Chapli Kabab Recipe (Pakistani)

It's here! A simple and easy-to-make Chapli Kabab recipe that tastes like an Afghan or Pakistani restaurant. This recipe includes tips on how to make them crispy and juicy without breaking them down. Tested to perfection!

Top 3 Tips for the Best chapli kabab Recipe

Overcooking (over frying?) = crumbly, complex, and dry Kabab.
What makes the Chapli kabab restaurant so soft and supple (besides excess fat)? Shorter frying time! So once the outside is crispy and the inside is just cooked, remove it from the heat. As soon as it is overcooked, the softness disappears.
More hot oil = more browning. That's why street vendors fry them directly.
Think flat and lean. Chapli kababs are not thick, chunky burgers. Try to thin them out (about 1/3 inch) and flatten them with the back of a spoon or spatula if they start to shrink or puff up while cooking. Don't worry about making them perfectly round. Rough edges add character!

What Are The A 1 Chapli Kabab

Chapli kabab are thin minced meat patties made with herbs and spices. Unlike regular grilled skewers, Chapli Kababs are deep-fried, so they're golden on the outside and tender on the inside. Chapli Kabab has a unique flavor, with ingredients like dried pomegranate (anardana) seeds to give them a light taste and coarsely ground coriander to enhance their already crunchy exterior. Originally a delicacy on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, they are now a street food and restaurant favorite.

Ingredients In Recipe Of Chapli Kabab

Dried Pomegranate Seeds (Anardana) - This is a key ingredient that helps make a-1 chapli kabab… well… Chapli Kabab. They add a light, crunchy flavor. I love adding the full 2 tbsp (more than most recipes!) but you can reduce it to 1 tbsp to make it more subtle.

If you really don't like the crunch, a great substitute is 2-3 teaspoons of pomegranate powder or even pomegranate molasses.

Corn flour (Makki ka atta) or chickpea flour (Besan): helps to bind the skewers and enhances the taste. Although some authentic recipes insist that cornmeal (similar to cornmeal but finer) is the only solution, I know that gram/besan flour (as opposed to chickpea flour ) is much more likely to be in your pantry already. Also, I tested them and both work perfectly fine.

The rest of the ingredients are more commonly available. Here are notes on most of them:

Ground meat: Restaurants and street vendors use a lot fatter than we're used to. I suggest using regular ground beef (20% fat), but you can get away with as little as 12% fat.
Whole spices:
Coriander Seeds – Add texture and subtle flavor. 3 tablespoons might sound like an aggressive amount, but believe me, my favorite Afghan restaurants do it. I just followed the example.
Cumin Seeds – Another must.
Carambola Seeds - Optional - Use if you already have them!
Red Chili Flakes – add textured spice rather than make the kebabs very spicy. Add more if you want it spicier!
Green Chiles: Used to give color and heat. I use thai/bird's eye or serrano, but you can use jalapeno or any other type of green chile.
Red Onion – Adds moisture, texture, and flavor. You can use yellow or other onions, but I like the flavor and how they don't release too much excess moisture. If your onions are too runny, squeeze them out before adding them to the skewers.
Scallions: One of my favorite Afghan restaurants in Houston uses only scallions. I love the complex flavor they add to the red onion.
Tomato: For texture, freshness, and subtle sweet-and-sour flavor. Because they release moisture, it's important to finely dice them rather than puree them in a food processor. Some kabab houses take a slice of tomato and pound it into the side of the kabab while frying it. Tried. He prefers mixed tomatoes.
Raw egg: Join and moisten the skewers. In some recipes, you'll also find pieces of boiled or scrambled eggs smashed into the skewers, which is supposed to make them more tender. I tried adding and didn't find them worth it.
Oil – Many recipes use ghee (or even tallow fat) to fry them. I find it gets heavy and overwhelming with ghee so I stick with oil.
Garlic + Ginger: Chop very finely with a food processor. You can also crush it with a mortar and pestle.

How To Make Chapli Kabab

Roast and grind the spices. Roasting deepens the flavor while removing the taste of raw spices. Add them to a spice grinder (or even a food processor) along with the pomegranate seeds. Crush thick.

Toast corn flour or gram flour. Once again, it brings out the nutty flavor of the cornmeal. You can probably get by without a toast, but I'm toasting. It takes 5 minutes. You can do it. Or not. Follow your heart on this one.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, including those prepared above.

Mix/knead the dough vigorously until you can see the stringy texture of the meat. You can also use the paddle attachment of a stand mixer to do this.

Fry! There are 2 ways to do this. The first is obvious. Shape empanadas. But, if you can, mash them right in the pan.

Serve immediately sprinkled with ground coriander and coriander.