Video and Written Recipe for Koobideh Kabab by Food Storyteller Raj (@foodcharmz on social media):
“Chelo Kebab has very fond memories when I used to relish it at Blue Nile Restaurant in Pune, India. I can’t recreate the exact taste but I have used all the ingredients as it is done in Iran, it may or may not be authentic but at the end the food was polished off clean, and that matters.
The most popular and most famous of Iran’s Persian dishes. Chelo Kabab (Chelow Kabob or Chelo Kebab), literally means white rice with kebab in Persian. The particular variant of meat kabob that this recipe presents is called koobideh (kubideh), a ground beef kebab.
- 500gm ground lamb with 20% fat
- 250gm grated onion
- Salt
- 1/4tsp baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2tsp white pepper powder
- 1tsp sumac
- Pinch of saffron
- first 8-9min of a good kneading is very important for the kebabs not to fall apart when grilling
- After adding all ingredients, knead for 5 mins more.
- Always make sure the kebab mixture is cold from the refrigerator while binding on skewer
- I grilled in oven at 200C for 20min but you can also grill on a pan
- Brush some butter on the koobide before serving
Written Recipe for the Chelo (Rice) by
Mike Benayoun (196 Flavors):
- 2 cups basmati rice
- Sunflower oil
- A few saffron threads
- Salt
- Soak the rice in plenty of cold water for 2 hours.
- Rinse thoroughly and drain.
- Cook the rice for 7 minutes in large amount of salted boiling water.
- Drain the rice, but do not wash the pot.
- Keep over high heat and add 2 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons tablespoons water, stir and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula.
- Pour the precooked and drained rice to form a pyramid.
- Poke 3 to 4 holes in the rice with the handle of your wooden spatula.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of oil in an evenly distributed fashion.
- Put a dish towel over pot, then cover with pot lid and bring dish towel ends over pot lid.
- This technique ensures a better seal, and is key to success of this type of rice steaming.
- Never open the lid throughout cooking.
- Cook over high heat about 5 to 10 minutes, until a little steam escapes from the sides of the lid.
- Then lower heat and cook for 40 minutes.
- Place the rice in a serving dish and remove the crispy rice crust that formed at the bottom of the pot.
- Dissolve the saffron in 2 tablespoons of boiling water, take a part of the cooked rice and pour the saffron on top.
- Serve the kebabs accompanied with the grilled tomatoes and onions and the rice topped with a few tablespoons of saffron rice
