Tas Kebabi is a Turkish Beef Stew cooked slowly with onion, garlic, tomato paste, and stock until the meat falls apart. It goes to the table over rice, with fried potatoes and peppers on top.
The sauce tastes better on the second day, so I often cook it ahead. The potatoes are the only thing that needs doing at the last minute, so they stay crisp.
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What Does Tas Kebabi Mean?
Tas means bowl in Turkish. The name comes from the pot it was cooked in, not from skewers. Cooks turned a metal bowl upside down over the meat and weighed it down. They poured the water around the outside, so the meat cooked sealed underneath. At the table they lifted the bowl away and spooned rice around the meat.
Cooks used to turn a metal bowl upside down over the meat in the pot, weigh it down, and pour the water around the outside so the meat cooked sealed underneath. The bowl was then lifted away at the table and the stew was served with rice around it.
You will also see it written as tas kebab or tas kebap. It is cooked well beyond Turkey. Northern Greece has a version that came through Constantinople, spiced with cinnamon and allspice instead of paprika. Iran, Azerbaijan and parts of the Balkans all make something close to it.
Why This Recipe Works?
- It is a one pot stew, not a skewer kebab, so there is no grill and no special equipment involved.
- The sauce is tomato paste, stock, a spoon of flour and a bay leaf. There is no long spice list to shop for.
- There are five spices and one long simmer. You stir it every 15 minutes and that is all it needs.
- The fried potatoes and peppers on top are the difference between this and a plain beef stew.
- Diced chuck is a cheap cut. After 90 minutes it is soft enough to break with a spoon.
- It feeds four from one pot and a frying pan, and the rice underneath makes it go further.
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 - A well-marbled cut such as chuck or brisket is my preferred cut of meat for this recipe.
- Garlic - Fresh garlic is a great flavoring that adds sweetness and nuttiness to dishes. Turn it into a paste with a Mortar and Pestle or grate it using a Microplane Zester Grater. I use two large or three small fresh garlic cloves for this recipe.
- Tomato paste - It is the staple of Turkish cooking. It adds an umami flavor to the dishes as well as a bright red color. You can find it in Turkish or Middle Eastern shops.
- Spices - I like keeping it simple but you can add your favorite spices and flavorings such as cumin, cinnamon, or cloves. Adjust the amount to your taste.
- Stock - You can use either Homemade Beef Stock or Chicken Bone Broth. Warm it before it goes into the pot.
- Potatoes - I use floury potatoes such as King Edward, Maris Piper, Russet, or Rooster as I like them flaky inside with crispy edges. If you want to achieve good solid crispy potatoes, use a waxy potato such as Charlotte, Anya, fingerling potatoes, or any type of red potato.
- Peppers - I prefer using Turkish green peppers for this dish. They are usually mild but some of them can be quite hot. You can replace them with bell pepper or Spanish Padron peppers.
How to Make Tas Kebabi?
Cook the Beef Stew
Add olive oil to a Dutch oven or a heavy-based pan over medium-high heat and brown the beef pieces. Do it in batches if needed to avoid overcrowding.
Add the onions along with the garlic and sauté for a few minutes, until slightly softened. Stir continuously to avoid them burning.
Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, freshly ground black pepper, salt, bay leaves, and flour before adding the stock.
Deglaze the bottom of the pan with the stock and bring the pan to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low-medium, cover, and gently simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the beef is tender and falling apart when touched with a fork.
Stir the pan every 15 minutes or so while cooking.
Prepare the Vegetables
Prepare and pan-fry the vegetables when the meat is almost cooked. Peel and cut your potatoes into ½" (1½ cm) cubes.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the potatoes. Fry them until golden and crispy and remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon. Do it in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
Add the peppers to the same pan and fry them for a few minutes, until slightly softened. Remove the peppers to the same plate as the potatoes with a slotted spoon.
Taste the seasoning of the stew and add some more salt if needed. Remove the bay leaves and serve Tas Kebabi on a bed of rice with fried/sautéed potatoes and peppers.
