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.
The story of Uzbek Shashlik
Uzbek shashlik is the bazaar version of a dish the whole post-Soviet world claims, and what distinguishes it is dumba — sheep tail fat, sliced and threaded between the meat. In Tashkent's Chorsu bazaar and along every road in the Fergana Valley, the skewers are small, the coals are white-hot and the smell of rendering tail fat is the smell of the market.
It sits inside the wider shashlik culture but with Silk Road seasoning: cumin and coriander in quantity, where a Russian dacha version would use only pepper. That spicing links it eastward to Xinjiang rather than westward to the Caucasus, and it is the clearest marker of where you are eating.
The technique that defines it
The pieces are small — much smaller than a Russian shashlik — and they are threaded alternately with slices of dumba so that every second item on the skewer is pure fat. As that fat renders over a hot fire, it runs down the meat and crisps its edges, which is the effect the whole dish is built around.
The fire is hotter and the cook shorter than in the Caucasian tradition: a bazaar cook works over glowing coals fanned with a piece of cardboard, turning constantly, and a skewer is off in six or seven minutes. Cumin and coriander are sprinkled on during grilling as well as being in the marinade, so some of the spice toasts directly on the meat.
Choosing your ingredients
Lamb shoulder cut into pieces of about two centimetres, and dumba if you can find it at a halal butcher — it is sold specifically and is worth asking for. Failing that, fatty lamb belly cut into squares is the nearest substitute; ordinary fat trimmings render too fast and drip away.
The marinade is sliced onion, vinegar, salt, black pepper, and generous whole cumin and coriander seed lightly crushed. Three to four hours is enough. Ground cumin has its place sprinkled on at the fire; in the marinade, whole crushed seed gives a cleaner flavour.
Mistakes that ruin it
Skipping the tail fat
The rendering fat is the mechanism of the dish, not a garnish. Without it, small lamb cubes over a hot fire simply dry.
Cutting the meat large
Uzbek shashlik is deliberately small-cut. Big cubes need a different fire and lose the fat-basting effect.
Under-spicing
Cumin and coriander in quantity are what make this Uzbek rather than generic. Be generous, and sprinkle more at the grill.
A slow fire
It needs white-hot coals and a short cook. A gentle fire renders the fat away before the meat colours.
How it is served
On a plate with thin pickled onion rings dusted with sumac and black pepper — the acid is essential against the fat — and non bread. Fresh herbs, tomatoes, and green tea. In the bazaars it is eaten straight from the skewer standing at the grill, with the bread used to pull the meat off.
Questions about Uzbek Shashlik
What is dumba?
Sheep tail fat, sliced and threaded between the meat cubes. It renders over the fire and bastes the lamb, and it is the defining element of Uzbek shashlik.
How is it different from Russian shashlik?
The pieces are smaller, the fire hotter, tail fat is threaded between them, and the spicing is cumin- and coriander-forward rather than just onion and pepper.
What can I use instead of tail fat?
Fatty lamb belly cut into squares is the closest substitute. Loose fat trimmings render away too quickly.
Why the pickled onions?
Their acidity cuts the rendered fat. They are served with almost every Uzbek shashlik and are not optional in practice.
