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.
