Shish Ta-Wouk (Middle Eastern Chicken Kebabs)

   

     I love to say the name "shish-ta-wook" as I feel so Middle Eastern-ly cultured when I do.  To simply say Lebanese chicken kebabs isn't as fun but it certainly gives you a better idea of what a "wook" is. It was an Iraqi officer many years ago in Jordan who explained which may be obvious to many, that the shish is the name of the skewer itself onto which the kabob is molded or speared (in his case - a seasoned ground meat). Cooked over hot charcoals that he fanned almost constantly is how this expert, born to the craft, demonstrated their preparation. Kabob are much better known in recent years with the proliferation of Persian and Afghan restaurants serving them.  

    My introduction to the version below was at the Marriott Hotel in Amman, which created a delicious rendition and it instantly became one of my favorite Arabic dishes.  The lemon and spices in the marinade Arabize the chicken with the warmth of zatar and allspice and the sparkle of lemon and set it apart from other chicken kebobs of which there are endless varieties. (Truth be told - I like them all.)  I appreciate the intense flavors without the heat of Afghani renditions, which allows you to enjoy bite after bite without looking for something to cool the palette down between mouthfuls!  But to each his own. With a nod to Lebanese cuisine as being the ultimate "ideal" of Middle Eastern food, there are various preparations of this chicken even within Jordan itself.  But you'll never go wrong ordering it off the menu.  And now that you know how to say it, you won't even have to look at a menu to order it!

Shish Ta-Wook:

4 chicken breasts, skinned, boned – cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 small onion, finely grated or juiced

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tab. olive oil
3 tab. plain yogurt
1 tsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tab. zatar

1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. allspice

Sumac to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

         

     -Blend onion and garlic into the lemon juice, olive oil and
         yogurt.  Add spices and marinate the chicken pieces in
         the mixture for 2-4 hours, turning occasionally. 

     -Remove chicken from the marinade and thread loosely
         on skewers, 4 or 5 cubes on each.  Cook for 10-15 
         minutes under broiler or over barbecue brushing with 
         leftover marinade liquid a time or two.

     -Serve with grilled slivered onions, thickly sliced green 
         and red peppers and tomato halves sprinkled with salt
         and pepper and sumac.                                       

     -Condiments:  garlic sauce (toom), hummus or
         baba ghannouj.

                                        Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes

Marinate chicken for 2 -4 hours

Thread 4 - 5 cubes on each skewer

and place on rack set over cookie sheet

Sahtain!  (To your health!)

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:

     **Sumac is my favorite spice discovery of Middle Eastern Cooking.  (It's
the granular-looking dark red spice you see in the small bowl and sprinkled
on the chicken and vegetables in the pictures above.)  We first tasted it sprinkled on fattoush salad and wondered what the dark red pepper was.  
After encountering it on the Palestinian specialty, Musakhan, where it all but covers the chicken dish, I learned the name.  Sumac, not to be confused with poison sumac, comes from the berry of a flowering shrub indigenous to the Middle East and lends a bit of piquant, lemony pizazz to dishes.  It's a must-have in my kitchen and can be found in Middle Eastern Groceries or through Penzeys or Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Sumac-Spice-2-0-Zamouri-Spices/dp/B000FVMOW6/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=sumac&qid=1579654042&sr=8-4.

     **Truth be told, I have experienced many failures in attempting to make "toom", garlic paste like that served in Fakhr-al Din's in Amman, Jordan, our favorite Lebanese restaurant. We fell in love with it and always order french fries on the side in Arab restaurants to dip in the garlic paste.  Fahkr-al Dins serves an array of fresh uncut vegetables as an appetizer, with the toom on the side.  My favorite combo is slicing the tomatoes, spreading the garlic paste on top and sprinkling with salt, pepper and sumac. This video presents a great explanation of how to make it and what can go wrong - check it out for this indispensable side dip.  (It is possible to make half the recipe to try it out before you commit an entire quart of oil to the recipe.)  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ufDD773NQMY

Ingredients - (1/2 recipe)

1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves (sometimes you can find them already peeled -
        if they're fresh, go that route!)

2 - 2 1/2 cups vegetable, corn or canola oil

1 fresh lemon, juiced

1 tsp salt or to taste

Instructions

1. Before you start, ensure that all ingredients are at room temperature and your food processor is dry.
2. Add the garlic and salt to the food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times.  Stop the processor, scrape down the sides and run for 10-20 seconds longer until the garlic turns pasty.
3. With your oil and lemon juice ready and measured, turn the processor back on and keep it on until the end of the process.
4. While the food processor is running, start adding the oil slowly in a very thin stream or thread until you have used 1/2 cup.  Let the processor continue running for a moment and add 1 tsp. of lemon juice a bit at a time.  After adding the first half cup of oil you will start seeing the garlic emulsify and turn into a paste.  Let the processor blend for 30 seconds between adding oil and juice.
5. Continue the previous step with the remaining oil and lemon juice.  Do not rush the process.  Just continue to pour in the oil in a thin stream, followed by the lemon juice and let continue to blend after each addition.
6. Place "toom" in an airtight container but don't cover with a lid immediately.  Cover with a paper towel and place in the refrigerator for an hour or so to allow the mixture to cool completely, to avoid condensation to fall back into the paste, which will cause it to split.  Remove paper towel and cover with an airtight lid.  Paste can be kept in the refrigerator for several weeks.
7. 
   

     **Toom Shortcut:  Mix very finely minced garlic cloves (4-6) to taste with 1 cup prepared mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and sprinkle of salt.  Let chill for 30 minutes and serve.    

