Seekh Kabab (Oven Baked)

If you love Seekh Kabab put your hands up. Yeah I know all the hands went up, atleast here in my household. It's very simple to make. Don't be scared because it's one of the exotic dishes. Julia Child once famously said, “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” So go for it.
We love the skewered chicken dishes. My kiddos can survive only on this for days. I just add a side salad and some flavored rice. Using the oven allows me to use lesser oil (rather hardly any except what you spray on the tray actually.) So get your oven on and create your magic to impress your loved ones.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Total Time: 1 Hr. 45 min. | Makes: 4 large skewers

Ingredients:

Ground Meat (Chicken/ Lamb/ Turkey) - 1 lb *
Onion - 1 large
Carrot - 1 large (Optional)
Ginger - 1 lime size
Garlic - 4 large pods
Coriander leaves - handful
Green Chilies - 2
Sauf/ Fennel Seeds - 2 tsp.
Chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1 tsp.
Salt - 2 tsp.
Meat Skewers - 4 **

Method of Preparation:

~ In a large bowl, grate Onions, Carrots, Ginger and Garlic. Add in finely chopped Green chilies and Coriander leaves.
~ In a mortar, coarsely ground Fennel seeds and add it to the mixture.
~ Add in Chili Powder, Coriander Powder and Garam Masala.
~ Mix all this using hands and add Ground meat and salt. Gently mix them all until combined. Cover this with a plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for an hour.
~ Line a oven safe sheet with a foil. Spray evenly using canola oil/ olive oil spray.
~ Divide the mixture into four equal parts. Now take one portion and form it into a long sausage like kebab while pressing onto the skewer. Do this until the meat is on the skewer. Place it on the prepared sheet.
~ Continue to do the remaining skewers and arrange them on the cooking sheet.
~ Switch on the Broil button on your oven, place the cooking sheet on the highest rack. Broil for 7 minutes. Take it out of the oven and turn the skewers. Put them back into the oven and broil for another 7 minutes. ***
~ Once cooled enough to handle, pull out the Kebab's out of the skewers. Cut them in 4 pieces and serve drizzled with some lemon and cut onions.

Note:

* This can easily turned into a Vegetarian Seekh Kabab. Use fresh Soy meat instead of the ground meat
** You can use bamboo skewers for the purpose. First make sure to soak it in the water for atleast an hour, so that it won't burn out in the oven. Also you might have to use 6 to 8 skewers instead, since they are much smaller in size.
*** To broil you don't have to preheat. Keep an eye on the broiler to make sure your highest rack is not too close to the source of heat. You then run into the risk of burning the kebabs rather than cooking. If you see it's getting burned, remove the sheet from highest rack to middle rack. Place the Kebabs back at the high rack for only last minute of cooking to get nice browned effect.
~ This turns out really great with any kind of ground meat. But Lamb is one of the best. Turkey is good for having lean meat.
~ I usually add carrots, zucchini or any greens while making these, so it adds extra nourishment to our daily diet. You can totally skip this part.
~ Once you add the meat in while mixing, make sure you are handling it gently. Otherwise the end product will become dry.