Shish Taouk - Grilled Chicken kebabs


Ask any Lebanese living abroad what do you miss about Lebanon, and he'll definitely answer you: "the FOOD". It's crazy, it's not that we love to eat, of course we do!! but what we miss the most about Lebanon is the exotic colors of warm Lebanese culture; the cold and hot mezzes, the fresh tabbouleh, the hummus, the tasty bread, the baklava one of the best deserts you can enjoy. 

In fact, it's not the food in itself that we miss but the spirit of it. In Lebanon, everything revolves around food and eating, those Sundays family lunches, those huge groups of friends, those long morning coffee meetings... Sunday lunches at home were mostly made of tabboule, hummus, kefta skewers, lamb skewers, shish taouk and many other dishes.

A shish, simply put, has its origins in Turkish and means skewer. Taouk, also Turkish, refers to grilled or roasted chicken. The so-called shish taouk that most Lebanese devour is considered by many to be the best in the city!

I grew up in a house where most of the things were homemade. My mother always say 'homemade food tastes always better, at least we know what we're eating and what the ingredients are'. She has a point plus you can tailor the ingredients to fit your needs, which is always an extra bonus! 

But when it comes to shish taouk, one of my father's all time favorite thing to eat, we used to buy it marinated. In Lebanon you can find it anywhere, so I never really got the chance to learn an authentic taouk recipe, until I stumbled across Fouad's recipe at thefoodblog. I was also happy that a few days later he posted a great simple recipe for the garlic Lebanese sauce 'toum' which accompanies the shish taouk. 

What can I tell you, I have really tried many shish taouk recipes, but this is the best one I ever made!! I will be posting soon the garlic Lebanese sauce!



Ingredients (around 15 skewers):
1.5 kg chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup olive oil
3 tbsp dijon or mild mustard
3/4 cup lemon juice
10 crushed garlic cloves
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp white (or black) pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp finely chopped thyme or 2 tbsp dried thyme
mushrooms, (optional but highly recommended)
1 red and/or 1 green pepper (optional but highly recommended)

Emulsify the mustard with the olive oil. This is done by whisking a little bit of olive oil into the mustard and continuing to do so until all the olive oil is incorporated.

Add and whisk the lemon juice, salt, pepper, tomato paste, garlic and thyme until well mixed
Marinate the chicken in the sauce overnight in the fridge.

Skewer the chicken along with pieces of mushroom and red/green pepper and barbeque or grill until done. Don’t over cook otherwise the chicken would dry out.



Shish taouk - Brochettes de poulet 

Ingrédients (environ 15 brochettes): 
1.5 kg de filet de poulet, détaillé en cubes 
23 cl d'huile d'olive 
3 càs de moutarde
17 cl de jus de citron 
10 gousses d'ail écrasées 
2 càs de sel 
1 càs de poivre (noir ou blanc) 
2 càs de concentré de tomate 
4 càs de thym haché ou 2 càs de thym séché 
champignons, (optionnel mais recommandé) 
1 poivron vert et/ou 1 poivron rouge (optionnel mais recommandé)

Emulsionnez la moutarde avec l'huile d'olive. Cela se fait en fouettant un peu l'huile d'olive dans la moutarde et continuez de le faire jusqu'à ce que l'huile d'olive soit complètement incorporée.

Versez en fouettant le jus de citron, le sel, le poivre, le concentré de tomates, l'ail et le thym jusqu'à ce que le tout soit bien mélangé.Laissez mariner le poulet dans la sauce une nuit au réfrigérateur.

Piquez les morceaux de poulet  avec des morceaux de champignons et de poivron rouge/vert sur des brochettes et faites-les cuire au barbecue ou au grill jusqu'à cuisson complète. Ne pas trop cuire le poulet afin qu'il ne se déssèche pas.


Comments

  1. I'm simply drooling just by looking at your photos. What a great recipe.

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  2. I am making this for my husband (and me, of course) this weekend. He used to travel to Lebanon (and Turkey) for his work and it is truly his favorite food, I believe. Thanks for the recipe! (and great photos)

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  3. Gorgeous looking skewers...the BBQ/grilling season has begun!

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  4. The next time we fire up the grill, I'll have to try this. Looks amazing! The pix is amazing too!

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  5. This is a great recipe!!!!! I'll probably do it this Friday!!! ... Do you have a recipe for meat kebabs???

