Ingredients

Scale

2 lb of lamb cut from the leg and cubed
1 cup of raw diced papaya (tenderizes the meat)
4 tsp ground Kachri …(okay Kachri is a type of cucumber grown in Bengal, Punjab, and Pakistan. It’s a dried ground up cucumber with a tangy sourish taste.) I didn’t have any Kachri in my larder so I used dried amchur powder (dried mango powder), if you don’t have that, just use LEMON JUICE
1 cup of yogurt
1 cup of whipping cream
2 Tbs ginger paste (ground raw ginger)
4 tbs garlic or shallot paste (ground raw garlic or shallot) use your food processor or spice grinder w/ a little bit of water to keep things moving.
2 Tbs ground black pepper
1 tsp ground green cardamom
4 tsp garam masala
2 tsp Kashmiri chili or red chili powder
6 Tbs of vegetable oil
2 tsp of salt

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Instructions

For Marinade:

Cut up the papaya.
Mix everything together all except the SALT. The salt goes into the marinade 15 minutes before cooking.
Cut the lamb into cubes for the skewers. Place them in a bowl. Slash the meat with a paring knife, this allows the marinade to penetrate the meat. Pour the marinade over the meat.
Stir it around well, and pop it into the fridge to marinate overnight or at least 8 hours.

To Cook:

Oil and wipe your skewers, and thread the meat onto them. I use a halved Yukon gold potato as a stopper to keep the meat from sliding off while cooking. If you are using a grill you won’t have to do this.
Once the meat is on the skewers let it rest for 15 minutes while you light your Tandoor oven.
The tikkas are cooked at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. Add to Tandoor, and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and hang them on the side of the tandoor.
Then baste them with the marinade, and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Then in again for another 5 to 8 minutes depending on how done you like your lamb.
When they’re done take them out, and rest them on a platter.
Remove them from the skewers, and serve them up.

Notes

Marinade overnight, or at least 8 hours.

My Homdoor Tandoor is fueled by propane and is a dream to cook with. Fast, efficient, we don’t use the grill anymore. Yes, you can make this with a grill or even in the oven but nothing beats the tandoor. And I say this as the weirdo with 4 old school wood grills in my Santa Monica backyard trying to replicate tandoor cooking for a crowd. Homdoor is easier!

I served this with a Saffron rice with saffron, sultanas, cashews, and pomegranate arils, an Indian dried fruit salad with rosewater dressing a mint, and pomegranate raita, and Green Bean Thoran.

I dressed the Tikkas up with some cara cara orange slices.

The dessert was Gulab Jamun and chai click for my recipe.