Qebapa

Ingredients

The meat

• 700 gminced beef
• 300 gminced lamb
• or all beef
• with about twenty per cent fat

The seasoning

• 1 teaspoonbicarbonate of soda
• 4garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
• 2 teaspoonssalt
• 2 teaspoonsblack pepper
• 1 teaspoonpaprika
• about 100 ml sparkling water
• or still water

To grill

• charcoal
• a wire grill
• a little oil

To serve

• somun flatbread
• or pitta
• 1raw onion, chopped
• kajmak or sour cream
• ajvar, optional

Directions

1. Grill them longer if it is not. Put both minces in a large bowl. Crush the garlic to a paste with salt. Add it to the meat with the spices.
2. Add the bicarbonate of soda in. Crush it with the flat of a knife. Use the salt as a rough abrasive. Work it together thoroughly by hand. Work it hard and for several minutes. It becomes sticky and quite smooth.
3. Work it far more than seems needed. Work the water in very gradually. Add it in just a little at a time. It should not look wet at the end. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it. Give it overnight if you possibly can. Roll the meat into short fingers. Understanding the wet hands are worth explaining.
4. Make them about the size of a thumb. Keep every one of them the same size. About eight centimetres long is usual. Set the shaped fingers on a tray. Refrigerate them for thirty minutes. Wait until it glows under grey ash. That is what the method needs.
5. Oil the grill bars before they go on. Get the grill genuinely hot first. Lay the fingers on the hot grill. Give them about three minutes. Turn them and give three more minutes. Six to eight minutes in total is usual.
6. Turn them only once or twice over. Judging them takes a careful check. Grill them longer if there is. Let the flame die before returning them.
7. Warm the flatbread on the grill. Warm bread is far better than cold. Give the bread a minute each side. Pile the hot qebapa inside it. Fill each of the breads generously. Pile chopped raw onion over them. Spoon kajmak or sour cream in. It is thick, salty and slightly sour. Spoon a little ajvar in as well. They are eaten hot from the grill.

Technique

• Bicarbonate of soda in the meat is genuinely traditional rather than a modern shortcut: it raises the alkalinity so the proteins hold water, giving a juicier springier result and helping them brown. A teaspoon to a kilo is right and more gives a soapy taste and rubbery texture, so do not increase it. The mixture then rests overnight, which is when the bicarbonate does its work and the texture noticeably changes.
• Work the meat hard for several minutes until it becomes sticky and smooth — far more than seems needed. Under-worked meat falls apart on the grill where well-worked meat holds together and has the right springy bite. The mince must also have real fat in it, about twenty per cent, since lean mince gives dry hard qebapa.
• Minced meat must be cooked right through, since mincing spreads any surface bacteria through it — unlike a whole steak. Cut one open the first time and check there is no pink at the centre.

Substitutions

• All beef is as common as a beef and lamb mixture; lamb adds richness and both are genuinely made.
• Some cooks use sparkling water, said to lighten the texture, though the effect is probably small and still water works nearly as well; the atlas records the practice.

Variations

• Ćevapi are made right across the Balkans with the name following the language, and the dish descends from Ottoman kebab — it belongs to the whole region rather than to any one country, which the atlas records.
• Wet your hands with cold water to roll the fingers and re-wet between each, since the sticky meat clings to dry hands.
• Raw chopped onion is not optional but essential, cutting the richness and giving sharpness and crunch; kajmak or sour cream and a little ajvar are the other standard additions.

History

Grilled minced-meat fingers served in flatbread with onion, the Kosovar form of the Balkan ćevapi.

Frequently asked questions

What is Qebapa?

Qebapa is a main from Kosovo: grilled minced-meat fingers with flatbread and onion. Grilled minced-meat fingers served in flatbread with onion, the Kosovar form of the Balkan ćevapi.

How long does Qebapa take to make?

Qebapa takes 30 minutes plus resting of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Qebapa?

Yes, within limits. All beef is as common as a beef and lamb mixture; lamb adds richness and both are genuinely made. Some cooks use sparkling water, said to lighten the texture, though the effect is probably small and still water works nearly as well; the atlas records the practice.

What is the most important thing to get right in Qebapa?

Bicarbonate of soda in the meat is genuinely traditional rather than a modern shortcut: it raises the alkalinity so the proteins hold water, giving a juicier springier result and helping them brown. A teaspoon to a kilo is right and more gives a soapy taste and rubbery texture, so do not increase it. The mixture then rests overnight, which is when the bicarbonate does its work and the texture noticeably changes.