THERE is this admirable trait in the Indian cook. You introduce him to a strange cuisine. Tell him how it's made. And next time you meet him, he has not only mastered the cuisine, but is claiming it as his own. Furthermore, he's also giving lessons on how to cook the cuisine! I think it is that way with our kababiyas we well.

Kababiyas are cooks who are masters at making kababs. They tenderise and marinate meats, spice and aromatise them, and learn to cook the kababs at controlled temperatures of 275 to 325 degrees C. If you knew how many good kababiyas there are in India, you would know how difficult it is to make the perfect kabab!

"Kabab" is a Turkish word which means "a spicy morsel of meat roasted on a skewer". True, it is, but while the kabab still remains rustic fare to the rest of the world, our kababiyas have made its creation a sublime art. For them, it is not raw meat sprinkled with salt, barbecued raw or burnt on a spit, and gobbled.

Our kababiyas have learnt to baste kababs with desi ghee and roast them over charcoal grills, in tandoors and on sigris. They shallow-fry kababs in tawas, on thick, iron griddles, or on the mahi tawa � a special walled griddle. There are kababs that are dried and seasoned and cooked with milk and butter in a handi. And kababs that are steamed or dum-cooked in pots, and even grilled on stones.

The kabab is said to have come to India with Turko-Afghans during Ghenghis Khan's time, as the great Mongol warlord swept through Central Asia carving out an empire for himself. It was refined by Mughal kings and their royal bawarchis. The earliest kababs were game meat hunted in shikars and roasted over spit-fires. The variations came in later with different marinations and meats.

Ancient Ayurvedic texts tell of kababs being marinated and basted in a manner to enhance their taste and therapeutic properties, because they were considered tonic and invigorating. And modern cookery books such as the late Ranjit Rai's Tandoor and others tell of Indian kababs coming from Lucknow, Hyderabad, Delhi, Agra, the Kashmir Valley and even Amritsar.

The ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels, through its chain of Bukhara and Dum Pukht restaurants all over India, and with master kababiyas like J. P. Singh and Mohammed Raees, has given the kabab pride of place on regional Indian cuisine menus. In fact, kababs became popular in India only after the Bukhara in New Delhi put them on its menu in 1977-78.

What are the principal tenderisers used in making kababs? Yoghurt, pomegranate and lemon juices, raw papaya and raw mango, garlic, ginger, cucumber, and desi ghee, mustard and sesame oil. The main spices used are pepper, cumin, ajwain, mustard, saffron, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, green cardamom and black cardamom, and rock and sea salt.

A good kababiya will know that the quality of meat, the raw product, its marination, the tenderiser used to cure its toughness and temperature control can make or literally "break" a kabab. The marination and spicing would come to naught if the kabab was overcooked or undercooked. Like a chicken tandoori needs high temperature because a lot of moisture drains out. And prawns need a lot of care.

And if you use chilli, tamarind, kokum and mango for a Hyderabadi kabab, you use saffron, ittar, rosewater and kewra for Lucknowi kababs. Kashmiris use fennel-flavoured full milk cream and Punjabis desi ghee, fried onions, tomatoes, fried garlic and fresh coriander. There are countless regional variations to the kabab, so many house specialities and even individual kababiyas' fancies. And what does Delhi use? Delhi uses nothing, it goes to the Bukhara and Dum Pukht for its kababs!