Adana Kebabı

Ingredients

• 800g lamb shoulder, well marbled, cut into 2cm cubes
• 150g lamb tail fat or fatty lamb belly, cut into cubes
• 2 tbsp Turkish red pepper flakes (pul biber), or 1 tbsp hot Maras pepper plus 1 tbsp sweet
• 1 red bell pepper, seeds removed
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 4 lavash or pide flatbreads
• 2 large tomatoes, halved
• 4 long green Turkish peppers (sivri biber)
• 1 red onion, sliced paper thin
• 1 tbsp sumac
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Before you cook

• Chill the lamb and the tail fat in the freezer for 30 minutes so they are firm but not frozen.
• Hand-chop the lamb and fat together with two heavy knives until the texture is coarse mince with visible flecks of fat, or pass once through the coarse plate of a mincer.
• Finely chop the red bell pepper and garlic to a near paste.
• Slice the red onion paper thin, rinse under cold water, drain well and toss with the sumac and parsley leaves for the salad.
• Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes if you are not using wide flat metal skewers.

Steps

1. Put the minced lamb and fat in a wide bowl with the chopped bell pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper and cumin.
2. Knead the mixture with one hand for a full five minutes, pressing and folding, until it turns sticky and holds together in a single mass.
3. Cover the bowl and rest it in the fridge for one hour so the fat firms and the salt binds the meat.
4. Light a charcoal grill and let the coals burn down to an even grey ash with no flame.
5. Wet your hands in cold salted water and take a fistful of the meat, roughly 150g.
6. Press the meat onto a wide flat skewer and squeeze it along the length in a steady rhythm until you have a flat strip about 25cm long and 1cm thick.
7. Pinch shallow ridges across the meat with the side of your hand so it grips the skewer.
8. Repeat with the remaining meat to make eight kebabs.
9. Lay the skewers across the grill, raised just above the coals, and cook for 4 minutes without touching them.
10. Turn the skewers once and cook the second side for 3 to 4 minutes, until the fat is bubbling and the surface is deeply browned.
11. Push the tomato halves and green peppers onto skewers and grill them until blistered and soft, about 6 minutes.
12. Warm the flatbreads briefly on the edge of the grill.
13. Lay a flatbread on each plate and slide a kebab off its skewer directly onto the bread so the juices soak in.
14. Top with the grilled tomato and pepper, pile the sumac onion salad alongside, and serve with lemon wedges.