For reference, the smells and tastes of grilled arabic food is seared into my subconscious, because I grew up in the Middle East.
Anyway so today, I made Lebanese style shish kebabs today, and holy hell did I ever knock it outta the park on this one. It tasted freakin authentic.
So.
Ground beef
red onion, garlic and fresh parsley, all finely chopped.
dry spice mix consisting of:
-sea salt
-pepper
-dry thyme (be generous)
-dry tarragon (be slightly less generous)
-generous pinch of ground cloves.
-sumac - arabic word for a grilling "spice" which is actually dried, ground pomegranate seeds.
Mix everything, let it sit outside for a couple of hours.
Using your hands, form balls that are maybe 60% the side of your fist into rolls, they should look almost like sausages. You can put them on skewers if you want, or you can put them directly on the grill, doesn't really matter all that much.
Grill em up as you would a burger. Get a little char on them. Do not ever press down on it with your grilling tools, or if you do, a terrorist named Hussein Bin Hamad Al Gabbrani will come to your house and give you a wedgie - this is not a joke, he's fucking crazy and he will actually do it.
Sides:
-Cook up some long grain rice. After it's cooked and still steaming, drop a few pats of salted butter into the rice and let it melt through. Sprinkle some more sumac onto the rice.
-hummus
-grilled bell peppers or eggplant, or tabbouli salad, or hell, even just any kind of fresh salad will do.
-alternatively, arabic pita bread (not greek) instead of rice.
fucking WIN.
Anyway so today, I made Lebanese style shish kebabs today, and holy hell did I ever knock it outta the park on this one. It tasted freakin authentic.
So.
Ground beef
red onion, garlic and fresh parsley, all finely chopped.
dry spice mix consisting of:
-sea salt
-pepper
-dry thyme (be generous)
-dry tarragon (be slightly less generous)
-generous pinch of ground cloves.
-sumac - arabic word for a grilling "spice" which is actually dried, ground pomegranate seeds.
Mix everything, let it sit outside for a couple of hours.
Using your hands, form balls that are maybe 60% the side of your fist into rolls, they should look almost like sausages. You can put them on skewers if you want, or you can put them directly on the grill, doesn't really matter all that much.
Grill em up as you would a burger. Get a little char on them. Do not ever press down on it with your grilling tools, or if you do, a terrorist named Hussein Bin Hamad Al Gabbrani will come to your house and give you a wedgie - this is not a joke, he's fucking crazy and he will actually do it.
Sides:
-Cook up some long grain rice. After it's cooked and still steaming, drop a few pats of salted butter into the rice and let it melt through. Sprinkle some more sumac onto the rice.
-hummus
-grilled bell peppers or eggplant, or tabbouli salad, or hell, even just any kind of fresh salad will do.
-alternatively, arabic pita bread (not greek) instead of rice.
fucking WIN.