Lamb Doner Kebab

Lamb Doner Kebab is a Turkish dish made with grilled meat stuffed into a pita served with various accompaniments such as cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes and onions then dressed in various types of sauces.

Yup, you can make your own kebabs at home, you don’t need that stacked meat on a vertical rotisserie, in fact home versions might be even better especially when you grill your meat on a charcoal grill giving it that smoky flavour you don’t get on those Kebab shops around the corner. While some may argue it won’t be authentic since it’s not done the traditional way, that’s is right, but which do you think is important, the taste or the authenticity?

Having said that this type of kebab was created during the 17th century around the Ottoman Empire, those days vertical spit was not yet invented specially the ones you see now, what they did is they stack sliced meats then cooked on a horizontal rotisserie, similar to the Cağ kebabı. It was only introduced no later than the mid-19th century and still during those days it was cooked with hot embers from charcoal or wood fire. Moving forward in modern-day Turkey, in the town of Bursa the idea of vertical roasting was born and was attributed to the grandfather of İskender Efendi, Yavuz İskenderoğlu. A century later döner kebab was introduced and popularized in Istanbul by Beyti Güler. After that, it became a phenomenon at Beyti Güler’s restaurant in 1945 where it was served to kings, prime ministers, film stars and celebrities but not like how it looks today, it was in a sandwich form.

Fast forward for a few years, in 1966 it was sold in London and 1970 in Berlin. Similar types of food appeared in Greece and New York City around 1971, it was initially called döner but then later changed its name as gyros and in 1972 Greek Canadian variation showed up and called as a donair. The rest was history. So do I call mine a different version, no, since it’s still a doner kebab just roasted differently, in essence it is still the same.

Lamb Doner Kebab

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 6 mins
• Total Time: 26 mins
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Turkish

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Description

Lamb Doner Kebab is a Turkish dish made with grilled meat stuffed into a pita served with various accompaniments such as cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes and onions then dressed in various types of sauces.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Roasted Lamb Skewers

• 600 g deboned lamb shoulder, cut into bite sized pieced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sunflower oil

Salad

• ½ iceberg lettuce, finely chopped
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cucumber, sliced then quartered
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Others

• 6 pita or Lebanese Bread
• chilli sauce
• plain yoghurt
• bamboo or metal skewers
• charcoal grill

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Instructions

1. In a bowl combine all Roasted Lamb Skewers then let it marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Stack lamb meat into skewers then once ready cook it in a charcoal grill for 3 minutes on both sides. Once cooked set it aside.
3. Serve meat together with all salad ingredients, bread and sauces
4. To assemble, place a bit of all the salad ingredients on top of the pita bread, place one or two skewers on top. Fold the bread, then hold it tightly with one of your hand on the bread and the other on the stick, pull the stick leaving the meat sandwiched on the bread. Drizzle some yoghurt and chilli sauce on top then enjoy.

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