The Traditional Tas Method
This is how the dish got its name, and it's worth trying at least once.
You don't brown anything. Put the diced beef, onion, garlic, and tomato paste into a heavy pot with a little butter. Turn a heatproof bowl upside down over the top and press it down.
Sit a clean stone or a small ovenproof dish on the bowl so it can't float up, then pour the hot stock around the outside of it.
Put the lid on and leave it on low heat for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes. Don't lift the lid, not even once. Turning the heat up won't speed things up, it just burns the bottom while the top stays raw.
When the time is up, lift the bowl out, stir the meat through the sauce, season it, and give it another 5 minutes. The meat comes out softer than the browned version and the sauce is lighter.
Recipe Tips From the Chef
- You can sauté the potatoes instead of frying them. Check my Sauteed Potatoes recipe post to find out how to get them crisp.
- The air fryer works too. My Air Fryer Home Fries (Diced Breakfast Potatoes) recipe uses the same size cubes and has the settings I use.
- A well-marbled cut such as chuck or brisket is my preferred cut of meat for this recipe.
- Brown the meat in batches if needed to avoid overcrowding.
- Take the beef out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you start. Cold meat cools the pan down and steams instead of browning.
- Skim the foam off the top once the stock is in. It keeps the sauce clear rather than cloudy.
- Use hot stock, never cold. Cold liquid tightens the meat and it takes longer to soften.
- Soak the diced potatoes in salted water with a squeeze of lemon for up to an hour, then dry them well before frying. They take on less oil that way.
- Put the potatoes and peppers on top at the last minute. Left sitting in the sauce they go soft and the sauce turns cloudy.
Variations
- Use diced lamb instead of beef. Nothing else changes, and lamb is just as common in Turkey.
- In a pressure cooker, brown the meat first, then cook it under pressure for 20 to 30 minutes. Finish the sauce and fry the vegetables in the open pot afterwards.
- For a fuller sauce, cook diced green and red peppers and a grated tomato into the stew itself, and still fry a few for the top.
- The Greek version leaves out the paprika and uses cinnamon and a few allspice berries instead. Nothing else about the method changes.
Serving Suggestions
Tas Kebabi is served over something that soaks up the sauce. Rice is the usual choice in Turkey. These all work:
- Serve it over Turkish Rice, which is how it is eaten at home. The orzo in the pilaf soaks up the sauce.
- Bulgur Rice Pilaf is the heavier option if you want more of a meal.
- Warm Bazlama or Pakistani Roghni Naan to eat alongside it.
- Lebanese Fattoush Salad is the side dish I serve with it most often.
- A bowl of Homemade Greek Yogurt or a few Pickled Cucumbers on the side, the way most Turkish stews are served.
Storage and Make Ahead Instructions
Cook the meat a day or two before, cool it, and keep it covered in the fridge. Reheat it gently on the stove, and fry the potatoes and peppers fresh while it warms through so they are still crisp when they go on top.
Leftovers keep for up to 5 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. Freeze the stew on its own, without the fried vegetables, since they turn soft once frozen.
Defrost it in the fridge overnight and reheat it slowly, adding a splash of stock if the sauce has thickened too much.
Recipe FAQs
It has not had long enough. Tough cuts need time for the connective tissue to break down, and there is no shortcut. Put the lid back on and give it another 20 to 30 minutes on low, then check again. Cooking it faster on higher heat does the opposite and tightens the meat further.
Yes. Brown the meat and soften the onions in a pan first, then move everything to the slow cooker with the stock and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Fry the potatoes and peppers separately at the end, as they will go soft if you cook them in the sauce.
The tablespoon of flour that goes in with the tomato paste does most of it. If the sauce is still thin at the end, take the lid off and let it bubble for 10 minutes to reduce. If it has gone too thick, loosen it with a splash of hot stock rather than water.
Both are slow cooked Turkish beef stews, but orman kebabi has the vegetables cooked into the sauce, usually peas and carrots along with the potatoes. In tas kebabi the potatoes and peppers are fried separately and sit on top, so they stay crisp against the soft meat.
