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.