Video and recipe by “Cooking With Yousef” on YouTube
“I wanted to make a special dish that will add some spice and variety to your Thanksgiving Dinner. Turkey Kabab (Kebab) Koobideh is surprisingly delicious, even for those who don’t really love turkey as a protein. I prefer this over Chicken Koobideh as of late, and so does my wife.” – Chef Yousef
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs of turkey thighs
- 1/2 cup of cooking oil
- 2 tbs of sumac
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 & 1/2 tsp of black pepper
- 1/4 tsp of chili pepper
- 1 &1/2 tsp salt
- 1 butter stick
- 1 cup of water
- 2 pinches of saffron threads
- 2 large onions
- 4 medium size tomatoes
Directions:
- With a sharp knife cut the skin off the turkey thighs
- Debone the turkey thighs
- Cut the deboned and skinless turkey thighs into small pieces
- Slice and chop the onions into small sizes
- Using a meat grinder, grind the onions
- Using a strainer, remove the onion juice from the ground onions
- Grind the turkey thighs
- Regrind the turkey with the ground onions, cooking oil and all of the spices
- In a large bowl, put the ground mixture and mix by hand until smooth and sticky all around
- Cover bowl and refrigerate for about one hour
- In a bowl, pour some water and set aside
- Take bowl with meat out of fridge and place next to warm water bowl
- Wet your hand and take some meat out of bowl and form into medium size circles
- Using metal skewers place the turkey meat on them while pressing and pinching from top to bottom of skewers
- Cut tomatoes and pierce them with skewers
- Place skewers on a grill (gas or charcoal)
- Make sure you turn the skewers every few seconds until fully cooked
- Brush turkey kebabs with melted butter and saffron
- Serve kebabs with Persian basmati rice, tahdig (crispy rice), Mast-o-Khiar Yogurt Dip (yogurt with cucumbers) and Persian herbs