Fish shami kababs

Usually you see beef, mutton, or chicken shami kababs.

I decided to try to make them using fish. This is a #whattodowithshanmasala recipe.

They came out well. This is a complicated and cumbersome recipe. You can make these for a party. These freeze well so it is nice to make a bunch and then keep some in the freezer to defrost as needed.

I used basa fish, but you can use any kind of firm fleshed, mild white fish. Use half the recipe for a family sized amount of shami kababs, but for a party, this will make around 26-30 patties, depending on how big you make your patties. I make mine by scooping two tablespoons into my hand so that I can be sure that all of the patties will be the same size. I don't have kabab skillz like some people who can make all of the patties the same by eyeballing.

Mise en place ready to go. 

Ingredients:

2 lbs fish filets cut into pieces, soaked in 1/4 cup vinegar, turmeric, and chile powder (1 tsp each) for 30 mins, then rinsed and patted dry
3 cups boiled channa daal (soak 1.5 cups raw daal for one hour, then boil, lower heat and cook for 20 mins until completely tender but still whole, strain, and set aside)
1 small onion chopped finely
1 small onion chopped roughly
14 green chiles (no need to chop since these will get blended)
3 tbs garam masala
2 heaping tbs Shan Shami Kabab Masala
1 conservative tsp elaichi seeds (unhusked black seed)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup loosely packed cilantro
pinch of salt (maybe 1/2 tsp, but taste the patty dough because it will be fully cooked and adjustable)
1 egg for binding
1 tbs lime juice
3-4 eggs for dipping
3 tbs  oil for making the meat
oil for frying shamis

Method:

Cooked ingredients.

Heat 3 tbs oil in pot. Add in the finely chopped onions and fry for a few minutes until they become clear. Add in ginger garlic paste and 8 green chiles. Stir this until the ginger garlic is golden. Add in the fish and the powdered masalas. Stir until fish is fully cooked. Add in the lentils and mix well.  Stir till this looks very dry. Turn off the flame. Add salt. Be conservative because you can always add more salt but cannot take salt out. Allow this to cool for a few minutes. Add in the remaining fresh green chiles, mint, the roughly chopped onion, and the cilantro, and mix. Transfer to a blender and blend until it is a smooth paste. If I make this full amount, I do this in three batches with lots of scrape downs of the blender jar. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Taste for salt, and add more if need be. Stir elaichi seeds, and lime juice. Finally, stir in one beaten egg. Put this in the fridge for an hour or two to let it cool completely and firm up a bit.

Blended mixture.

When you are ready to fry, heat up 1/4 cup oil in a wide frying pan. Beat your 3-4 eggs (or however many you need) with a tiny sprinkle of salt. Form patties in your hands and dip them in the egg wash. The fish shami kabab patties are very soft and hard to work with. Fry only a few at a time so you can manage. Put them in the frying pan for a few moments, then turn over and allow to brown on the other side. Remove from oil and keep on a plate covered in paper towels to absorb some of the oil The soft shamis will firm up a bit as they cool down.




Serve these with ketchup or coriander chutney or tamarind chutney. These also go well on a sandwich.

Doab Fish Fry (What to do with Shan Masala)

I have a lot of recipes that are based on adding my own twist to packaged Shan Masala packets. Their qorma, chappli kabab, Sindhi biriani, and a few others are quite good but all need some adaptation to give one's own signature to a dish. Here is what I do with a box of Shan Lahori Fish Mix. Shan Lahori Fish Mix on its own is quite good but extremely salty. It is so salty that if you don't doctor it up, it is inedible. But it is quite convenient to use in that if you were to make a fish fry mix on your own you would need at least a dozen more ingredients than what I have listed below, so it saves time and effort.

