This recipe contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, LiT may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, LiT earns from qualifying purchases. See our affiliate disclosure.
Koobideh is the kebab that defines Iran. Minced lamb and onion, seasoned with little more than salt, pepper and sumac, is moulded onto wide flat skewers and cooked fast over charcoal.
Every kababi in Tehran serves it, usually with a mountain of buttery rice, grilled tomatoes and raw onion. Getting it to stay on the skewer is the whole art.
At a glance: makes eight skewers, serving four. About an hour, including chilling. Medium.
Ingredients
- 1kg minced lamb, or half lamb and half beef, with around 20% fat
- 2 onions, grated and squeezed very dry
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (optional)
- 4 tomatoes, for grilling
- Sumac, butter and chelo rice, to serve
Method
- Knead the mince with the onion, salt, pepper, turmeric and bicarbonate for at least ten minutes until it is smooth and sticky. Chill for an hour.
- Wet your hands. Take a fist-sized ball and squeeze it around a wide flat skewer, pressing it into a long sausage shape. Pinch ridges along it with your fingertips.
- Grill over very hot charcoal, turning constantly for the first minute so the meat sets, then cook for about four minutes a side.
- Grill the tomatoes on separate skewers at the same time.
- Slide the kebabs off with a piece of flatbread and serve at once.
Fat matters. Lean mince will not stick to the skewer. Ask your butcher for around 20% fat.
No grill? Make kabab tabei in a frying pan instead.
Where to buy the ingredients. Outside Iran, you can order flat kebab skewers, sumac, a Persian rice cooker and turmeric online.
Serve with chelo rice, a pat of butter and a sprinkle of sumac, the way Tehran’s kababis do. A plate of koobideh usually comes as a pair of skewers per person.
