South Asia / 37

Quick index

• Seekh Kebab — Spiced minced lamb, beef, or chicken pressed by hand along a flat metal skewer and roasted in a tandoor or over coals.
• Galouti Kebab — Lucknow's famous melt-in-the-mouth patty, invented for a toothless Nawab: finely minced lamb tenderized with raw papaya and perfumed with a long spice blend, then shallow-fried on a griddle.
• Boti Kebab — Bite-size cubes ('boti') of mutton or lamb marinated in yogurt, ginger-garlic, and spices, then skewered and charred in a tandoor.
• Bihari Kebab — Long, thin ribbons of beef or mutton marinated in mustard oil, papaya, browned onions, and toasted spices, then threaded in folds onto skewers.
• Chapli Kebab — A wide, sandal-shaped Pashtun patty from Peshawar: minced beef or mutton studded with crushed coriander seed, pomegranate seeds, tomato, and egg, fried flat in animal fat until the edges crisp.
• Haryali Kebab — Chicken chunks coated in a vivid green marinade of mint, coriander leaf, spinach, and yogurt before hitting the tandoor.
• Reshmi Kebab — The 'silken' kebab of Mughlai kitchens: chicken bound with cream, cashew paste, and egg so the grilled result stays pale, tender, and almost custardy.
• Shami Kebab — A smooth round patty of minced meat and chana dal boiled with whole spices, ground to a paste, bound with egg, and shallow-fried.
• Kakori Kebab — An Awadhi refinement of the seekh from the town of Kakori near Lucknow: lamb minced to a near-paste with fat, raw papaya, and a famously subtle spice mix, so soft it barely clings to the skewer.
• Tunday Kebab — Lucknow's most storied griddle kebab, created by a one-armed ('tunda') cook whose family still guards a spice blend said to run past 100 ingredients.
• Chicken Tikka — Boneless chicken pieces double-marinated in lemon, then spiced yogurt, and blistered on skewers in a tandoor.
• Paneer Tikka — India's flagship vegetarian kebab: cubes of fresh paneer cheese and peppers coated in spiced, gram-flour-thickened yogurt and charred in the tandoor.
• Malai Kebab — Chicken cubes soaked in a white marinade of cream, cheese, cashew, and green cardamom, grilled just until golden at the edges.
• Tangdi Kebab — Whole chicken drumsticks slashed to the bone, marinated in spiced yogurt (kalmi versions add cream and cheese), and roasted in the tandoor.
• Shikampuri Kebab — Hyderabad's 'belly-full' kebab: a shami-style meat-and-lentil patty stuffed with a pocket of tangy yogurt, onion, and mint before shallow-frying.
• Patthar ka Gosht — A Hyderabadi Nizam-era specialty in which paper-thin marinated lamb slices are seared directly on a slab of granite heated over coals.
• Pasanda Kebab — Flattened, tenderized strips of prime lamb or beef ('pasanda' means the favored cut) marinated in yogurt and grilled or pan-seared.
• Gola Kebab — A Karachi and Old Delhi specialty of minced meat beaten so smooth it must be tied to the skewer with thread ('dhaga') to survive the grill.
• Sutli Kebab — Bhopal's answer to the gola kebab: ultra-tender minced buffalo or mutton wound onto skewers with cotton string ('sutli') that is snipped away before serving.
• Kathi Kebab Roll — Kolkata street food born at the Nizam's restaurant: skewer-roasted meat ('kathi' means stick) rolled into a flaky, egg-fried paratha with onions and lime.
• Hara Bhara Kebab — A vegetarian patty of spinach, green peas, and potato, spiced and pan-fried until crusted.
• Dahi ke Kebab — An Awadhi vegetarian curiosity: thick hung yogurt bound with roasted gram flour and onions, shaped into discs and fried to a shell that gives way to a molten, tangy center.
• Jali Kebab — A Bangladeshi wedding and iftar staple: a soft minced-beef patty dipped in beaten egg that fries into a lacy net ('jali' means mesh) around the meat.
• Shinwari Tikka — The Pashtun purist's kebab from the Shinwari tribal belt: fresh fat-tail lamb cubes seasoned with nothing but salt (and sometimes animal fat), grilled over wood.
• Chopan Kebab — Afghanistan's 'shepherd's kebab': bone-in lamb chops and chunks salted, skewered, and grilled over open flame, traditionally by herders cooking their own flock.
• Afghani Chicken Kebab — Chicken marinated in a pale blend of yogurt, cream, cashew, and mild spices, grilled so it stays white and succulent rather than red.
• Chargha — Lahore's whole-bird kebab-house classic: a full chicken scored, steeped in spiced yogurt and vinegar, steamed until cooked, then flash deep-fried so the skin crackles.
• Dum ke Kebab — A Hyderabadi Ramadan specialty in which marinated minced or flattened mutton is sealed in a tray and slow-baked under 'dum' with live coals smoking the surface.
• Sekuwa — Nepal's signature roadside kebab: cubes of goat, pork, or chicken rubbed with timur (Sichuan-type pepper), ginger-garlic, and mustard oil, then threaded on skewers and fire-roasted over natural wood, most famously along the Dharan-Dhankuta belt in eastern Nepal.
• Choila — A Newari specialty from the Kathmandu Valley: water-buffalo meat grilled or seared over flame, then sliced and tossed while hot with raw mustard oil, fenugreek tempering, chili, and timur; 'haku' (black) choila keeps the char-smoked style.
• Dhaga Kebab — A Lahore street institution named for the cotton thread (dhaga) wound around each skewer to hold its ultra-soft, fat-rich minced beef together over the coals; the thread is snipped off just before serving.
• Behari Boti — Thin ribbons of beef undercut tenderized with raw papaya and marinated in fried-onion paste, yogurt, and mustard oil, then skewered and smoked over charcoal until silky and almost melting.
• Malai Boti — Chicken cubes steeped in a marinade of cream (malai), cream cheese or yogurt, green chili, and white pepper, grilled on skewers to a pale, barely-charred finish that stays deliberately mild and velvety.
• Pathar ke Kebab — A Hyderabadi Nizam-era technique in which sheets of marinated mutton are seared directly on a slab of granite heated over live coals, the stone radiating steady heat that crusts the meat without skewers.
• Kalmi Kebab — A Mughlai tandoor kebab made from chicken drumettes or drumsticks ('kalmi' refers to the wing-joint cut) marinated in hung yogurt, cream, cardamom, and white pepper, then roasted on the tandoor's vertical rods until the bone handle chars.
• Shik Kabab (Dhaka) — Old Dhaka's after-dark ritual: spiced minced beef or khashi (castrated goat) pressed onto flat iron skewers, fanned over coal braziers in lanes like Nazira Bazar, and eaten folded into luchi or thin ruti with mustard and onion.
• Sri Lankan Sathe — Colombo's Malay community, descended from Javanese exiles of the Dutch era, keeps a local satay tradition alive in Slave Island 'sathe kades': beef or chicken cubes in a turmeric-heavy marinade, grilled and doused in a curry-leaf-inflected peanut gravy hotter than its Southeast Asian ancestor.