There is something about the crackle of the coals and smoke rising from food cooked on fire, that feels primal - almost as if this is the only way food should be cooked.

Most people associate barbecue food with slabs of meat thrown on the grill, or chicken on skewers, and to be fair most of Pakistani barbecue food is mainly meat-based. I have however evolved - I try to substitute meat with plant-based alternatives and I have adapted many of my Pakistani recipes this way. Sheesh kebabs in Pakistani go back to the time of the Mughals and Turkish influence, the work sheesh means skewer and kebab means roasted meat - and it is quite simply that, so I have to say I feel nervous calling my vegetarian version a ‘kebab’ as such because there is no meat! I would say that kebab now has become synonymous with a style of shaping something - so lets go with it.

In Pakistan, kebabs are made by layering spices, infusing depth and umami into the kebab. This is usually done in a few ways and at different times from the marination to the cooking. First, spices are freshly toasted, I can’t tell you how important this is. I know it’s easy to buy pre-ground cumin and coriander seeds, but the flavour of freshly extracted cumin oil on a hot pan can’t compare to the saw-dusty smell of pre-ground packet cumin. Take the time to roast, to grind fresh. Have a look here in the Spice Sanctuary for a video on roasting spices to perfection.

Next, the meat needs to be broken down with yoghurt, or lemon juice and sometimes raw papaya which is a meat tenderiser. We don’t need that here of course, but it’s worth knowing the secret to making soft, melt in the mouth Pakistani kebabs. Next it’s the time left marinated meat is left for - overnight is best. This allows flavours to meld and infuse into the meat (no need to do this with a meat-free version). The addition of a paste of browned red onions is one we has taken from Mughal cooking where the umami of this paste magically transforms and marries with spice to elevate the final dish - in a way that you’d never be able to tell what the haunting flavour is - it’s almost always that secret paste made of fried red onions until dark, then blended with a little water.

Barbecuing itself adds the next layer of flavour to the kebabs. The char from the cooking, the ghee brushed on the surface while cooking, the air circulated around the kebabs to ensure that the essence of the coal aroma permeates into the meat. Kebabs are finished off with lemon juice. a sprinkling of garam masala or chaat masala.

All these layers of flavour are hard to incorporate into it’s meat-free counterparts. Kebabs with meat can be skewered with chunks of meat or ground meat (as in sheesh kebabs) moulded onto skewers. Being able to bring those flavours into a meat-free kebabs can be done. In the recipe below I have used some of the techniques of creating that multi-dimensional flavour into a plant-based sheesh kebabs - also do check out the technique video below so you can see how I ensure the kebab mixture sticks to the skewers - do try to get flat metal ones, they are much easier to work with for this recipe.

SEASONAL SPRING sheesh kebabs

Ingredients

150 g new potatoes, washed, boiled until soft

1 can chickpeas, drained

100 g kale, leaves only, steamed until soft, chopped finely

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp browned onions (can be bought ready made in shops)

salt to taste

handful of coriander, mint and dill herbs, chopped finely

4 wild garlic leaves, finely chopped (optional, if you mange to forage them!)

1 tbsp pomegranate seeds, crushed

2 green chillis chopped finely

1 inch ginger, grated finely

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp kebab masala (recipe below in Spice Sanctuary)

Juice of half a lime