Kabab Koobideh

Persian ground meat kabob · کباب کوبیده

30 min Prep
15 min Cook
6 Servings
Medium

Juicy skewers of ground lamb and beef with grated onion, grilled over high heat and served with saffron rice, grilled tomatoes and sumac.

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Kabab Koobideh — Photo: Roozitaa, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, colour-adjusted)

Koobideh is the kabob of every Persian restaurant menu and family barbecue. It contains almost nothing but meat, onion, salt and pepper, so the technique matters: the meat must have enough fat, the onion juice must be squeezed out, and the mixture must be kneaded until sticky so it clings to the skewer.

Traditional koobideh is grilled on wide, flat steel skewers over charcoal. If you have no skewers or grill, the same mixture makes excellent kabobs shaped on a tray and cooked under a hot broiler or in a cast-iron pan.

Ingredients

Servings 6

Kabobs

1 kg ground lamb and beef (about 20% fat), ideally ground twice (2.2 lb)
1 large onion, grated and squeezed very dry
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp ground turmeric (optional)

To serve

6 tomatoes, grilled whole on skewers
2 tbsp butter, melted with a pinch of saffron
2 tbsp ground sumac
chelow, lavash bread, raw onion and fresh basil

Instructions

Grate the onion, then squeeze it hard in a cloth or your fist to remove as much juice as possible. Wet onion makes the meat slide off the skewers.
Put the meat, onion pulp, salt, pepper and turmeric in a bowl and knead firmly with your hand for 5 minutes, until the mixture turns pale, sticky and holds together like dough.
Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight. Cold meat sticks to skewers better.
Light a charcoal grill or heat a gas grill to its highest setting. With wet hands, take a handful of meat (about 120 g), wrap it around a flat skewer and squeeze it along the skewer into a long, even kabob about 2 cm thick, pinching the ends to seal. Press ridges along it with your fingers.
Grill close to the heat, turning the skewers every 30 seconds for the first 2 minutes so the meat sets without dripping off, then every minute or so for 6 to 8 minutes in total, until browned and just cooked through.
Brush with the saffron butter, slide the kabobs off with a piece of bread, and serve at once with chelow, grilled tomatoes, sumac, raw onion and basil.

Tips & variations

No skewers? Shape the meat into long logs on a foil-lined tray and broil 5 cm below the element for 4 to 5 minutes per side.
Lean meat makes dry koobideh that falls apart. Ask the butcher for 20% fat, or mix ground beef with ground lamb.
Restaurant-style koobideh is often served with an egg yolk to mix into the hot rice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my koobideh fall off the skewer?

Usually the onion was not squeezed dry, the meat was too lean or not kneaded long enough, or it was not chilled. Fix all four and turn the skewers often in the first two minutes.

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: