Şeftali kebabı is a traditional Northern Cypriot recipe for a classic kebab made from a blend of minced beef, onion, flat-leaf parsley, chilli flakes and lamb suet shaped into sausages, covered in caul fat and cooked on a barbecue. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Northern Cypriot version of: Şeftali kebabı.
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Şeftali (sheftali) are a classic minced beef Cypriot kebab that's traditionally served with an onion salad along with lavash or Kıbrıs Pidesi and plenty of lemon wedges.
Ingredients:
900g (2lb) minced beef
450g (1lb) onion, finely chopped
300g (10½oz) flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (a little stalk is good)
15g (½oz) fine salt
40g (1½oz) Turkish chilli flakes (pul biber)
200g (7oz) lamb suet, frozen and finely grated
2–3kg lamb caul fat, soaked in cold water with the juice of 1 lemon for 1 hour
Method:
Mix together the beef, onion, parsley, salt, chilli flakes and lamb suet in a bowl. Work the ingredients together with your hands then knead for 5–10 minutes, or until well combined. Divide the mixture into 85g pieces (you should end up with 18) and shape each one into a sausage about 7cm long.
To wrap the şeftali, stretch a large piece of caul fat over a chopping board. Place a şeftali sausage on one corner of the board and cut the caul fat around it, leaving a 1.5cm margin on 3 sides and leaving it at least 10cm long on the fourth side, Roll the caul fat around the sausage 1.5 times, tucking in the margins as you go. Repeat with the remainder of the şeftali.
Thread the sausages onto 2 long skewers, weaving them in and out to prevent them unravelling. Alternatively, if you have metal grill for sandwiching fish on the barbecue, you can line them up in that. Cook on your barbecue over medium-hot coals, seasoning then with a little fine salt during cooking, and turning them regularly.
