Tike — Marinated Lamb Cubes on Skewers

Name: Tike — Marinated Lamb Cubes on Skewers
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 900 g boneless lamb shoulder; 2 piece onions (for the onion juice); 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 tsp black pepper (ground); 0.5 tsp cumin (ground); 1.5 tsp salt; 100 g lamb fat from the butcher (optional); 1 piece onion (for threading onto the skewers); 4 piece tomatoes; 4 piece pointed peppers; 8 tbsp sumac onions (see recipe Pîvaz bi sumaq — Sumac Onions)

A Kurdish classic that is served in every Kurdish region: Tike are the lamb skewers of the kebab houses from Erbil to Duhok, small cubes of shoulder that spend the night in onion juice, olive oil, tomato paste and a little cumin and are then grilled over charcoal. In Iraq they are called Tikka in Arabic, in Turkey Şiş kebap. Small pieces of lamb fat or onion sit between the cubes and melt and roast during grilling, so the meat turns deeply browned and smoky outside and juicy and tender inside.

⏱

Cook time

55 min

🍽️

Servings

🧂

Ingredients

View Original ↗

Nutrition

per serving

805 kcal

Calories

42 g

Protein

64 g

Fat

12 g

Carbs

Ingredients

For 4 servings

Estimated cost~€2.25 · ~€0.55/serving

Instructions

1
Pat the lamb shoulder dry and trim off any tough sinews and thick edges of fat, but leave a little fat on the meat. Cut the meat into cubes of about 3 cm.
2
Peel the onions for the onion juice and grate them on the fine side of a box grater. Put the pulp in a clean tea towel and squeeze the juice firmly into a bowl; the squeezed-out pulp is not needed.
3
Stir the onion juice with the olive oil, tomato paste, pepper and cumin until smooth, turn the meat cubes thoroughly in the mixture, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight, or for at least 4 hours. The salt is only added shortly before grilling, otherwise it draws juice out of the meat.
4
Prepare the charcoal or gas grill; light charcoal about 30 minutes in advance so that it is covered in white ash and glowing evenly; never grill indoors. Have flat metal skewers ready or soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes beforehand so that they don't burn.
5
Cut the lamb fat into small pieces of about 1.5 cm; peel the onion for threading, quarter it and separate it into individual layers. Salt the meat cubes and thread them closely onto the skewers without pressing them together, adding a piece of lamb fat or a layer of onion after every second cube; discard the leftover marinade.
6
Place the tomatoes and pointed peppers whole on the grill rack and grill, turning occasionally, until the skins blister and the vegetables are soft; then push them to the edge.
7
Lay the skewers over the hot embers and turn them every 2 minutes until they are well browned all over with charred spots at the edges. Dripping fat makes flames flare up; if that happens, briefly pull the skewers to the edge.
8
Cut open a thick cube: the meat should be cooked through with no pink and have a core temperature of 70 °C. Otherwise grill for another 2 minutes and check again.
9
Without a barbecue, preheat the oven grill to its highest setting, lay the skewers with the tomatoes and pointed peppers on the rack on the second shelf from the top and slide a baking tray in one shelf below to catch the dripping fat. Turn the skewers halfway through and check for 70 °C in the same way.
10
Arrange the skewers with the grilled tomatoes and pointed peppers on a warmed platter and scatter the sumac onions over the top. Serve piping hot straight away.
11
Tip: Warm flatbread belongs alongside, such as Nanê sêlê — Wafer-Thin Flatbread from the Domed Griddle, which is used to pull the cubes off the skewer; with bread the meal is no longer gluten-free. Instead of lamb, you can use beef rump cut into cubes of the same size and cooked through in exactly the same way. Keep leftover skewers in the fridge, eat them within a day and reheat them thoroughly before eating until the meat is back at 70 °C.