Grilled kefta with lemon tahini sauce and tomato bulgur

Method

1. Grate 75 g yellow onion and squeeze it between your hands: keep the pulp moist, but without any dripping juice. Mix with the beef, 25 g very finely chopped parsley, cumin, baharat, cinnamon, dried mint rubbed between your fingers, chilli, 6 g salt and the pepper. Knead for 1–2 minutes, until the mixture holds together and becomes slightly sticky. Fry a small, hazelnut-sized piece of the mixture for 1 minute and taste; adjust the salt and spices before shaping the kefta. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. Chop the remaining 65 g yellow onion. Cook in 15 g oil in a saucepan over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until lightly golden. Add the tomato purée and stir for 1 minute: it should darken slightly and flavour the oil. Add the bulgur and stir for 1–2 minutes, until every grain is glossy and coated in red, then pour in 340 g water and add 2.5 g salt.
3. Bring to the boil, cover and cook over a very low heat for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, make the sauce: mix the tahini, 25 g lemon juice from one half of the lemon, garlic and 1 g salt in a bowl. The paste will thicken and seize at first. Whisk in the 65 g cold water in three additions; the sauce should fall in a ribbon, like cream. Taste: it should be clearly lemony and salty, with a slight sesame bitterness. Take out the meat mixture and divide into 6 equal portions, about 75 g each. With slightly damp hands, shape into 6 oval kefta, 2 cm thick, and brush with 5 g oil. Slice the red onion very finely, rub with the sumac and the remaining 5 g parsley, roughly chopped, and set aside.
4. When the bulgur has absorbed the water, with no free liquid and small craters on the surface, turn off the heat and leave covered: it can wait for 15–20 minutes without cooling. Immediately heat the griddle pan over a high heat for 4–5 minutes, until a drop of water evaporates on contact. Oil the ridges with kitchen paper soaked in the remaining 5 g oil. Switch on the extractor fan or open a window: meat with 15% fat will smoke on a hot griddle.
5. Place the kefta in the pan without crowding and reduce to a medium-high heat. Grill undisturbed for 4 minutes on the first side, then for 3–4 minutes on the second, lifting them with a spatula. They are cooked when clearly marked, firm to the touch, with clear juices beading on the surface and no pink centre when one is cut open, or 71 °C on a thermometer if you have one. Do not press them against the pan: their juices should stay inside the meat.
6. Rest the kefta on a warm plate for 3 minutes. If the bulgur has cooled, return it to a low heat for 2 minutes during this rest, fluffing with a fork. Divide the tomato bulgur between plates, add 3 kefta per person, spoon over the resting juices and top with the sumac red onions. Pour a little tahini sauce around the edges and serve the rest in a bowl, with the second lemon half cut into wedges to squeeze over the kefta.