Tantuni

Tantuni is an iconic Turkish street food made with lightly seasoned small cubes of beef stir-fried in a special pan.

This traditional dish is typically served wrapped in lavash bread together with chopped onions, tomatoes, sumac, and parsley. Originating from Mersin city of Turkey, this delicious Tantuni kebab wrap is full of Mediterranean flavors you will love!

Jump to:

• Why This Recipe Works?
• Ingredients You'll Need
• How to Make Tantuni?
• Top Tip From the Chef
• How to Serve Tantuni?
• Recipe FAQs
• Related Recipes
• Tantuni

Traditionally, Tantuni is made on a special tantuni pan with a big hollow at the center of it, where the beef is cooked. The sides of the pan are used to present the pre-cooked meat to the customer.

But don't worry if you don't own one of these pans! You can use a wok or a large skillet to make this scrumptious street food at home.

Why This Recipe Works?

• Same as Cig Borek - Chebureki, Turkish Boyoz Pastry, and Kumpir - Turkish Baked Potato, this recipe shows you how to make famous street food at home.

• You only need a few simple ingredients to make this extremely delicious Tantuni kebab.

• There is a minimum preparation involved to make this famous dish, all you need to do is to slice some onions and chop some beef and tomatoes!

• Although this recipe recalls only paprika, black pepper, and salt as spices, you can add any flavors you like such as cumin, dry thyme, or chilies.

Ingredients You'll Need

Please scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredients list with measurements, complete recipe method, recipe notes, and nutritional information.

• Beef - I use stir-frying steak or fillet steak for tantuni. Make sure to clean all the fat and silver skin or hard parts to achieve the best flavor and texture.

• Fat - Traditionally, tantuni is stir-fried with cotton oil. However, it is not very easy or cheap to find it. You can substitute it with butter, olive oil, or lamb fat.

• Wraps - You can buy them from supermarkets or make your own flatbread using Greek Pita Bread, Middle Eastern Lavash Bread, or Homemade Wheat Tortilla Bread recipes.

• Red onions - I prefer using red onions for their color and strong flavor. You can use white or brown onions if you prefer. Slice them thinly to add a bit of crunch to the salad. 

• Parsley - It is one of my favorite herbs that adds flavor and brightness to salads. It is very popular to use this aromatic herb in many Turkish salad recipes such as Piyaz (Turkish Bean Salad) or Turkish Shepherd Salad (Coban Salatasi).

• Tomatoes - Use the tastiest tomatoes you can find to get the best result. I prefer beefsteak or Roma tomatoes but any type would work fine as long as they are tasty and juicy.

• Flavorings - Simple Mediterranean flavors such as paprika, salt, sumac, and black pepper. Adjust the amount to your taste.

How to Make Tantuni?

This delicious Tantuni recipe is extremely easy to make with very little preparation. However, you need to follow a few simple steps to achieve the best results: 

Do Your Mis-en-place

Trim the steak and cut it into small cubes, the size of ½ cm (⅕ "). Set them aside. You can cut the steak larger but the cooking time would be longer. Finely chop the lamb fat and set it aside (if using).

Prepare the onion salad: finely slice the onions and mix with chopped parsley salt and sumac in a medium-sized bowl. You can also add pul biber (flaked chili). Set it aside until you are ready to build the wraps.

Slice or dice the tomatoes, and set them aside along with the onion salad.

Cook the Beef

Place your wok or large skillet on medium heat and then add the lamb fat (if using) to render it. If not using lamb fat, add olive oil or butter to the wok and heat it before adding the beef.

Cook the beef until it releases its water and absorbs it back, for about 10 minutes. Add the salt, black pepper, and paprika, and sauté the beef for another minute.

Pour in the water and cook for another 10 minutes until half of the liquid evaporates.

To build your wraps, place a piece of lavash or wheat tortilla wrap on top of the meat to absorb the gravy. Leave the lavash for 20 seconds until it is soaked with gravy and place it on a plate, the clean side is down. 

Top the lavash with chopped tomato, onion salad, and two tablespoons of beef.

Tightly wrap it, securing both sides to keep the filling in.

Repeat the same with the remaining wraps and meat. Cut them in halves and then serve immediately with extra onion salad, chopped tomatoes, and pickled baby chilies on the side.

Top Tip From the Chef

The beef you use should be nicely cleaned of any silverskin, sinews, and fat to achieve a tender cooked tantuni.

How to Serve Tantuni?

Traditionally, this dish is served rolled in a durum wheat wrap, with ground sumac, parsley, and onion salad, sliced or chopped tomatoes, and some pickled chilies on the side. Some people prefer adding a squeeze of lemon to balance the fatty meat but sumac gives enough freshness and acidity in my opinion.

Recipe FAQs

Related Recipes

For more delicious Turkish Recipes why not try:

Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.

I hope you enjoy the process of making this scrumptious street food Tantuni kebab as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂 

Bon appétit! / Afiyet olsun!

This recipe features in Twinkl’s Mother’s and Other’s Day: Including Others this Mother’s Day blog. 

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