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Celebrate the start of summer and enjoy those long weekends grilling on a Big Green Egg! How about something new … try the Dos Equis “Most Interesting” Three Cheese and Chorizo Fondue, or a Gourmet Pizza with Prosciutto & Arugula for a different grilling experience! For all you traditionalists, you can’t top Stuffed Burgers cooked on the Big Green Egg! And be sure to catch up with the KCBS Great American BBQ Tour!
BGT= Big Green Tandoor?
caliking
Posts: 1,597
One of the reasons why I lusted after a BGE for so long was the vision I had of it as a BGT. Its a similar concept as a tandoor in terms of material and airflow etc, so I thought, why not?
Just as brisket seems to be the nemesis of most 'cue cooks, seekh kababs are the nemesis of tandoor cooks. Its basically ground meat (generally goat, but beef also counts), seasoned with spices, molded onto metal skewers and cooked in a tandoor. The issue is that the darn things fall off the skewers and end up in the coals - not for seasoned cooks like those at Karim's in New Delhi and other less exalted joints, but for dumbar$ses like myself. The meat starts cooking, the fat starts melting and the things just jump off the skewers into the fire. You can try different binders to hold the meat together like wheat flour, gram flour (besan) and even eggs, but the proportion has to be just right or else you taste those things in the seekh kababs. I had taken a break from seekh kababs for a while, since I can do other things which much better results, but every 2 years or so, the bug bites me and i try again. And that's how we come to today's adventure.
I usually use a mix from the Indian stores (Shan spices seekh kabab mix), but today i wanted to take off from scratch. So I roasted some spices in a skillet - white poppy seeds, cashews, caraway seeds, mace, carom seeds, fennel seeds, dried fenugreek leaves, and crushed red chile.
Once they were dry roasted, I let them cool then ground them in a coffee grinder which I keep dedicated for spices. Added cardamom powder, garam masala powder, salt, pepper, chopped green chiles, ginger paste, garlic paste and ground veal.
Let that all get friendly in the refrigerator, while I fired up the LBGE.
Part of the reason for today's adventure was to try making seekh kababs with a couple of different types of skewers I have - homemade ones which I fabbed myself out of 1/4" steel from HD several years ago and 1" wide Persian style skewers which i bought at a Middle Eastern store here in Houston a few years ago. Loaded up some of the meat mix on one of the homemade skewers when the egg hit about 400°F and things looked they were off to a promising start.
Until a few minutes later, when I peeked in through the top vent and saw a nekkid skewer! Carp! Salvaged the kabab that had jumped off from the skewer into the coal and sampled it. Tasted farkin awesome! Flavor profile was spot on for a seekh kabab.
Fueled by beer and ambition, I set off to put plan B in motion- placed the cooking grate in the egg and went to mold some meat onto one of the Persian skewers and these kabab baskets i bought a while back, knowing that some day I would want to try seekh kababs again. The basket can hold a sausage shaped piece of meat, without worrying about it falling into the coals. kind of like a "McRib" mod ( I am embarrassed to say that).
Set things up in a "trapeze" configuration i.e. piece of foil under the Persian skewer so that if the meat fell off it would hit the foil on the grate and all would not be lost. Rested the baskets on the grate, with the wood handles outside the egg.
Turns out that I didn't need the trapeze setup. The kabab stayed put on the wider seekhs. Now I know which ones to use next time.
While the egg had been heating up, I made some dough for "stick naans". How could I make seekh kababs without naans? Since I couldn;t make them the usual way (sticking to the wall of tandoor) I tried Raichlens Planet Barbecue recipe for Armenian Stick Bread.
The bread came out pretty darn good. Cooked 3-4 mins per side. Very nice slightly sweet yeasty flavor. Nice chewy exterior, fluffy soft interior. I will definitely make these again.
A plated shot. I know the seekh kabab looks like something else, but they were very tasty.
Dinner was a hodge podge of things - leftover tzatziki sauce, Ethiopian food leftovers, seekh kababs, and stick naans. It all tasted fantastic though, and I think seekh kababs are back in my repertoire. Next time I will mix in some lamb though, since I think the flavor will be even better.
