On the heat. Medium

Ingredients

• 800 g lean lamb mince, double-ground
• 3 tbsp raw papaya paste (the tenderiser — do not skip)
• 4 tbsp fried onion, crushed to powder
• 2 tbsp ghee, plus more to fry
• 2 tbsp ground almond
• 1 tbsp ginger–garlic paste
• 2 tsp garam masala · 1 tsp white pepper
• ½ tsp each: nutmeg, mace, green cardamom
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli · 1½ tsp salt
• 1 small piece charcoal, for smoking

Method

1. Mix the papaya paste through the mince and leave 30 minutes. The enzyme is what makes these collapse on the tongue.
2. Work in everything else and knead for five minutes until it is a smooth, wet paste with no texture at all. This is the opposite of a seekh kebab.
3. Smoke it: heat the charcoal until red, sit it in a small bowl in the middle of the mixture, pour a teaspoon of ghee on it, and cover the whole bowl tightly for 10 minutes.
4. Chill three hours. The mixture is deliberately too soft to handle warm.
5. With wet hands, shape flat discs about 6 cm across and 1 cm thick. Wrap in caul fat if using.
6. Shallow-fry in ghee on medium-low, three minutes a side, turning once only with a fish slice. High heat tears them apart. Serve with paratha and onion.

Cook's note. Why they exist. Made, the story goes, for a Nawab of Awadh who had lost his teeth. Whether or not that is true, they should require no chewing whatsoever.

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