Fateyah - Lebanese Filled Rolls

      A Lebanese friend introduced me to "fa-tie-ah" at a Christmas Open House she hosted every year with the most wonderful Lebanese food.  These little golden puffs of bread filled with warm Arabic spiced ground beef, fried onions, rich with butter and studded with pine nuts became a family favorite.  In fact, they received the honor of being placed on the menu of the traditional Christmas Eve buffet at our home.
      Along with various dips which always included hummous, fateyah took its place of honor on the holiday table or on the picnic blanket when picnicking in the shepherd's fields overlooking Bethlehem, or when looking for a hint of Christmas, sitting unknowingly on the King's forested private property in Jordan.  That time we were driven off by a guard.....we should have given him a fateyah and he would have welcomed us to stay!
    If you are intimidated at working with yeasted dough, I would happily offer you "yeasted dough therapy" if I could and in my cooking classes have forced students to face yeast head on!  People often worry about killing the yeast or ending up with a lump or hardtack when the timer goes off at the end of baking.  But truly, yeast is quite a hardy fungus and I have rarely had it fail me, and then probably because it was already deceased when I used it.  
      If you follow a couple of rules, you too can create these softy pillowy delights.  This is a yeast dough that is generous in the rising and creates a soft, malleable dough that is happy to become a fateyah.  Couple of rules:  let the yeast rise first, as the recipe instructs in a small amount of lukewarm water.  Now, if you're wondering what lukewarm is, no hotter than the milk in a baby's bottle is a good guide, but if you don't know how hot that is, you don't have to search for a wisened mother to show you.  Go for tepid water, or even a bit to the cool side if you're still concerned - just not ice-cold water.  Yeast will rise, though more slowly in cool water.  Be sure to let the dough rise as long as the time suggested in the recipe.  
      You can use your bread-proofing function on your oven if you have it.  Otherwise, cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and set on the counter where there are no cold drafts and forget about it for a couple of hours.  It knows how to do what it needs to do and you don't have to help it along.  You can even place your dough to rise in the refrigerator overnight or all day and come back to it later when you're ready to create the fateyah. 
       When you shape the balls of dough let them sit for 10 minutes or so to get used to their new shape and then when you roll the balls out into flat circles, again be patient with your dough - it has to think about it a bit before it relaxes and keeps the shape you are insisting upon.  In fact, if the dough shrinks back as you roll it, walk away for a few minutes, come back and roll again and it will be much more obliging.  

Fateyah: (meat filled bread)

     Bread Dough:

          3 cups lukewarm water              1 tab. salt

          2 tab. yeast                                    ½ cup oil

          ½ cup sugar                                  8-9 cups flour

           -Mix yeast and 1 tab. sugar in 1/2 cup tepid water and let sit
              until foamy, about 10 minutes.  Add the rest of the water 
              and sugar.  Stir in salt, oil and enough flour to make a stiff
              dough. (You do not need to use all the flour, just enough to
              make a dough that can be handled without sticking to 
              your hands.) 

           -Knead the dough in an electric mixer with a dough hook or
              by hand for 5 - 7 minutes or until the dough can form a 
              smooth ball.  (see instructions on how to knead, below).  
              Place the dough ball in a large oiled bowl, cover with a 
              dish towel or plastic wrap and set to rise for about 1 1/2 
              hours in a warm spot on your kitchen counter.  Or use the
              bread-proofing feature on your oven for an hour.  Dough
              should be about doubled in size.  To test if the dough has
              risen enough, poke a hole in the center with your finger. 
              If the indentation stays, it is ready.         

     Filling:

          1 finely chopped onion                1 tab. cinnamon

          ½ cup butter                                 1 tab. allspice

          1 pound lean ground beef           1 - 6 oz. can tomato paste

          ½ cup pine nuts                           salt and pepper to taste

          -In medium frying pan, melt the butter.  Saute the onion in 
             the butter over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. 
             Add the ground beef and simmer till brown breaking it up 
             as it cooks.  Add tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, salt and
             pepper.  Simmer another 15-20 minutes.  Stir in pine nuts.

     To form fateyahs:

          -Punch down the dough after it has risen, to release some of 
            the air.  Roll dough into balls about the size of a golf ball.  
            With a rolling pin, roll each ball on a lightly oiled surface
            (oil works better than flour for this recipe) into a 5-inch 
            round. Let rest for a couple of minutes.  

          -Place a spoonful of filling in the center of the round.  Fold
            the sides over the filling then roll up, encasing the filling.

          -Place seam side down on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375

             degrees until golden.  Brush with olive oil while still warm.

          -Serve warm or at room temperature.  (Can bake until just
             barely done and freeze.  Reheat in oven before serving.)

 Forming the fatayeh:  fold the 2 vertical sides

   over the filling and then roll up and over the

      filling starting with the edge closest to you.

                                         Completed rolled bread - placed seam side down.

                                                    Baked Fatayehs - ready to serve.

                                                    Inside of the stuffed bread.....yum!



Persnickety Notes:   Why and how to knead bread:

     **For a simple but thorough explanation of why and how to knead
         bread watch the following video:
                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySOj0fFWo1U

     **My technique for the actual kneading process is somewhat different
        as, after working with the heels of my hand to push the dough out, I
        fold it over itself away from me.  Go ahead - develop your own
        style!  There are as many styles as there are bakers - some knead 
        in a leisurely almost poetic fashion, embracing the dough at each
        turn, others tackle it much more aggressively flailing the dough about
        the counter as they work.  The important thing is to develop the smooth
        elastic texture the dough kneads to rise!  It's not terribly particular as
        to how it is treated.  Most will tell you there is great satisfaction in
        kneading their own bread and it can even count as your daily workout
        session!