Make Your Own Kebab
A modern day ‘beer, chips and gravy’…..
Everyone loves a kebab, especially after fifteen pints of lager and a strip club (apparently) so here’s my homage to the russian roulette of late night dining, a big fat greasy kebab. Except mine isn’t greasy, nor has it been reheated and left to fester on a stick with only the stench of cheap garlic mayonnaise to hide its unique ’scent’. No, mine is healthier and best consumed with a glass of something crisp and white.
It’s back to those lamb meatballs again, I had some raw ones left over from the previous recipe so I simply squashed them with the palm of my hand and turned them into patties. You could of course flavour them with herbs, garlic, onion and so on but I’ve got other flavours going on top so I’m not bothered. I stuck the patties into a hot oven in an olive oil greased tray and a pimento (bell pepper) chucked on top.
Out came a flatbread, you can use pitta but I spotted some wholemeal Mediterranean flatbreads and thought ‘hello’! Now you can cover the base of the bread with garlic mayo if you wish but I find it vile so I made some harissa instead. You can also use raw cabbage and iceberg lettuce just like the erm, real thing. I used watercress instead, but rocket would be just as good. A tomato was sliced on top, half of the now cooked and deseeded pepper was layed flamboyantly around followed by the cooked lamb patties. Lots of fresh coriander (cilantro) and mint went on next followed by a good whack of fresh lemon.
Now you’re all dying to know what happened to the other half of the pepper aren’t you? Well maybe not but it went into the harissa anyway. I’ll do a post on that shortly. The thing with these kebabs is that like building your own pizza you can do as you like. Give one a go and stay out of that dodgy kebab shop!
Lamb Kebab
Miles,
Did you make your own flatbread? I can imagine you stood in the kitchen twirling your flatbread like an authentic Italian pizza twirler
That would impress me more than the kebab which by the way looks fabulous.
Cid
July 7, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Cid,
Hell no, life is too short. I should point out that I sliced said ‘patties’ and distributed the meat evenly across the surface.
Miles
July 7, 2009 @ 11:05 pm
Chef,
a great idea
How to Make Your Own Healthy Non Fattening Kebabs
You could make a real series here. Proper culinary alternatives to unhealthy and poisonous popular dishes.
Low fat recipes of things that ruin so many people’s diets
It’s a great idea to carry the recipe ingredients over from yesterday as well - very useful in the real world
Regards
Rod
July 8, 2009 @ 7:29 am
Rod,
Thanks, You could be on to something there! I couldn’t stretch another day out of it but I’ll keep trying
Miles
July 8, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
Miles,
“How to make your own kebab” - what a great alternative. I am inspired by this idea. The choice for toppings seems endless and ideal for summer dishes for the family or entertaining in house or garden.
Anne
July 8, 2009 @ 8:03 pm
Anne,
Look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Miles
July 8, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
Miles,
Ahhhh, the number 86 bus home on a Saturday night, stumbling into the Turkish kebab house for large, mixed kebab. Chopped parsley, a dash of lemon from a squeezy bottle and a blanched jalapeno chilli to garnish. You’ve stirred up fond memories of Manchester’s finest dodgy kebab shops, thank-you!
GDave
PS. You want mild or hot sauce on tha’?
July 9, 2009 @ 1:28 am
GDave,
When you look back it’s really quite gross what we have consumed in our earlier days isn’t it? I used to go to one when I worked in Germany and everytime he asked me if I wanted garlic mayo I said no he would put it on. Many visits later I started saying yes please and he’d leave it off!!!!
Miles
July 9, 2009 @ 8:43 am
Hi Miles!
Great post and right up my Asian-food patterns alley. Meat is prepared this way or “shish” from the Republic of Georgia to Laos and beyond. . . My favorite is a Tajik recipe that combines Star Anise and Mint in the meat and then stews them in an onion and garlic rich sauce after roasting.
However, you cook ‘em - they are great!
Laura
July 9, 2009 @ 6:28 pm
Laura,
That sounds great, I love fresh mint with this type of food and another of my real favourites has to be savory, I could put that in everything!
I do find it regrettable that food such as shish has been Westernised to the extent that it has, I wish we could have more truly authentic restaurants.
Miles
July 9, 2009 @ 9:39 pm
Looks like one of my regular lunches - Merguez sausage on a pita with harissa, spiced hummus, watercress, roasted red peppers and some cilantro oil. I’ll gladly switch to yours for a day or two though.
July 10, 2009 @ 3:42 am
Dave,
I’d gladly swap you for the merguez-quite possibly my favourite sausage. I’d give anything to have one of your deli’s near me.
Miles
July 10, 2009 @ 8:11 am