Vegan and gluten-free melt-in-mouth kebabs made with chana dal and jackfruit! These are flavored with whole and ground spices and make a delicious snack or appetizer. You can also enjoy them with parathas!
Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the whole spices- cumin seeds, bay leaf, green cardamom, black cardamom and peppercorns. Saute for few seconds until the spices are fragrant.
Then add the jackfruit (if using canned like me, make sure you drain all the liquid from the can and rinse it well before using in the recipe), chana dal, garlic, ginger, green chili and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Add 3/4 cup water (if you have a 8qt, you might need to add little more water), stir and close the lid.Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.
Once the pressure is released, open the lid and remove the bay leaf and black cardamom. Transfer mixture to a blender.
Add little water (I added around 2 tablespoons) and blend. Some texture is okay here so it's good to have some chana dal remaining in the mixture as such (without blending), it adds to the texture of the kababs. Remember to not use a lot of water to blend else you won't be able to bind the mixture into kebabs.
Transfer the blended mixture to a bowl. Add chopped onion, coriander powder, garam masala, amchur and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix everything together using a spoon or your hands.
Now take a lemon size portion (around 50 to 55 grams) of the mixture, roll between your hands and then flatten it into shape into a circle, around 2.5 inches in diameter. Make all kebabs similarly.
How heat 3 to 4 tablespoons oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, carefully place the kebabs into hot oil. Cook one side for around 3 minutes until it turns golden brown, then carefully flip (be very careful as these kebabs are crumbly) and cook the other side until that's golden brown as well, around 3 more minutes. Fry all kebabs similarly. Serve these kathal chana dal kebabs with chutney and parathas.
Notes
Do not use ripe jackfruit to make these kebabs. You need young jackfruit.
The amount of spices can be adjusted to taste. For spicier kebabs, add more green chilies. You can also add red chili powder in the mixture along with rest of the spices.
You can also add chopped cilantro to the kebab mixture.
These kebabs are extremely fragile since there's no binding agent. So be very careful while pan frying them, flip these gently using a spatula.
You can also use ghee to cook these kebabs. It will taste good but I prefer using oil.