While learning how to make shawarmas in Lucknow, Chef Saransh Goila came across an aromatic ingredient ufffd the sandalwood. He shares the secret recipe of Sandalwood Galouti kebabs
While sandalwood is known to be a great coolant to apply on the skin, and used to mark auspicious ceremonies, not many know that it can add great aroma to a dish.
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Chef Saransh Goila, an anchor and chef consultant for Food Food channel, added the beige powder into his kitchen ingredients after a stint in Lucknow. “I was in this tiny village learning how to many shawarmas in a food street that churned out 10,000 shawarmas a day. I decided to make something for the chefs as a gesture of my appreciation and saw some sandalwood sticks on the kitchen platform.
I had decided to make Galouti Kebab. I ground some sandalwood on a marble stone and added it to the ghee, which absorbs the taste and aroma of the powder beautifully,” says Goila, who gives a few tips about Galouti kebabs. “First of all, it should be a melt-in-the-mouth texture, for which, minimum binding agent of flour should be added,” he says.
Sandalwood kebabs
>> 3 cups hung yogurt
>> 1 small stick sandalwood
>> 100 g paneer
>> ½ cup prunes, chopped
>> Ginger-garlic paste to taste
>> 2-3 green chillies, chopped
>> 2 tsp freshly ground mix of cloves, peppercorn, jeera, cinnamon and cardamom
>> Salt to taste
>> 2 tsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
>> 2 tsp maida
>> 1 cup bread crumbs
>> 50 g powdered dry fruits (cashew, almonds, pistachio)
>> 3 tsp ghee
>> 2 tsp lemon juice
Method
>> Take hung yogurt in a bowl. Add mashed paneer, ginger garlic, green chillies, red chilli powder, freshly ground spice powders, salt, dry fruits and flour to it. Mix well
>> In another bowl, mix chopped prunes, coriander, salt andlemon juice
>> Make a small patty with the above mixture and stuff it with prunes mixture. Now coat these patties with breadcrumbs
>> Heat ghee in a pan and add a pinch of sandalwood powder or 1 tsp paste to it (can add a bit more for additional flavour or if quality of sandalwood is not good). Ghee will absorb the taste of sandalwood. Strain it
>> Now pan fry or shallow fry these kebabs in this sandalwood ghee
>> Serve hotu00a0