat.
The first thing that I want going into this pan...
...is about 2 tbsp of oil.
Just let that heat up slightly.
The oil is hot, so I'm going to add about 2 Bay Leaves.
And about 1 onion, that's been sliced up.
I want these onions to turn slightly golden, brown not fully brown.
So, I'll just keep sautéing till I reach that point.
The onions have started to turn lightly golden,
So at this point, I'm going to add about 1/2 a cup of fresh Peas.
Stir those around the pan.
And now it's time to add some of the spices,
So I'm going to add 3 tsp of Garam Masala.
And about 3 tsp each of Ginger paste & Garlic paste.
Again just saute this.
Now after sautéing this fragrant mixture of...
Ginger, Garlic and Garam masala, I'm going to add the rice.
And just gently let it get coated in this mixture of the masalas.
Be careful because the rice is delicate at this stage.
Very gently mix the rice with this masala mixture.
And now to this, I'm going to add 1 and a 1/2 cups of the stock water.
Not 2 cups, I'll add the additional 1/2 cup if we need it.
So these are in increments of 1/2 a cup, so I have added 1 cup.
And another 1/2 cup.
Now over this, I'm going to sprinkle on a little bit of salt.
Just stir the salt around very gently.
And take the heat up to high to bring this to a simmer,
With a moment it comes to a simmer, turn it back down to low,
Cover it and then cook it.
Just as it starts to come to a simmer,
Add about the juice of 1/2 a lemon.
Now turn the heat to low.
Cover this and let this cook till it's almost done.
That's when our next step will come in.
Now the rice is about 3/4 cooked,
And this is the stage when you want to add the kebabs into the Pulao,
Because this way they will both steam together.
Just place it very gently over the rice.
You can see that the stock water is still in the pan,
Which means that the rice will continue to steam.
Cover this and let it cook till the rice is absolutely done.
The Kebab Pulao is nearly done,
And one last step is to add a smoky flavour to it.
Now I usually do this by smoking some coal,
So I'm just going to light this small flame,
And just...
The Kebab Pulao is also absolutely done cooking,
I've turned off the flame.
And the coal has smoked up really well too,
So I'm going to turn it off.
Take it off the flame and put it into this little steel bowl.
The final step is to add a little bit of ghee over it.
And just very quickly take this,
And place it in the Kebab Pulao.
And let the smoke for about 10 minutes.
It's been about 10 minutes and you can tell that...
...this beautiful coal aroma trapped here in this pan.
Whoa! look at that smokiness.
Now we are absolutely ready to plate this up.
Just take that out very gently.
And make space to pull out the rice.
And now just place the kebabs right on top of the rice.
This Kebab Pulao takes a little bit of time to make,
But it's totally worth the effort.
So I hope you'll try this recipe soon, and subscribe to 'Get Curried'.