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| Kebab papeta with paratha #noorbanucooks Plate by Inzia Jivan of Magic Hands Ceramic |
There are two reasons why I took pictures of my dinner at 5.30 pm. Which was before I took my afternoon nap and well before we had dinner.
Firstly, because our cook, Banu, had just made our dinner and I thought that I will take advantage of the natural light that was still there to click it. Secondly, because I already knew what I was going to post about it and wanted a good picture for that.
What you see on the plate are what Banu calls ‘kachhe kheema ke kebab’. Tiny, spherical ones made with raw minced meat. The minced meat is rolled into tiny spheres and deep fried with potato as a binder. As against her ‘pakke kheema ke kebab.’ The latter is very famous among our friends who have come home for dinner. There she cooks the potato and minced meat and onion first, blends these, binds the kebabs with eggs and then fries them. The shape in this case is slightly flat. Akin to shammi and galawati kebabs.
She prefers to make the latter and not the former as she finds it hard to shape the kebabs in the kachhe kheema ones, especially when she has to work with frozen minced meat. She prefers chicken mince to work on. We had given her mutton from the deep fridge today. Goat meat.
“But it will disintegrate,” she told me.
“It won’t. See you made it so well last time,” I said.
“You you did,” chimed in Kainaz. She indeed had and we realised that mutton tasted so much nicer and juicier than the chicken version. Chicken is fine in the pakke kheema version but not for this.
Banu went back into the kitchen and came out a bit later with a tray of kebabs to show us.
“They break because we do not have any binder such as besan (gram flour) or roti ke tukde (bread crumbs) at home. I used aata (wholewheat flour) this time and it partly worked.
As did our statements encouraging her I am sure. Positive reinforcement.
As Mike Ross (from the TV series Suits) would say, this is what they do not teach you at the Harvard Business School about making kebabs. Law School actually, in the context of the series, but you know what I mean!
We had the kebabs with what K calls kali miri papeta. The combination of round mutton mince kebabs and these salt and pepper fried cubed potatoes is a classic Parsi one from K’s grandmom’s kitchen.
I had this with parathas and K without. An oil fest no doubt, but a happy one!
The mutton quality was excellent as usual and was from Mhosin of Janta Meat Centres. He comes to Bandra every Sunday and you can call him at 9820420136 on Saturday to place orders.
Here’s the story that I had written of Kainaz’s grandmom and her kebab papeta
Here’s Banu’s pakke kheema kebab recipe
From the #HouseOfCats
