Koobideh - Persian Ground Beef Kabob
One of the most popular dishes ordered in Persian restaurants, these Persian ground beef kabobs known as koobideh (or kubideh), are grilled to juicy perfection and you only need 5 ingredients to make them.
Servings: 4
Calories: 362kcal
Equipment
- 4 Skewers
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 lb. ground beef or lamb, 80/20
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt plus more to taste
- ½ tsp pepper plus more to taste
- 1 tbsp oil flavorless, like canola, vegetable, avocado, etc.
- ½ tsp saffron ground and bloomed in 1 tbsp hot water
Instructions
- Grate the onion and squeeze out all the liquid, reserving the liquid. Add the ground meat, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of oil, the steeped saffron, salt, and pepper. Knead for a minimum of 5 minutes, but preferably 10 minutes until it is very sticky.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes, but preferably 1 hour.
- Mix together 2 teaspoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of the onion juice. This is for basting.
- Mix together the rest of the onion juice and some ice water. Skewer with cold, wet hands. It is helpful to taper the bottom and top of the kabob of each skewer. Use your pointer and middle finger in a scissor position press the classic indentations along the kabob. If it isn't sticking, see note below.
- Cook over high heat flipping every 30 seconds until cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Base with the basting liquid when you have about 1 minute left.
Video
Notes
Serve with bastmati rice, barbecued tomatoes, and sumac for seasoning the kabob and/or rice.
Make sure you have squeezed all the water out of the onion. Too much liquid will make the meat mixture not sticky enough. Too much onion will also keep it from sticking, so stay with the ratio in the recipe.
Without kneading it, the meat will fall off the skewer.
If you allow the meat to get warm, you're basically melting/breaking down the fat, and this causes it to fall off the skewer. If it takes you a long time to get the meat on the skewers, you can place the bowl of ground meat in a larger bowl of ice water to help keep it cool.
If after all of this your meat is still falling off the skewer, you can add ½ teaspoon of baking soda to help it stick on the skewer. Only use this if absolutely necessary, because this will change the texture of the final kabob to a slightly rubbery one.
Nutrition
Calories: 362kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 650mg | Potassium: 296mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 2mg
