İskender Kebab: Bursa's Greatest Contribution to Food
Doner meat over pide bread, drenched in tomato sauce and browned butter, with cold yoghurt on the side. The contrast between the hot butter, the bread soaking up sauce, and the cold yoghurt is what makes it work. This recipe uses thinly sliced lamb or beef as a home version of the doner.
Ingredients
Meat
- 500g thinly sliced lamb or beef (or good quality doner meat)
- 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, salt, pepper
- 2 tbsp oil
Tomato Sauce
- 400g crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt to taste
To Serve
- 4 thick pide bread slices (or flatbread), cut into cubes
- 80g butter (for browning)
- 300g cold full-fat yoghurt
- Roasted tomato and peppers on the side
Method
- Season meat, cook over very high heat in a pan. You want char on the edges. Set aside.
- Make the tomato sauce: melt butter, add crushed tomatoes and pepper flakes, simmer 15 minutes until thickened. Season well.
- Toast the pide cubes in the oven at 180°C until golden and starting to crisp on the edges. They'll soften under the sauce.
- Plate: pide cubes first, meat over them, ladle hot tomato sauce generously over everything.
- Brown the butter in a separate small pan until it smells nutty and turns golden. Pour immediately over the plate at the table.
- Add cold yoghurt on the side. Do not mix it in — the temperature contrast is the point.
Notes
The browned butter is not optional. It's what makes İskender İskender. Do it right before serving — it needs to hit the plate sizzling. If you can find real pide bread, use it. The bread should absorb the sauce but not turn to mush; that's why toasting it first matters.