Chapli Kebab
Flat Peshawari patties of coarse beef with tomato, pomegranate seed and coriander seed, shallow fried in beef fat until dark and crusted.
Photograph credit: Chapli Kebab by Murcotipton · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Where This Goes Wrong
Crush the seeds coarsely. Powder loses the whole character.
Very thin patties. Thick ones steam rather than crust.
Shallow fry in fat, not a dry pan. That is where the crust comes from.
Cooking Chapli Kebab
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Crush the coriander seeds, pomegranate seeds and cumin coarsely in a mortar. Do not grind them to powder.
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Mix the mince, chopped fat, onion, tomato, green chilli, fresh coriander, crushed spices, chilli flakes, cornflour, egg, salt and pepper.
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Knead for 4 minutes only — chapli kebabs should stay coarse, not become a paste.
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Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
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Wet your hands and shape into 6 flat patties, about 12 cm across and only 1 cm thick. They should look too thin.
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Press a tomato slice onto the top of each.
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Heat the dripping in a wide frying pan to about 1 cm deep, over medium-high heat.
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Fry three at a time for 4 minutes on the first side without moving them, spooning hot fat over the top.
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Turn carefully with a wide spatula and fry 3 to 4 minutes more, until dark brown and crusted.
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Drain briefly and serve hot with naan (optional), raw onion rings and lemon.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Ingredient substitutions.
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What's Going On Here
Coarsely crushed coriander seed and dried pomegranate seed are the two flavours that define chapli kebab, and both must be crushed rather than ground so you meet them in bites. The patties are pressed very thin and fried in a shallow pool of fat, which is what makes the outside crusted while the inside is still soft.
Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping
Refrigerate the raw mixture 2 days. Cooked kebabs keep 3 days and recrisp in a pan.
Ingredient Swaps
- Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the green chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
Good With
- Naan and raw onion
- Mint raita
- Kahwa or sweet tea
Still Wondering?
How long does Chapli Kebab take to make?
25 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour of chilling, so allow 1 hour 40 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Nutrition per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.
Gluten-free when served without the naan.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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