Shashlick - traditional grilled meat from Caucasus mountains

[edward36]

Hey folks!

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• edward36
• Apr 21, 2014

Shashlik is a Caucasian version of shish kebabs, which is extremely popular in Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Central Asian parts of former USSR. Since I was born in Moldova, my cooking perception and philosophy got influenced a great deal by Moldavian, Romanian and Russian cuisines. So here it is - chicken shashlik, marinated the most traditional way, with a little twist I added from the middle eastern cuisine.

• 8-10 boneless and skinless chicken thighs or drumsticks
• 4 onions, sliced thinly
• 1 tbsp (or more, to taste) coarse or sea salt
• 1 tbsp (or more, to taste) coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 4 tbsp EVOO

In a bowl big enough to contain all your meat mix the onion slices and salt, and squeeze with your hands. Don't be gentle - you want the onion to give as much juice as it can during the marinating time, so brutality is the name of the game 

.

Once you got the onion crushed and smashed, cube your meat into 1" chunks and place in the bowl. Add the black pepper, cumin and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 5-6 hours. Then - mix in the olive oil, and refrigerate 4-5 hours more, up to overnight.

Traditionally, shashlik is grilled over hot coals, but I had to cheat here, as we were hungry. However, there's one rule of shashlik which under no circumstances you should break - metal flat skewers only. In simple words, if it ain't a metal skewer, it ain't a shashlik 

. Grilling time - 4-5 minutes per side, turning once, heat - as hot as you can get it. Serve it on the skewers and enjoy!

Ed

 

[smoking b]

Looks good man - thanks for sharing 

 

[edward36]

 
Looks good man - thanks for sharing 

You're welcome! 

 

[tr00ter]

Looks very good.  Thank you for the insight into another culture of food.

 

[junkcollector]

Shashlick, WOW, haven't heard that word since i was in Ukraine and Poland back in 2000 and 2001. The ones I had were made with pork and I believe there were onions on the stick too. Thanks for the recipe, I'll have to give it a try in the next few days. 

By chance, would you happen to have a recipe for pickled cucumbers? I remember having some home made ones in Ukraine that were undescribably good. 

 

[edward36]

 
Looks very good.  Thank you for the insight into another culture of food.

Any time!

I take ideas and inspirations from my origins, along with my current whereabout, plus my travels pretty much around the globe... And since I really enjoy it around here (i.e. this site :) ) I am thrilled to share it all!

Ed