Kebabs that melt in your mouth

Yes you read it right a kebab that melts in your mouth. This kebab is none other than the royal Galouti Kebab.
The origin of Galouti Kebab is Lucknow, where the local cuisine is known for its delicate taste, exotic spices and cooking methods. The Lucknow city was ruled by nawabs for hundreds of years and is also called the city of nawabs. The Awadhi cuisine can be called an Indian-inspired Persian cuisine. The luxurious lives of nawabs reflected in the way they lived and also how they preferred to eat. The cooking techniques used were often slow cooking, labour-intensive and spiced with exotic and rare spices.
A long-time back, I was to prepare food for a member of the royal family of Awadh. I was briefed earlier by the royal family member about the food preparation. The dish I was supposed to prepare was Dal Asarfi, which is slow simmered chana dal with a gold Asarfi — a real gold coin. The reason why real gold is boiled with dal is to add some amount of gold to the dal so that it enhances the taste and medicinal value of the dal. The gold coin is removed and stored before the dal is served. I was truly impressed and mesmerised with the richness in Awadhi food preparation.
There is a story about the origin of Galouti Kebab — that one of the ruler of Lucknow lost all of his teeth but was so heavy that it was difficult to find a horse to support him. The nawab instructed his cooks to create a delicate and soft kebab that could be eaten without teeth. Galawat comes from ‘gala’ means soft enough to swallow. Thus the Galouti Kebab came into existence using the best cuts of meat that were meticulously pounded along with a tenderiser, exotic spices and herbs. The Galouti Kebab is tenderised using papaya, which makes it soft and smooth as butter. Traditionally these kebabs are so soft that you can’t even pick a piece with your hands and eat; so they are served on khasta roti, a soft enriched wheat bread. There are many chefs who vouch that they use over hundred spices to make this exotic kebab.
There is a kebab shop in Lucknow that vouches for the origin of this kebab and also insists that their ancestors created the recipe. The shop’s name is Tunde Ke Kebab, which translates to a kebab prepared by someone with a physical disability. The shop sells the Galouti Kebab and is a very popular destination among the locals and tourists.
Although I have never travelled to Lucknow myself and experienced the authentic Awadhi cuisine, my father always brought me a parcel from Tunde Ke Kebab whenever he visited the city. It is not easy to describe those kebabs in words — they are so tender and soft that they simply melt once placed in your mouth. The flavour itself is so exotic and different from the usual kebabs.

Galouti Kebab

Ingredients
Lamb leg 1 kg
Ginger 50 gm
Garlic 50 gm
Raw papaya 50 gm
Fried onion paste 3 tbsp
Butter 3 tbsp
Kashmiri chili powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper ¼ tsp
Mace powder ¼ tsp
Nutmeg powder ¼ tsp
Cinnamon powder ¼ tsp
Clove powder  ¼ tsp
Saffron few strands
Cardamom powder 1/3 tsp
Ghee to fry

For smoking
Coal 1 piece
Clove 3-4 nos
Green cardamom 2-3 pods
Dried mint powder 1/3 tsp

For garnish
Lemon wedge 4-5 no
Onion rings to garnish

Method
Take the lamb leg meat and marinate with ginger, garlic, papaya paste, fried onion paste, salt and pepper.
In a separate pan combine Kashmiri chili powder, mace powder, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, saffron, dry mint powder, cardamom powder, salt and pepper and mix well to combine.
Add the prepared spice into the marinated meat and pass through meat mincer.
Pass again through meat mincer using smaller whole sieve.
Repeat if you have a smaller sized sieve or pass through same sieve to make the paste smooth and fine.
Place the mixture in a wide-base pan and spread the mixture, leaving a space in the middle.
Place a steel cup in the middle and place a smouldering charcoal in it.
Place cloves and cardamom pods over it and pour 1 tbsp ghee to flavour the meat with smoke from spices.
Cover with aluminium foil or air tight lid so that the smoke does not escape the pan; leave aside for 10 minutes.
Divide the meat into equal sized balls and flatten them to make kebabs.
Heat ghee over low flame in a heavy bottom pan and shallow fry the kebabs.
Do not cook over high heat as the kebabs should be cooked over slow flame only to keep them soft and juicy.
Once the kebabs are cooked from both sides, serve hot with choice of bread, onion rings and lemon wedge.

Note: although the authentic Galouti Kebab recipe calls for lamb meat you can also replace it with chicken if this is what you prefer.