What is Seekh Kebab?
Seekh kebab is made from spiced ground lamb formed into a long cylinder shape and cooked over a grill then served hot. The lamb is seasoned with onions, garlic, chili peppers and spices, placed on the skewer and cooked until the outside is gently crisped and the inside is tender. The flavors are umami with saltiness and a hint of spiciness.
What does Seekh Kebab Taste Like?
Salty is one of the five main tastes. It has a satisfying and addictive quality with hints of sourness. Salty foods include cheeses, cured meats, chips, and olives. It is used in almost every dish and prepared food. Salt is added to enhance flavor and offer a distinctly salty taste.
Umami is one of five main tastes. It is savory with a depth of flavor. Umami is a taste in many foods, including meat, seafood, beans, and nuts. It is both naturally occurring and created through the specific use of ingredients to create a satisfying taste. Umami is characteristic of proteins and savory dishes.
Spicy is a flavor that brings heat and fire to food by creating a burning sensation in the mouth or sinuses. Spicy flavors come from hot peppers, horseradish, and wasabi. Spicy adds a kick and sometimes complexity to a dish and releases endorphins, creating a mildly addictive quality.
Ingredients
Lamb is a red meat that comes from the animal before it is 12 months old. Meat older than this is called mutton and is from a sheep. Shoulder meat is the preferred cut for ground lamb, though other cuts can be used. Ground lamb has a soft texture that is pliable and easy to shape. The color is red and when cooked it has a mild and sweet flavor that is gently gamey.
The onion is a bulb vegetable, meaning its bulb and not its leaves are eaten. Onions come in many varieties, including white, yellow and red. Shallots are small and mild onions. Vidalias are sweet, while red onions are strong and sharp. The onion is usually round and has a thin dry skin around its juicy layers. This skin depends in the color of the onion, as does the flesh. The flesh, or body of the onion is made of multiple round layers, that get smaller towards the center. The flavor of onions are sharp and sweet when raw, with an astringent taste. When cooked, these flavors mellow and the sweetness emerges. Onion are a very common flavoring and ingredient for many savory dishes.
Ghee is clarified butter in which the butter is cooked down and much of the milk solids are removed, in effect milk proteins and sugars are removed resulting in a lower content of lactose. Ghee can easily withstand high cooking temperatures. It is golden in color, hard when cold and soft when warm. It has a gentle nutty and buttery taste. Ghee adds a round quality to any dish, and a richness and depth of flavor. It is used as a cooking fat or like butter, but also as flavoring.
Garlic is used in cuisines around the world and is extremely popular for its depth of flavor. The garlic bulb forms underneath the soil and is harvested once it reaches maturity. The bulb typically has thin, dry, white and flaky skin, surrounding the individual cloves. Often there are 10-12 cloves to a bulb/head of garlic. The cloves are cream colored with a strong smell and flavor that is spicy and sharp. Garlic takes on a nutty flavor in addition, when cooked. It is used in countless dishes, sauces, breads and more.
Bird's eye chili peppers are small peppers about 2-3 inches in length. They are thin with tapered ends and can be harvested when green or red. Red indicated the pepper is ripe. The heat of this thin skinned pepper is intense and flavorful with an almost floral hint. They go well in curries, meat, seafood and vegetable dishes and can be found in condiments.
Ginger is a spice whose root is used in food around the world. The root is grown underground and has a hard body and thin beige skin. The root has many rounded and long shoots and is often fat. The flesh of the ginger is golden colored with a flavor that is earthy, spicy and bright. Ginger is made into tea, used in sauces, desserts and savory dishes.
Salt is a mineral composed mostly of sodium chloride. It is the main flavoring used in food and is naturally occurring in certain foods, such as cheese, beets, meat and celery, plus many others. Salt is white and has finer granules than sugar. Many commercial salts include iodide, while others exclude it. Most salts are white, while some are naturally pale pink with minerals. Salt brings out the flavor of something and can create a tangy mouthfeel, if used in excess.
Mint is a leafy herb with 13 to 18 species and grows in a bushy mass of thin stalks containing small, oblong green leaves with tapered ends. The leaves have indented lines and are delicate and get sturdier the more mature the plant is. They are highly aromatic and have a flavor that is green, zesty, sweet and ends on a cool note. Mint is used as a tea, sauce and herb to flavor sweet and savory foods.
Fennel seeds are tiny thin seeds with tapered ends and a ridged body. Their color is a muted beige with a hint of occasional green. Fennel seeds can be ground into powder, though are more commonly used whole. The flavor is fresh, spicy and a bit similar to anise. This seed is used to flavor sausages, rice dishes and savory breads.
The peppercorn plant grows in tropical climate and produces tiny black fruit. The fruit is dried and become hard. At this point it is ground into a textured powder comprised of black and grey dots. It has a flavor that is spicy, pungent and sharp. Pepper is an extremely popular spice, especially in Western cuisines and lends a gentle heat to dishes. There are different varieties of black pepper and the flavor changes subtly because of this.
Cilantro is a leafy herb with a thin green stalk and small, partially fringed green leaves that look similar to a three leaf clover. It has a distinct smell that is similar to a lime and a flavor to match that. In addition, it smells and tastes the same and has a strong flavor with a hint of greens. Due to a genetic trait, some people find that cilantro tastes like soap. This herb is used in many cuisines, particularly from Asia and Central and South America.
Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant. These seeds are a warm beige color with a round and slightly oblong body and a pointy, yet harmless top. The seeds taste citrusy, warm, nutty and spicy. Coriander is popular in various cuisines, including Indian and Latin cooking.
