One Indian city that comes to your mind when you think of kababs is Lucknow. And this city is famous for it’s melt in the mouth Galouti Kababs. Galouti or Galawati literally translates to “melt-in-the-mouth”. It is said that the recipe of Galouti Kabab was developed when the ageing King of Lucknow lost his teeth, but still wanted to enjoy his meat kababs.
For making Galouti Kabab, the meat is first marinated and then it is ground to a fine paste with a lot of spices. These kababs are extremely soft and need to be cooked carefully so that they don’t disintegrate.
The recipe I am sharing today is that of a Vegetarian Galouti Kabab. I am using tempeh cubes from Hello Tempayy to make these delicious kababs and all I can say is that none of the food critics in my family could make out that these kababs weren’t made from mutton. And the texture was totally melt-in-the-mouth too!
Vegetarian Galouti Kabab
Course: Vegetable StarterCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Moderate4
servings25
minutes10
minutes35
minutesA truly melt-in-mouth vegetarian Galouti Kabab recipe
Ingredients
Hello Tempayy Cubes – 200 gms
- Dry Spice mix
Peppercorns – 4
Mace – 2 strands
Nutmeg – a small pc
Cinnamon – 1/2-inch piece
Cloves – 2
Caraway Seeds (Shahi Jeera) – ¼ tsp
Fennel – ½ tsp
Green Cardamom – 1
Black cardamom – 1, only seeds
Star anise – 1 pc
- Other Ingredients
Brown onions (crispy fried onions) – 2 tsp
Ginger-Garlic Paste – ½ tbsp
Green Chilli – 1, finely chopped
Coriander and Mint Leaves – ½ tbsp each, finely chopped
Rose Water – ½ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp (adjust as per taste)
Red Chilli Powder – ¼ tsp
Ghee – 2 tsp (replace with oil for a vegan recipe)
Besan – 1-2 tsp (as needed for binding)
A piece of charcoal for smoking (optional)
Oil – for pan frying
Directions
- Mince the Hello Tempayy cubes using your fingers or a knife.
- Dry roast the peppercorns, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, green cardamom, black cardamom seeds and star anise.
- Once lightly roasted, let it cool down. Grind this well into a powder.
- Add this ground masala to the minced Hello Tempayy along with the fried onion, ginger-garlic paste and green chilli and grind into a smooth paste.
- Transfer this to a bowl and add the coriander and mint leaves, rose water, salt, chilli powder, ghee and besan and mix it well.
- Transfer the keema mix to a plate and make a small well in the centre.
- Keep a steel bowl in that. Place a piece or two of hot charcoal in it and a little ghee and close and keep for a couple of min. This will infuse a smoky flavour in the meat. (This is an optional step)
- Remove the bowl with the charcoal and bring together the kabab mixture.
- Shape into small patties and shallow fry in a little oil on low to medium heat on both sides till golden brown.
- Serve with some green chutney.
