Persian Mixed Grill (Soltani Platter) — The Sultan of Persian Dinners

Soltani means "of the sultan." When you put koubideh, jujeh, and barg on the same plate, you've earned the name.

A Soltani isn't a recipe so much as a logistics challenge. Three kababs, three marinades, one grill, and a table full of people who want to eat at the same time. This is how we do it.

The roster

1. Koubideh — ground lamb kabab. The technique-heavy one.
2. Jujeh — saffron chicken kabab. The crowd-pleaser.
3. Barg — thin lamb filet kabab. The luxury.

And the supporting cast:

• Saffron butter rice (chelow) — the canvas
• Grilled tomatoes — one per person, on skewers, alongside
• Persian sumac onions — sliced thin, soaked in sumac and lemon
• Sabzi platter — fresh basil, mint, tarragon, radish, scallion
• Lavash bread — to push meat off skewers and wrap leftovers
• Sumac shaker on the table
• Doogh (salted yogurt drink) — the only thing to drink with kabab

Timing

The key to a Soltani is staging — start the slow components first, finish the fast ones at the end.

• Night before: marinate the jujeh (4-12 hr marinade) and the barg (3-6 hr marinade can start in morning)
• Morning of: mix the koubideh, knead it, rest in fridge
• 1 hour before: rice on stove (saffron chelow takes time)
• 30 min before: light charcoal; pull all meats from fridge to come to temp
• 15 min before: shape koubideh on skewers, thread jujeh and barg
• 10 min: jujeh on grill first (longest cook). 6 min in, add barg. 8 min in, add koubideh.
• 2 min before serving: tomatoes on grill alongside
• Plate: rice down first, kababs across, tomato + onion + sabzi around the edge

How much per person

• 1 koubideh skewer (about 125 g meat)
• 1 jujeh skewer (about 200 g)
• 1 barg skewer (about 150 g)
• 1 cup rice (cooked)
• 1 grilled tomato

That's a lot. Persian generosity. Leftovers reheat in the lavash the next day.

Why three skewers, not one

You could fit all three meats on one skewer. Don't. Different cook times — they'd be under or overcooked. One meat per skewer, plate together.

Which means: you need enough skewers. A set of 8 like our Arta koubideh set handles a dinner for 4 comfortably (3 per person + 2 spare for tomato).

The table

Persian dinners aren't plated individually. The platter goes in the middle of the table — sumac shaker, lemon wedges, sabzi bowl, doogh. People build their own plates: rice, kabab, herbs, onion, tomato, push it all together with lavash.

That's a Soltani. Welcome.

— The Arta Kitchen family