Vegetarian Shammi Kebabs…

This veggie version of shammi kebabs by the charming Sanjay Thumma (Vahchef from vahrehvah.com) is a recipe I successfully played around with today. Sadly Sanjay doesn’t really give precise measurements in his cooking videos on Youtube but I watched his video which you can find here a couple of times and had a good guess. I’ve changed his recipe a bit to suit my taste and fortunately it turned out quite delicious. My dad (a.k.a Vahchef’s biggest fan) had been telling me to make these for ages and I just hadn’t had the chance, although now it is here in all its glory, just for you guys!

The recipe calls for green bananas (plantains) to be mashed with channa dal which I didn’t have in my cupboard (oh the shame). So I cheated the system and used yellow split mung dal (the kind you use in gujarati kachori). When it has been boiled and mashed you really can’t tell that Mr channa dal has been substituted with his good mate Mr mung dal. Great stuff.

Oh and I must add; “mmm… pomegranates!”

Vegetarian Shammi Kebabs (makes 6)

Ingredients for the outside layer

½ cup boiled mung dal
2 green bananas, boiled and mashed
2 tbsp ginger, minced
2 green chillies, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
4 spring onions (scallions), chopped finely
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp asafoetida
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander seed powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Ingredients for stuffing

Fresh paneer made from 2 pints whole milk (around 1 cup fresh paneer)
2 spring onions (scallions), chopped finely
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
¼ tsp white chilli powder
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Sunflower oil to shallow fry

Method

1. Heat the oil in a non stick pan, add the cumin seeds, onions, garlic, chillies, ginger, asafoetida, turmeric, garam masala and coriander seed powder. Cook for 3 minutes on a medium heat.

2. Add the lemon juice, salt and boiled mung dal. Cook for a further two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the chopped coriander and plantains. Mash again with a potato masher and allow to cool and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl mix together the ingredients for the stuffing. Roll these into ping-pong sized balls, using a little water to bind if necessary.

Repeat for all of the kebabs. Shallow fry these in a little oil until golden brown or alternatively bake in a moderate oven until browned (I shallow fried mine).

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