Thanks for looking!
Just as brisket seems to be the nemesis of most 'cue cooks, seekh kababs are the nemesis of tandoor cooks. Its basically ground meat (generally goat, but beef also counts), seasoned with spices, molded onto metal skewers and cooked in a tandoor. The issue is that the darn things fall off the skewers and end up in the coals - not for seasoned cooks like those at Karim's in New Delhi and other less exalted joints, but for dumbar$ses like myself. The meat starts cooking, the fat starts melting and the things just jump off the skewers into the fire. You can try different binders to hold the meat together like wheat flour, gram flour (besan) and even eggs, but the proportion has to be just right or else you taste those things in the seekh kababs. I had taken a break from seekh kababs for a while, since I can do other things which much better results, but every 2 years or so, the bug bites me and i try again. And that's how we come to today's adventure.
I usually use a mix from the Indian stores (Shan spices seekh kabab mix), but today i wanted to take off from scratch. So I roasted some spices in a skillet - white poppy seeds, cashews, caraway seeds, mace, carom seeds, fennel seeds, dried fenugreek leaves, and crushed red chile.
Once they were dry roasted, I let them cool then ground them in a coffee grinder which I keep dedicated for spices. Added cardamom powder, garam masala powder, salt, pepper, chopped green chiles, ginger paste, garlic paste and ground veal.
Let that all get friendly in the refrigerator, while I fired up the LBGE.
Part of the reason for today's adventure was to try making seekh kababs with a couple of different types of skewers I have - homemade ones which I fabbed myself out of 1/4" steel from HD several years ago and 1" wide Persian style skewers which i bought at a Middle Eastern store here in Houston a few years ago. Loaded up some of the meat mix on one of the homemade skewers when the egg hit about 400°F and things looked they were off to a promising start.
Until a few minutes later, when I peeked in through the top vent and saw a nekkid skewer! Carp! Salvaged the kabab that had jumped off from the skewer into the coal and sampled it. Tasted farkin awesome! Flavor profile was spot on for a seekh kabab.
Fueled by beer and ambition, I set off to put plan B in motion- placed the cooking grate in the egg and went to mold some meat onto one of the Persian skewers and these kabab baskets i bought a while back, knowing that some day I would want to try seekh kababs again. The basket can hold a sausage shaped piece of meat, without worrying about it falling into the coals. kind of like a "McRib" mod ( I am embarrassed to say that).
Set things up in a "trapeze" configuration i.e. piece of foil under the Persian skewer so that if the meat fell off it would hit the foil on the grate and all would not be lost. Rested the baskets on the grate, with the wood handles outside the egg.
Turns out that I didn't need the trapeze setup. The kabab stayed put on the wider seekhs. Now I know which ones to use next time.
While the egg had been heating up, I made some dough for "stick naans". How could I make seekh kababs without naans? Since I couldn;t make them the usual way (sticking to the wall of tandoor) I tried Raichlens Planet Barbecue recipe for Armenian Stick Bread.
The bread came out pretty darn good. Cooked 3-4 mins per side. Very nice slightly sweet yeasty flavor. Nice chewy exterior, fluffy soft interior. I will definitely make these again.
A plated shot. I know the seekh kabab looks like something else, but they were very tasty.
Dinner was a hodge podge of things - leftover tzatziki sauce, Ethiopian food leftovers, seekh kababs, and stick naans. It all tasted fantastic though, and I think seekh kababs are back in my repertoire. Next time I will mix in some lamb though, since I think the flavor will be even better.
Thanks for looking!
__________________
A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeGot some brazalian churrascaria skewers a few years back to do tandoori from a restaurant distributor but next time some friends go to Istanbul my order is in.
If you turn the skewers vertical use a piece of lemon/lime to hold the meat from falling.
http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=721499&catid=1
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1 · Off Topic Disagree 1Agree LikeYou are right - the meat cooks from inside and out. Tandoors get blazing hot - 800 to 900°F + so the the meat sears quickly. The tip of the skewer is usually in the coals so it gets quite hot to cook the meat from the inside.
