Aleppo's signature: minced lamb skewers laid over torn flatbread and smothered in a spicy tomato-and-Aleppo-pepper sauce that soaks into the bread. The dish is as much about the sauce-drenched bread underneath as the meat on top.
Also known as: Aleppo kebab, kabab halabi, kebab halaby, halabi kebab
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g minced lamb with visible fat
- 2 tsp Aleppo pepper, divided
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 500 g ripe tomatoes, grated
- 20 g mild red pepper paste
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 20 ml olive oil
- 20 g pine nuts
- 2 large flatbreads
- 15 g parsley, chopped
How to make it
- 1
Knead the lamb with salt and half the Aleppo pepper, then press onto flat skewers.
- 2
Grill over hot coals about 8 min, turning twice, until browned but still juicy.
- 3
Meanwhile simmer the tomatoes, pepper paste, garlic and remaining Aleppo pepper in the oil for 15 min to a spoon-coating sauce.
- 4
Tear the bread over a platter and moisten it with a third of the sauce.
- 5
Lay the kebabs on top, cloak with the rest of the sauce, and finish with pine nuts toasted in a film of oil and the parsley.
Pro tip: No sugar, ever: the sauce should ride the line between fruity and hot, with Aleppo pepper seasoning both the meat and the tomato.
