Kabab Masala

Well friends, my right arm is hurting bad, real bad following yesterday's physio.  And 6 weeks that I've been working from home with my left hand has taken toll on my left wrist.  I have been experiencing burning pain in my left wrist.  But no matter what, I've got to post this recipe that is so close to my heart.

Growing up, I remember mom used to make this in India a lot.  Dad would bring storebought kababs and mom would prepare this delicious sauce and then dunk the kabab pieces in it.  We would have it with fried rice, papadums and onion-tomato raita! 

I can't really go through all of your blogs lately and I apologize for that as I am not able to leave any comments for all those posts with wonderful dishes.

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This is a very versatile recipe. I've made it with different kababs, be it chicken, beef, tofu, paneer, beans. The sauce is the basic onion and tomato sauce with regular Indian spices. I make this sauce in batches, mostly once a month or so, and then keep a big container in the fridge and freeze the rest. That way, when I am running late from work, the sauce is ready for me and the only thing I have to do is cut up some chicken, paneer whatever I have on hand and throw in the sauce. I also use the same sauce for butter chicken. The only thing is, you need to strain the sauce so that you can get the smooth sauce for the dish.

Sauce
Ingredients
1 can(740 ml) of pureed tomatoes
2 large onions, finely chopped
Ginger, garlic and green chilles paste to taste
Salt to taste
2 cinnamon sticks, 2 medium bay leaves, 4-5 cloves, 1 tbsp black pepper, 1 big cardamom-everything whole
2-3 cardamom pods, deseed and powder the seeds
2 tbsp Kashmiri Paprika
1 tbsp roasted kasoori methi(dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp each cumin and coriander powder
1 cup oil

How to:
Heat oil in a sauce pot.
Add onions and the whole spices and fry till onions are golden brown.
Now add the rest of the ingredients and place the pot in 350° F oven, covered.
Cook the sauce for about 2 hours.
Keep stirring and add water if sauce sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Now your sauce is ready to use.

For kababs, you need to take mince meat, add salt, pepper, garam masala powder, grated onions, chopped mint leaves and little bit of gram flour(besan) to bind everything together. Make kabab rolls and either cook in the oven or grill them. They taste the best rolled up in hot naans with cilantro pesto and chopped onions and lettuce. The leftovers can be cooked in this masala to make a scrumptious dish that go very well with either pulav, rice or naans.

Enjoy!