How to Make a Homemade Kebab

Step 1: Choose Meat

You can choose any type of meat you like from beef, lamb, mutton, goat, pork, or chicken. You can also choose Games such as Deer, Rabbit. For flavor, the meat should have a minimum of 10% fat.

You can buy the muscle meat and use Food Processor in pulse mode to grind the meat, or you can by the meat that is already ground.Step 2: Marinate Meat

We should add ¼ teaspoon of salt per pound of meat for gelatinization. In addition, we need a tenderizer to breakdown the connective tissue. We have three different options. You should make a fine paste and disperse it throughout the meat allowing for maximum surface contact. You may use your hand to knead the mixture as if you are making dough for bread, or use a food processor. You may added spices before or after marinating.Option Use fresh Raw Papaya

Add 2 Tablespoon of raw papaya per pound of meat to breakdown the connective tissue.

Peel green skin up to ¼" deep off the raw papaya. This has the highest amount of Papain. If you score the skin of a raw Papaya with knife, the fruit will exude a milky white substance known as the latex that contains Papain.

The Papain is active over 104º F, and it starts to die if the temperature reaches over 160º F. Put your meat and tenderizer in a glassware with lid. Wrap the glassware in electric blanket. Turn on electric blanket to 'low'. Turn off after 2 hours.Option Use Adolph's meat tenderizer

Add 1 teaspoon of Adolph meat tenderizer per pound of meat to breakdown the connective tissue.

The Adolph's meat tenderizer is basically Papain extracted from raw papaya.

The Papain is active over 104º F, and it starts to die if the temperature reaches over 160º F. Put your meat and tenderizer in a glassware with lid. Wrap the glassware in electric blanket. Turn on electric blanket to 'low'. Turn off after 2 hours.Option Use Yogurt

Add ½ cup of hung yogurt per pound of meat to breakdown the connective tissue.

The lactic acid and the live culture helps breakdown the connective tissue. The reason to use hung yogurt is to minimize amount of moisture. One cup of whole milk yogurt should yield ½ cup of hung yogurt when hung in muslin cloth for four hours.Step 3: Binder

Add 2 Tablespoon of Besan or Corn Starch per pound of meat

After the meat is marinated, we need to add a binder. In India, the most common binders are Chickpea flour (Besan), or Corn Starch (Makki Atta). In United States, you can use bread crumbs.

Let the mixture rest rest for about 20 minutes. This allows the spices and the binder to blend in the flavor.Step 4: Select Form presentation

You have two options. The cooking depends on the form factor.Option Patty form

Knead mixture. Pinch 2 to 3 tablespoons of mixture off. Roll it in to a ball in your had. Now press it to forma a patty. A kebab patty should be about 4" round and ½" thick. The patties may be stored in refrigerator for about 4 hours to let the form factor to firm up before cooking.

The patties are normally fried in a pan with Ghee on medium heat. The patties can also be baked in oven.Option Skewer

Use Bamboo skewers. The skewers should be soaked in water for 15 minutes. This reduces the skewer to catch fire when cooking. Pinch about 2 to 3 Tablespoons off the Kebab mixture. Cover the Bamboo skewer with the mixture about ¼" thick along the length. The meat will look like a cigar which has been pierced length wise by the skewer.

The kebab may be cooked on charcoal or in an oven. For oven, preheat oven cavity to 375º F. Bake for 25 minutes.