RECIPE: Chapli Kebab (ground beef kebab from Afghanistan)

I just received a new cookbook, The Best of Afghan Cooking by Zarghuna S. Adel,  and there was a recipe inside that I couldn't wait to try.  Fortunately, everything I needed was in the farm store yesterday - ground beef, eggs, scallions, onions, cilantro, peppers, tomatoes and garlic.  The other ingredients, I always have on hand - ginger, flour, ghee and pita bread.  

 

I used the red wax peppers to make crushed chile.  They are mild-hot.  If you can't tolerate hot, you can use paprika.  If you like heat, use a hotter pepper!  

 

It took me a while to mince all those veggies so next time I will do that in the processor.  Mixing everything together and frying the meat was fast, and dinner was delicious!  My husband compared it to cevapcici, a Balkan ground beef kebab recipe we'll be making soon.

 

There is a photo of the original recipe at the end of this post.  The original recipe was for 2 pounds of ground beef.  I made half a recipe - one pound of beef.  I used chickpea flour and I pan fried them rather than deep fry.  I also left off the fried tomatoes because I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table.

Chapli Kebab from Afghanistan

Afghan Chapli Kebab made with chickpea flour

Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound 80%-lean ground beef
• 1 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1 medium onion minced and patted dry (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 bunch chopped cilantro (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 small tomato, finely chopped 
• 2 t. minced garlic
• 2 t. minced ginger
• 1 small egg
• 1/4 cup flour (I used chickpea flour)
• 1 T. ground coriander seeds
• 1 t. salt
• 2 t. crushed chili (use paprika if  you can't tolerate heat)
• 1/2 t. ground black pepper
• ghee for frying
• 12-16 tomato slices
  

Instructions:

 

Mince the scallions, onions, cilantro, tomato, garlic and ginger.

 

Place all the ingredients for the Kebab except the oil and tomato slices into a bowl.  Working with your hands, mix the ingredients until well blended and sticky.  (I used a food  processor for this):

 

With oiled hands, form into 2" balls, and then flatten the balls into 1/4" thick discs.  (Mine were about 3/8" thick)

 

Heat 1/4" of oil in a large frying pan over medium low heat (I used a Chantal enamel pan and #5 out of 10 on my cooktop).

 

Fry patties for about 4 minutes on each side, or until golden. 

 

Drain on paper towels and keep warm in oven at 160 while frying the others.  (Because I did not deep fry them, and I wasn't going to add the tomatoes, I didn't use paper towels or keep them warm, I just piled them on a plate and we ate them as they came off the pan.)

 

Once all the patties are cooked, raise the heat to medium and fry the tomato slices until slightly caramelized. Transfer the tomatoes to the patties and serve.  (I skipped this).

They're supposed to be served with naan, which I don't have, so I served them with pita bread and some tzatziki I made last week.  Yogurt mixed with garlic and/or sumac would also work.

 

Here's the recipe from the book, so you can see how it's supposed to be served:

 I will be attempting her recipe for naan!