Baked yogurt kabab / Dahi ka Kabab / High protein diet

Yogurt Kabab/ Dahi ke Kabab is an ideal Indian snack /short eat to go with a hot cup of tea especially during  rainy season. Just the right thing to make me feel better on a gloomy, dark and snowy day.The kabab is not too spicy and has a slight tang from the Greek yogurt used and whole crushed chick peas gives it the crunch. The yogurt and chickpeas combination makes the kabab a high protein healthy baked savory snack which can be enjoyed anytime of the day.
Dahi ka kabab is a strong contender in the vegetarian section of kababs. A Middle Eastern cuisine brought to India centuries ago by the Mughals to Lucknow,U.P.The Awadhi cuisine is famous for lot of richly spiced and creamy like velvet savory and sweet delicacies to their credit.Vegetarian and non-vegetarian kabab are just one of their specialties.

Yogurt / curd /dahi which is the main ingredient used here It is made into hung curd by draining of the excess water content in it and mixed with chick peas flour to hold it together but I have used whole cooked chick peas here to give some crunch and body to kababs. Instead of shallow frying in oil I have baked it. The kababs becomes hard to handle and turn while frying but in baking it gets slightly dehydrated so there is no worry of kababs breaking.

Ingredients: (Yields around 15 small kababs)
 Plain yogurt/ curd/ dahi - 2 cups
Chick peas/ channa (cooked / canned) - 1 cup
Ginger- a 1/2 inch piece coarse paste.
Green chili -1/2 of 1 (seeds removed)
Red chili powder / Paprika - 1/2 tsp (reduce according to heat required)
Turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp
Coriander leaves - a small bunch chopped
Salt to taste
Powder dry spices below :
Cardamom- 3
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - a small piece
Cumin -1 tsp

Cooking oil to spray.
Bread crumbs to coat the kabab

Method:
1.Put the yogurt on a muslin/ cheese cloth and tie the ends together and leave it on a colander with a bowl underneath it to catch all the water/whey flowing out. I keep a heavy piece of rock on the yogurt pack to drain off excess for 4 hours atleast for better results leave it overnight in the fridge.(We call it hung curd)
2.Drain all the water in the chick peas, pat dry with kitchen towel.Coarsely grind it. (Do not mash it entirely into paste as the dough will become too mushy and hard to handle.
3.Mix all the hung curd ,chick peas and all the spices together into a dough.
At this point the dough will be super sticky. Use  an ice cream to scoop the dough.
Spread the bread crumbs on a plate put one scoop of dough on it and roll the dough in the bread crumbs. Shape it into 1/2 inch thick disk shape. Dust off excess. Repeat for all the scoops of dough.
Put it in the freezer for half an hour.
4.On a foil lined baking tray grease first with cooking spray and carefully lay the kebabs leaving space in between for it to expand. Give a light coat of cooking spray on to too to prevent the kababs from drying out.
5.Preheat oven and bake at 375 F for 13-15 minutes on one side then turn and continue for another 15 minutes. The outside would be crisp while the inside would be slightly soft. Since everything is cooked it is perfectly fine and thats the way it should be.As it sits it will dry out.
6.Let the kabab rest on the baking tray to firm up for few minutes then remove them and serve along with any dipping of your choice or with spicy green chutney raw onion rings and lime wedges.
Stay good in fridge for two days.

Note: the dough is super sticky so if you are finding it difficult to shape add some finely torn bits of bread.This will help absorb extra moisture and hold the shape well

Green chutney:
Coriander leaves/Cilantro - a small bunch
Mint- few sprigs
Green chili- 1/2 seeds removed
Tamarind paste -1/2 tsp
Garlic flake - 1 chopped (optional)
Salt to taste
Grind this to paste adding may be a tsp or two of water.

Hope you like it.
Meena