Adana Kebab. Best and authentic recipe make it at home!

Selam..... Merhaba from Turkiye...

Adana kebab is hand-minced meat kebab, mounted on a wide long skewer then grilled (mangal) over charcoal. This kebab mostly has spicy distinguish taste due to addition of a lot of spicy Urfa biber / isot biber.
Urfa biber is a dried Turkish chili pepper (type of Capsicum annuum cultivated) origin from Urfa (Şanlıurfa- one province in southeast Turkey)

This kebab named after the city where this famous kebab came from - Adana.
Adana is 6th big city on population (2016) in Turkey (south).

Urfa biber / isot biber

There is also similar to this kebab named Urfa kebabı ( from Şanlıurfa) or people calls haşhaş kebabı which is less spicy than Adana kebab.

But İ assure you those kebabs are extremely delicious and once you eat it you won't forget the taste and you will ask more. 😋

Even the kebabs from Adana city (far away to south Anatolia), no need to worry if you visit Turkey (Istanbul or other city) you'll find this Adana kebab seller everywhere almost in each city. But still-of course-you must visit Adana to taste real bud of adana kebab 😊

And while you saving money and prepare your luggage for trip to Turkey, you can first experience your flavor with this world famous Turkish kebab.
İ guarantee you'll get the best Adana kebab in your house with my authentic recipe.
Pssttt.... İ got the recipe from one my Turkish friend who takes Turkish cooking class from municipality 😍 . thank you Birgül 😍

This Adana kebab should be mounted on wide long iron skewer-the standard measurement should be 2 cm wide and 60 cm long. But you can use shorter one from bamboo like mine.

Adana kebab skewer (şiş)

The kebab generally serve in portion together with bulgur pilav, lavaşh bread, onion salad and ayran drink. Grilled tomato and carliston chili pepper (banana pepper) also served along.

Also sometimes if we want simple one, we can get roll version in lavaşh flat bread roll with some vegetables calls dürüm.

So.... if you are ready to travel to Turkey with your taste..here is the recipe of adana kebabı.

Summer still on the air, bring your barbecue outside to festive the season.

But if you don't have charcoal to do 'mangal' (bbq) out side, you can simply grilled the kebab over grilling pan or roast them in the roasting oven. But still charcoal gives such a wonderful flavor in it.

Adana Kebab Recipe.
Make about 20~25 skewers.

Ingredients:

± 200 gr lamb, minced with mincing knife (better) or machine
± 300 gr beef, minced with mincing knife (better) or machine
± 50-100 gr tail fat, minced with mincing knife or machine
2~3 big red capia chilly peppers, seeded
2~3 carliston chilly pepper/ banana pepper, seeded
± 2 tsp salt or to taste
pinch of black pepper powder
pinch of cumin powder (optional-İ like adding pinch of cumin on my kebab)
± 2 tsp smoke paprika powder or Cayenne pepper powder
± 1 tbsp Isot biber (Sanliurfa pepper flake)
Some wide skewer. İf you use bamboo skewer like mine, soak in oil few minutes.

smoke paprika

How to make:

1) On wide cutting board, chopped carliston, capia chilly pepper and chopped it very finely using mincing knife. Drain the excess water.

2) Place all ingredients on big bowl, mix and knead to combine well.

Wet your palm with water, take skewer and with your wet hand take kebab mixture and form the meat around kebap skewers. Squash each ball around the skewer, pressing the mixture so it spreads along the skewer. Once all skewers are firmly covered, put them back in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour for develop the flavor.
Sorry, İ mostly work alone in my kitchen so nobody help me taking pictures 😞

Note: If you want to make it ahead, just keep your kebab mixture in airtight container without put on skewer, defrost before use. Keep in freezer up to 4 days.

3) Heat lightly oiled grilled pan/ electric one over medium heat. Grill your chicken kebab until done both sides. Grill also your lavash bread, tomatoes and carliston chilly pepper to lightly brown for serve later. You can do over charcoal also, it's even better!

capia and carliston chilly peppers

For onion salad:

Big red onions, lengthwise sliced (today İ use yellow onion)
parsley, roughly chopped
sumac
Isot biber
salt to taste

Make salad just before serving, mix all salad ingredients and toss to combine.

Serve it with bulgur pilav (optional), lavash bread, grilled tomato, grilled banana pepper and onion salad.

For make adana dürüm, place one kebab over lavash bread, add Isot biber and onion salad then roll it. Serve with grilled tomatoes, carliston pepper and more onion salad.

Bulgur pilaf Ingredients:
 1 ½ cup bulgur, rinsed and drained
 ⅓ cup canola oil
 1 medium onion, finely chopped
 2 bay leaves (optional)
 2 tablespoons sweet tomato paste
 ± 2 cups hot water (or chicken/ beef broth)

 Chicken/beef bulyon (optional)
 1 ½ tsp salt or to taste

How to make a bulgur pilaf:
Heat oil in medium pan or skillet, saute onion and bay leaves until fragrant and wilted. Put in the bulgur, broth and salt then stir well. Pour hot water and stir well. Cover the pan and reduce heat at lowest level. Cook about 15 ~ 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let the pot remain closed about 10 minutes.

Don't forget to serve it with foamy Ayran drink for perfect lunch/ dinner-recipe below.

Afiyet Olsun.

How to make Ayran/ yogurt drink

For 1 lt yield, you will need about 300 gr ~ 400 gr plain thick yogurt (depend on thickness you'd like), but mostly I make on those range quantity. Put on big jar, give pinch of fine salt (about half tsp). Pour cold water about 300 ml, using hand handle blender or just manually with wooden spoon to stir until all yogurt dissolve.

After all yogurt completely dissolved, pour more cold water up to 1 lt and mix/ stir again to make them well blended.Keep in refrigerator before serving.

You can add some more buzz when served if you want.