A variant of the decadent galawati kebab, the iconic and beloved Tunday kebab is prepared with almost 160 ingredients, including meat, yoghurt, ginger, cloves and lime. Tunday kebab is best served with rumali roti or crispy 'ulte tawe ka paratha', which is cooked on an inverted griddle. This is perhaps the most favoured kebab in Lucknow after the galawati kebab, with people flocking to street vendors and restaurants alike for a generous helping. The kebab has been named after its creator, Haji Murad Ali, who was a popular kebab-maker with only one working arm. Legend has it that once Haji Ali was working on improving the galawati kebab when he fell off the roof and broke one of his arms. This did not stop his pursuit of culinary perfection – he hired workers and taught them how to ground meat into such a fine paste that the kebab would instantly melt in the mouth. Rather than having the chewiness, typical of other kebabs, his version had a silky and smooth texture.

The then Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, fell in love with this variant, and propagated it across the country. Starting from 1905, Haji Murad Ali sold his lovely kebabs in Gol Darwaza in Lucknow, leaving behind an impressive legacy.