Middle Eastern & North African · Lunch · Dinner
Alexandrian Spicy Sautéed Liver
كبدة إسكندراني (Kebda Iskandarani)
Tender strips of beef liver seared hot with garlic, green chillies and cumin, then finished with a sharp splash of lemon. It's the punchy street-food classic of Alexandria, made at home with less oil and plenty of peppers.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 35 min
- Serves
- 4
Calories come from: Carbs 17% · Fat 36% · Protein 47%
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Ingredients
For 4 servings- 600 g (about 1.3 lb)beef liver
- 1 1/2 tbsp20 golive oil
- 6 cloves18 ggarlic, finely chopped
- 2 medium30 ggreen chilli peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 large160 ggreen bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 1/2 tspground cumin
- 1 tspground coriander
- 1/2 tspchilli flakes
- 1/2 tspground black pepper
- 1 tsp6 gsalt
- 3 tbsp45 glemon juice
- 3 tbsp45 gwater
- 1/3 cup10 gfresh parsley, chopped (optional)
Steps
- 1
Rinse the liver, pat it dry and trim away any membrane or tough veins.
- 2
Slice the liver into thin strips about 1 cm wide.
- 3
Toss the liver with the cumin, coriander, chilli flakes, black pepper and half the garlic, then leave for 10 minutes.
- 4
Heat half the olive oil in a large non-stick pan over high heat.
- 5
Add the bell pepper and green chillies and stir-fry for 3 minutes until just softened, then tip them onto a plate.
- 6
Add the remaining oil to the pan and sear the liver in two batches for 2-3 minutes each, stirring, until browned outside.
- 7
Return all the liver and peppers to the pan with the remaining garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- 8
Pour in the water and half the lemon juice and cook for 2-3 minutes until the liver is cooked through to 71 °C / 160 °F with no pink juices.
- 9
Season with the salt and the remaining lemon juice, then scatter over the parsley and serve hot.
Swaps, storage and make-ahead
Swaps
- Use thinly sliced beef sirloin or chicken livers instead of beef liver if you prefer a milder flavour; chicken livers cook a little faster.
- Swap the olive oil for a light spray of oil to keep the pan-fry leaner.
- Replace the green chilli peppers with extra bell pepper for a milder version that still has plenty of crunch.
- Use bottled lemon juice if fresh lemons are hard to find, though fresh gives a brighter taste.
Storage
This dish is best eaten fresh, as reheated liver can turn tough and grainy. Refrigerate any leftovers in a covered container within 2 hours, eat within 1 to 2 days, reheat until steaming hot, and avoid freezing the cooked liver.
Make ahead
Trim and slice the liver and cut the peppers up to a day ahead, storing them separately in covered containers in the fridge, then season and cook just before serving.
Nutrition values are for the recipe as written.
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Allergens and nutrition
No major allergens in the ingredients.
Check the labels of packaged ingredients for allergens and suitability for your diet.
Full nutrition
| Per serving (233 g) | Per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 273 kcal | 117 kcal |
| Protein | 31.7 g | 13.6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 11.6 g | 5 g |
| of which sugars | 1.7 g | 0.7 g |
| Fiber | 1.3 g | 0.6 g |
| Fat | 10.9 g | 4.7 g |
| of which saturated | 2.6 g | 1.1 g |
| Sodium | 690 mg | 296 mg |
Nutrition is calculated from USDA FoodData Central data and may differ from what you cook.
