The Beyti kebab is a Turkish dish consisting of ground beef or lamb, grilled on a skewer (seekh kebab) and served wrapped in lavash (typical Armenian bread), topped with tomato sauce and served with yogurt.
▶The dish is named after Beyti Güler, the owner of the famous “Beyti restaurant” in Istanbul who was inspired to create his dish in 1961, after seeing the meat preparation method of the Swiss butcher Möller, while visiting Switzerland.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Grill, Oven
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1.76 lbs ground lamb (or beef)
- 1 egg
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 8 lavash
- to taste cumin
- to taste olive oil
- to taste salt and pepper
- to taste yogurt
- to taste coriander
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tomatoes
- to taste chili peppers
- to taste olive oil
Tools
- 4 Skewers steel
Steps
Mix the onion, beaten egg, minced garlic (3 cloves), salt, cumin, and pepper into the meat.
Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes, covered.
Prepare the sauce: sauté the garlic in a little oil, add the tomatoes and chili pepper. Cook for a few minutes.
Create a sort of long meatball around the skewer and grill.
Roll each kebab inside the lavash bread, brush with oil.
Bake for 5 minutes in the oven at 320°F.
Cut diagonally.
Serve topped with tomato sauce and accompanied by yogurt sauce mixed with 1 clove of garlic and coriander.
Beyti Restaurant
The Beyti restaurant is one of the oldest steakhouses in Istanbul.
The Beyti restaurant was opened in 1945 by the Crimean immigrant Abdülmuttalip Güler and his son Beyti Güler as a small meatball restaurant with 4 tables and 16 chairs on the shore of Lake Küçükçekmece.
In just a few years, the restaurant became one of the most famous grilled steakhouses in Istanbul.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What are the main differences between Beyti Kebab and Adana Kebab and Urfa Kebab?
In Beyti Kebab, garlic is one of the main ingredients, which is not used in the preparation of Adana Kebab or Urfa Kebab.
The main ingredient of both Adana Kebab and Urfa Kebab is tail fat, known in Arabic as لية (leeyeh, leyyah, or layeh), which is the fat from certain breeds of sheep, particularly fat-tailed sheep.
Adana Kebab and Urfa Kebab are served on lavash bread, while Beyti Kebab is wrapped in lavash and served with tomato sauce.
Adana Kebab is the spicier sibling of Urfa Kebab.What is the recipe for lavash?
Ingredients
25 g yeast
600 ml warm water
1300 g flour
salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Method
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast, salt, and sugar in the warm water; add the flour and knead until you obtain a compact and well-worked dough.
Let it rise in the bowl covered with a cloth for about 3 hours.
Knead the dough vigorously for a few more minutes and let it rise for another half an hour.
On a floured surface, divide the dough into portions the size of an egg (you will get about 25-30).
Roll out into a 20-25 cm diameter sheet. The dough should be no more than 2 mm thick.
Prick the surface of the sheets with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 392°F and bake the sheets for about 3 minutes.
As the bread discs are cooked, place them in a basket, covered with a napkin to keep them warm until serving.
