Bonab Kababi

Three ingredients and no pepper, made as one enormous skewer rather than several small ones.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 1 kg mutton, minced, with its own fat left in
• 250 g onion, finely grated and squeezed dry
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. THREE INGREDIENTS AND NO PEPPER, MADE AS ONE ENORMOUS SKEWER RATHER THAN SEVERAL SMALL ONES. Its article gives the whole composition in six words -- ground mutton, onion and salt -- and says it is made at an unusual size. Both halves of that are the dish. There is no pepper and no spice of any kind, so what you taste is mutton and onion and the char, and there is nothing to hide behind. And it is made long: a single skewer the width of your hand and the length of your forearm, carrying four hundred grams or more, one per person, rather than the short skewers other minced kebabs use.
2. THE SIZE IS A COOKING PROBLEM AND IT CHANGES THE FIRE. A kebab that long cannot sit over a single hot patch -- the middle burns while the ends are raw. Build a long, even bed of charcoal the full length of the skewer and let it burn down to grey ash with no flames, then cook on moderate rather than fierce heat for eight to ten minutes. The high-heat, fast-turning approach that suits a short minced kebab will tear this one apart under its own weight.
3. IT IS MUTTON, NOT LAMB. Its article says mutton, which is older sheep: stronger, darker, with more character and more connective tissue. With three ingredients and no spice, that stronger flavour is the entire point. Made with young lamb it is simply bland.
4. THE FAT STAYS IN AND NOTHING IS ADDED. Mince from a cut with its own fat -- shoulder or breast -- and do not trim it. There is no oil, no egg, no breadcrumb and no bicarbonate in it.
5. THE ONION IS GRATED AND WRUNG OUT IN A CLOTH. Two hundred and fifty grams, grated fine, then squeezed as dry as you can get it. With no binder at all in the mixture, onion water is the one thing that will make a skewer this long slump and fall.
6. IT IS KNEADED COLD AND FOR A LONG TIME. Fifteen minutes with the mixture chilled, until it is tacky and pulls away from the bowl in one mass. The longer kneading is the compensation for having no binder, and a skewer of this length needs more structural strength than a short one.
7. IT IS PRESSED ONTO THE SKEWER IN ONE PASS WITH A WET HAND. Start at the far end and work back, squeezing the meat around the metal and smoothing it as you go, to an even two centimetres thick along the whole length. Joins and thin patches are where it will break.
8. IT IS SERVED STRAIGHT OFF THE SKEWER ONTO FLATBREAD. Bonab is a town in the Azerbaijan region of Iran, and the kebab carries its name. Lay a sheet of flatbread on the plate, put the whole skewer down on it, hold the meat with a second piece of bread and draw the skewer out. At this length it will break if you try to lift it off with tongs. Raw onion and nothing else.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes