Raeshmi Murg Kabab (Pan-fried chicken kabab)

I absolutely love going through cookbooks - with the beautiful pictures of the dishes near the recipe, encouraging us to indulge in them! Usually I take a few baking-related books from the library. This time I decided to go with Indian cookbooks. Yesterday I finally had them on hold and checked them out from the library. At night, I was going through the recipes and was interested in quite a few. Anyways, I had some chicken at home, so I decided to make this recipe my first experiment. I had always thought of kababs as something I could never make (because I thought it required a tandoor oven), but this recipe changed everything. In about an hour and a half including all the prep work, I was done. I should say that it was one of the best kababs I have ever had in my life! They reminded me of the kababs I had from a somewhat expensive restaurant in Bangalore. The kabab platters were pretty costly there for Indian standards. These kababs could be easily cooked at home and tastes even better!! Do make these wonderful appetizers, and without doubt it will be your first choice from now on. This is the perfect mess-free finger-food for the li'l ones too. Eventhough the recipe suggests being served with chutney, I am sure you will need none ! For a healthier version, instead of pan-frying, you could also try grilling or baking these kababs.

Recipe

Boneless skinless chicken breasts - 1 lb
Onion - 1/2 cup, chopped
Plain nonfat yoghurt - 1/4 cup
Cilantro - 3 tbsp, chopped
Ginger root - 2 tsp, peeled and minced
Garlic - 2 tsp, minced
Green chillies - 2 tsp, minced (preferably serranos)
Tandoori masala - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 and 1/2 tsp or to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp (approx), divided

Method:

Rinse the chicken and pat dry thoroughly.

Chop the chicken into chunks and place in a food processor.

Add onion, yoghurt, cilantro, ginger, garlic, chillies, tandoori masala, salt and 1 tbsp of the oil to the chicken.

Pulse at first and then process until the mixture holds together, about 1 minute.

Transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl and spread out the mixture. (It will be soft and sticky).

Chill for 30 minutes uncovered or cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for upto 8 hours.

Divide the mixture into 15 portions.

Lightly oil hands and using light touch, shape into rolls.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1/2 tbsp of the remaining oil over medium heat.

Fry half of the kababs (rolls) to brown evenly, shaking pan to loosen rolls, about 3 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Repeat with the remaining rolls, adding more oil as necessary.

Serve hot with a chutney of your choice.

Source: Complete book of Indian cooking - 350 recipes from the regions of India by Suneeta Vaswani

Tips:

1. I used 3 large chicken breasts (1 and 1/2 lb), and increased the other ingredients accordingly and could make about 30 medium sized kababs.
2. I found that, to shape the kababs, rolling them to-and-fro using your palms, on plastic-wrap lined surface was more effective than shaping with hands.
3. I would suggest that the kababs be served with mint-coriander chutney, if needed.