Toothless Nawab Kebab

Lucknow, a muslim city in the North of India, was ruled by nawabs for 150 years, becoming a place of utmost culinary refinement and the capital of Persian-inspired Indian Awadhi cuisine. When the British East India Company decided to pull the plug on nawab rule in Lucknow in 1856, sending nawab Wajid Ali Shah (pictured above) in exile, the uprising that ensued changed British rule in India for good.

I visited the city last year on my way to Benares and would gladly go back. The city has an amazing feel to it - you'd think you are in Pakistan, but people are very friendly and not suspicious of foreigners. The city is very clean and well-run. It has many attractive monuments from both the nawab and British periods. Pictured below is La Martiniere, the former home of brilliant French adventurer Claude Martin, a man of taste who settled in Lucknow.

Legend has it that the ruler of Lucknow, nawab Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, had lost all his teeth. And yet, the toothless nawab was so big there was no horse that could carry him. What was his secret? Legend has it that he commissioned the creation of a version of his beloved kebabs that could be eaten without teeth. His court chef designed a new kebab that would use the finest lamb cuts, mince them twice very finely, add a tenderizer and flavor the whole with a heavenly spice mix. I have tasted this kebab in some of the best restaurants in India and of course at every single meal in Lucknow. Gorgeous! The texture is so fine it surprises at first, but being dispensed from any chewing is blissful. Kebab makers in the Chowk bazaar claim to use 100 spices in their kebabs - that's about every spice they can get and I'm not sure the meat is any better for it. I obtained several recipes from books written for Indian chefs and reproduced the dish at home successfully. Here is for you this cult dish part of the Lucknawi identity. You will need:

Galouti Kebab
1kg/ 2lbs leg of lamb
50gr ginger
50gr garlic
75gr Raw papaya flesh
50gr butter
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp mace
1 tsp green cardamom freshly powdered
Clarified butter or oil to fry

Measure 30 grams gram dal or about 3 heaping tablespoons. These are split yellow lentils from the Indian grocery store, buy those that say 'gram dal' on the package. Dry-roast the lentils until they turn a shade darker, stiring them regularly to minimize burning.

Add the spices - peppercorns, dried chilies, mace and green cardamom seeds you just removed from their pods.

Grind to a fine powder in an electric mixer.

Dice the leg of lamb. You can trim the fat because we will add more fat later.

Grind the meat twice, using the finest disc you have. This is our first layer of decadence. I have to be honest here, normally I ask the butcher to do it (twice) and it takes but a minute. But here I wanted to give my readers some dramatic illustration of the grinding and for some reason it took me the best part of 30 minutes to grind the meat with my bloody Porkert grinder. I will soon buy an electric grinder.

Peel and crush a garlic clove and a thumb-sized piece of ginger.

Indian meat is sold freshly butchered. As a result, it is much tougher than what we get in the West. Indian chefs have long used various ingredients to tenderize the meat - yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, pineapple and my favorite, papaya, which contains an enzime - papain - that would soften bones if you left them long enoug. We will use papaya but mix it in only half an hour before cooking - our second layer of decadence.

Cut the papaya in half and remove the seeds. Scoop out the flesh of one half and grind it or chop it to a pulp.

Dig a well into your ground meat ...

and add a piece of butter at room-temperature. This will be our third layer of decadence. Lamb fat is considered less noble than butter - but it is more tasty.

Finally add your ground roasted lentils and spices ...

... and mix everything together until you have a smooth paste.

Pour a little oil into a bowl to oil your fingers and palms.

Form apricot-sized meat patties, oiling your hands as you go to prevent the meat from sticking. Wash your hands carefully afterwards, they will be coated with fragments of chili and papaya and they might tenderize part of your body you don't intend to eat.

Oil your largest frying pan with clarified butter or oil. Do not use butter as it might burn.

Cook on medium-high, turning from time to time with kitchen tongs, until both sides of each patty is well-browned. See how the above-pictured gentleman in the Chowk is carefully checking each kabab.

There we are - three layers of decadence and no teeth required! The most delicious kabab on earth humbly cooked in my own kitchen!

The flesh is incredibly soft and fragrant. Serve with an Indian flat-bread such as chapati or paratha. As my driver in Lucknow says, 'You are now like Nawab person'.