Ćevapi recipe: Serbia's grilled meat rolls

Ćevapi are small grilled rolls of minced meat, cooked over live coals and served in warm somun bread with raw onion and ajvar — the dish behind AMARA, the Balkan restaurant chef Nemanja Milunovic just opened in Chicago's Fulton Market.

The technique that matters here is the meat mix, not the grill: a blend of beef and lamb, seasoned simply and bound with nothing but a little baking soda and cold water, worked just enough to bind without the fat separating at the seams.

This version keeps AMARA's 80/20 beef-to-lamb ratio, the point at which the dish tastes rich without the lamb taking over, and leans on kajmak, the clotted Balkan dairy that melts into the hot meat, in place of butter or cheese.

No egg, no breadcrumbs: ćevapi hold their shape from a well-worked meat mix and nothing else.

Ingredients

• 700g minced beef
• 300g minced lamb
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 4 somun or flatbreads, warmed
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 200g ajvar (roasted red pepper relish)
• 100g kajmak or thick clotted cream

Method

1. Mix the beef and lamb by hand with the baking soda and cold water first, working the liquid in before adding any seasoning; the soda and water loosen the proteins so the fat binds instead of leaking out on the grill.
2. Add the paprika, pepper, salt and garlic and knead for two minutes, until the mixture turns pale and slightly sticky, a sign the proteins have bound enough to hold their shape without a casing.
3. Shape into fingers about 8cm long and 2.5cm thick, using wet hands to stop the meat sticking, then rest them in the fridge for at least an hour so they hold together on the grill.
4. Grill over high, direct heat for 8 to 10 minutes, turning every two minutes, until charred outside and just cooked through; the high heat sears the surface fast enough that the inside stays juicy.
5. Split the warm somun bread, tuck in the Ćevapi, and top with chopped onion, ajvar and a spoon of kajmak before the bread closes over the heat and steams slightly.

A dish built for the grill, not the pan

Skip the trick of adding breadcrumbs or egg to bind the mixture; done right, Ćevapi hold their shape from the baking soda and the working of the meat alone, and extra binders just dilute the flavour. If kajmak is not available, a thick, unsalted clotted cream or full-fat crème fraîche does a similar job of cooling the chilli heat of the ajvar.

At AMARA, the dish is poured alongside rakija, the Balkan fruit brandy; at home, a chilled, low-tannin red does the same work of cutting through the fat.

Can Ćevapi be made with beef alone? Yes, though the lamb is what keeps this Ćevapi recipe from tasting flat; without it, add a spoon of grated onion to the mix for moisture instead.