Sekuwa ( Lamb Skewers)

There’s something special about grilled meat especially grilled on charcoal.

Today I’m going to share this recipe which is eaten as appetiser or as a set with beaten rice( chuira or bhuja), spicy potato, soybeans, lemon wedge and slice of carrot and cucumber. It’s called sekuwa in Kathmandu but my hubby says it’s known as jhir on its own or as taas with the set.

You can find street hawkers fanning a charcoal grill with lines of these yummy skewers usually made with buffalo or goat meat. The right amount of fat and meat makes it a perfect sekuwa. The sight and smell is just so amazing. I used to buy it from the hawkers as my evening snack.

We make this dish during Dashain (biggest Nepali festival) along with other varieties of meat dishes. During this festival, most household have whole lot of meat in their kitchen as it’s a tradition to slaughter goats, ducks, sheeps and buffaloes for consumption by family and relatives during 10 days of celebration.

Over the next few weeks, I will try to make as many Dashain special recipes and share it.

Ingredients

1 kilo of lamb meat (fat included)
6 cloves of garlic
Knob of ginger
10 whole sichuan peppers
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of red chilli powder
2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
4 tablespoon of plain yoghurt
2 tablespoon of oil (for marinating)
Salt as per taste
1 freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pound garlic, ginger and sichuan peppers in mortar and pestle to make a coarse paste. Mix diced lamb meat with garlic, ginger paste, dry spices, salt, yoghurt and oil. Leave it overnight or for 2-4 hours for meat to tenderize and flavors to develop.

Soak the skewers in water for few hours so it doesn’t burn.

Insert 4-5 cubes of marinated lamb per skewer.

Heat the grill pan (for best results, use charcoal grill). When hot, grilled lamb skewers for 7-8 minutes on each side or until it’s cooked per your liking.

Serve skewers hot with a squeeze of lemon with side salad or with set of chuira, spicy potato ( will post recipe soon). Enjoy.

Please do share your favourites holiday or festival food that you love to cook and eat.

Sheesh Kebab

This is a very easy recipe of a sheesh kebabs. We had an indian night for dinner yesterday and I made this recipe along with palak (spinach) paneer and spicy potato dry curry. It was an instant hit with hubby and family as they all loved eating restaurant dish at comfort of your home.

As a new mom, I’m looking for easy meals which takes less time to prepare and cook. We used to go out for dinner every weekend before our lil one came to our life. Since baby’s birth we have had no time to go out. Sometimes when we do manage to go out for dinner, it’s hard with the little one. They want to be fussy or cry when you are about to eat. I do hope once baby is bit older, we may be able to claim our old date nights back.

I’m a stay at home mum. I love food and nepali food is always my first choice. But I’m bored of eating same food everyday and I was craving for all these different cuisines, my palate is so used to. So I thought why not make it at home. It’s better, fresher, and cheaper and you can enjoy it while watching your favourite re-run of ‘Friends’ on Telly.

Also I had to come up with an inventive way of making mince exciting as my fridge is stocked full of it. I don’t like cutting meat and hubby is busy with Bub so we bought mince for lazy cooking days. So here’s one of many variations of mince dish that’s so quick and easy to make and taste delicious.

I’ve also decided that we will have a theme dinner night once a week so it’s exciting to plan and cook dinner and share and enjoy with your loved ones.

Please try this recipe, it’s very easy.

Ingredients ( serves 4 person)
500 gms of lamb mince
1 tbspn ginger paste
1 tbspn garlic paste
1 tbspn of red chilli powder
1 tbspn of garam masala
1 tbspn of ghee or butter
1 small onion finely chopped
Salt as per taste
1/2 cup fresh coriander finely chopped
8 skewers ( soak it in water for 1-2 hours before use)

Garnish
Pinch of chilli flakes
Pinch if chat masala powder
Lemon wedges

Place lamb mince and all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Grease hands with oil and grab 50 gms of mix and shape it like a sausage. Insert the sausage in the skewers. This mix will yield 8 skewers.

If you have a grill or tandoor, grill skewers for 5 minutes on each side and it’s ready to be served.

As I used oven on grill settings, please follow the instruction below.
Preheat oven on 220 degrees for 5 minutes.
Line all the skewers on the greased tray and place it in the oven. Turn the skewers after 5 mins and cook it for 5 more minutes.

It’s ready to be served on skewers or you can take it off the sticks and cut sheesh kebabs into 2 inches in a slanting way.

Sprinkle kebabs with some chat masala powder and chilli flakes. Serve hot with lemon wedges or raita dip if you like.