Spoils of the grill: How different cultures shaped the kebab

My recent, rather frequent episodes of toothache (too much chocolates and sheer laziness to go to a dentist) made me realise how fortunate the Nawab of Lucknow was. His palace chefs invented a whole new type of kebab that would melt in the mouth so that his bad teeth won’t have to.

The secret of the softness of the great galawati kebab is raw papaya. It has a distinct smoky flavour.

The Turkish BBQ griller is called a mangal and every family has a mangal in the boot of their car, just in case. And, of course, many have fixed mangals in their baconies to cook kebabs easily.

The first written literary mention of kebabs is found in the Turkish version of The Story of Joseph (Kyssa’i Yusuf, 1377). During the Ottoman rule (1301-1922), kebabs reached all corners of the world. After modifications, many types of kebabs exist in Turkey today.

Sis kebabs are meat grilled using skewers. But what I find interesting is doner kebabs, which are made by cooking meat on a vertical rotisserie and then layering it with ground meat. The meat keeps turning over a fire. The outer cooked part is sliced off and served with bread.

It was believed that kebabs came to Greece with immigrants from the Middle East after after the 1930s. But excavations in Akrotiri, on the Greek island of Santorini, has unearthed stone barbeque grills. This has made people rethink what came from where.

Even Ibn Battuta, the famous Moroccan explorer, had spoken highly about the meal at the Tughluq court during his travels in 14th century India. He talked about the kebabs.

The 12th century literature, Manasollasa, spoke of kebab-like skewed meat being marinated in fruit juice.

With Afghan and Turkish invasions, the dish came to india. It soon spread all over the subcontinent and soon, hundreds of avatars of the kebabs were created.

In the ruins of Harappa we can find the existence of tandoor-like grills with partitions. But tandoor cooking style came to india from Lahore and Karachi. With this, kebabs flourished in restaurants.

Peshwar — which has been ruled by the Greeks, the Mauryans, the Kushans, Sikhs, Mughals and the British — in present-day Pakistan is the home of the famed chapli kebab.

Trading along the Silk Route during the Mongolian era took the art of skewering meat as far as the South East. As a result, I suspect, similar dishes there (chuan in China, satay in Indonesia and mooping of Thailand) have a connection with the kebab.

Recipe of the day: Shahi shami kebab

For you, dear reader, I requested for a special recipe from chef Izzat Hussain.

Ingredients:
1 kg keema without fat
200 gram of peeled roasted gram
or chana
a handful of caramelised onions
garam masala: 2 tablespoons
1 cinnamon stick (small), tez patta,
cardamom, black pepper powder(3
tablespoons)
dry red chilli
grated ginger and garlic

Fry roasted garam masala and salt using 2 teaspoons of refined or olive oil. Put the mixture in a pressure cooker. No water is is required because the keema already has water.

Rest the mix after 6 whistles. Then add a few drops of kewra water to it. Put this mixture in a food processor or mixer and grind it well, after adding 200 gram of khoyaa or grated paneer.

The dough is then refrigerated for 2 hours. Add mint leaf, onions, green chillies and coriander leaf.