Homemade Minced Beef Döner

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g minced beef, 5% fat
• 1 brown onion (about 100 g)
• 3 garlic cloves (2 for the meat, 1 for the sauce)
• 2 tsp ground cumin + 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 pitta breads (about 60 g each)
• 200 g white cabbage (a small quarter of a cabbage)
• 2 tomatoes (about 120 g each)
• 1 red onion (about 100 g)
• 250 g Greek yoghurt, 2% fat (for the sauce)
• ½ lemon (for the juice)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Loaf tin
• Mixing bowl
• Grater
• Large knife
• Non-stick frying pan
• Chopping board

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and line a loaf tin with baking paper. Finely grate the brown onion, then squeeze it hard in your hands over the sink to remove as much juice as possible: too much water would stop the meat holding together.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the beef, the squeezed onion, 2 grated garlic cloves, the cumin, paprika, 1 tsp salt and some pepper. Knead vigorously by hand for 3 to 4 minutes until you have a sticky, uniform paste: this is what gives the döner its dense texture.
3. Pack the meat into the tin a small handful at a time, pressing down firmly with the flat of your hand to push out any air bubbles, then smooth the top. The more compact the meat loaf, the thinner and cleaner the slices will be.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, until the top is well browned and the juices that run out when you pierce the centre are clear, with no trace of pink. Pour off the cooking juices, turn out onto a board and leave to rest for 10 minutes: the loaf firms up and slices without crumbling.
5. While it bakes, make the white sauce: mix the Greek yoghurt, the last garlic clove, grated, the juice of the half lemon and a pinch of salt and pepper. Chill for at least 20 minutes so the garlic flavours the sauce well.
6. Shred the white cabbage as finely as possible, slice the tomatoes into rounds and the red onion into thin slivers. Massage the cabbage with a pinch of salt for 1 minute: it becomes more tender and nicer to eat in the pitta.
7. Slice the meat loaf into 2 to 3 mm strips with a large, very sharp knife. Heat half the oil in the frying pan over a high heat and sear half the strips in a single layer for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until the edges are golden and crisp. Repeat with the rest.
8. Warm the pittas for 1 minute in the hot pan or in the toaster, then open them up into pockets. Fill with cabbage, tomato and red onion, add the piping hot meat and spoon over plenty of white sauce. Serve straight away.