A Syrian home rendering of kebab without a grill: spiced lamb kofta pressed flat into a round metal tray, topped with tomato slices or tahini-lemon sauce and baked until the fat bastes the meat. It sits in Aleppo's famed family of 'fruit and sauce' kebabs alongside the cherry and eggplant versions.
Also known as: kebab siniyeh, kabab bil sanieh, kafta bil sanieh, kebab bil-saniyeh, tray kebab, كباب بالصينية
Ingredients
- 700 g minced lamb
- 1 onion, grated and squeezed
- 1 handful parsley, finely chopped
- 1.5 tsp Aleppo seven-spice (or baharat)
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 4 ripe tomatoes, thick slices
- 2 potatoes, 5 mm rounds (optional but traditional)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste loosened in 150 ml hot water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- pine nuts, a small handful
How to make it
- 1
Heat the oven to 200 C and oil a round metal tray (siniyeh) about 30 cm across.
- 2
Work the lamb with onion, parsley, spice and salt just until combined — overkneading makes the tray-kebab dense.
- 3
Press the meat into the tray in an even 2 cm layer, shingle the tomato and potato rounds over the top and scatter the pine nuts.
- 4
Bake 20 minutes, then pour the tomato-paste water around the edges and bake 15 minutes more until the liquid thickens to a glaze and the potatoes yield to a knife.
- 5
Cut into wedges in the tray and serve with rice or bread to mop the pan juices.
Pro tip: The pour of tomato water halfway through is what keeps a grill-less kebab from baking into a dry meatloaf — do not skip or add it early.
The story of Kebab bil-Siniyeh
Kebab bil-siniyeh is the Syrian home answer to having no grill. Spiced lamb kofta is pressed flat into a round metal tray — the siniyeh — topped with tomato slices or a tahini-lemon sauce, and baked until the fat renders through the meat and bastes it.
It belongs to Aleppo's celebrated family of tray kebabs alongside the cherry and aubergine versions, and it is the most everyday of them. Where kabab karaz is a restaurant showpiece, kebab bil-siniyeh is what a Syrian household cooks on a Tuesday, and it is one of the dishes most closely associated with home by Syrians abroad.
The technique that defines it
The meat is pressed into an even layer rather than shaped into fingers, and its thickness is the main variable — around a centimetre and a half. Thicker and the centre steams in its own juices; thinner and it dries out before the topping colours.
Sliced potatoes often line the base, and tomato slices are shingled over the top. Because the meat renders a great deal of fat into the tray, many cooks drain it partway through, particularly if a tahini topping is going on, since tahini splits in rendered fat. The tray goes into a hot oven uncovered so the surface browns.
Choosing your ingredients
Lamb, or lamb and beef, at 20 to 25 percent fat, worked with fine onion, parsley and baharat — the same kafta mixture used for skewers. Waxy potatoes sliced thin for the base and par-cooked, since they will not soften otherwise.
Firm tomatoes for the top, sliced thick enough to hold. If using tahini instead, build the sauce by adding lemon and water gradually so it does not seize. Pine nuts toasted in butter and scattered at the end are the traditional finish.
Mistakes that ruin it
Too thick a meat layer
Above about a centimetre and a half the middle steams rather than roasting. Spread it evenly and thin.
Raw potato slices in the base
They will not cook through in the time the meat needs. Par-cook them.
Not draining the fat before a tahini topping
Rendered lamb fat splits tahini sauce. Pour it off partway through.
Covering the tray
It should bake uncovered so the top browns. Foil gives a pale, wet result.
How it is served
Cut into squares straight from the tray, with rice or bread, yoghurt and a sharp salad. Pickles. It is family food and is served as one dish for the table rather than plated individually. It reheats well and is arguably better the next day.
Questions about Kebab bil-Siniyeh
What is a siniyeh?
A round metal baking tray, and by extension the dishes cooked in one. Kebab bil-siniyeh is the tray-baked version of kofta.
How thick should the meat layer be?
About a centimetre and a half. Thicker and the centre steams; thinner and it dries before the top browns.
Tomato or tahini topping?
Both are traditional. If you use tahini, drain the rendered lamb fat first, because it will split the sauce.
Is it related to Turkish tepsi kebabı?
Yes — the same idea of a tray kebab baked rather than grilled, found on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border.
