BBQ & kababs Pashtun and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recipes

Namkeen Tikka Recipe

Name: Namkeen Tikka
Prep time: 1 h 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Cuisine: Pakistani
Ingredients: 1 kg Mutton (goat, with bone), leg and shoulder, in 1.5-inch chunks, with its fat (add 100 g tail fat if you can get it); 2 tsp Salt, coarse if possible, adjust to taste; 1 tsp Ground black pepper, coarsely ground; 1 medium onion Onions, sliced into rings; 2 medium tomatoes Tomatoes, sliced; 4 Green chillies; 1 Lemon (lemon juice), cut into wedges

نمکین تکہ بنانے کا طریقہ

Peshawari namkeen tikka: chunks of mutton with their fat, seasoned with nothing but salt and pepper and grilled slowly over coals.

Prep

15 min

Cook

20 min

Marinate / soak

1 hr

Serves

Difficulty

Easy

Spice

Mild

Namkeen tikka comes from Peshawar's Namak Mandi, where lamb and mutton pieces are threaded on long skewers with cubes of tail fat and grilled over charcoal. There is no yogurt, no chilli and no masala, only salt, so the quality of the meat and the fat is everything. The fat melts over the meat as it cooks and the smoke does the rest.

Ingredients

4 servings

For 4 servings

Cups & chamachGrams & ml

1 kg Mutton (goat, with bone), leg and shoulder, in 1.5-inch chunks, with its fat (add 100 g tail fat if you can get it)
2 tsp Salt, coarse if possible, adjust to taste
1 tsp Ground black pepper, coarsely ground

To serve

1 medium onion Onions, sliced into rings
2 medium tomatoes Tomatoes, sliced
4 Green chillies
1 Lemon (lemon juice), cut into wedges

Method

Cut the mutton into 1.5-inch chunks, keeping the fat on. If you have tail fat, cut it into small cubes.
Rub the salt well into the meat and leave it at room temperature for an hour. The salt draws out a little moisture and seasons the meat right through.
⏱ 60 min
Light the coals and let them burn down until covered in white ash, with no flames.
⏱ 20 min
Thread the meat onto long metal skewers, putting a cube of fat between every two or three pieces.
Grill on medium-hot coals, a little higher than you would for tikka, turning every few minutes. The fat should drip and smoke slowly; if it flares, sprinkle a few drops of water on the coals.
⏱ 18 min
When the meat is browned all over and a piece cut open is just cooked with no red juice, take it off. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve straight away with onion, tomato, green chillies and lemon.

Tips for the best result

Young lamb or dumba makes the best namkeen tikka. Older mutton is better slow-cooked as namkeen gosht.
Some Peshawar shops rub the meat with a little crushed raw papaya or ginger for an hour first. It helps if your meat is not very young.

Common mistakes

Trimming off all the fat. Without it the tikka is dry and has none of the flavour it is known for.
Adding masala out of habit. Chilli and garam masala burn on the coals and cover up the meat; this dish is meant to be plain.

How to serve

Serve hot with naan, a simple salad of onion and tomato, and green chillies. Kahwa afterwards is the Peshawari way.

Storing and reheating

Best eaten straight off the coals. Leftovers keep 2 days in the fridge; reheat in a covered pan so the fat melts again.

Nutrition and cost

Worked out from the ingredients, not measured in a lab. Treat both as a rough guide.

Per serving Estimate

Calories: 690kcal
Protein: 42g
Fat: 54g
Carbs: 7g
Fibre: 1.5g
Sodium: 1320mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain values for the raw ingredients (100% of the recipe by weight had data). Deep-frying oil is counted at 20%; bones and water lost in cooking are not subtracted, so bone-in and fried dishes can read high. Not medical advice. Method

Cost per servingEstimate

≈ Rs 615

Whole dish ≈ Rs 2,460 · 95% of ingredients by weight priced

Prices in

From the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics weekly SPI, week ended 29 Oct 2026. Spices, herbs and some vegetables are not in the SPI and are left out unless you add your price, so the real cost is a little higher. How this works

Namkeen Tikka: questions people ask

What is namkeen tikka made of?

Chunks of lamb or mutton, usually with pieces of dumba tail fat, seasoned only with salt and grilled over charcoal. Black pepper is sometimes added at the end.