A month of prep time and several iterations of meat to fat to spice ratios led to the below recipe. One of the key distinguishing features of these kebabs is “umami,” a difficult-to-describe savory taste traditionally empasized in Japanese dishes. To get umami, I added MSG to the recipe. If you don’t like MSG, you can substitute other sources of umami like tomato paste and mushrooms.
Ingredients
- Ground Beef: 80/20 – 2 lbs
- Ground Beef: 90/10 – 1 lb
- Onions (finely chopped) – 2
- Garlic (finely chopped) – 6 cloves
- Habaneros (finely chopped) – 3
- Red Chilli powder – 1.5 teaspoons
- Paprika – 1.5 tablespoons
- Ground Coriander- 2 tablespoons
- 1/4 teaspoon – Powdered Cardamon seeds
- Pepper – 1 teaspoon
- Salt – to taste
- Fresh Coriander (finely chopped) – 1/2 bunch
- Mint (finely chopped) – 5 leaves
- Butter – 3 tablespoons
- Oil – 5 tablespoons
- Umami: 1.5 teaspoons of MSG (or alternatively 2 tablespoons of tomato paste from a tube and 2 packages of mushrooms, finely diced and sauteed)
Method
- Mix both types of ground beef together well, season with salt
- Stir fry finely chopped onions in oil until light brown
- Add Garlic & Habanero’s and continue frying for 10 mins
- Add butter
- Add remaining dry ingredients – Red Chilli Powder, Paprika, Ground Coriander, Ground Cardamon seeds, and pepper
- Finally, add mint and fresh coriander
- After mixing thoroughly let cool for 20 mins
- Mix the stir fry with the beef and let marinate for 24 hrs in a refrigerator
Grilling
Light charcoal. Once it gets hot and ashy apply skewered meat for approximately 4 mins per side being careful not to burn the kebab
