Not the South Asian dish of the same name: Iraqi tikka is chunks of lamb (classically alternating with cubes of pure tail fat, liyya) threaded on skewers and grilled over charcoal with little more than onion juice, pepper and salt so the meat and smoke do the talking. It is the standard companion to minced Iraqi kebab on any mixed grill in Baghdad or Mosul.
Also known as tikka iraqi, tikka laham, lahm tikka.
Ingredients
- 700 g lamb leg or shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
- 200 g lamb tail fat (liyya), in 2 cm cubes
- 1 onion, grated and squeezed for its juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- khubz or tanoor bread
- 1 onion, sliced, tossed with 1 tsp sumac
- amba or pickles, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Slick the lamb with the onion juice and pepper and let it sit 4 hours; hold the salt for the fire.
- 2
Load wide flat skewers in a rhythm of two lamb cubes to one cube of liyya, repeating to the tip.
- 3
Season with the reserved salt as the skewers go on, then grill over ashed-over charcoal 8-10 minutes, turning as each face browns; the fat cubes should turn translucent with golden corners.
- 4
Lay the bread on a platter, rest the skewers on it 3 minutes, then strip the meat off over the bread.
- 5
Serve on that same juice-soaked khubz with sumac onions and amba.
Pro tip: The bread underneath is not garnish — Baghdad tikka houses count the drip-soaked khubz as the best bite of the meal.
Where Iraqi Tikka comes from
Where the minced kebab carries parsley and baharat, tikka carries little more than onion juice, salt and fire, and Iraqi grill cooks will tell you that a heavy marinade is an admission the lamb was not worth grilling.
Iraqi tikka shares a name with South Asian tikka, not a method
In Iraqi Arabic, tikka simply means chunks, and this lamb skewer is unrelated to the yogurt-marinated Chicken Tikka and Paneer Tikka of South Asia. Shinwari Tikka is a far nearer match: both thread cubes of tail fat between the lamb so the rendering fat bastes the meat, and both keep seasoning to a bare minimum. The Iraqi cook still adds a four-hour soak in grated-onion juice and black pepper, then grills over fierce, close charcoal for 8 to 10 minutes, salting at the fire. Samoon or khubz bread catches the drips, served with sumac onions and amba alongside minced Iraqi kebab.
Compare: Chicken Tikka · Paneer Tikka · Shinwari Tikka
How Iraqi Tikka is cooked
The alternation of meat and fat is the whole method. Cubes of liyya — the fat from the sheep's tail — are threaded between the lean cubes, and as the fire renders them they run down the skewer and coat everything below. This is basting by construction rather than by brush, and it is why a skewer soaked only in onion juice can come off the fire juicy.
The fire is fierce and close, and the cook is short — eight to ten minutes with frequent turns. Because the only soak is thin onion juice, with no oil or yoghurt, the surface dries fast and the char comes quickly; the skill is knowing when the outside has taken colour but the inside has not gone past pink. Salt is applied at the fire or after.
Ingredients and shopping
Lamb shoulder or leg in three-centimetre cubes. Liyya from a halal butcher — ask specifically for tail fat; it is sold and it is cheap. Failing that, fatty lamb belly cut into squares, though it renders faster and does less work.
Salt is the seasoning, sometimes with black pepper. A few hours in grated-onion juice and pepper seasons the lamb without masking it; the salt waits for the fire. Flat or round skewers both work here, since cubed meat grips either. Samoon or khubz bread and raw onion are the fixed accompaniments.
How Iraqi Tikka is served
Slid off the skewer into samoon bread with raw onion, sumac and parsley, alongside minced Iraqi kebab and grilled tomatoes. Amba if the table wants it. Tea afterwards, in the small waisted glasses Iraq shares with Turkey and Iran.
Common mistakes
Skipping the tail fat
There is no oil or yoghurt marinade in this dish. The rendering fat is the only thing keeping the lamb moist, and without it the skewer is dry.
Marinating it heavily
Iraqi tikka is deliberately plain. Onion juice and pepper are enough; a yoghurt or spice marinade makes it a different, and locally less respected, dish.
Salting hours ahead
Salt draws moisture to the surface and steams the meat. Season at the fire.
A weak fire
With only a thin onion-juice soak, the surface dries before it chars over gentle heat. It wants fierce, close coals and a short cook.
Iraqi Tikka: questions and answers
Is Iraqi tikka the same as Indian tikka?
No. In Iraqi Arabic tikka simply means chunks. It is cubed lamb, soaked only in onion juice and grilled with tail fat, unrelated to the yoghurt-marinated South Asian dish.
What is liyya?
The fat from a sheep's tail, cut into cubes and threaded between the meat. It renders over the fire and bastes the lamb — the mechanism the whole dish depends on.
Is Iraqi tikka marinated?
Only lightly: a few hours in onion juice and pepper, with no yoghurt or spice paste. Salt goes on at the fire, and the tail fat does the work a heavy marinade would do elsewhere.
Sources and further reading
- Iraqi Grilled Kebab (from Delights from the Garden of Eden) — ckbk / Nawal Nasrallah
- Kebab — Wikipedia
