Recipe : Dahi Ke Kebab - Vegetarian

Rakhi special - Dahi ke kebab / Yoghurt kebabs.

Rakhi / rakshabandhan is an Indian festival that celebrates the sibling bond. This also includes cousins and friends who feel like family.

I'm trying to test our willpower on how much sweet & deep fried stuff we can avoid, now that the Indian festive season has kicked off. Given that we will not be able to visit anyone or have anyone over, I’m hoping it won’t be too hard this year.

So instead of making something sweet I tried something new for rakhi - these dahi & paneer kebabs.

I first tried them in a restaurant in Rajasthan and the meltingly soft, mildly flavoured kebabs were a revelation. The subsequent ones that I've had across Rajasthan & Punjab could never measure up to my initial experience, but this recipe came quite close

Excellent as a tea time snack or to turn into sandwiches or rolls.

Ingredients :

2 cups hung curd + paneer

For a true dahi kebab, you need to use 75% dahi and 25% paneer.

I’d made fresh paneer at home and when hanging it, I added some soured up yoghurt too, So it ended up a 50:50 paneer and dahi mix. Which meant the kebabs were marginally grainier than they should have been..

1.5 - 2 tbsp of besan / chickpea flour - roast till fragrant

1/2 medium onion finely chopped

2-5 green chillies finely chopped

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp jeera / cumin powder

salt to taste

1/2 - 1 cup breadcrumbs

Oil to fry

Method :

In a large bowl, mix the hung curd and paneer, this should be very dry.

If your paneer isn't the crumbly variety, then grate it before mixing with the dahi, so you get a smooth paste.

Mix all the other ingredients into the paste except the oil & breadcrumbs.

It should be dry enough to hold its shape and fry, if it isn't dry enough, add more roasted besan.

Form shapes of your choice - flat tikkis / cylindrical or soccer ball shaped croquettes.

Since I shallow fry, I prefer the flat tikki shape for even cooking.

You can either shallow or deep fry these kebabs.

Heat a pan and then heat some vegetable oil in it.

In a flat plate, take the breadcrumbs. Roll the kebabs in the breadcrumbs and then fry on medium heat for about a minute each side till done.

You only need to crisp up the outside, not cook the inside.

Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup.

So yum!

Kim's Tips :

I didn’t have a stock of breadcrumbs and I didn’t feel like making some after my last disaster (over dried the bread, the mixi cover flew off and I spent half the day cleaning the breadcrumbs that had flown all over the kitchen), so I rolled them in rava/ soji / semolina before pan frying them.

Dahi kebabs are normally mildly flavoured, so the flavour of the yoghurt can shine through.

You also want to use minimal spices to preserve the white colour of the mix.

But if you want a stronger flavoured kebab, go ahead and add spices as per your taste - garam masala / amchoor / kasoori methi / cardamom powder / fresh chopped coriander / nutmeg powder are all good variations.