His Majesty the SHASHLYK!

Lamb kebabs in a pomegranate marinade

Kebab… For all its apparent simplicity, this dish is as ancient as it is ingenious and enigmatic: a wealth of recipes and flavours, an unpredictable outcome for beginners, and the splendour of the ‘simple flavour’ of natural food.

Until recently, I was firmly convinced that I didn’t know how to cook shashlik. And that was true. No, sometimes I managed to produce amazing meat, but sometimes… And only now, having painstakingly perfected this recipe, have I more or less achieved consistency in cooking tender, juicy shashlik.

Shashlik is a meat feast. And it is the meat that determines the quality of the dish. No, of course, you also need the right recipe and a chef’s hands in the right place, but without good meat, you’re unlikely to achieve a decent result. The people of Cyprus are happy simply to have the chance to eat local lamb. Lamb is a sacred food for every Greek, and the lamb here is excellent.

I usually use a leg of lamb. Remember the recipe for ‘Boiled Lamb with Sweet-and-Sour Cucumbers’? That’s when I ended up with some wonderful pieces of lamb. About 500 grams.

	Right then… let’s get started! Take the lamb, a large onion (or two medium ones – you can never have too many onions!) and one pomegranate.
	Cut the meat into small cubes (about 2 cm per side, or even a little smaller). And listen up: we’re going to knead it. Yes, really! You need to knead it gently but quite vigorously, like stiff dough. A friend of mine taught me this trick. He claimed that this is exactly how the meat becomes tender and soft.
	Prepare the pomegranate juice. To do this, make a cut at the ‘top’ of the pomegranate and break it open with your hands to release the seeds.
	Place the seeds in a sieve and press them with a spoon. Be careful! It splatters!
	Chop the onion into large pieces and mix the lamb, onion and pomegranate juice together. Please note that I’m not adding salt to the meat just yet.
	Place the meat under a weight. This is the kind of weight I use. You know, everything matters when cooking, especially your mood! If you’re cooking the meat today, you can leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours; if you’re leaving it to marinate overnight, be sure to put it in the fridge.
	Whilst the grill is heating up, I take the meat out of the marinade and pat it dry with kitchen roll.
	I thread the meat onto skewers. Lately, I’ve grown to love wooden skewers. Firstly, you can serve the kebabs straight on them – it looks really nice – and secondly, you don’t have to wash the skewers afterwards. I used to always end up with burnt skewer tips, despite soaking them in water, until I learnt a very simple trick – you’ll see below.
	Now it’s time to cook. First, I season the meat with salt and drizzle it with olive oil. Place a strip of aluminium foil, folded several times, at the tips of the wooden skewers. Whilst cooking, I turn the skewers so that the meat browns on all sides. It’s very important not to overcook the lamb. If you do, the meat will become dry. I cook it for no more than 4–6 minutes.
	That’s it! It’s ready! Enjoy your meal!