Less a single dish than Israel's charcoal-skewer restaurant genre: shipudiyot serve rows of small skewers — pargiyot (deboned chicken thigh), foie-style goose liver, lamb fat, hearts — with hummus, salads and laffa. The culture fuses Balkan, North African and Middle Eastern shish traditions brought by successive immigrant waves.
Also known as: shipud, shipudim, shipudei pargiyot, shipudiya, Israeli skewers, שיפודים
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 800 g pargiyot (boneless chicken thighs), 4 cm pieces
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 lemon
- 1.5 tsp salt and black pepper
- 4 pitas
- tahini and chopped salad, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Rub the thigh pieces with oil, paprika, turmeric, garlic, salt and pepper and let them sit 2 hours.
- 2
Pack the meat onto narrow skewers with the pieces pressed snugly together so they baste each other on the fire.
- 3
Grill over high charcoal 8-10 minutes, turning often — pargiyot forgive heat that would wreck breast meat.
- 4
Squeeze lemon over the skewers the moment they come off.
- 5
Serve shipudiya-style: pita, tahini, chopped salad, and the skewers still on their metal.
Pro tip: Never substitute breast for pargiyot — the thigh's fat is the difference between juicy and sawdust at these temperatures.
