These are lovely sweet and smoky squash lollipops. Don’t worry if they brown or blacken while cooking: this is where the good flavours lurk. These are great served in chapattis with salad, and cucumber and mint raita. To make proper seekh kebabs you’ll need either wooden or metal skewers.
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash (600 g)
- rapeseed oil
- 400 g tin of chickpeas, drained
- 4 cm ginger, peeled
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 green finger chillies
- 75 g breadcrumbs
- 15 g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- butter
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and line a baking tray with foil.
- Peel the squash, halve it, and scoop the seeds out using a spoon. Cut the flesh into 4 cm chunks. Coat with a tablespoon of oil and roast in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes until soft, then remove from the oven to cool.
- Pulse the cooled squash in a food processor along with the remaining ingredients except the butter. If you don’t have a food processor, mash the chickpeas and butternut together, mince the ginger, garlic and chillies, and stir in the other ingredients.
- Separate the mixture into 8 balls. Roll one between your palms, then shape the mixture around the skewer to make a kebab around 10 cm long. Repeat with the rest of the mixture.
- To cook, heat a small knob of butter and a teaspoon of oil in the frying pan. When it starts to foam, put 4 skewers into the pan (or as many as will fit). Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until lovely and brown, turning every minute or so. Cook the rest and serve.
