A spring-only Gaziantep tray kebab in which whole heads of fresh green garlic braise among lamb köfte until mellow and sweet. Locals prize the young garlic more than the meat itself.
Also known as: sarımsak kebabı, sarimsak kebabı, garlic kebab, Gaziantep sarımsak kebabı
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 500 g fatty lamb mince, coarsely ground
- 400 g fresh green (spring) garlic, heads trimmed, stalks on
- 30 g tomato paste
- 20 g Turkish red pepper paste (biber salcasi)
- 300 ml hot water
- 30 ml olive oil
- 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pul biber
- Flatbread for scooping
How to make it
- 1
Work the lamb with salt for a minute or two, then roll it into walnut-sized kofte.
- 2
Arrange kofte and whole green garlic heads snugly in an oiled shallow baking tray, alternating so every meatball touches garlic.
- 3
Whisk both pastes into the hot water with the pul biber and pour it around (not over) the meat.
- 4
Bake at 200 C for 35-40 minutes, until the garlic collapses sweet and the sauce has thickened at the edges.
- 5
Rest 5 minutes and bring the tray to the table; it is eaten by scooping with torn flatbread.
Pro tip: Only spring garlic works. Mature dry bulbs stay sharp and never melt into the mellow confit this Gaziantep tray kebab exists for, which is why locals cook it a few weeks a year.
The story of Sarimsak Kebab
Sarımsak kebabı is a Gaziantep tray kebab that exists only in spring, when fresh green garlic — heads that have not yet dried and separated into papery cloves — comes to the market. Whole heads are braised in a tray among lamb köfte until they turn mellow, sweet and spreadable.
In Antep the garlic is the prized element, not the meat. Fresh green garlic has a short window and a completely different character from the dried heads available year-round: milder, greener, and with a texture closer to a young leek than to a clove. The dish exists to show that off.
The technique that defines it
Whole heads of green garlic are trimmed and laid in the tray root-down among the köfte, with a little tomato, a spoon of pepper paste and enough fat to keep things moving. As they roast, the garlic's sharp compounds break down and its sugars concentrate — the same transformation as in roasted garlic, but starting from a milder and wetter ingredient.
It is a covered bake for most of the cook, then uncovered at the end to colour. Covering matters: fresh garlic dries out fast when exposed, and the point is a soft, almost creamy head that can be squeezed onto bread. Forty-five minutes covered, fifteen uncovered, is a reliable shape.
Choosing your ingredients
Fresh green garlic is the whole dish and there is no true substitute out of season. If you cannot get it, young dried heads roasted whole get partway there, and spring onions or leeks braised alongside the köfte give a different but honest result — just do not call it sarımsak kebabı.
Lamb mince at 20 percent fat for the köfte, seasoned quietly with salt, pepper and a little pul biber. The seasoning should stay in the background: the garlic is the flavour being served, and cumin in particular fights it.
Mistakes that ruin it
Using dried garlic cloves
Dried cloves scattered loose burn and turn acrid. The dish needs whole fresh heads, or whole young heads at minimum.
Baking uncovered throughout
The garlic dries and hardens. Cover for most of the cook and uncover only to colour at the end.
Heavy spicing
This is a garlic dish. Cumin and strong chilli obscure exactly what you are meant to taste.
Cutting the heads apart
They are meant to stay whole so each person gets one to squeeze onto bread.
How it is served
The tray goes to the table with flatbread, and each person takes a head of garlic and squeezes the soft interior onto the bread alongside the köfte. Yoghurt is welcome, pickles less so. It is spring food and Antep treats it as a seasonal event, on menus for a few weeks and then gone.
Questions about Sarimsak Kebab
What is green garlic?
Garlic harvested before the bulb dries and divides into papery cloves. It is milder, wetter and greener in flavour, closer in texture to a young leek.
Can I make it with ordinary garlic?
Whole young dried heads roasted the same way get partway there. Loose dried cloves do not work — they burn and go bitter.
Is sarımsak kebabı grilled?
No, it is a tray kebab baked in the oven, part of Gaziantep's tradition of tray dishes sent to the communal bakery.
When is it in season?
Spring only, for the few weeks that fresh green garlic is in the markets.
