Kabab Hindi (Aleppo Sour-Cherry Kebab)
Also: Kebab karaz, Cherry kebab, Aleppo cherry kebab
An Aleppine dish of spiced grilled or pan-cooked lamb meatballs simmered in a tart-sweet dried sour-cherry sauce, served over flatbread.
Identity criteria
- 1Lamb is formed into small spiced kofta/meatballs (kabab), not whole skewered cubes
- 2A sauce of dried Aleppo sour cherries (mahleb/karaz) defines the dish
- 3Aleppo pepper provides the characteristic warm, fruity heat
- 4The cherry sauce is tart-sweet, not merely savoury
- 5Served over pieces of flatbread that soak up the sauce, often topped with pine nuts
Components
Dried/sour cherries (karaz)essentialCooked into a tart-sweet sauce — the heart of the dish
Flatbread (khubz)essentialLines the plate and absorbs the sauce
Ground lamb (kofta)essentialSpiced and shaped into small kebabs/meatballs
Onion, allspice, cinnamonessentialLevantine warm-spice profile in the meat
Aleppo pepperessentialSignature Aleppine chile, fruity and mild-hot
Pine nuts and parsleyoptionalTraditional Aleppine finish
Technique
- Forming and grilling/searing spiced lamb kofta
- Builds the savoury, charred meat element distinct from a simmered meatball
- Reducing dried sour cherries into a sweet-tart sauce
- The cherry reduction is the defining flavour and what sets kebab karaz apart
- Simmering the kebabs in the cherry sauce
- Marries the meat and fruit so the lamb takes on the tart-sweet glaze
Form & serving
- Served
- Kebabs and cherry sauce spooned over torn flatbread on a platter
- Temperature
- hot
- Portion
- shared main
- Pairs with
- flatbread · pine nuts · yogurt · rice
Character
Flavour
Texture
tender spiced meatballs in a glossy fruit sauce over soft bread
Eaten
A celebrated Aleppine specialty, served at feasts and family meals over flatbread with the city's famed sour-cherry sauce.
When
summer (cherry season) · year-round with dried cherries
Variations & related
Regional variations
- Kebab karaz · Aleppo, Syria
The classic name and form of the sour-cherry kebab
- Pomegranate-accented version · Levant
Some kitchens deepen the sauce with pomegranate molasses
Related dishes
- sibling Kafta
Shares the spiced ground-lamb kofta base
- pairs-with Flatbread
Served over bread to catch the sauce
Substitutions
Dried sour cherries → Sweet cherries / other fruitinadmissible
Loses the essential tartness that defines the dish
Aleppo pepper → Mild paprika with a pinch of chileadmissible
Approximates the colour and gentle heat
Lamb kofta → Beef koftaadmissible
Acceptable but lamb is the traditional Aleppine choice
Common mistakes
- Using sweet cherries and losing the tart-sweet balance
- Treating it like a plain grilled kebab without the cherry sauce
- Skipping the flatbread base that absorbs the sauce
- Over-spicing the meat so it overwhelms the cherry flavour
Provenance
A signature dish of Aleppo, Syria, where dried sour cherries are a local specialty; emblematic of the city's celebrated sweet-and-sour meat cookery.
Claimed by: Syria
References
- 1.Aleppine culinary tradition
- 2.Syrian cookbook scholarship
Confidence: high