Very nice! What a great idea. Glad to see that you have proven the BGT concept. My wife makes ceramic pottery, so I might have to convine her to make your tandoori accessory for the egg :)
I built a tandoor a few years ago out of an oil drum, fire bricks and a big terracotta planter. It works beautifully. If you are looking for long tandoor skewers check out http://www.nishienterprise.com/SearchResults.asp?searching=Y&sort=2&search=skewer&show=16&page=2
The skewers are the real deal about 4' long, and indestructable. I have had mine for some time now and they are great. They also have them in stainless steel now, which I may think of upgrading to. My next experiment will be to cook some tandoori chicken vertically, by sliding the meat on a skewer down through the top vent. Still working on getting my egg up to higher temps - I think I am just not patient enough.
When I cook in my tandoor, I slide a potato on the end of the skewer, not so much as to hold the meat on but to act as a heat shield of sorts. The potatoes get cooked and basted with tandoori chicken juices during the cook and taste wonderful!
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1 · Off Topic Disagree Agree 1Likenope. I'ver seen people say to hit the ash with a hair dryer for a few seconds before going cowboy style (directly on coals) but I never do and the ash is minimal and easily swiped off
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree Likerecipe please (chicken, but I'll take the naan too in case it's different than mine)
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeCheers all -
B_B
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeI have it but dont know what to do with it. I saw a cook posted here long back, someone here made a chicken with it but then went on to "dress" it with tikka masala paste out of a bottle from an Indian store. Not clear what that accomplished, but it looked good.
______________________________________________
Large and Small BGE
And all the toys to make me look like a Gizmo Chef.
>:)
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeThis is a great video on tandoori chicken (ignore the gas stove part). The method and ingredients are similar to my approach, love his leg prep technique (we don't use breast) ... we also 'double' marinade but the first marinade is just salt and lemon ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM_Auw9wq-Y
Have tried blending spices from scratch but just can't get the flavour profile we like, settled on this:
4 kg skinless, bone-in legs (follow cutting instruction in the video)
1.5 TB garlic/ginger paste from Indian grocer
3 TB chicken kebab masala (we use a specialty brand from Bangalore, not sold locally)
6 TB Kissan Tandoori masala (we don't use the recipe on the label)
http://www.kissan.ca/products/Kissan_Tandoori_Masala_Authentic_East_Indian.html
Salt to taste (careful, watch the salt content in the kebab and tandoori masala too)
10 TB lemon juice
1/2 ts cayenne
about 3 cups of full fat yogurt
1) strain yogurt with coffee filter to get rid of liquid (video says hanging from cloth)
2) mix salt in lemon juice and rub chicken. let stand for an hour
3) mix thickened yogurt with all other ingredients and marinade the chicken overnight. our marinade is much thicker than the one shown in video, more like semi-paste, I massage it on rather than dip.
Place legs on grid face down first, to minimise marinade/juice loss at the start.
For naan, we follow this but cut down the ghee by 50%...
http://indianfood.about.com/od/breadrecipes/r/naan.htm
care to share your recipe/method? there's always room for improvement
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree Likethe meat sizzled when pulling off; the garden bench was charred in a few places
.
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeI have it but dont know what to do with it. I saw a cook posted here long back, someone here made a chicken with it but then went on to "dress" it with tikka masala paste out of a bottle from an Indian store. Not clear what that accomplished, but it looked good.
That was me.
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeBombay curry
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1 · Off Topic Disagree Agree 1Like______________________________________________
Large and Small BGE
And all the toys to make me look like a Gizmo Chef.
>:)
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeThis is my signature line just so you're not confused.
Large and Medium BGE, two turntables and a microphone
New Orleans
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0 · Off Topic Disagree Agree LikeThat stuff, uh, keeps us stuck together.
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1 · Off Topic Disagree Agree 1LikeJust my two cents, making Indian masalas isn't real hard. I toast all the seeds, barks and dry leaves before grinding or cook them in gravies. IMHO you lose the pungent flavours if you use packaged stuff. Great website here
http://www.vahrehvah.com/
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