Lula Kebab

Lula kebab is a staple of Assyrian and Armenian cuisine. It’s my mom’s favorite thing to make for an easy weeknight dinner, and it goes great with riza sh’ariyeh and fattoush. And while they’re traditionally cooked on the grill, you can absolutely make them in the oven. This recipe has you covered in either case. Read along for some delicious serving ideas, or jump to the lula kebab recipe.

Things to serve alongside lula kebab

• Serve lula kebab with really good pot of rice, especially something like riza sh’ariyeh, bulgur pilaf, or West African jollof rice. Or, if you’ve got nothing but time and onions, make a batch of mujadara, and watch your family ignore every single other thing on the table.
• Bake your own samoon, like I did here, or pick some up from your local Middle Eastern market. It’s a really fun activity, and you probably have the ingredients at home. Store them in the freezer if you don’t plan to eat them all in the next 24 hours (never the refrigerator).
• Make a simple slaw with mayo (or yogurt), lemon, olive oil, and whatever you’ve got. I like using a lot of capers and black pepper. Or, while you’re at it, make fattoush.
• Make a bean salad! If you’re improvising one, you can simply use a little splash of red wine vinegar, a spoonful of dijon mustard, a generous glug of olive oil, a clove of garlic crushed through a press (or some garlic powder), and all the dried herbs you can find (basil, chives, dill, parsley, and black pepper all work great together). Or mayo, chipotle, lime juice, and fresh cilantro.

make your ingredients last longer

• Immediately freeze however many grilled kebabs you don’t plan to consume in the first couple days. It’s best to freeze things within a day or two of making them, so they’re still good quality after thawing.
• Alternatively, you can freeze them in raw form and grill them one at a time. But I find that it’s much easier and more efficient to just grill them all at once, and enjoy the rest as leftovers.
• Wash your leftover cilantro and green onions really well, dry them really well, and store them as described in this post. They’ll last for at least a few days, if not weeks. Use the extra in salads, guacamole, etc. Watch the video below for more info on washing them well.

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