The Silk Road bazaar version of shashlik: small cubes of lamb alternated with slices of dumba (sheep tail fat), marinated with onion, vinegar, and generous cumin and coriander, then grilled fast over white-hot coals. The melting fat crisps the meat's edges, and it is always finished with thin pickled onions.
Also known as: shashlik uzbek, uzbek kabob, kesma kabob, shashlyk, uzbek lamb skewers
Ingredients
- 600 g lamb leg or shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
- 150 g lamb tail fat (dumba), in 2 cm slices
- 2 onions, grated
- 2 tsp cumin seeds (zira), half of them crushed
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 onion, in paper-thin rings, tossed with 1 tbsp vinegar, to serve
- non or other flatbread
How to make it
- 1
Bury the lamb in the grated onion with zira, coriander, vinegar and salt; press down, cover and refrigerate overnight.
- 2
Wipe off the onion pulp, then load flat skewers alternating two cubes of lamb to one slice of tail fat.
- 3
Grill 10-12 cm above white-hot coals 8-10 minutes, turning whenever the dripping fat starts to flare.
- 4
Rest the skewers across a plate of flatbread and shower with the vinegared onion rings.
Pro tip: The overnight grated-onion bath, not the fire, is what makes bazaar shashlik tender — cutting it to an hour shows in every bite.
