Turkish lamb shish kebabs with ezme
Middle Eats · ♥ 2.8K likes · 82.8K views · 9 min video
Read about shoulder (roast, chops, stew meat) in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
Remove the layer of skin sitting on the fat cap, keeping the fat, which melts on the grill.
Trimming the lamb shoulder
Break the shoulder into chunks and trim out any see-through papery fat and all the silver skin, cutting away meat if necessary.
Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes, which shrink to half their size when cooked.
Cubing and pounding tough pieces
- 500 g lamb shoulder
Whack any piece with a streak of cartilage or connective tissue running through it with a meat mallet.
- 80 ml onion juice
Blend an onion to a pulp and drain it through a sieve or cheesecloth to get 80ml of onion juice per 500 grams of meat.
- 100 ml milk
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 30 g red pepper paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Turkish or Greek oregano
- ½ tsp pul biber
- ½ tsp black pepper
Whisk the onion juice with 100ml of milk, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 minced garlic cloves, 30 grams of red pepper paste, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of oregano, half a teaspoon of pul biber and half a teaspoon of black pepper.
Massage the cubes in the marinade, seal in a ziplock bag and refrigerate. 24 hours is the minimum for a tough cut, 72 hours is the sweet spot; softer cuts like ribeye or lamb fillet need only 24.
- 1 whole red onion
- 2 whole sweet red chillies
- 2 whole spicy green chillies
- 3–4 whole plum tomatoes
Chop the red onion in a food processor, then the red and green chillies to the same size, then the peeled plum tomatoes to a chunky consistency.
- 30 g parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp mint
- 1 tsp pul biber
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp red pepper paste
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- ½ whole lemon
Mix the vegetables with a teaspoon each of salt, black pepper, mint, pul biber and sumac, a minced clove of garlic, a tablespoon of red pepper paste, a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses and the juice of half a lemon.
- 3–5 tbsp olive oil
Taste and adjust, then stir in 3 to 5 tablespoons of olive oil and let the salad sit so the flavours develop.
Thread three to four layers of onion onto a skewer, then four pieces of meat centred along it, then more onion, then another four, so the pieces just touch but are not bunched up. Fold thin pieces in half.
Grill over white hot coals 10 to 12 minutes, rotating every 2 minutes whenever one side browns, until well browned all over, glossy and bubbling on the surface.