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  6. Thanks everyone! Soon I will be posting the meat kebabs :)

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  7. Amazing recipe. Photo looks wonderful. Really jumps of the page. Have a great day.

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  8. I love kebabs! These look amazing Chicho! Great pictures too!

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  9. Cherine, This looks and sounds amazing, love the 10 garlic cloves! Can't wait to fire up my grill now!

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  10. Chicho

    I enjoyed reading your intro; true, true, true!
    My son was so enthralled with shish tawuk that'all he ate one summer, for brakfast, lunch and dinner! Yours looks great!

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  11. Nothing better than a juicy, charred kebob. My kingdom for some pita bread to wrap all of that lovely chicken around. ;)

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  12. Harika tarifler var burada!

    http://cahidejibek.wordpress.com/

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  13. Nice skewers! Your photos are stunning too!

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  14. Oh wow - these look wonderful! I've been hearing such amazing things about Lebanese food lately. :-) I simply have to start trying out these recipes!!

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  15. The kebabs look AMAZING. Great photos.

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  16. Gimme gimme gimme some. They look super yummy!!!!!!!!! I love Middle Easter food....and miss Sharwarmas (as made by real Lebanese guys in Nigeria!)

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  17. Cherine your photos are breathtaking -- its as if I could almost taste and smell these kebabs...unfortunately the keyword is ALMOST :( Beautiful post!

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  18. Superbes brochettes, et rien qu'a regarder la couleur je sais qu'elles sont moelleuses, juteuses, on aurait bien envie d'en gouter une...ou meme deux!

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  19. tes photos me mettent toujours l'eau à la bouche!

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  20. Dear Chicho,
    You have just posted my favorite Lebanese dish! And I can hardly wait for your post that includes the garlic sauce recipe. The metropolitan Detroit area is liberally peppered with Middle Eastern restaurants, and I hear food loving friends and family frequently saying, "I wish I could make an authentic garlic sauce like this at home . . . does anybody know what's in it?" It actually seems to be some sort of secret around here, oddly enough! My husband and sons adore Lebanese food, and your blog is like a feast in itself for us!

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  21. I grew up a few minutes away from a wonderful Lebanese restaurant, this brings back great memories of dinner out with the family! Thanks for the recipe--I can't wait to try it!

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  22. Elles ont l'air très parfumés et très tendres ces belles brochettes!!
    Un régal!!

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  23. Wow Cherine, this is surely my favorite chicken kebab ever. Love the ingredients you are using here.

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  24. These photos are absolutely stunning! Your kebabs look amazingly delicious. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  25. Yum! This sounds so good! I love your photos, too!

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  26. these skewers could make me wild if I had them in front of them !! Pierre from Paris

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  27. I've never been to Lebanon, but after your description, I miss it too! One of my favorite food memories is eating kebab in Istanbul. Also, my husband would go crazy over these!

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  28. Those look really tasty and mouthwatering! Perfect with that sauce (toum) and some salad!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  29. I want these for lunch right now!

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  30. Cherine, it is early morning and I am already craving for this kabobs...they look delicious...nice pictures as well.

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  31. I love kabobs! I bet these would taste so amazing in a wrap!

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  32. Hey! I made this last week the taste was amazing, so delicious! I loved this recipe and already printed & saved it on my kitchen drawer!

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  33. I am so making it today... have all the ingredience in the fridge and was just wondering what to do with chicken, plus I have been thinking about shish kebabs I had in Poland as a child, I wonder if the recipe is the same. Thanks you for the memories ;)

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  34. These kebabs are so tempting. I would love to make this come weekend! This is going to be a blast.

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  35. MMMMMMMMMMMMM Its Soooo Yummy
    I cant Wait To Make It :)

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  36. do you have the garlic sauce recipe. I went to foodblogs and i don't see recipes
    hickeybarb@yahoo.com

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  37. why can't I Pin your recipes?

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  38. i am from the Philippines and i worked in Lebanon for 6 years and learned to love lebanese food..shish taouk and tabboulleh are some of my favorites..What i miss the most is the chicken sandwich from Zatar 'w Zeit because it's really so delicious. I've been trying to do it because i want to surprise my husband but i cannot get the right taste . I don't know if you have one, thanks..

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  39. I come back again and again this recepie thank you!!!!!!!!!!

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