Jhinga na Kavab - Prawn kebabs

Jhinga na Kavab | Prawn Kebab

Jhinga na kavab - the modern way
For years, we have always enjoyed the best jhinga na kavab at my mother's dining table. I realised they were 'different' from the traditional ones we were served with Dhansak at ghambars, community meals, picnics or in other homes we ate at. I continued to love those my mum prepared. You could really taste the prawns, never minced, never overpowered with the binding that is necessary for kavabs if one is to fry them easily without them collapsing. She prepared them like a biscuit, never like a ball. 
Years later, I decided to give it a try. While they are easy to make, they are messy to fry. And so, I turned it into an omelette style simply to cut and share. Everyone loved them. My daughter decided to make these for a pop-up in London and was creative enough to turn them into muffins. After all, modern day food is more theatrical if you want brownie points!
While it's easy to prepare as an omelette or in a muffin pan it all tastes divine. So go ahead and make them whichever way your family can enjoy it. 

Jhinga na kavab, scooped into muffin pans and baked

Makes 24 kavabs 

450 g/ 1.1lb prawns - peeled, washed, deveined and cut into 3 pieces each
1 tsp salt
6 finely chopped green chillies
2 medium seedless finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
1 cup fried crushed onions lightly golden
1 sliced white bread into crumbs
3 eggs - well beaten
Hot oil to fry or brush the pan with

In a bowl place the prepared prawns. Salt them and toss well.
Now add the green chillies, tomatoes coriander onions and bread.
When ready to bake add the eggs and mix well.

Preheat the oven to 200 °C | 400 °F
Brush the muffin pan with cooking oil. Heat the empty pan for 5 minutes.

With an ice-cream scoop place the prepared mixture of the kavabs into the heated muffin pan. Top with a teaspoon of hot oil on each kavab-muffin. 
Place the tray into the oven for 17 to 20 minutes.
Remove and serve immediately.

Omelette Style

To make it on the stove-top like a big omelette to serve family style. For that, increase the eggs to 6. This quantity makes 2 omelettes.

Heat a 3 cm/ 9-inch skillet with a teaspoon of oil until very hot. 

Then beat 3 eggs very well and pour into the hot skillet. Immediately add 1/2 the prawn mix and cover the pan. Give it 2 minutes, shaking the skillet. Keep the pan covered and make sure it's cooked through. Flip it over on a plate and serve it in wedges.

 Traditional Kavabs

To deep fry them in hot oil. 

To do that, the mixture must be "drier" in nature.

Chill the mixture. You can drop it on a large sieve to allow any liquid to drain out. It needs to be sticky and firm enough to handle with two spoons. You may need to adjust the ingredients by adding another slice of bread or adjusting the eggs. You will also need to chop the prawns into smaller bites. 

Tossing them in breadcrumbs will give them a crisp and delicious coating.

If you wish to fry them and prepare them cutlet style, the ratio is

400 g/ 1 lb prawns, chopped

4 eggs

1 large finely chopped tomato

150 g/ 6 oz of fresh coriander-finely chopped

4 green chillies finely chopped.

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 cup flour-dusted ready-fried onions

Keep the prawns, tomato and coriander well drained and free of water. The flour from the onions will help bind the kebab.
Keep stirring the mixture each time you spoon the kebab to shallow fry.
Only turn it over once to avoid breaking.

The coarser the breadcrumbs the crispier the coating.

Karachla na kavab | Crab Balls

 

Makes 12 golf ball size

For the crabs I used

100 g/ 3.5 oz lump crabmeat - by weight

6 green chillies

2 small tomatoes -deseeded

1/2 cup fresh coriander

1/2 cup of fried onions

1/4 cup coarse breadcrumbs

1 cup of potato flour

2 eggs

Oil to fry

Hot oil to fry and breadcrumbs mixed with potato flour to crisp.

Tips

The oil must come up to half the kavab - as we only turn it once.

The coarser the breadcrumbs, the crunchier the surface.

 

To read about an ancient cuisine you can purchase my cookbooks called The World of Parsi Cooking; Food Across Borders and The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.


 Photo Credit Niloufer Mavalvala

Shamineh Mavalvala made these for her home and shared it with us.

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.