Name: Shish Kebab (Tikka)
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon cumin; ¾ cup (180 ml) milk, yogurt, or buttermilk; ¼ teaspoon each black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom; 1 garlic clove, grated; 3½ lbs (1.5 kg) boneless leg of lamb, fat and sinews trimmed, and cut into 1 in/2.5 cm cubes; Juice of 1 lemon (¼ cup/60 ml); or 1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup; 6 small tomatoes, or 3 big ones, quartered; 1 teaspoon za’tar or thyme; Crushed chili pepper, to taste; 6 hot peppers or 2 bell peppers cut into large pieces; Coarse salt; 6 small onions, outer skin removed; 1 small onion, grated; ½ cup (125 ml) olive oil

Preparation info

Makes
6
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Delights from the Garden of Eden

By Nawal Nasrallah

Published 2019

About

In Iraq and India tikka is what shish kebab is to the rest of the Arab and western world. The name is nowhere mentioned in the medieval Arabic cookbooks, but the dish itself was quite familiar – it was called kebab. Interestingly, the Arabic verb takka means ‘to cut’ (Taj al-‘Arous, s.v. ), which is indeed what kebab proper is all about – meat cut into pieces and grilled. It is