Shalgam ki tikki or Shalgam ke kabab is a traditional kabab recipe from UP which uses turnip as a base instead of potato making it healthier and tastier!
I, first, ate Shalgam ki Tikki some weeks ago at K3 restaurant of The JW Marriott, Aerocity Delhi. They had these tikkis as a part of their Indian tawa counter and I was very amused by it. The flavours were so clean and clear and so delicious. While eating them,Neha and I, both decided that we must make it once we go back to Bangalore.
Shalgam ki Tikki or Shalgam ke kabab, is essentially a traditional UP kabad recipe which is usually made as a change to using potato as the main base of the tikki. It is also much healthier option than the potato, since you are cutting down on carbs a lot. I even find the flavour much more intense as turnip brings its own sharpness to the kabab, adding a great depth of character. Fairly simple to make, another excellent thing about this tikki is that you don’t really need a binder for it. Turnip holds itself pretty well as long as you just shallow fry it.
I think turnips are a very under-rated vegetable. Trust me, they taste so good in different forms, that I find it very disappointing that they are not given enough importance in our vegetable sections 🙂 Whether you make them into a bharta, or some delicious achar, they sure taste super yummy! One great part about growing up in the north of India and then coming down to live in the south of India is that I have come to embrace the diversity in our cooking! Anyway, coming back to shalgam ki tikki, don’t wait too long, take my word for it and make it. I promise you will be making it again sooner than you planned!
Shalgam Ki Tikki (Shalgam ke Kabab)
Ingredients
- 1 kg turnip (shalgam)
- 1 onion small finely chopped
- to taste salt
- 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
- ghee or Oil for shallow frying
Instructions
- Boil turnip in enough water till soft, you can do this in open kadhai or pressure cooker. If boiling in kadhai, boil till tender and drain the water. If boiling in pressure cooker, cook till one whistle and let the steam escape. Drain the water.
- Once the boiled turnip is cool, squeeze out as much water as you can from the turnip and then mash it using a potato masher.
- In the mashed turning, mix ginger garlic paste and all the dry spices. Mix well.
- Distribute the dough in 8 balls and flatten while smoothing the edges in round or oval shape.
- Heat gheee or oil for shallow frying in a cast iron pan and cook the kababs on low heat on both sides till browned
- Serve with chutney or ketchup. Makes an excellent accompaniment to cocktails and beer apart from being a great tea time snack and snack box option as well
In Macon, GA USA, there is an Indian grocer. I have found many spices in the regular grocery store. But I have made a list and plan to buy them there. So many of your recipes are similar to foods we cook here. Great blog.
I tried it, but it fell apart. Had to add a potato 🙁
Ohooo 🙁 For me it holds. Will try and do a step by step update to this