One of the most well-known foods of the middle-east is Kebab which is essentially cooked meat, most commonly over BBQ. This recipe is of Kebab Koobideh.

Ingredients

Serving: 10 Skewers.

• 1.5kg medium ground beef
• 450g white onion
• 18g salt (1 tablespoon)
• 5g black pepper (2 teaspoons)

Substitutions

• Medium ground beef: can use 1/2 ground lamb and 1/2 lean ground beef

Equipment

• Charcoal BBQ
• Wide metal skewers
• Cotton dish cloth
• Large bowl

Time

• Attended prep time: 30 minutes (excludes preparing BBQ)
• Unattended prep time: 4-5 hours
• Attended cook time: 10 minutes
• Unattended cook time: 0

Instructions

1. Shred white onion with a food processor or with a grater.
2. Put the shredded white onion into cotton dish cloth and squeeze until dry. If there is too much water, the meat will not stick to the skewer.
3. Mix onion, ground beef, salt, and pepper in a bowl and continue slowly kneading the mix for 5-10 minutes until an even texture is achieved.
4. Grab fist sized portions and spread it on the skewer, squeeze slightly with your hand as to help it stick to the metal skewer.
5. Put the prepared skewers in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours until chilled. This will help the meat continue to stick to the skewer when on BBQ.
6. Prepare the BBQ, put the skewers on the BBQ when there are no flames
7. Rotate the skewer every 3-5 seconds for the first 3 minutes. This will even out the contraction of meat fibers across the skewer and prevent ripping and falling of meat.
8. BBQ the skewers for 10 minutes total and serve.

Serve

Kabab koobideh is often served with rice, sumac, and BBQ'd tomato on the side.