Juicy minced meat with a touch of onion, garlic, herbs and spices never fails to please. Serve with flatbreads, salad and garlicky yogurt. Great made with mutton mince too.
If you're going to be using wooden skewers: soak them in water at least 30 minutes before cooking the kebabs to prevent them burning.
Heat the oil in a small frying pan over low-medium heat.
Add the onion and garlic and gently cook, stirring often, until they are softening and starting to colour (10 min)
Meanwhile, put the lamb or mutton mince in a large bowl with the herbs, cumin, Aleppo pepper or chilli flakes, ½ tsp of the salt, plus the black pepper.
When the onion and garlic are cooked, scrape the contents of the pan into the bowl to join the meat.
Use a rubber spoon to stir and combine the ingredients, then switch to your hands, squeezing the mixture so it becomes one smooth mass.
Optional but recommended: take a small piece of the mixture, form it into a ball and fry until cooked through. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the remaining mixture if necessary.
Divide the mixture into 6 equal pieces.
Take a skewer and push it through one piece. Using your hand, squeeze the meat along the length of the skewer to make a cylinder.
Roll back and forth on a board to neaten the cylinder.
Repeat with the remaining pieces.
Can be stored in the fridge for a few hours until needed.
Heat a griddle pan or your grill to high.
Brush the kebabs with a little more oil then place in the hot pan or under the grill.
Cook, turning often, until the kebabs are browned on the outside and cooked all the way through (8-10 min). Turn the temperature down if browning too quickly.
Can also be cooked on a barbecue.
Serve with the flatbreads, salad and garlic yogurt.
Roughly chop the garlic then sprinkle with the salt.
Using the flat side of a knife, squash together the garlic and salt until you have smoothish paste.
Put the paste in a bowl or jug then whisk in the yogurt.
Whisk in any of the optional extra seasonings.
Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.
(Keeps for 2 days).