Beef and Leek Kebabs with Dolmades and Tzatziki
These kebabs require very little effort other than letting them marinade and then cooking them. On the barbeque or under the grill, they taste great.
Kebabs are documented back to the late 1300s and originate from Turkey. In those days people hunted and killed animals, skewered them on on any metal implement and cooked them over a fire. The meat may have differed from our kebab recipe but the principle remains the same.
The most common meat used was lamb but many different meats were used depending on what was available. The meat was almost always marinated. Lemon, yogurt and herbs were almost always used.
500 grams / 1 pound beef sirloin or rump
2 medium leeks
1 garlic clove
120ml of olive oil
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon coriander
½ tablespoon cider (or white wine) vinegar
Finely slice or crush the garlic.
Cut the beef into 2cm / 1 inch cubes.
Trim the leeks to white flesh only and cut them into 2cm /1 inch slices.
If you don't fancy leeks, replace them with tomato chunks, cutting each tomato in half.
Add everything into a bowl and gently mix round until all the beef and leeks are coated in the marinade.
Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge for up to 12 hours. If you only have an hour to marinade, that will be enough to impart much of the flavour into the beef and leeks.
Stir the mixture half way though to ensure that all the leeks and beef are again coated in the liquid.
Beef and Leek Marinade
Take the beef and leek chunks from the bowl and place them on the kebab sticks as shown in the picture.
If you are cooking the kebabs on a barbecue, keep liquid for coating the kebabs as they cook.
Beef and leek kebabs ready to cook
Place the kebabs under a hot grill (or over a hot barbecue) and cook for four to five minutes without turning. Then turn the kebabs and cook for a further four minutes.
We served our kebabs with the Greek yogurt dip, tzatziki and dolmades.
Cooked beef kebabs