You may have seen a viral doner kebab recipe or two floating around social media, I know we have, and it made us hungry. What’s not to love about cuts of juicy seasoned meats and refreshing veggies on a pita with tangy garlic sauce? That’s right, we also Lebanese salata and a fresh homemade garlic sauce to go with these, because no kebab is complete with your favorite fixins’ to make it your own.
Jumping right into it, our doner is a simple mix of ground beef, greak yogurt, a few key seasonings oregano, paprika, and cumin, with a healthy amount of pureed yellow onion. We also used a few tablespoons of red pepper flakes which are good if you like a little heat, but otherwise you could use one tablespoon or even less for just a little bit of added flavor. You could also use a blend of ground beef and ground lamb for the full kebab experience, but we opted to keep it simple with some good ol’ fashioned ground beef.
When everything is mixed together, spread out the meaty mixture over some parchment paper in a very thin layer, as fractions of an inch thick. It doesn’t have to be exact, but 1/8th of an inch or even thinner is going to help these layers cook thoroughly in the oven and come out as the tasty shavings of juicy meat that makes kebabs a favorite. You’ll also want to spread out the mixture almost to the edges of the paper but not fully up to it; this way the beef won’t squeeze out of the ends of the paper as you roll it up and lay them in a deep baking sheet.
These doner will need to come out of the oven a couple times to drain some fat, get unrolled, then drizzled with lemon juice, and these windows where it’s cooking give you the perfect chance to make some crisp and refreshing salata to go with the tangy doner and garlic sauce. It’s a very tasty Mediterranean salad of greens, cucumber, tomato, and some onion with a few seasonings and olive oil. It couldn’t be simpler, but no kebab is complete without the veggies to complement the rest.
We also made homemade garlic sauce, or toum as it’s also known, because you must have a great sauce to tie it all together. It’s just a matter of blending a bunch of peeled garlic in a food processor and adding canola oil and lemon juice in small alternating batches as you do. This will keep the sauce nice and smooth and be sure to wipe down the inside of the processor (with a spatula, while it’s off too, please) to incorporate any garlic that is probably stuck to the sides.
When it’s finally time to assemble your kebab, there’s no wrong way to do it, add the doner, salata, and the sauce along with your favorite toppings to a pita and enjoy! There’s a lot to love about this recipe, with juicy cuts of beef, fresh veggies, and tangy, it’s a recipe that really does it all. If you aren’t familiar with Mediterranean cooking, this is a great opportunity to give it a try for yourself, and we think you’ll be glad you did. Enjoy this, share it with others that will enjoy it, and we hope you enjoy some of our other Halal recipes.
