The Levantine take on shish kebab: cubes of lamb marinated simply in onion, allspice and olive oil, grilled alongside kafta and taouk in the classic 'mashawi' mixed grill. Minimal marinade is the point — good lamb and charcoal do the work.
Also known as laham meshwi, lahme mechwiye, shish kebab.
Ingredients
- 800 g lamb leg or shoulder, in 3 cm cubes, plus a few pieces of lamb fat for threading
- 1 onion, grated and strained for juice
- 60 ml olive oil
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 0.25 tsp white pepper
- 1.5 tsp salt, added at the grill
- 2 tomatoes, halved, for grilling
- 4 pita breads
- 100 g toum (garlic sauce) or extra lemon
How to make it
- 1
Turn the lamb through the onion juice, oil, allspice, cinnamon and white pepper and refrigerate 4 h.
- 2
Thread the cubes snugly onto skewers, tucking a piece of lamb fat between every few cubes, without cramming them.
- 3
Grill over hot coals 8-10 min, turning three times, until the edges char while the centres stay rosy; blister the tomato halves at the edge of the grill at the same time.
- 4
Salt the skewers as they leave the fire, never before.
- 5
Rest 3 min folded inside pita, then serve with toum and grilled tomatoes.
Pro tip: Levantine grill masters salt at the fire, not in the marinade; early salt pulls the juice you spent four hours protecting.
Where Lahm Mishwi comes from
Lahm mishwi simply means grilled meat, and in Lebanon it denotes the cubed-lamb skewer that sits alongside kafta and shish tawook on a mashawi platter. It is the Levantine equivalent of the Turkish şiş, and the difference between them is almost entirely one of restraint.
Lebanese grill culture treats a good lamb and good charcoal as sufficient, and the marinade reflects that: onion, allspice, olive oil, and little else. Where a Persian cook reaches for saffron and a Turkish one for pepper paste, a Lebanese one reaches for nothing much at all, which is a position rather than an omission.
How Lahm Mishwi is cooked
The marinade is short and non-acidic — grated onion for its juice, allspice, white pepper, olive oil, sometimes a spoonful of yoghurt. A few hours is enough. The absence of lemon or vinegar is deliberate: acid changes the surface texture of lamb in a way Lebanese cooks consider a compromise for poorer meat.
Cubes are threaded with pieces of lamb fat between them and grilled close over hot charcoal for eight to ten minutes with regular quarter-turns. Vegetables go on their own skewers. The finished skewers are laid on flatbread so the drippings soak in, which is the same trick used from Anatolia to the Gulf and works everywhere.
Ingredients and shopping
Lamb shoulder or leg in three-centimetre cubes, with visible fat left on and extra fat threaded between. Very lean cuts are the wrong choice for a marinade this light — there is nothing to protect the meat from the fire.
Allspice is the characteristic Levantine spice here and should be freshly ground if possible. Onion grated and pressed for juice, pulp discarded. Charcoal rather than gas; with a marinade this restrained, the smoke is doing a substantial share of the work.
How Lahm Mishwi is served
On the mashawi platter over flatbread, with kafta and shish tawook, grilled tomatoes and onions, toum, pickled turnips and parsley. Hummus, fattoush and moutabal on the table. Arak with ice and water, or lemonade with mint.
Common mistakes
Adding lemon to the marinade
Acid softens the surface of the lamb into something mealy. Lebanese practice keeps it out and adds lemon at the table instead.
No fat between the cubes
With a light marinade there is nothing else keeping the meat moist. Thread lamb fat every few pieces.
Mixing vegetables onto the skewer
They cook faster and force you to overcook the lamb. Separate skewers, combined on the plate.
Lean cuts
Shoulder or leg. Fillet is a waste and dries out under a restrained marinade.
Lahm Mishwi: questions and answers
Why is the marinade so simple?
Lebanese grill practice holds that good lamb and charcoal need little help. Acid in particular is avoided because it changes the texture of the meat.
What is toum?
The Lebanese whipped garlic sauce — garlic, oil, lemon and salt emulsified into a thick white cream. It is the standard accompaniment to any mashawi.
How long should lamb marinate?
Two to four hours in onion juice, allspice and oil. It does not need or want longer.
Sources and further reading
- Kebab — Wikipedia
- Food: Shish Kebab — Encyclopedia.com
