Before cooking, the meat-spice mixture requires a rest in the refrigerator to bring all the flavors together and to give the kebabs their requisite melt-in-the-mouth tenderness. If you cannot get a baking pan of just this size, something a bit smaller or a bit larger will do. (You could also use a 6-inch-square cake tin and cut the kebabs into rectangles—in which case, bake for only 30 minutes.) Serve these pâté-like kebabs with drinks, offering flatbread pieces or crackers to eat them with, or serve them as part of a meal with vegetables or salads. They need an accompanying chutney, such as the Peshawari Red Pepper Chutney, page 243, or the Bengali-Style Tomato Chutney, page 244.

　　

Ingredients

serves 8 as an appetizer, 4 as a main course

　　1 pound ground turkey (an equal mixture of dark and light meat is best)

　　2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

　　2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

　　2–3 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press

　　3/4–1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

　　4 teaspoons plain yogurt

　　1 teaspoon salt

　　1 1/2 teaspoons store-bought garam masala

　　1 teaspoon ground coriander

　　4 tablespoons very finely chopped onions

　　1 egg, lightly beaten

　　

Step 1

Combine the turkey, mint, cilantro, garlic, cayenne, yogurt, salt, garam masala, coriander, and 3 tablespoons of the onions in a bowl. Mix well. Add the egg and mix again. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least 4–6 hours.

　　

Step 2

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

　　

Step 3

Pat the meat firmly into a loaf pan measuring about 3 1/2” × 7 1/2” × 2 1/2". Scatter the remaining 1 tablespoon onions over the top and lightly press them in. Bake 40 minutes. Place under a broiler/grill briefly until the top is just browned. Unmold, with the onion side on top. You may cut into slices or squares and serve or put the loaf out like a pâté and let people help themselves.

　　Excerpted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright © 2010 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Buy the full book from Amazon.