Name: Pan-Cooked Lamb Kababs Shirazi-Style (Kabab Digi-e Shirazi)
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: Serves: 4 to 6
Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients: 1 cup/240 g plain drained yogurt/labneh; 3 lb/1.3 kg boneless leg of lamb cut into 2 in/5 cm cubes; 6 fig-branch or small wooden skewers, soaked in water for 2 hours; 2 teaspoons fine sea salt; 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper; ½ teaspoon fine sea salt; 1 teaspoon turmeric; ½ cup/120 ml oil, butter, or ghee; ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1 cup/85 g fresh basil leaves; 3 fresh baby fig leaves, washed thoroughly and patted dry (optional); Juice of 1 lime (about 4 tablespoons); 1 teaspoon ground saffron threads dissolved in 4 tablespoons rose water; 4 cloves garlic, peeled and grated; 8 dried Shirazi figs (available at Iranian markets), or fresh figs; Zest of 2 limes; 2 large tomatoes, peeled and sliced into rings; 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced into rings; 1 package (12-ounce/360 g) lavash bread; 1 cup/85 g fresh spring onions

Preparation info

Serves:
4 to 6

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
3 hr

Appears in

Cooking in Iran

By Najmieh Batmanglij

Published 2020

About

We bought fig leaves and dried fig branches at the Shiraz bazaar to make this kabab. Cooks make a similar dish in Azarbaijan, called kabab-e hoseyni, but using pomegranate branches instead of fig skewers and adding shee-tail fat and bell peppers between the lamb chunks. For the photo on the facing page, I used fresh fig leaves from the fig tree in our backyard in Washington, D.C.