Small cubes of lamb marinated in cumin, sweet paprika, garlic, and olive oil, threaded tightly on thin skewers and flash-grilled at souk stalls. The pieces are cut deliberately small so they char in minutes and are eaten straight off the stick with khobz bread and cumin-salt for dipping.
Also known as: qotban, quotban, kotban, brochettes marocaines, Moroccan brochettes, lahm meshwi Morocco
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g lamb shoulder, in 2 cm cubes
- 45 ml olive oil
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 15 g fresh coriander, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 khobz rolls or pita
- 1 tsp cumin + 1 tsp salt, mixed, for dipping
How to make it
- 1
Toss the lamb with olive oil, cumin, paprika, garlic, herbs and salt, working the spices into the meat, then refrigerate 2 hours.
- 2
Thread the cubes snugly onto thin skewers, five or six per stick with no gaps.
- 3
Grill over very hot charcoal 6-8 minutes, giving a quarter turn every 2 minutes, until charred outside and just cooked through.
- 4
Rest 2 minutes, then tuck into khobz with the cumin-salt alongside for dipping.
Pro tip: Keep the cubes at 2 cm — the Marrakech street standard — so every piece grabs char before the centre overcooks.
