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The Fire 50 · cook it at home

Adana-style lamb kebab with sumac onions

1 hr (30 min chilling), 30 min hands-on · 4 people (8 skewers)

Istanbul's ocakbaşı grills hand-chopped lamb with tail fat and red pepper on wide flat skewers over charcoal. Ground lamb with a little extra fat, kneaded well so it holds, gets you there on a home grill or under the broiler.

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The real one

You need

• 700 g (1 1/2 lb) ground lamb, at least 20% fat (or 600 g lamb plus 100 g ground beef fat)
• 1 small red bell pepper, very finely chopped and squeezed dry
• 1 tbsp Turkish red pepper paste (biber salçası) or tomato paste
• 1 tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper) or 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• For sumac onions: 1 red onion, thinly sliced; 1 tbsp sumac; a handful of parsley leaves; 1 tsp lemon juice; pinch salt
• To serve: flatbread or lavash, grilled tomatoes and long peppers, yogurt
• 8 wide flat metal skewers (or 16 bamboo skewers, soaked, used in pairs)

How to make it

1. Make the mix (10 min): Put the lamb, pepper, pepper paste, pul biber, cumin and salt in a bowl and knead hard with your hands for 3 to 4 minutes until the meat turns sticky and holds together when you squeeze it. Chill 30 minutes.
2. Make the onions (5 min): Toss the onion with salt, rub for a minute, then add the sumac, parsley and lemon juice.
3. Shape (10 min): With wet hands, divide into 8 and press each portion along a skewer into a long, flat kebab about 2 cm thick, pinching ridges with your fingers so it grips the skewer. Chill while the grill heats.
4. Grill (8 to 10 min): Over a hot charcoal fire with the skewers resting on bricks, or on an oiled grate, grill 4 to 5 minutes a side, turning once, until browned and just cooked through (68°C / 155°F). Grill the tomatoes and peppers alongside. Under the broiler, 4 minutes a side on a foil-lined pan.
5. Serve (2 min): Lay the flatbread over the kebabs for the last 30 seconds so it soaks up the fat, then slide the meat onto the bread. Serve with the sumac onions, the grilled vegetables and yogurt.

Tips

• Fat is the point: lean lamb falls off the skewer and dries out.
• Wet hands stop the meat sticking while you shape it.
• Laser Wolf-style: serve with a spread of salads and hummus and grill chicken thighs alongside.

Chef Amazing's own home version of lamb kebab, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.