Description
Adana kebab is a flavorful Turkish dish featuring spiced minced lamb molded onto skewers and grilled to perfection. This recipe combines fragrant parsley and onion with tender lamb, seasoned with Aleppo pepper and butter for richness. Grilled alongside fresh tomatoes and green peppers, the kebabs are served hot with traditional sides like lavash bread, ezme salad, and sumac onions, offering a delicious and authentic Turkish culinary experience.
Ingredients
Scale
Meat Mixture
- ½ medium onion (approx. 50g/1¾ oz net weight)
- 15 g leaves of flat-leaf parsley (Italian parsley)
- 400 g minced lamb (beef or a mix with minimum 15% fat)
- 50–75 g butter (melted, clarified butter is best, or finely chopped lamb fat)
- 1 Tbsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper) (or to taste)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Grilled Vegetables
- 1 medium tomato (halved or quartered)
- 4 Turkish green peppers (sivri/çarliston biber) or any other mild long green peppers
accompaniments
- Turkish sumac onions
- Lavash (or another type of flatbread)
- Ezme salad
- Chopped salad
Instructions
- Prep the onion and parsley: Add the onion and parsley to a food processor and finely chop them. Then transfer the mixture to a sieve and press out some of the juice using the back of a spoon to avoid excess moisture in the meat mixture.
- Combine meat mixture: Transfer the pressed onion and parsley to a bowl and mix with the minced lamb, melted butter (or lamb fat), Aleppo pepper, salt, and pepper. Knead thoroughly until the mixture is fully homogeneous, about 2–3 minutes. Adjust butter quantity based on meat fat content to reach approximately 30% total fat.
- Preheat grill: Heat a barbecue, ideally charcoal for authentic flavor. Alternatively, heat a large cast iron grill pan over high heat if grilling indoors.
- Prepare vegetable skewers: Thread the halved or quartered tomatoes and green peppers onto thin grill skewers for grilling alongside the kebabs.
- Shape kebabs: Divide the meat mixture into four equal portions. Take one portion and place a ball of meat at the center of a wide grill skewer. Using wet hands to prevent sticking, shape the meat into a long, thin kebab form around the skewer, ensuring there are no air pockets inside.
- Grill kebabs and vegetables: Place the meat kebabs and vegetable skewers on the grill. Cook turning regularly until the edges brown and the kebabs are cooked through, approximately 5 to 15 minutes. If grilling indoors on a pan, ventilate well due to smoke from dripping fat.
- Serve: Remove kebabs and vegetables from the grill. Serve immediately with lavash or similar flatbread, Turkish sumac onions, ezme salad, and chopped salad for a complete meal.
Notes
- The amount of butter should be adjusted based on the fat content of the meat to ensure the kebabs are juicy and flavorful.
- Using clarified butter or lamb fat gives a more traditional taste and helps bind the mixture.
- Wet your hands frequently while shaping the kebabs to avoid the meat sticking to your skin.
- A charcoal grill imparts the ideal smoky flavor, but a cast iron grill pan is a good indoor alternative.
- Proper ventilation is essential if cooking on a grill pan indoors because of smoke from fat drippings.
