Cevapi

Ingredients

• 600 g minced beef, about 20 percent fat
• 400 g minced lamb or pork
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100 ml sparkling mineral water
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 4 lepinja or thick pitta flatbreads
• 1 large onion, finely chopped, to serve
• 150 g kajmak or clotted cream, to serve
• 150 g ajvar, to serve

Before you cook

• Crush the garlic to a paste with a pinch of the salt
• Combine both minces in a large cold bowl
• Chop the onion for serving and soak it in cold water for 10 minutes to take off the harshness

Steps

1. Sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic paste evenly over the meat.
2. Pour in the sparkling water.
3. Knead the mixture with your hands for a full 5 minutes until it turns noticeably sticky and pale and starts pulling away from the bowl in one mass.
4. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours, or up to 24, so the bicarbonate can work through the meat.
5. Take the meat out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
6. Wet your hands with cold water and roll the mixture into cylinders about 8 centimetres long and as thick as your thumb.
7. Lay the shaped cevapi on a tray, keeping them from touching one another.
8. Heat a charcoal grill until the coals are covered in white ash, or heat a heavy ridged pan over high heat until smoking.
9. Lay the cevapi on the grill and leave them undisturbed for 3 minutes to build a crust.
10. Turn each one and cook for a further 3 minutes until browned all over and just firm to the touch.
11. Move them to the cooler side of the grill for 2 minutes to finish cooking through.
12. Warm the flatbreads on the grill for 30 seconds a side.
13. Split each flatbread open and pile in eight to ten cevapi.
14. Serve with drained chopped onion, a spoonful of kajmak and a spoonful of ajvar alongside.