Seekh Kebabs with Indian Summer Salad and Kebab Sauce
This is a very popular Indian dish Create Cooking Challenge: My Family's Recipe winner Adam Lambay made more American-friendly by replacing the ground goat with a combination of ground lamb and ground beef. It’s not spicy, but it IS really flavorful! Note from Chef Adam: If you’re not a fan of cilantro, you could replace the cilantro with parsley or mint and it would still have good Indian flavor. This is also good as a stand-alone salad served with any protein. Serves 8-10
Recipe Ingredients
- Seekh Kebabs
- - 2-Inch section of Fresh Gingerroot, peeled and roughly chopped
- - 6 Cloves Garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- - 2 lbs Ground Lamb
- - 1/2 lb Extra Lean Ground Beef
- - 1 tsp Garam Masala
- - 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
- - 1 tbsp Methi
- - 1/2 tsp Amchur Powder
- - 2 tsp Kosher Salt
- - 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- - 1 tbsp Chopped Fresh Cilantro
- - 1/2 Medium Red Onion, minced
- - Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
- - 10 Small Naan
- - Additional Fresh Cilantro* (optional)
- - Green Chilis (optional)
- Indian Summer Salad
- - 2 cups Tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
- - 2 cups Cucumber, cut into bite-sized pieces
- - ½ cup Diced Red Onion
- - 2 tbsp Roughly Chopped Fresh Cilantro
- - 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- - ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- - Zest and Juice of Half a Lemon
- - 1 tsp Cumin seed, toasted
- Kebab Sauce (Yields approximately 1.5 cups sauce)
- - 1 cup Plain, Whole Milk Greek Yogurt
- - 1/4 cup Minced Cucumber
- - 1/4 cup Minced Red Onion
- - 1 tbsp Minced Fresh Parsley
- - Quick Squeeze of Lemon Juice
- - Salt & Pepper to Taste.
Recipe Instructions
Seekh Kebab (Prep time: 30 minutes, plus an overnight rest in the refrigerator)
- Puree the gingerroot and garlic with an immersion blender or regular blender. You may need to add a bit of water to get it going. That’s fine, it will cook out. Once pureed, set aside. Be sure to freeze any extra as I use gingerroot and garlic puree in many of my recipes.
- Place the lamb and beef in a large bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of the gingerroot and garlic puree, and the garam masala through the red onion. Mix by hand until well combined.
- Next add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Gently fold that into the meat. Cover and let rest overnight in the refrigerator.
- Next day. Preheat your grill to 400°-450°F.
- Remove the meat from the refrigerator and shape into 8 log shapes. Press a metal skewer into the meat and shape it around the skewer, forming a kebab that is about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. If the meat gets too warm and starts to slide on the skewer place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up.
- Scrape the grill grates and rub with a vegetable oil-soaked paper towel. Place the kebabs perpendicular to the grill grates and grill for about 2 minutes on each side, for a total of 8-10 minutes. You’re looking for an internal temperature of 155˚F.
- Quickly grill the naan on both sides for about 30 seconds. Heating makes the naan softer and more pliable.
- Carefully remove the kebabs from the skewers -- they will be hot. Cut the kebabs into bite-sized pieces.
- Spoon Indian Summer Salad over the naan.
- Nestle a serving of kebab over the salad, top with a dollop of Kebab Sauce, and garnish with cilantro and green chilis as desired.
Indian Summer Salad (Prep time: 15 minutes)
- In a large bowl add the cut tomatoes, cucumber, onion, cilantro, salt, pepper, and lemon zest and juice. Toss to coat. Set aside.
- Heat a small, non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the whole cumin seed. When the seed starts to brown and become aromatic remove from the heat. This should NOT be done with ground cumin! Whole cumin seed allows the oils of the spice to come to the surface and then caramelize. Ground cumin would burn too quickly and, in some cases, it may already be toasted.
- Pour the toasted cumin seeds over the salad and toss again.
- Taste and adjust salt and pepper, if needed.
Kebab Sauce (Prep time: 5 minutes)
- Mix all the ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.