Tonight's supper: Greek lamb souvlakia with homemade pita bread

23 September 2015 - 02:00 By Hilary Biller
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A traditional Greek dish of luscious grilled lamb kebabs. You can add vegetables to the kebabs such as chunks of onion, courgettes, peppers and baby tomatoes, or swap out the lamb for chicken thighs or pork tenderloin

Makes: 12-18 kebabs

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 90 minutes plus marinating overnight

Ingredients:

1kg lamb steaks, cut into 4cm cubes

12-18 wooden kebab sticks, soaked in water for 30 minutes before using

Toasted pita bread, to serve (recipe below)

Marinade:

10ml (2 tsp) ground coriander

10ml (2 tsp) dried oregano

150ml olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons

1 onion, finely grated

2 bay leaves

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Yoghurt, mint and garlic sauce:

500ml (2 cups) plain yoghurt

Small bunch fresh mint, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

60ml (¼ cup) olive oil

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:

1) Place the lamb in a large dish. Mix together all the marinade ingredients and pour over the lamb to coat well. Cover and leave to marinate overnight.

2) Remove the lamb from the marinade and thread onto wooden kebab sticks.

3) Brush with marinade and either braai over hot coals, grill in the oven, or cook in a hot griddle pan, basting with the marinade.

4) For the yoghurt sauce, combine all the ingredients and mix well.

5) Serve the souvlakia with the sauce and toasted pita bread.

PITA BREAD

Makes: 12

Difficulty: A little effort

Time: 90 minutes, including proving time

Ingredients:

720g (6 cups) cake flour

10ml (2 tsp) salt

10g (1 sachet) instant dry yeast

5ml (1 tsp) sugar

600ml warm water

Method:

1) In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, yeast and sugar. Slowly add the warm water to the dry ingredients, mixing to make a dough.

2) On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes until double in size.

3) Preheat the oven to 250°C.

4) Knock back the dough and divide into 12. Roll each piece into a circle on a lightly floured surface until you have 5mm-thick rounds. Dust lightly with flour, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for 10 minutes.

5) Place baking trays in the oven to heat up for five minutes.

6) Place the risen rounds of dough on hot trays and bake for 5-6 minutes until puffed-up but still pale.

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