When you’re in the Middle East, North Africa or even West, South and Central Asia, one of the most popular dishes is kebab. It’s the same loved dish, but pronounced differently – kebab, kabab, kabob, kebap – and cooked differently in various countries in these regions. What country makes the best kebabs? Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India – it’s a debate that can go on forever.
Kebab derives from a Persian term for the dish that passed into both Arabic as kabab and Turkish as kebap. Kebab is dish of Middle Eastern or Central Asian origin, thought to have originated among nomadic peoples in Central Asia, whose meat-heavy diet was transformed somewhat in an urban context where vegetables were more readily available.
Cooking kebabs
Kebab typically combines small pieces of meat such as lamb or beef with vegetables on a skewer and is then grilled. It should not be confused with the also popular kafta, which is ground meat and nuts with spices, formed into meatballs.
Kebab meat is typically cut away from the bone into bite-size cubes. The meat is usually marinated in olive oil and lemon juice, with various spices added, ranging from relatively mild ones such as garlic to hot peppers and paprika. Typical vegetables include aubergine (eggplant), tomato, potato and onion. Meat and vegetables are alternated along the length of a skewer and then placed atop a charcoal brazier and grilled.
Beef or lamb is the preferred meat in the Middle East, although chicken is also used. Kebabs are often eaten with yogurt or garlic sauce, and served with rice or french fries.
Kebabs and their variations
Dozens of types of kebabs are known, some eaten regionally and some internationally known. The best-known is shish kebab, which comes from the Turkish words, şiş kebap, which simply means “skewered meat”. It is closely similar to shashlik, eaten in the Caucasus region and Russia. Döner kebab, which takes its name from the Turkish language, meaning “rotating meat”, which is similar to shawarma and gyros: the meat is sliced, stacked, and roasted on a vertical spit and then carved off the spit and served in pita or some other flatbread. The Greek souvlaki is a version of shish kebab that uses only meat, quite similar to the Turkish çöp şiş, “skewered garbage”, a jocular name that refers to the fact that the meat is often scrap left over after other cuts have been taken off.
Kebabs in Qatar
In Qatar, next to shawarma, rice and meat dishes, kebabs are much loved – the diets of most locals and residents here are meat-heavy. Although there are no Qatari kebabs per se, the best kebabs commonly come from Turkish, Iranian, Syrian, Indian, Pakistani and Afghani restaurants in the country.
Marhaba recommends:
- Afghan Brothers (Afghani)
- Dawah Restaurant Pakistan (Pakistani)
- Hasan Kolcuoglu (Turkish)
- Khosh Kebab (Iranian)
- Lamazani Grill (Iranian)
- Shater Abbas (Iranian)
- Shiraz Garden (Persian)
- Shiraz Palace (Persian)
- Shujaa Restaurant, Souq Waqif (Iranian)
- Turkey Central Restaurant (Turkish)
- Parisa, Souq Waqif (Persian)
- Qureshi Bukhara, Dusit Hotel & Suites (Indian)
- Usta Turkish Kebab and Doner (Turkish)
- Yasmine Palace (Levant)
Source: Britannica
Author: Ola Diab
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