Tortilla Kebab Skewers with Haydari

🔪 Ingredients for Tortilla Kebab Skewers

Quantities live in the recipe card below. This is what to look for and why it matters.

For the Kebabs

• Ground lamb: 80/20 if your butcher will cut it that way. The fat is what keeps the inside juicy while the tortilla edges crisp.
• Ground beef: 80/20 chuck. Anything leaner dries out before the tortillas are done.
• Red onion: grated on the large holes of a box grater, then squeezed dry.
• Red bell pepper: same treatment as the onion, and the same hard squeeze.
• Fresh parsley
• Garlic, Ground cumin
• Aleppo pepper: fruity, mild, slow. It’s the flavor that makes these read Turkish instead of taco.
• Dried oregano
• Black pepper & Kosher salt
• Large flour tortillas: burrito size, 10 inch. Corn tortillas crack the moment you press the stack. If pita is what you want to cook with, go make lamb arayes instead.
• Avocado oil or grill spray

For the Haydari

• Labneh: thicker and tangier than yogurt, which is what keeps the dip from going loose and watery on a warm platter.
• Feta: block feta in brine, not the pre-crumbled kind. It mashes smoother.
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh dill
• Fresh mint: fresh only. Dried mint goes flat and dusty in a cold dip.
• Garlic
• Kosher salt

For the Garlic Butter Finish

• Butter
• Garlic
• Fresh parsley

Equipment

• Box grater: the large holes. A food processor turns the vegetables to slurry.
• Flat metal skewers: round skewers let each plank spin loose when you lift it and the stack unravels over the fire.
• Thermapen: the center of the thickest plank is the only place that matters, and you can’t see it.
• Grill, indoor or outdoor

📝 How to Make Tortilla Kebab Skewers

1. Grate the red onion and red bell pepper on the large holes of a box grater. Pile them into a clean kitchen towel or several layers of paper towel and wring hard until the liquid stops running, about 30 seconds of real effort. A few tablespoons of water should come out.
2. Add the ground lamb, ground beef, squeezed onion and pepper, parsley, garlic, cumin, Aleppo pepper, oregano, black pepper, and kosher salt to a large bowl. Mix gently with your hands just until the spices look evenly distributed, about 30 seconds. Past that, the meat turns springy and dense.
3. Stack the tortillas on a cutting board and trim the rounded edges into squares. Square edges are what give you clean planks later.
4. Lay one tortilla on the work surface and spread a thin layer of meat all the way to the edges. A scant 1/8 inch, about as thick as two stacked quarters. Top with another tortilla, repeat, and finish with a bare tortilla on top with no meat on it.
5. Press the stack down firmly and evenly with your palms so the layers grab each other. Transfer to a sheet pan, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. It should feel cold and solid, not soft, before you cut it.
6. While the stack chills, mash the feta in a medium bowl until it breaks into small crumbs. Stir in the labneh, olive oil, dill, mint, garlic, and kosher salt until it’s smooth with no white streaks. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
7. Cut the chilled stack into 4 equal strips. Turn each strip onto a cut side so the layers stand vertically and you can see the stripes.
8. Push the strips tight against each other and run the flat metal skewers horizontally through all of them, spaced evenly down the length. Cut between the skewers with a sharp knife to free 4 loaded skewers.
9. Preheat the grill to medium, 375°F to 400°F, and brush the grates with avocado oil or hit them with grill spray. A cold grate steams the tortillas instead of searing them.
10. Lay the skewers down and leave them alone for 3 to 4 minutes, until the bottom edges are golden brown and the meat has set enough to release from the grate cleanly.
11. Turn and keep going, rotating every 2 to 3 minutes so all four sides get fire. Drop the heat slightly if the tortilla edges darkenen faster than the meat is cooking.
12. Cook until the tortilla edges are browned and crisp and the meat at the center of the thickest kebab reads 160°F, 10 to 15 minutes total depending on your grill and how thick the planks came out.
13. Stir the melted butter, garlic, and parsley together while the skewers finish. Brush it on the second they come off the fire, while the surface is still hot enough to drink it in.
14. Spread the haydari across a platter or spoon it into a shallow bowl, and then drizzle it with more olive oil. Lay the hot skewers over it and serve right away, while the edges are still crisp.

🍽️ What to Serve with Tortilla Kebab Skewers

• Quick pickled red onions with sumac. The acid cuts the garlic butter, and they hold on the platter for as long as the kebabs last, which is not long.
• Chopped cucumber, tomato, and parsley salad with lemon and olive oil. Spoon it straight over the haydari so it runs down into the kebabs.
• Charred long peppers or shishitos. They go on the grate as the skewers come off and take about 4 minutes.
• Another skewer on the fire. Grilled lamb kofta cooks in the same way on the same grill, and the two together turn this into a proper mixed grill platter.

🧊 Leftovers and Storage

• Refrigerate cooked kebabs in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
• Reheat on the grill, in a skillet over medium-low, or in an air fryer at 375°F for 4 to 5 minutes, until hot through and crisp on the edges again.
• Skip the microwave. It warms the meat and turns the tortilla layers soft.
• Store the haydari in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Stir it before serving if it separates.

❓ FAQs