Edirne-style fried lamb’s liver with red onion salad (ciger tava)

If each Turkish city was defined by a produce, then Edirne’s would be lamb or veal liver. The secret to this recipe is to use lots of butter!

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 250 g lamb’s or veal liver, membrane removed, cut into 5 mm strips
• 250 ml (1 cup) milk
• plain flour, to dust
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp isot chilli flakes (see note)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 40 g unsalted butter
• 2 long red chillies

Red onion salad

• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp sumac
• 1 tsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Soaking time 1 hour

Drink Efes Pilsener

Instructions

Soak liver in milk for 1 hour. Drain, discard the milk and rinse liver under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towel. Set aside.

To make onion salad, using your hands, knead red onion and sumac in a bowl for 1 minute or until onion is softened. Stir in parsley and set aside.

Place flour in a shallow bowl. Dust liver with flour and shake off excess. Combine paprika, chilli flakes, thyme, cumin, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Melt butter in a frying pan over high heat, add liver and chillies, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until browned. Remove from heat, add spice mix and stir to combine. Serve topped with red onion salad.

Note
• Isot or Urfa chilli flakes, from Turkish food shops, are mild, slightly smoky and purplish-black. Substitute coarsely ground chilli (no seeds) from Asian food shops or regular chilli flakes (with seeds).

As seen in Feast magazine, Issue 8, pg96.

Photography by Alan Benson

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.