Kafta Skewers
Photo: Sara Dubler / Unsplash
Juicy minced lamb and beef mixed with lots of parsley, onion and Lebanese seven-spice, shaped onto skewers and grilled. Serve with warm pita, tahini sauce and a quick sumac onion salad.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Squeeze the onion
Put the grated onion in a clean cloth or your hands and squeeze out as much juice as you can. Too much juice makes the kafta fall off the skewers.
Mix the meat
Put both meats in a bowl with the onion, parsley, garlic, seven-spice, salt, pepper and mint. Mix and squeeze with your hands for about 2 minutes, until the mix is sticky.
Chill
Cover and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Cold meat is easier to shape. If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water now.
Shape on skewers
Wet your hands. Take a handful of meat and squeeze it around a skewer into a long sausage about 12 cm long. Press it flat-ish so it cooks evenly. Make 8.
Make the onion salad
Mix the sliced red onion with the sumac, a pinch of salt and a little chopped parsley.
Grill
Heat a grill, barbecue or ridged grill pan until very hot. Cook the skewers for 4–5 minutes on each side, until brown outside and cooked through.
Serve
Serve hot on warm pita with the onion salad and tahini sauce.
Squeeze the onion
Put the grated onion in a clean cloth or your hands and squeeze out as much juice as you can. Too much juice makes the kafta fall off the skewers.
Mix the meat
Put both meats in a bowl with the onion, parsley, garlic, seven-spice, salt, pepper and mint. Mix and squeeze with your hands for about 2 minutes, until the mix is sticky.
Chill
Cover and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Cold meat is easier to shape. If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water now.
Shape on skewers
Wet your hands. Take a handful of meat and squeeze it around a skewer into a long sausage about 12 cm long. Press it flat-ish so it cooks evenly. Make 8.
Make the onion salad
Mix the sliced red onion with the sumac, a pinch of salt and a little chopped parsley.
Grill
Heat a grill, barbecue or ridged grill pan until very hot. Cook the skewers for 4–5 minutes on each side, until brown outside and cooked through.
Serve
Serve hot on warm pita with the onion salad and tahini sauce.
The Story Behind the Dish
Kafta comes from the Persian word for 'pounded', because the meat was once beaten by hand in a stone mortar with onion and herbs. The dish spread across the Middle East, and every country made its own version.
In Lebanon, kafta is a family barbecue favorite. On weekends, grills are set up on balconies and in the mountains, and kafta skewers cook next to chicken and vegetables.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It is simple, very tasty and easy to make for a crowd, and the parsley keeps it fresh and juicy.
💡 Fun Fact
The same kafta mix is also baked in a tray with potatoes and tomatoes, a dish called kafta bil saniyeh.
Lebanon and the Levant
33.89°N, 35.50°E
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