Kabab Koobideh

How to Cook Kabab Koobideh

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1. Knead the lamb, beef, onion, salt, pepper and first measure of sumac together for 5 minutes until sticky and pale. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

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2. Wet your hands and press a quarter of the meat around each of 4 wide, flat skewers, pinching to make ridges.

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3. Heat a grill or griddle pan to very hot. Cook the kebabs for 3 minutes on each side, brushing with butter. Grill the tomatoes alongside until charred.

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4. Scatter with the remaining sumac and serve at once.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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What Can Go Wrong

1. Use meat with enough fat.
2. Wet your hands when pressing the meat onto the skewers.
3. Do not turn the kebabs too early.

The Short Version

The meat does not need to be seasoned much. What a good koobideh needs is fat and kneading. A mix of lamb and beef with a generous proportion of fat, around 20 per cent, is worked with grated onion for several minutes until it turns sticky and pale. That kneading, which feels excessive, is what holds the kebab to the skewer.

The onion is the second secret. Grate it and squeeze out all the liquid in a cloth. Left wet, the onion turns the mixture soft and the meat slides off. Only the dry pulp goes in, along with salt, pepper and a little sumac or turmeric. Knead for 5 minutes, then rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. The salt and rest tighten the proteins into a paste.

Press a handful of meat onto a wide, flat skewer, pinching it with your fingers to leave the traditional ridges. The kebab should be about 2 cm thick and 20 cm long.

Cook over charcoal, or a very hot griddle pan or grill, for 3 minutes on each side. Grill tomatoes on the same skewers. Brush the meat with melted butter, scatter with sumac and serve over saffron rice.

On the Table Alongside

Saffron rice · Raw onion and sumac · Flatbread · Doogh

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Kookoo Sabzi, Kookoo Sibzamini, Persian Lentil Rice.

Leftovers

Best eaten straight away. Keeps in the fridge for 2 days.

Quick Answers

What's in a Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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