Beetroot Dill Seekh Kebab / Kabab Recipe ~ Happy Beats

Feeling stressed beautiful people, the pressures to keep up with the rules of this ever changing world, can take it's toll on us, right? You may not be someone who loves their trip to the kitchen, but trust me and try this the next time you are feeling frustrated or hopelessness has creeped in. Walk into your kitchen, take out the chopping board, manual grater or just use the knife and go chop chopping vegetables of different hues. Try with beetroot, carrot, yellow, orange bell peppers, purple cabbage, dill or mint or coriander leaves. The first phase itself will take that knotty feeling out of your system. Next wash your hands thoroughly and try mixing all the chopped ingredients with both your hands. As the colours will paint your fingers, a strange kind of calm will engulf you. Try to look at all those gorgeous colours dancing around your fingers as you mix them together, try to be in that moment, do   not drift away, this colour therapy is magical and will loosen your mind letting go of those thoughts which were responsible for stressing you out.

It's not an easy world that we live in, being judged every single time we try to do something different, every time we try to break free from the shackles of rules set out by the multitudes. You are not allowed to be different, most importantly many a times you are stopped from being you. Though many of us would like to live being an original, but familial and societal pressures force us to leave ourselves inside a closed casket and walk forward as a clone of the already approved types that have walked this world listening to everyone else, except themselves, pleasing everyone expect them and loving all except self. It's only a handful few who have had the courage to break free but then this world has treated them harshly. So what should one do, being social in nature, what we fear most is isolation, which is the biggest punishment rendered to people who try to be different. 

Stop, close your eyes, take a long deep breath, muster up all the courage that fills your entire being and start living your life being you. This is the 21st century, the first century of the third millennium, then don't you think it's time enough. If we don't do it now then when, our time to be us will never ever come. I am telling you based on my own experience that if you can gather all your strength within, start acting the way your heart dictates, yes there will be resilience, but ultimately when you leave no choice, the world starts accepting and if you are lucky, loving you just the way you are. The rule is simple, love thyself before others, listen to your heart, interpret life based on your education, the virtues, the values that your parents have instilled in you, say no often, stop trying to please others always, speak your mind, stop being judgemental and stop sacrificing your time, space, happiness for others

Now many of you might want to know what happens to all the chopped vegetables after your mind is brought back to normalcy and you feel light and de~stressed, that knotty feeling having disappeared. Well if cooking is not your thing, then make a salad by using a nice salad dressing from the bottle. But if you are a food adventurer or adventuress like moi, go ahead let your imagination don wings, take that flight into creative realms and turn those veggies into something delectable. Well I have packed them inside Indian flatbreads (parathas), placed them in the centre of buns , then baked them, topped them on sandwiches, pizzas, placed them inside Kathi rolls, used them in tacos, made vegetable fried rice or made kebabs / kababs with them.

Yesterday was one such day which couldn't have been more chaotic, nothing o nothing seemed to go my way. Whenever I am faced with such a day, I keep as quiet as possible, as there is always this possibility of me getting into an unnecessary argument with a loved one. By noon the happenings around started to take it's toll on me, I was feeling quite flustered, a strange restlessness had engulfed me, I had a funny feeling in my tummy and I was becoming weary of everything more with each passing second, I knew I had to pull myself out of this before it would engulf me and make me miserable. So as always I took refuse in my kitchen which as many of you know is my alter where the spices are the incense which perfume my alter. So the moment I put my foot inside I feel a positive energy blanketing me, slowly fanning away the negative mode out of my system.

As I always do I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the vegetable tray halfway to get a sneak peek into what lay within. With a smile I pulled out one large beetroot, one yellow bell pepper, a large slice of cabbage, a bunch of Dill. I opened the kitchen tap letting the cool water soothe my nerves as I washed each vegetable thoroughly including that bunch of dill. Next I opened the built in cupboard right at the end corner of my kitchen, pulled out the chopping board, a manual grater, a vegetable peeler, a large bowl to transfer the grated vegetables into, the kitchen paper bowl roll and placed them all within close proximity to each other. Grabbed the Cabbage slice and stared grating it on the manual grater. As my hand clasping the cabbage moved briskly from top to bottom over the cavities of the grater, I started focussing on my hand to avoid getting a cut, defocussing from all the other events which had happened earlier that day.

Beetroot Dill Seekh Kebab / Kabab Recipe ~

Author ~ Piyali Sekhar Mutha

Yields ~ 12 ~ 13 Seekh Kebabs

Cuisine ~ Indian 

Type ~ Appetizer / Starter / Snacks

Time ~ 30 minutes Preparation + 15 minutes Cooking

Ingredients ~

1 Large Potato Boiled (When mashed it should be 1 Cup or 250 Gms Approximately)

1 1/2 Medium Sized Beetroot, grated (1 1/2 Cup grated beetroot)

1 Cup Cabbage, grated

1/2 Cup Yellow Bell Pepper, chopped

1 Large Onion, chopped

5 ~ 6 Cloves Garlic, grated

1 1/2 Inch piece Ginger, finely chopped

2 ~ 3 Green Chillies, chopped

1/2 Cup Dil leaves, finely chopped

1 1/2 Tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter

2 Tbsp Oil or Ghee

1 Tsp Cumin Seeds

1 1/2 Tbsp Chaat Masala Powder

1 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala Powder

3 Brown Bread Toasted till hard and crisp

1/2 Cup Almond, sliced

Salt to taste

Let's Make Beetroot Dill Seekh Kebab / Kabab In Easy Steps ~

STEP ~ 1

* The first thing is to chop Onions, Ginger, Green Chillies, Dill Leaves and Yellow Bell Pepper. 

* Grate Cabbage, Garlic and Beetroot. I grated Cabbage using the larger cavity of the manual grater. I grated Garlic and Beetroot using the smaller cavity of the manual grater.

* Peel, cube and boil Potato. Drain the water out, cool and mash Potato.

* Toast the brown bread till it's hard and crisp. In a grinder whizz together toasted Brown Bread and Sliced Almond to a coarse almond bread crumb.

STEP ~ 2

* Take a Frying Pan, add Ghee. Add Cumin Seeds.

* As soon as they crackle add grated Garlic and fry till golden brown.

* Add grated Cabbage and Beetroot. Mix everything together and fry till the raw smell and moisture from beetroot disappear. However don't overdo as we don't want to loose the crunch from the veggies.

* Add Yellow Bell Pepper, Onion, Ginger and Green Chilli. Mix and sautè everything for 1 minute.

* Add the chopped Dill Leaves. Mix.

* Finally add Chaat Masala Powder, Garam Masala Powder and Salt to taste. Mix and remove the pan from flame and let the ingredients of the pan cool down completely.

STEP ~ 3 

* Take a large mixing bowl. Add mashed potatoes, the cooled contents of the pan and almond and bread crumbs.

* Mix everything together and make into a dough.

* Divide this dough into 12 ~ 13 equal portions. Take soaked bamboo skewers (they must be soaked in water for at least 20 minutes) and shape the kebab / kabab mixture on to the skewer to form a seekh kebab. Refer the picture below.

* Heat a grill or griddle / lava. Fry/ grill the Beetroot, Dill Seekh Kebabs / Kababs in batches in batches using oil / ghee till they get a golden colour on them.

* Remove the Beetroot Dill Seekh Kebabs / Kababs onto a platter lined with paper kitchen towel for a few minutes. Serve hot with Mint and Tamarind Chutney.