Kabab Barg
Thin-sliced lamb or beef fillet kabob · کباب برگ
- 40 min Prep
- 10 min Cook
- 4 Servings
- Involved
Strips of lamb or beef fillet pounded thin, marinated in onion juice and saffron, and grilled in minutes. The prince of Persian kabobs.
Barg means leaf, after the thin, wide sheets of tender fillet threaded flat onto the skewer. It is the most prized kabob on a Persian menu, and when paired with a skewer of koobideh it becomes soltani, the sultan's plate.
The meat must be a tender cut such as lamb loin or beef tenderloin. Slicing it thinly and pounding it evenly is the main work; after that, barg grills in barely five minutes.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Partly freeze the meat for 30 minutes so it firms up. Slice it against the grain into strips about 1 cm thick, 4 cm wide and 10 to 12 cm long.
- Lay the strips between sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat mallet to an even 5 mm thickness.
- Mix the onion juice, olive oil, pepper and half the saffron water. Add the meat, turn to coat, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Do not salt yet; salt draws out the juices.
- Thread the strips flat onto wide skewers, folding the ends so each skewer holds a single even layer. Sprinkle with salt.
- Grill over very high heat for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until browned outside and still pink inside.
- Brush with the butter mixed with the remaining saffron and serve immediately with chelow, grilled tomatoes and sumac.
Tips & variations
- Barg overcooks fast; it is better slightly underdone than dry.
- Serve one skewer of barg and one of koobideh per person for kabab soltani.
Where to buy the ingredients
Persian grocers carry the saffron, dried herbs, spices and long-grain rice that Persian cooking depends on:
Rather eat out?
Persian restaurants that serve it:
Kabab Koobideh
Joojeh Kabab
Chelow with Tahdig