Butterless Spaghetti Makhanwala with Shammi Kabab Meatballs

I love the concept of classic New York style Spaghetti with Meatballs. But it’s rare to find meatballs in Chicken or fish, isn’t it? Here’s how I began to believe otherwise J.

One of my son’s classmates Zo often got Spaghetti with Meatballs in her lunch box. And my son would find ways to convince me to make it. I thought and searched but could not think about a decent scramble for a chicken oriented meatball recipe. We don’t eat red meat so I don’t cook it either. I don’t have an issue if my son decided to eat red meat when he grows up but at the present if he ate and asked me to recreate a dish it would be very difficult. So, it’s more of convenience to opt for Chicken J.

I obviously did not wish to make Spaghetti and use frozen meatballs. It had to be custom made.

Through a food group I was introduced to a very talented culinary mind Ritu Shrivastava who shared her recipe for Shammi Kabab once. And my adventurous mind began to fuse an East meets the West recipe! Ritu, thanks for that recipe, it was very generous of you to share your delicious recipe and help me structure the fancies of my boy J. This is to you!

Here is a totally Indian take on the classic. Mine is called Butterless Spaghetti Makhanwala (low calorie tomato based sauce used for Indian delicacies like Butter Chicken etc) with Shammi Kabab meatballs (Indian Chicken mini patties infused with herbs).

Sharing this recipe for my boy of origin who loved it!

Spaghetti Makhanwala (Butterless Spaghetti in Tomato based Sauce)

Makhanwala (literally means loaded with butter and cream) gravy is rich, creamy and extremely flavorful. However, I wanted to make a lighter version of the parent sauce. Here is my version.

Btw, I always make non-meat stuff first to avoid any cross contamination of uncooked meat and other ingredients.

Ingredients

• 3 medium sized tomatoes.
• 2-3 cloves of garlic.
• 3 tsps. Cardamom powder.
• 1 tsp. Garam masala (all spices powder).
• Salt to taste.
• 1 tsp. kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves to be added as garnish).
• 2 tbsps. Yoghurt.
• 3-4 black peppercorns.
• 5 tbsps. Cashew powdered. (I did not use these. But they would add to the richness of the sauce).
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds.

Method:

• Blend all the ingredients using very little or no water at all into a smooth sauce.
• Cook the sauce and bring it to a boil. To enhance richness of taste reduce it to a thick sauce.
• Set aside.

For Spaghetti:

• Drop the Spaghetti into boiling water and follow the instructions on the carton for cooking through. Drain the water, dust salt and drizzle some olive oil.
• Mix the spaghetti with sauce just before you have to serve. The starch in the pasta thickens up the sauce too soon. So, ideally drop the pasta into the water (simultaneously) when your Shammi kababs are been shallow fried.

Ingredients:

Ritu’s Shammi Kabab (Ground chicken meatballs)

• 8-10 Organic chicken tenders (skinless).
• 2-3 cloves of garlic.
• 1 cup of Cilantro.
• ¼ cup of Mint leaves.
• 2 tbsps. Ginger paste.
• Green chilis (optional)- I added Tandoori Masala and Garam Masala (all spices powder).
• Salt to taste.
• Italian Bread Crumbs (my addition).
• 2-3 tbsps. Italian Basil leaves (optional, my addition)
• A good grinder.
• Oil for shallow frying (about 4 tbsp.).

Method:

• Ground all the ingredients except oil and crumbs in a grinder. (Ritu had marinated the ground chicken with ginger and garlic paste along with onions. But, I skipped the marinating part and addition of onions. Also I did not add any oil in the ground chicken mixture as she suggested.)
• Make small patties and roll them into bread crumbs. (Now you can make balls and choose to deep fry them but I am on a healthy diet plus a busy mom, so not going to commit the sin :P).

• Heat the oil on a flat pan and shallow fry the patties until crisp (about 7 minutes on each side). But, you can still cut it and find out if they are cooked through or not. I always follow the actual test than follow my gut here. No chances with raw meat!

Serve together!

This is a healthier and extremely delicious Indian version of the American Classic! This is going in my special heirloom recipe book to be passed on to the next generation!