Fluffy kebabs at home

To those who have visited Greece and especially Athens (and its touristic areas of Plaka and Monastiraki) this recipe will bring back memories... Pleasant ones I hope:-) What we call "kebabs" in Greece is what you see in the photo underneath and not pieces of meat arranged with vegetables on a skewer or metal spit, as I see they are called abroad and especially here in the UK. Those are what we call in Greece "souvlaki" (with or without a pitta bread) because "souvlaki" means "small skewer" or spit.... Now that I have tried to make things clearer lets get to this delicious, interesting spiced recipe for kebabs which you can easily cook at home and enjoy with your family and friends. Great idea for a Sunday meal and definitely something different than the classic BBQ

Recipe of Nicki Mytarea and Yiorgos Zervakis,
from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 6 people)

For the kebabs:
750gr. of ground beef
250gr. of ground lamb
2 yellow onions, cut in chunks
2 cloves of garlic, cut in half
50ml of water
2 ice cubes, roughly crushed
½ tea-cup of fresh full fat milk, chilled
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tsp of salt
½ tsp of hot paprika (or sweet)
½ tsp of ground cumin
1 pinch of ground cardamon (kakule)
1 tbsp of very fine breadcrumbs

For accompaniment

For the yoghurt dip:
1 pot (175-200gr.) of Greek thick yoghurt
2 ripe bur firm tomatoes, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 pinch of ground cumin
salt
pepper

For the rest:
6 Greek pitta breads, toasted
small cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
1 large red onion, finely sliced (or chopped)
finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
sweet paprika

Method:
For the kebabs put the onions, the garlic and the water in a blender and whiz until they are thoroughly mashed.

Put in the bowl of a food processor the two ground meats, the onion/garlic mixture, the milk, the cornstarch, the salt, the paprika, the cumin, the cardamon, the breadcrumbs and the ice cubes. Work the ingredients on low speed for about 15-20 minutes. Leave the bowl with the mixture in the fridge for 1 hour.

Take out and shape the mixture into long and thin kebabs (see photo on top) and cook in a large non-stick frying pan (without any grease) for 4-5 minutes on medium heat, carefully turning them so to get nicely coloured and cooked on all sides.

In a small saucepan warm the oil on medium heat and sauté the tomatoes with the garlic, the cumin, the salt and the pepper for about 5 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon. Take the pan off the heat and leave aside to cool. Then add the yoghurt in the pan and stir very well.

Serve the kebabs on top of the pittas (cut in wedges) along with the yoghurt dip, garnish with the chopped parsley, the cherry tomatoes and the onion, sprinkle with the paprika and serve immediately.