Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab) with Cilantro Chutney

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India is the region featured in this edition of Regional Recipes. We had to rack our brains for what to make. We ruled out curries right away just because of the fact that I'm not a good enough photographer to make curries look good! ;)

So, onto our search for non-curry Indian dishes. Since we only had three books with Indian recipes -- the two of them being 50 Great Curries of India and 660 Curries-- we had to go with Madhur Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs. Of course, we had to be careful to choose Indian recipes (as opposed to curries from other places).

Pasanda Kabab it is!


The Marinade

marinade ingredients

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We chose this recipe because it looked very easy. Make the marinade and broil the kebabs! Even the marinade didn't seem to have a lot of ingredients.


left: more marinade ingredients; right: finished marinade

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The only hardship in making the marinade was that I had to brown some onions first. Then, everything just went into the blender. I made some minor substitutions because I had to use what we had.

That's browned onions, raw onions, yogurt, olive oil, almonds, ginger, garlic, red chili flakes, nutmeg, ground coriander, and salt.

I sliced our flank steak into long strips and marinated them. We left them there for about 2 days.

Cilantro Chutney (aka "Green Sauce")

left: sooo green; right: finished chutney

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The blender got a workout with this recipe. I blended a whackload of cilantro leaves, a jalapeno pepper, some garlic, lemon juice, salt, and a touch of water to make the blending easier. I then added this mixture to yogurt.


Ribbon Kebabs


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To cook the kebabs, I weaved them onto five large skewers. Madhur Jaffrey describes this zigzagging as "forming Elizabethan ruffles." That has to be the best recipe instruction.

I then simply broiled each side of the skewers until the meat was browned and lightly charred.

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I love the presentation of beef being in ribbons.

The pasanda kabab was absolutely delicious -- and the cilantro chutney just elevates this "street food" into dinner party fare.

My only regret was we did not have hot, buttery naan to go with these kebabs.

One word of caution: we might have left the beef marinating too long (overnight and half a day). It resulted in a slightly mushy texture. The texture did not take anything away from the flavour though, but for a perfectionist, 2 to 4 hours marination would be sufficient to infuse the flavours into the beef.

The cilantro chutney goes with a lot of things: the beef, mashed (or boiled) potatoes, some greens. . .We even had one guest dipping popcorn into the chutney! It was quite an inspired pairing: I nabbed some kernels and they were totally delicious!


We're submitting this to Regional Recipes, a blogging event created by Blazing Hot Wok that celebrates food from all over the world.

The region for this edition is India. The round-up will be hosted by Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok.

Regional Recipes information

Our Regional Recipes posts:
Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)
Simmered Saba Mackerel with Daikon Radish (Saba Oroshi-ni)
Thai Fried Chicken
Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils
Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab) with Cilantro Chutney
Canadian Onion Soup with Oka Cheese
Muffuletta
Börek with Beef Filling
Korean Pork Bulgogi (with Muu Namul, Kong Namul)
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Pork Jowl (Pork Cheeks) with Brown Sugar Rub
Beef Salpicao
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Vietnamese Spring Roll (Cha Gio)
Grilled Fish Fillet on Oregano
Pastéli (Greek Sesame Snaps)



Recipes

Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab)
from Madhur Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course, 8 to 12 as appetizer

1 medium onion, rings
1 medium onion, chopped
4 tablespoons yogurt
3 tablespoons mustard oil (or extra-virgin olive oil)
1 tablespoon blanched, slivered almonds
1 tablespoon peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon mace
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 1/2 pounds beef flank steak

Fry onion rings in 1/2 cup oil until medium-brown. Save oil and set aside.

Add browned onions, and all the rest of the ingredients (except beef) into blender and process into smooth paste to make the marinade.

Cut meat into 1/4-in slices across the grain. Marinate the beef slices, 2 to 6 hours.

Preheat broiler. Zigzag ribbons of meat onto skewers, as if you were forming "Elizabethan ruffles." Push ruffles tightly against each other. Brush all sides with oil used to brown the onion rings. Broil 5 inches from the broiler untl all sides are lightly browned.


Cilantro Chutney
from Madhur Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail

1 cup well-packed cilantro leaves
2-3 fresh hot green chilies, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
salt to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons water
1 cup plain yogurt

Add all ingredients except yogurt into a blender. Blend. Beat yogurt until smooth. Mix in blended mixture.