Our friend Miriam García, from El Invitado de Invierno, has used the picadora de carne Kitchen Craft to surprise us with grilled golden kebabs. A curious, easy and truly tasty recipe.
Kebab, kabab, kebap, kephav… by all these names in different countries of the Mediterranean Levant and the Middle East are called foods, usually threaded on a skewer or spit, that are cooked in pieces over embers.
Of the meat kebabs I particularly like those made with minced meat, shaped into a more or less elongated meatball, like a skinless sausage. And those are what I bring you: minced meat and onion kebabs Persian (or Iranian) style, well spiced and nicely browned on the grill, in my case, which is more convenient than lighting a barbecue and can be done any time of year.
In the Middle East it is very common to prepare skewers of this type with lamb, which are delicious. In our country minced lamb is not usually found, but we can grind it ourselves if we have a meat grinder as cool as mine. The recipe is adapted from this one in Saveur magazine; the grated onion gives it a special flavor and a lot of juiciness, and the final touch of saffron butter seems to me delicious and essential; don’t skip it.
Ingredients
500 g of beef or lamb,
1 spring onion or medium onion,
1 clove of garlic, crushed,
1 egg yolk,
½ tsp turmeric,
½ tsp hot paprika,
2 tsp salt,
breadcrumbs,
a few strands of saffron,
1 tbsp butter.
Preparation
We start by mincing the meat, if we don't have it minced. If we don't have a manual grinder, we can always mince it with a knife, but it's laborious.
Grate the onion or process it very finely; it will release liquid so it is advisable to put it in a strainer and let it rest for at least an hour.
Squeeze the onion between two paper towels to finish removing liquid and mix it with the minced meat in a bowl.
Add all the spices and seasonings, except the saffron, butter and breadcrumbs, as well as the egg yolk. Mix well until homogeneous.
Next add some breadcrumbs, just enough so the mixture doesn't exude too much liquid; when stirring the mixture it should barely stain the bowl with liquid. I don't give a quantity for the breadcrumbs because it depends on the meat and how wet the onion was; you must test until the mixture is firm enough.
Take balls the size of an apricot and shape elongated meatballs that we will thread onto metal skewers. Once on the skewers we can carefully roll the meatballs on a board to make them thinner, while pressing the meat onto the skewer.
Once all the skewers are assembled prepare the saffron butter: lightly toast the saffron (I put it on a small piece of aluminum foil and apply a match underneath), crush it well in a mortar and add a teaspoon of hot water and then the tablespoon of melted butter. Mix and set aside.
Right before cooking the kebabs, brush them with the saffron butter. You can cook them on a griddle, which should have no high rims for easier handling, on the barbecue if you have the opportunity, or under the grill on a high level of the oven. To do it the latter way, turn the grill to maximum, let it heat up fully, and place the skewers on a tray on the highest level of the oven. Cook the kebabs on both sides until they are golden. The cooking should be done with very high heat and quickly so that the meat seals well on the outside and the juices do not escape.
When removing the skewers brush them lightly again with the saffron butter. Serve immediately accompanied by a salad or Middle Eastern–style rice.
