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. The buffalo-meat patties are so tenderized they set like a mousse on the tawa.
Also known as: tunde ke kabab, tunday kabab, tundey kebab, tunday kababi, टुंडे कबाब
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 500 g mutton or beef, minced three times
- 40 g raw papaya paste
- 30 g roasted gram flour
- 60 g fried onions, crushed
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1.5 tsp Lucknowi garam masala plus a pinch each of nutmeg and mace
- 2 ml kewra water
- 60 g ghee, for the griddle
- 1.25 tsp salt
How to make it
- 1
Beat every ingredient except the ghee into a paste that feels almost too soft to shape, then rest 3 h in the fridge.
- 2
Heat a tawa or cast-iron pan over medium heat with a generous spoon of ghee.
- 3
With cold, ghee-rubbed palms, flatten small discs 8-10 mm thick straight onto the pan.
- 4
Fry 2-3 min per side, flipping exactly once when the underside is lace-brown.
- 5
Serve folded into warm sheermal or ulte tawa paratha.
Pro tip: If the mixture holds its shape confidently in your hand, it is too stiff; Tunday texture comes from a batter-soft paste set by the hot ghee, not from binding.
The story of Tunday Kebab
Tunday kebab is Lucknow's most storied griddle kebab, created by a cook who had lost an arm — tunda in Urdu — and whose family still runs the shop and still guards a spice blend said to run past a hundred ingredients. The claim is unverifiable and universally repeated, which is very much in the spirit of Lucknow.
It is made from buffalo meat rather than lamb, which is both economically and legally significant in Uttar Pradesh, and the patties are tenderised to the point where they set on the tawa like a savoury mousse. The original Aminabad shop still has queues, and every other Tunday in India is a homage.
The technique that defines it
Unlike the skewer kebabs of the same city, Tunday is cooked flat on a tawa — a heavy iron griddle — in ghee. Small quantities of very soft mince are dropped onto the hot surface and flattened, and they set almost immediately into thin patties with a lacy fried edge.
The mixture is extremely fine and extremely soft, tenderised with raw papaya and worked with fried onion paste and the shop's spice blend. Because it holds no structure of its own, the tawa does the shaping: the mince is spread with the back of a spoon and flipped once, with a great deal of ghee doing the work of both fat and heat transfer.
Choosing your ingredients
Buffalo mince is traditional; lamb or beef minced very fine is the practical substitute. Fat content around 20 percent, and it needs to be ground at least twice. Raw papaya paste in small quantity, and no longer than an hour or two.
The spice base is Awadhi — cardamoms, mace, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, white pepper, black cumin — with fried onion paste and roasted gram flour to help bind. Ghee for the griddle, generously; this is not a dish to cook lean.
Mistakes that ruin it
Coarse mince
It must be ground fine, at least twice. Coarse mince will not set into the smooth patty this dish is known for.
Too little ghee on the tawa
The ghee is both the cooking medium and the flavour. A dry griddle gives a grey, stuck patty.
Trying to shape the patties by hand
The mixture is too soft. Drop it onto the hot griddle and spread it there.
Flipping repeatedly
Once. The patty is fragile and each flip risks tearing it.
How it is served
With ultra-thin rumali roti or a small paratha, sliced onion, mint chutney and lemon. In Lucknow it is bought by the plate and eaten standing at the counter. It is intensely rich and portions are correspondingly small.
Questions about Tunday Kebab
Why is it called Tunday kebab?
Tunda means one-armed in Urdu. It is named for the cook who created it, whose family still runs the original Lucknow shop.
What meat is used?
Buffalo traditionally, minced very fine. Lamb or beef ground at least twice is the workable substitute.
Is it grilled or fried?
Neither exactly — it is cooked flat on a hot iron tawa in a generous amount of ghee, which sets the very soft mince into a thin patty.
Does it really have over a hundred spices?
That is the family's claim and it is unverifiable. The blend is Awadhi in character — cardamom, mace, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper — and genuinely complex.
