Chapli Kabab Recipe is among the main recipes of Pakhtun or Pashtun Cuisine. It is widely popular not only in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan but also a hot favorite dish throughout the country. People also name it Peshawari Chapli Kabab after the name of Peshawar city, the capital of KPK province, where this is the most popular kabab dish among the people.
The kabab’s history, like most of the other foods, dates back to ancient times. In Mughal Empire too, this dish had a prominent place in their menu. Present day’s flavorful dish of Pashtun cuisine is with some variations. people use it as a main course and a side dish as well.
Whenever anyone from the other part of the country visits Peshawar, he can’t help himself return without eating the taste-rich Peshawari chapli kababs. If it doesn’t happen to enjoy the chapli kababs, we should say the tour is incomplete.
What is Chapli Kabab?
For decades, the chapli kabab recipe is associated with the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. That’s why we name it Peshawari Chapli Kabab. Some people also know it as afghan chapli kabab. The word chapli is from the Pashto language, means to flatten. The word kabab is also spelled as kebab or kabob.
Chapli Kababs are the beef mince kababs blended with some specific spices and flattened in the form of patties. We shallow fry these patties and they are usually thick and big in size. The patty has an authentic look and flavor, featured with a charred exterior. What actually makes Chapli kabab so unique is the spice blend.
Chapli Kabab Ingredients
Beef Mince: We take beef meat with some fat (20% to 30%) and prepare the normal mince (keema). The kababs cooked with fat have a wonderful taste and it gives the kababs moisture and softness.
Spices: Various spices are the essential ingredients of the chapli kabab. With these spices, the kabab gets a strong aroma and an appealing texture. All the spices are common except pomegranate seeds (anardana) which is the special spice of this popular dish. The use of pomegranate seeds and dry coriander seeds makes the chapli kabab so unique in taste.
Other ingredients include onion, ginger, tomato, coriander, and green chilies.
How to Make Chapli Kabab
Learn how to cook mouthwatering delicious Pakistani chapli kabab. With my chapli kabab recipe, you can easily prepare yummy kababs at home or outdoors.
I went outdoors in beautiful natural scenes of my beautiful valley and enjoyed the outdoors cooking with the cracking sounds of woodfire, the bustling sound of frying the kababs, and the beautiful voices of singing birds. In the recipe video, you can also listen to a local artist blowing the bansuri with a melodious sound.
For fire, I made a fireplace with stones and used wood as fuel to prepare the flavorful kababs.
You can take mutton mince or chicken mince in place of beef but I personally prefer beef as the Beef Chapli Kababs have more taste than mutton or chicken Chapli Kababs.
Marination
Put the mince on a large size plate and flatten it. Pour crushed coriander seeds, black pepper powder, salt, spices mixture (garam masala), red chili flakes, white cumin seeds, crushed ginger, wheat flour/corn flour, finely chopped fresh green chili, carom seeds (ajwain), finely chopped onion, and chopped tomato over the mincemeat.
Take crushed pomegranate seeds and divide them into small portions and scatter them over the mince. Mix all the chapli kabab ingredients and knead the chapli kabab masala well like a dough along with all its ingredients.
Now refrigerate it for marination for 2 to 3 hours. After marination, we’ll mix an egg into the mixture along with 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves and mix the ingredients again thoroughly.
Now we’ll fry the Chapli Kababs.
Frying the Chapli Kababs
If you are cooking outdoors then set the woods on fire by the time the marination is completed. Keep the flame to the medium by adjusting the wood.
Place a Tawa on the stove and pour some oil for shallow frying. Let it heat up enough to fry the kababs. Cut the tomatoes into slices. We’ll embed these slices into the kababs.
Preparing the Kabab Patties
Take water in a bowl. Dip your fingers into the water before making the kabab patties. Now take some portion from the minced dough to make the kabab patty your desired size. First, make a meatball from the portion of meat dough and then flatten it on the palm of your hand. Press a tomato slice into the center of each patty.
Keep in mind that the patty will shrink upon cooking. The actual Peshawari chapli kabab is thick and big in size. Before making the kababs, you can taste test on Tawa or on a pan and adjust spices and salt if required.
