Guilt Free Kebab (My version of Dahi ke Kebab)

When I first heard about Kebabs made from curd, I was a bit hesitant to try considering my limited noble experiences with vegetarian kebabs. The only motivating factor was my love for curd- I simply love curd and any food item that has curd in it, grabs my attention. From the childhood we have been told about the positive effects of including curd as an important part of our daily meal.

I have decided to name it guilt free kebab especially to highlight the positive effects of using yogurt as the main ingredient for the kebabs.

You will find this recipe as an integral part of the menu for almost all Indian restaurants. However the taste differs and the cooking style too. I have developed my own healthy version for these delectable tangy kebabs to make it light and perfectly balanced with the addition of simple aromatic spices.

Usually the common condiments used for this recipe is onion and cashew nut but I chose to try a variation without the use of onion and cashew nuts. I use the shallow fry method as opposed to the usual deep fry method.These tangy kebabs that are a Mughlai specialty taste as unusual as they sound. Paneer is used to balance the tanginess of the curds and besan is used to help bind the ingredients. Traditionally ghee is used for frying kebabs however oil has been used in this recipe. You can mix a few spoons of ghee with the oil to provide a lovely flavor. To add extra zing to the recipe, I prefer to use roasted almond chopped.

Here are the ingredients for the recipe:

1)500 gms of hung curd- You need to hang 1 kg of yoghurt in a muslin cloth for almost 4-5 hours to get a thick sticky resulting mixture. I usually hang the curd overnight to completely get rid of water in the curd.

Hung Curd

2)300 gms grated paneer

3)8-9 raisins

4)1 tsp of grated ginger

5) 3-4 tsp Besan(Gram flour)- you have to adjust the use of besan as per the consistency of the paste/batter. You have to add more besan if you find your batter too thin.

5)1 tsp of ajwain seeds

6)1 tsp of haldi

7)1/2 tsp homemade special aromatic garam masala powder

8) 1 tsp grounded coriander powder

9) 1-2 tsp green chilies as per taste

10) ½ tsp turmeric powder

11) Finely chopped coriander leaves

Mix all the ingredients together to get a thick batter. You need to make small disked shape kebabs from the batter. Use wet hands to shape the kebab ( you might find the better a little sticky). 

Batter for the Kebab

The final step is to shallow fry them on open frying pan. You have to be careful of the flame. Ideally you have to fry them in medium flame and keep a watch to ensure that the kebabs are not burnt and it retains the original brown kebabish color. You can serve these with any green chutney (preferably mint and coriander)

Shaped Kebabs ready to be fried

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Final look