I christened this recipe Doab (doh-aahb) Fish Fry since it is a confluence of Shan fish fry and my ingredients, just like a meeting of rivers in The Land of the Five Rivers, Punjab. :)

Doab Fish Fry:

1 lbs Swai fish filets cut into 2-3 inch chunks or large nuggets (or any other white, mild tasting fish like tilapia or king fish)
3 tbs vinegar
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)

1 box Shan Lahori Fish Mix
1/4 cup of besan (chickpea flour) plus 2 tablespoons
4 tbs yellow cornmeal
3 pieces of garlic
1 inch of ginger
2 green chiles
2 tbs fresh cilantro finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
pinch of red or orange food coloring powder (optional, I just use it to give a festive look and also so that the end result doesn't seem like I have used Shan Masala stuff from the box or that it is just a fish pakora)
1 tsp lime juice
1 and 1/4 cups water or a little more if the batter looks too thick

oil for shallow frying

Method:

• Wash fish well and cut into large nuggets. In a bowl, mix the vinegar, turmeric, and salt. Add fish to this and allow to marinate for 1 hour or so. The vinegar will have a slight pickling affect on the fish, so when it is battered and deep fried the fish flesh will be extra creamy and tender against the crisp batter. Yum! The vinegar also removes any unpleasant fishiness from the fish. When you are ready to fry, remove fish from vinegar, briefly rinse the fish and pat dry. 

*Tip: You can also freeze your fish nuggets in the marinade and defrost, rinse, and proceed.

• Grind together the garlic, ginger, and green chiles to create a fine paste. 
• In a large mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients into the  Shan Lahori Fish fry. Mix well. Stir in the water and the wet ingredients including the ginger-garlic-chile paste and cilantro. Add in the fish and allow to marinade for 1/2 an hour to 1 hour. 
• Heat oil on a medium-high flame and shallow fry fish on one side, then the other.
• Serve immediately. You may wish to garnish with a dash of chaat masala or a sprinkle of lime juice but I think it tastes amazing on its own. Serve with ketchup or meethi chutney. For my meethi chutney recipe, see here in this post.

*Tip: I wear disposable kitchen gloves when I handle the fish and wet marinade and batter because I like to mix with my hands to ensure even coating, but I hate the stains of turmeric or food coloring.

Fish in tamarind sauce

I hardly ever cook fish but I like this recipe for when I do. It is a lot of ingredients but it takes 5 minutes to cook once u set out the ingredients. This should be cooked in a large non stick wok (karhai) if you have one:

3 hand sized fish filets, deboned and cut into large chunks. I use Arabic Grouper (hammour) but u can use any firm white fish that won't fall apart when you stir fry it. hmmm, i think striped bass would work for this in the USA.

Pour 1 tbs Shan fish masala on the fish and marinate for 1 hour or so.

For the stir fry:

4 cloves thinly sliced garlic
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp crushed garlic paste
1 tsp crushed ginger paste
mix together 1 tsp each powdered: cumin, coriander, shan fish masala, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp red chili for your spice mix
5 whole dried red chiles (less for less spicy)
3 green chiles chopped (less for less spicy)
5 fresh curry leaves (you can leave this out if you want)
A few leaves of mint chopped
A handful fresh cilantro chopped
1/2 cup tamarind water (soak 1 inch square of pulp in 1 cup hot water to get this, you've gotta squeeze the pulp, then strain it
Sprinkle of salt
Pinch garam masala
1/4 cup oil

Heat oil in wok, when hot add cumin seeds and whole dried red chilis, after few seconds add coriander seeds, curry leaves then thinly sliced garlic. allow to fry for 1 minute while garlic turns golden (don't burn it though), then throw in the salt and spice mix, let sizzle. then toss in the marinated fish. stir fry gently (don't break fish apart) fish will cook very quickly, maybe four minutes. When fish is done, pour in the tamarind water, let it heat up and bubble for a moment, then turn of flame. It is done. Now add the garam masala, chopped fresh cilantro, the chopped green chilis, and the chopped mint leaves. Stir once and serve immediately. Serve with rice or flat bread.