Shish Taouk

Served with toum, a garlic sauce emulsified with oil like a mayonnaise but with no egg in it at all.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

the chicken

• 1.2 kg boneless chicken thigh, in large cubes
• 200 g thick yoghurt
• juice of 2 lemons
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 2 teaspoons baharat
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt

the toum

• 1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 350 ml sunflower oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons iced water

Method

1. IT IS SERVED WITH TOUM, A GARLIC SAUCE EMULSIFIED WITH OIL LIKE A MAYONNAISE BUT WITH NO EGG IN IT AT ALL. The emulsifier is the garlic itself -- its own mucilage and proteins hold three hundred and fifty millilitres of oil in suspension against a whole head of cloves, giving a stiff, brilliant white, ferociously pungent paste. It is not a dip beside the skewers, it is the other half of the dish: the chicken is mild and the toum is what makes a plate of it memorable. Made with egg it is garlic mayonnaise, which is a different and much gentler thing.
2. THE OIL GOES INTO THE TOUM A FEW DROPS AT A TIME AT FIRST, AND IT WILL BREAK IF HURRIED. Garlic and salt pounded or processed to a smooth paste first, then oil literally drop by drop until it has visibly thickened and turned white -- that first fifty millilitres takes several minutes. Only then can it go in a thin stream, alternating with lemon juice. Poured in, it splits into garlicky oil and cannot be brought back except by starting again with a new clove and beating the split mixture into it.
3. THE ICED WATER IS THE INSURANCE. Two tablespoons at the end. It thins the emulsion slightly and stabilises it, and a toum that has taken water keeps a week in the fridge where one without it often separates overnight.
4. THE CHICKEN IS THIGH, NOT BREAST. Thigh has the fat and connective tissue to survive a fierce grill and stay juicy; breast on a skewer over that heat is dry before it is cooked through. Cut into large cubes, because small ones overcook.
5. THE MARINADE IS YOGHURT-BASED AND RUNS OVERNIGHT. Yoghurt's acid and calcium both tenderise, working deeper than an oil marinade, and twelve hours is not too long for thigh. The tomato purée is for colour as much as flavour -- it gives the familiar red-gold surface.
6. THEY ARE GRILLED OVER FIERCE HEAT AND TURNED ONCE. Very hot grill or coals, three or four minutes a side, so the outside chars in patches while the inside stays moist. Moved about constantly they stew in their own marinade.
7. The chicken cut into LARGE cubes and mixed with the yoghurt, lemon juice, garlic, oil, tomato purée, baharat, oregano and salt.
8. Covered and refrigerated OVERNIGHT.
9. THE TOUM: the peeled garlic and the 1 teaspoon of salt worked to a completely smooth paste.
10. The oil added A FEW DROPS AT A TIME, beating constantly, until it visibly THICKENS AND TURNS WHITE -- several minutes for the first 50 ml.
11. The remaining oil added in a thin stream, ALTERNATING with the lemon juice.
12. The iced water beaten in at the end.
13. The chicken threaded onto skewers, not crowded.
14. Grilled over FIERCE heat 3 to 4 MINUTES a side, TURNED ONCE, until charred in patches.
15. TESTED: the toum should hold a peak and be brilliant white. Oily or split means the oil went in too fast.
16. Served with the toum, flatbread and pickles.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes