Shish Kebab

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