Şifte — Flat Meat Patties in Bread

Name: Şifte — Flat Meat Patties in Bread
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 38 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 piece onion; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley; 600 g minced lamb (or half lamb, half beef); 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 tsp curry powder; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp ground black pepper; 2 tbsp neutral vegetable oil; 2 piece tomatoes; 4 piece flatbreads (see recipe Nanê sêlê — wafer-thin flatbread from the domed griddle; or flatbread from a Turkish shop); 8 tbsp sumac onions (see recipe Pîvaz bi sumaq — sumac onions)

A Kurdish classic from Sulaimaniyya and Hawraman in northeastern Iraq: Şifte are Sulaimaniyya's quick street food, thin, palm-sized patties of minced lamb with onion, plenty of parsley, tomato paste, cumin and a little curry powder, which at home are fried in a pan. In Arabic they are called Shifta. They go hot into warm flatbread with tomato slices, fresh parsley and tangy sumac onions, and are crisp on the outside, juicy inside and boldly spiced.

⏱

Cook time

38 min

🍽️

Servings

🧂

Ingredients

View Original ↗

Nutrition

per serving

724 kcal

Calories

34 g

Protein

42 g

Fat

51 g

Carbs

Ingredients

For 4 servings

Estimated cost~€2.25 · ~€0.55/serving

Kitchen Tools

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Instructions

1
Peel the onion and chop it very finely. Wash the parsley, shake it well to dry and chop finely; set aside 3 tbsp of it for serving.
2
Put the minced lamb in a bowl with the onion, the rest of the parsley, the tomato paste, curry powder, cumin, salt and pepper and knead vigorously for about 5 minutes until the mixture holds together and is slightly sticky.
3
Moisten your hands, divide the mixture into 12 portions of about 55 g each, roll each into a ball and press it flat on a board into a thin patty about 9 cm across and just under 1 cm thick.
4
Heat half the oil in a large frying pan and fry 6 Şifte over a medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side until well browned; turn once after 4 minutes.
5
Cut a Şifte open: the meat should no longer be pink inside, the juices should run clear and the core temperature should be 70 °C, because minced meat is always cooked through. Keep the finished Şifte warm and fry the second half in the remaining oil in the same way.
6
In summer, the Şifte work just as well on a charcoal or gas grill, on a hot cast-iron griddle plate or on the well-oiled grill rack, with the same doneness test; never grill indoors.
7
Slice the tomatoes. Warm the flatbreads in the empty hot pan or briefly on the grill for about 30 seconds on each side so that they become soft and pliable.
8
Lay 3 Şifte on each flatbread, top with tomato slices, sumac onions and the reserved parsley, roll the bread up tightly and eat straight away.
9
Tip: In Sulaimaniyya, a spoonful of yogurt with crushed garlic is often served with it; the meal is then no longer lactose-free. With half lamb and half beef, the Şifte are a little milder and stay just as juicy. Store leftover Şifte in the fridge, use them up within a day and reheat them thoroughly before eating until they reach 70 °C again.