How to cook kebab in the oven: delicious and on the first try

Contents

1.       Lula-kebab - food of aesthetes and kings
2.       Ingredients
3.       Cooking step by step
4.       We serve beautifully!

Lula-kebab - food of aesthetes and kings

Lula kebab is not just a dish, it is a whole story. Therefore, before rushing to cook it, let's pay tribute to the great ancestors who came up with this meat masterpiece. Lula kebab is a traditional dish of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Caucasian cuisines. In which country the lula was invented is not known for certain, but archaeologists continue to dig it up in different parts of the world. So, not far from Paris, scientists found in a cave an ancient image of a man who happily crushes meat on a skewer. And in the Egyptian Giza, kebabs were found right in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. In general, Lyulya is the food of aesthetes and kings.

The name kebab is a combination of the two words “pipe” and “fried meat”. This dish consists of marinated and grilled ground meat, usually lamb or beef, strung on skewers.

In Armenia, lula is an integral part of culture and cuisine. Here, cooking kebab is considered an art that requires a certain amount of experience and skill. Not a single Armenian cook will take up cooking this dish if the meat is not of high quality. Therefore, do not buy ready-made or even more frozen minced meat. Ideally, go to the market, buy a kilo of lamb and grind it yourself in a meat grinder. The entire Armenian people will be grateful to you for this, because only in this way you will feel the true taste of kebab.

Photo: RDNE Stock project

Ingredients

To prepare a kebab, you will need the following ingredients:

• 1 kg of lamb pulp;
• 125 g lamb fat;
• 85 g of lard;
• 2 heads of onions;
• 1 tsp ground paprika;
• 1 tsp zira;
• 1 tsp ground coriander;
• 15 g of salt;
• 1 tsp ground black pepper;
• wooden skewers for stringing;
• pita bread or pita for serving.

Lyulya is usually served with pickled onions. To prepare a crispy tasty onion you need:

• 2 heads of onions;
• 7 g sugar;
• lemon juice;
• fresh dill.

Photo: Kamar Aydinov

Cooking kebab step by step

Now that all the ingredients are ready, let's get down to the most important thing - cooking. For convenience, we will write everything down step by step. We warn you, the entire cooking process from cutting to serving takes about three hours, so do not plan anything else for the evening.

1. Cut the lamb into cubes and scroll in a meat grinder. If you have several nozzles, it is better to use a larger strainer. Alternately with meat, scroll mutton fat and lard in a meat grinder. The result is the perfect stuffing for lula.
2. Chop 2 onions. The smaller it is, the better.
3. Add onion, salt, ground black pepper, ground coriander and ground paprika to the minced meat.
4. Add zira only after grinding it in a mortar.
5. Now the most important thing! Thoroughly knead all this multi-colored beauty with your hands.
6. Now the mixed minced meat needs to be thoroughly beaten off so that it is compressed and becomes dense. You don't need to use a hammer. Take the stuffing mass with your hands and turn it over several times inside a deep plate with a characteristic cotton.
7. Cover the minced meat with a plate and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes.
8. Now it's time for the skewers. To prevent the skewers from burning in the oven, soak them in room temperature water for 30 minutes. They are saturated with moisture and will not char.
9. After 40 minutes, our stuffing is ready. It's time to start forming the lyulya. We wet our hands in water so that nothing sticks, and take a small amount of minced meat - the size of a palm. We form a dense cutlet. Take your time, each should take at least 30 seconds.
10. When all the cutlets are ready, it's time to put them on skewers. Next, distribute the minced meat evenly so that a kind of tube is obtained from the meat.
11. Formed lula now need to put on a baking sheet. Line it with parchment paper and brush with vegetable oil.
12. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and send the kebabs inside for 40 minutes.
13. While the smell fills the apartment and makes the neighbors swallow their saliva, we suggest picking onions. Cut two heads into rings, add sugar, lemon juice and lightly mash the onion with your hands. Add finely chopped fresh dill, stir and leave for 15 minutes for the chemical reaction to mix the flavors to succeed.
14. Let's go back to Lula. After about 35-40 minutes, they should brown. If you have, then they are ready! You do not need to keep it longer - they are easy to overdry. It's time to bring the yummy to the table. But how?

Photo: Shadi

We serve beautifully!

After preparing the kebab, an important step remains - the correct serving of the dish to the table. Here are some recommendations for this:

1.     Serve the lula kebab on a large platter or tray to enhance its festive look and make it accessible to all guests.
2.     Arrange kebabs in rows or circles on a platter for visual aesthetics.
3.     Complement the dish with fresh vegetables and do not forget about pickled onions. It will add freshness and crunchiness.
4.     Offer a variety of sauces and salads for added flavor and variety. Consider sauces such as tkemali, adjika, satsebeli, or classic ketchup.
5.     If you have pita bread or pita bread, offer guests the opportunity to make lavash burgers with lula kebab. Provide a variety of toppings such as vegetables, sauces, and cheese so that each guest can enjoy a personalized meal.
6.     Don't forget to offer lemons to add freshness and flavor to the meat.
7.     Pomegranate wine goes well with lula. We wrote about this nectar of the gods here.

Photo: Shadi

Cooking kebab at home in the oven is a great way to please yourself and your loved ones with the famous delicious and fragrant dish of Caucasian cuisine. It is worth noting that there are extremely many recipes for lula, but we have chosen the most optimal one in terms of the combination of time and taste. When starting to eat, check if the front door is open - the whole district will definitely come running to the smell. And it is customary to eat kebab in a large and noisy company.

PS If, after reading the recipe, you understand that you want kebab here and now, then you can order a hot dish from experts in their field in one of the Armenian restaurants. You can see in our directory. Only verified places are collected here. And also Move2Armenia Culture conducts free cooking master classes. Follow the announcements.