Related Recipes
For more Turkish kebab 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 hearty Turkish Beef Stew - Tas Kebabi as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
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Tas Kebabi - Turkish Beef Stew
Ingredients
For the Stew
- 2 lbs diced beef (900 grams)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 cups beef stock or chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
For the Vegetable Topping
- 2 large potatoes (diced)
- 4 Turkish green peppers (or 1 green bell pepper) (sliced)
- 1 sweet Romano pepper or red bell pepper (diced)
- ¼ cup oil for frying
Instructions
Cook the Beef Stew
- Add olive oil to a Dutch oven or a heavy-based pan over medium-high heat and brown the beef pieces. Do it in batches if needed to avoid overcrowding.
- Add the onions along with the garlic and sauté for a few minutes, until slightly softened. Stir continuously to avoid them burning.
- Stir in the tomato paste and flour then add the stock.
- Deglaze the bottom of the pan with the stock before adding the paprika, freshly ground black pepper, salt, and bay leaves.
- Bring the pan to a boil, reduce the heat to low-medium, cover and gently simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the beef is tender and falling apart when touched with a fork.
- Stir the pan every 15 minutes or so while cooking. Prepare and pan-fry the vegetables when the meat is almost cooked.
- Taste the seasoning and add some more salt if needed. Remove the bay leaves and serve on a bed of rice with fried/sautéed potatoes and peppers.
Prepare the Vegetables
- Peel and cut your potatoes into ½" (1½ cm) cubes.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the potatoes.
- Fry them until golden and crispy and remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon. Do it in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
- Add the peppers to the same pan and fry them for a few minutes, until slightly softened.
- Remove the peppers to the same plate as the potatoes with a slotted spoon.
The Traditional Tas Method (Optional)
- Put the diced beef, onion, garlic, and tomato paste straight into a heavy pot with the butter or oil. Do not brown anything first.
- Turn a heatproof bowl upside down over the meat and press it down. Sit a clean stone or a small ovenproof dish on top so it cannot lift.
- Holding the bowl down, pour the hot stock around the outside of it, then cover the pot with its lid.
- Cook on low heat for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes without lifting the lid once. Do not turn the heat up to speed it along, the bottom burns before the top is done.
- Lift out the bowl, stir the meat through the sauce, season, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Top with the fried potatoes and peppers as usual.
Notes
- A well-marbled cut such as chuck or brisket works best. It needs the long cook to turn tender, so avoid lean steak cuts.
- Take the beef out of the fridge about 30 minutes ahead. Cold meat drops the pan temperature and steams instead of browning.
- Brown the meat in batches so the pan stays hot, and skim any foam off the top once the stock goes in to keep the sauce clear.
- Always add hot stock, never cold. Cold liquid tightens the meat and it takes longer to soften.
- Soak the diced potatoes in salted water with a squeeze of lemon for up to an hour, then dry them well before frying. They soak up less oil that way.
- Fry the potatoes and peppers at the last minute and put them on top just before serving. Left to sit in the sauce they go soft.
- Lamb works in place of beef with no other changes.
- In a pressure cooker, cook the browned meat for 20 to 30 minutes, then finish the sauce and vegetables in the open pot.
- For a fuller sauce, cook diced green and red peppers and a grated tomato into the stew as well as frying some for the top.
- You can sauté the potatoes instead of frying them, or cook them in the air fryer. My Air Fryer Home Fries recipe on mybestairfryerrecipes.com uses the same size cubes.
- The stew is better made a day ahead. Cool it, refrigerate, and reheat gently, then fry the potatoes fresh before serving.
- Leftovers keep for up to 5 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer.
Alice says
I made this for husband last night he-loved it! Wonder how this recipe would work for lamb? Im going to try it
Ayla Clulee says
That’s wonderful Alice! Lamb would work great too. Cooking timing might change depending on the cut so keep an eye on your lamb while cooking. Enjoy!