Patthar ke Kebab: Meat Cooked on the Stone

It’s the perfect weekend and you are craving one of your favourite kebabs. The tantalising taste of spice-adorned meat melting in your mouth is an enchanting experience. You visualise that very experience and envision meat being cooked on a tandoor or skewers. Being hypnotised by their imagined taste, you Google new eateries to relish the taste in real. Suddenly, your trance is broken as you come across an article, 'Patthar ke Kebab: Meat Cooked on Stone.'

Source: sambritabasu/ india times

Patthar Ke Kebab, or famously known as Patthar Ka Gosht, is one of the most sought-after delicacies of Hyderabad. Second only to haleem in regional popularity, this kebab is prepared by cooking boneless marinated meat on a heated stone. Yes, stone! Not skewers, not tandoor, but heated stone.

The creation of this peculiar dish dates back to an eventful day when skewers were forgotten.

The day being referred to occured during the late nineteenth century when the then ruler of Hyderabad, Nizam Asaf Jahi VI, went on his usual hunting trip to the forest. Though the trip was routine, the events weren’t. His bawarchis (royal chefs) had forgotten to carry skewers for cooking meat. This created a chaotic situation as they all knew that the Nizam was passionate about food. Something had to be done to resolve the crisis before meal-time. This scarcity nudged innovation and the bawarchis cooked mutton on a flat granite stone, heated by firewood from below. All that was left was for the Nizam to taste the dish, and when he did, he became mesmerised. So scrumptious was its unique smoky taste that the recipe was ordered to be replicated repeatedly in the royal kitchen. Centuries later it continues to be replicated on the streets of Hyderabad and other parts of India.

However, making the perfect Patthar Ke Kebab is not an easy task and requires elaborate preparation. In this recipe, slices of mutton are marinated with the hot and fiery spices of Andhra, including ginger-garlic paste, chilli paste, salt, and raw papaya. To tenderise the meat to perfection, this marination is left to sit for over 4 hours and often overnight. This flavoured meat is then roasted on a stone, heated from below, using charcoal.

Just following the recipe does not guarantee the optimum taste. Several important aspects need to be kept in mind to get the desired melt in mouth effect– proportions of marinade, ghee, roughness of stone, as well as timing of flipping the meat. In addition, the selection of the right granite stone plays a major role. The chef needs to ensure that the stone is not too thin to crack under heat and not too thick to absorb extra heat.

This arduous preparation is one of the reasons that this delicacy is vanishing in its original form. With the goal of reducing time and increasing profits, charcoal has been replaced with gas ovens, compromising the taste. Only a few places serve the original Patthar Ka Gosht, with the most promising being a small kiosk in Hyderabad called 'Bade Miyan Kababs'.

Owned by Syed Shaji, whose great-grandfather Haji Syed Ismail started this business, Bade Miyan Kababs is a stop you don’t want to miss on your next visit to Hyderabad. A bite of their soft Patthar Ka Gosht served with flavorful mint chutney, onion salad, and rumali roti is assured to transport you to Nizam's nineteenth century royal kitchen.