Externally, the kebab resembles an oblong-shaped cutlet. This dish of Eastern and Caucasian cuisines is actually made from minced meat, but this is where its resemblance to cutlets ends. The stuffing for lula kebab is done without adding eggs, potatoes, bread, decoy or other binding components. Its composition is simple, but it is necessary to observe the proportions, besides, it is important to adhere to the traditional technology of making minced meat for lula kebab. Otherwise, it will not be tight enough to hold onto skewers and to keep its shape when baking in the oven or frying in a frying pan.
Cooking Features
Without knowledge of some subtleties, the correct stuffing for a kebab is not done. If you follow the traditional technology of its preparation, the kebabs will come out appetizing and crispy outside, tender and juicy inside, without falling apart and not losing their shape.
- Traditionally, lamb kebabs use lamb, but today they make minced meat from all types of meat, often even mixing them. The taste of the finished dish depends on it, but in any case it will be great if the meat has been used high-quality and fresh. That is, it is best to take the flesh, ideally - cutting or meat from the shoulder blade. If poultry meat is used, it is better to combine the meat of the breast and legs, so that the stuffing turns out to be juicier.
- Minced kebab meat is not made from frozen meat, as from it it turns out to be loose and dry.
- Meat for cooking meat is required to chop with a special hatchet or a heavy knife. To do this, the meat is usually cut into flat pieces about 1 cm wide. The pieces are stacked on top of one another by two or three. Then they are chopped in one direction, then in the other - perpendicular to the previous one, it can also be chopped diagonally. Then the chopped meat is collected to the center, tamped and chopped in this way again. The process continues until all the meat is minced to the state of stuffing. In extreme cases, the use of a meat grinder is allowed, but then the meat should be turned through the grate with large holes. Such a laborious way of cooking minced meat for lula kebab is not just a tribute to tradition. If you turn the meat through a grid with small holes, it will lose a lot of juice in the grinding process, with the result that the kebab will not be juicy enough. That is why you should not buy purchased mincemeat for kebab - you have to make it yourself.
- As already mentioned, those products that hold minced meat for meatballs are not part of the mincemeat for lula kebab. They are replaced in it by fat tail or lard. Ideally, for 1 kg of meat you need to take 300 g of fat or fat, although you can reduce their number to 100-200 g, especially if you are going to bake the lula kebabs in the oven or fry in a frying pan. Ground beef is prepared with the addition of a significant amount of bacon, in the pork it can be put smaller. Sometimes they do not put lard in minced chicken meat, although it is better to cook lula kebab on the grill if lard is still included in the minced meat.
- Fat tail fat or lard must be thoroughly ground before mixing with minced meat. They can be chopped in the same way as meat, but can be crushed in another way. For example, fat tail to cool and grate on a coarse grater. Cut the lard into small pieces and chop up with a blender. If it acquires a pasty consistency, it is even better: it will evenly distribute and hold the minced meat together.
- An important component of mincemeat for lula kebab is onions, and it is not worth refusing, although it gives a lot of juice. You just do not need to chop the onion in a blender or turn it through a meat grinder - finely chop it with a knife. the same when adding onions does not hurt to comply with the measure. For 1 kg of meat, 200 g of onion is enough, although sometimes they put it more.
- Salt, ground pepper, zira, turmeric, coriander, dried herbs, fresh greens are also added to the mince for kebab. You can navigate to your taste, it is only important not to overdo it. Additionally, you can put in the stuffing, departing from the traditional recipe, cheese, sweet pepper instead of onions, boiled and finely chopped eggs, but these ingredients should not be too much in the stuffing, as in the traditional recipe they are not.
- Kneading is important when cooking mincemeat for lula kebab. Knead the base component with your hands for quite some time, at least 15 minutes, usually 20-25 minutes. After that, the stuffing is good to beat off by placing in a package to protect against splashes. As a result, the meat base should be very dense and viscous.
Ready minced meat before cooking lula kebab is advised to cool for at least one hour. Thanks to this, it will become even denser, it will be easier to form lula-kebabs from it, they will sit on skewers stronger.
Minced kebab minced meat recipe
Composition:
- meat (lamb, beef, pork, chicken) - 1 kg;
- fat of sheep or pork fat - 0, 2-0, 3 kg;
- onions or Bulgarian pepper - 0, 2-0, 25 kg;
- fresh greens (cilantro, parsley, dill, basil) - 100 g;
- hard cheese (optional) - 50-100 g;
- garlic (optional) - 2-4 cloves;
- salt, spices and spices - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Wash, dry the meat. Chop it with a special hatchet to the state of mincemeat or scroll through a meat grinder using a grate with large holes.
- Mince or grind chicken fat or lard in any other way. Mix with minced meat.
- Peel the onion (or pepper). Cut into small cubes. You can take 100 grams of pepper and onions. The traditional recipe involves the use of only onions, but modern recipes allow replacing it with pepper. Especially often the latter is added to minced chicken.
- Mix the stuffing with the vegetable component.
- If you decide to use garlic, squeeze it into mincemeat. It goes well with minced pork and poultry.
- If you want to give the dish an unusual flavor, grate hard cheese and mix it with minced meat. It is preferable to use cheese only in cases when the kebab is cooked in the oven. When cooking on the grill is best to follow the traditional recipe with a minimum of ingredients (meat, lard, onion and greens).
- Chop the greens, add the mince together with the salt and the spices.
- Knead the minced meat well with your hands (you need to knead from 20 minutes).
- Put the minced meat in a bag, beat it against the cutting board.
- Transfer the stuffing from the bag to the bowl, cover and refrigerate.
In just an hour, you can form lula kebabs from mincemeat and cook them in any of the selected ways.
If the minced meat for kebab is cooked correctly, the appearance and taste of the finished dish will not disappoint you.
