All the Way from Istanbul!

Last year in January I had a chance to visit the beautiful city of Istanbul. If you are not mesmerized by the city itself you will definitely be stumped by the cuisine. The variety of scrumptious kebabs that you can have is just baffling. I was so excited after coming back that I checked recipes of a few kebabs on the internet and found the site of Binnur. She has given a whole load of recipes from the Turkish cuisine. So here’s one recipe adapted from her website. These Yogurtlu kebabs are heavenly. These are actually shish kebabs with tomato sauce and yogurt. The kebabs are fairly easy to put together and can be enjoyed with plain rice or bread.

Ingredients:

For Kebabs

500 gms. ground lamb or beef

1 small grated onion

1 mashed garlic clove

2 days old slice of bread, soak in water and squeeze

1 teaspoon red pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

bunch of parsley chopped

salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon powdered black pepper

For Yogurt Sauce

1 cup plain Turkish yogurt at room temperature

1-2 small garlic cloves crushed

salt to taste

For Tomato Sauce

1 cup crushed tomato

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt

black pepper

For Garnishing

1 tablespoon butter

Cayenne pepper

red pepper

4 pides cut in bite size or any other flat bread

Method for Preparation:

Mix all the kebab ingredients with hand. Take a small ball in your hand and poke a skewer in the center of the ball. Flatten the ball on the skewer with your fingers. Make kebabs in this manner.

You can either grill the kebabs in an oven or on your stove. Make sure the kebabs are well done by turning them in between cooking. If you are grilling them on the stove, you can heat a coal piece and put it with the kebabs to smoke them a little.

Mix all the ingredients of the tomato sauce in a saucepan and cook it for a few minutes till thick. Mix all the ingredients of the yogurt sauce and put aside.

Arrange your kebabs on the bread or pide. Pour the yogurt and tomato sauces on top. Melt the butter in a small pan and add in the peppers. When the butter starts bubbling pour over the kebabs. Enjoy!

Servings: Four persons

P.S: The serving in the plate shown is not from the whole recipe 🙂