Shallow Frying the Kababs
Place the patties on the Tawa for frying. Cook the patties in batches until charred and their edges are crispy. It will take almost 2 to 3 minutes per side to cook through. flip the sides of the kababs if necessary.
When a kabab is fried thoroughly, you’ll feel an amazing spicy fragrance and an awesome-looking texture of the Chapli Kabab.
Shift the fried kababs from the center of Tawa to the edges and keep them there for a few minutes. By doing this the excessive oil will drain off the kababs and will flow towards the center.
After keeping the kababs on the edges for some time, shift them to the serving dish.
How to Serve
Traditionally, these chapli kababs are served with fresh tandoori naans and spicy mint-coriander chutney or raita.
You can also serve it as a burger; kabab patty in a bun with the salad or pickle of your choice, like a pickle of red onions or cucumbers.
Cooking Tips to Make A Perfect Chapli Kebab
- When you mince the beef meat, do not remove all the fat from the meat as the lack of fat makes the kabab dry and stiff, and the kabab may break while frying. Keep 20 to 30 % fat in the mince to get softness and an amazing taste.
- Use flour such as wheat flour or corn flour as a binding agent. It will keep the kabab from breaking while frying.
- When marination is done, see if the chapli kabab masala is too moist then add more flour to it.
- In case the mixture is stiff after marination, you can add a few tablespoons of beaten egg to make it tender.
- I prefer the use of Tawa for frying the kababs. After frying we shift the kababs towards the edge of the Tawa so that the excessive oil rinses off.
- You can also freeze the raw kabab patties for up to 2 months.
Chapli Kabab Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ kg beef mincemeat
- cooking oil (for shallow frying)
- 1 tomato (medium size) cut into slices
Marinade Ingredients
- 1 & ½ tsp crushed coriander seeds
- ¼ tsp black pepper powder
- 1 & ½ tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp spices mixture (garam masala)
- 2 tsp red chili flakes
- 1 tsp white cumin seeds
- 3 tsp wheat flour / corn flour
- ¼ tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
- 1 tsp crushed ginger
- 2 to 3 finely chopped fresh green chilies (seedless)
- 1 finely chopped onion (medium size)
- 1 chopped tomato (medium size)
- 2 & ½ tsp crushed dried pomegranate seeds (anardana)
Ingredients to be mixed after Marination
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
Instructions
Chapli Kabab Marination
- Place the mincemeat on a flat-surface plate and flatten the mince on it. Pour all the marinade ingredients over the mincemeat.
- Take crushed pomegranate seeds and divide into small portions and scatter them over the chapli kabab masala.
- Mix all the chapli kabab ingredients well by hand.
- Knead the masala well like a dough along with all its ingredients. Now refrigerate it for marination for 2 to 3 hours.
- After marination, mix an egg into the mixture along with 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves and mix the ingredients again thoroughly. Now fry the Chapli Kababs.
- If you are cooking outdoors then set the wood on fire by the time the marination is completed. Keep the flame medium by adjusting the wood.
Preparing the Kabab Patties
- Take water in a bowl. Dip your fingers into the water before making the kabab patties. Now take some portion from the masala to make the kabab patty of your desired size.First, make a meatball from the portion of meat dough and then flatten it on the palm of your hand. Cut the tomatoes into slices. We’ll embed them into the kababs. Press a tomato slice in the center of each patty.
- Place the tawa on the campfire and pour some oil for shallow frying. Let it be hot enough to fry the kababs.Before making the kababs, you can taste test on tawa or on a pan and adjust spices and salt if required.
Shallow Frying the Kabab Patties
- Place the patties on the Tawa for frying. Cook the patties until charred and the edges are crispy. It will take almost 2 to 3 minutes per side to be cooked through. Flip the sides if necessary.
- Shift the fried kababs from the center of Tawa to the edges and keep them there for a few minutes. By doing this the excessive oil will drain off the kababs and it will flow towards the center.
- After keeping the kababs on the edges for some time, shift them to the serving dish. Serve with fresh tandoori naans and spicy mint-coriander chutney or raita.
Video
Try this Chapli kabab Recipe at home and share your experience in the comments section below.
