I recently ate at an Afghan kebab place, and I was surprised to find that they seasoned their grilled meat with sumac. It was fantastic. Now I want to do this myself. Do any of you know of a good recipe, or at least what other spices I should use, and in roughly what proportions? I’m having trouble finding anything that seems even remotely authentic.
Check out persian recipes for chelo kabab, the cuisines are very close. I usually mix ground lamb and beef with finely grated onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Then form the patties into ovals and grill. We always use sumac as a condiment at the table, it is really nice over the meat and rice. Chicken can also be cooked the same way, off the bone. Serve with grilled tomatoes and yogurt. You can form the meat around flat skewers for a more authentic kabab, but this is tricky and we rarely make it like this.
Trader Joe’s sells sumac. It is pretty good mixed in with hummus and sprinkled on lentil soup.