Lebanese Shish Kabobs

I have been tweaking this recipe for years....a few weeks ago we had a block party BBQ and I made about 30 skewers. Some of my neighbors are Lebanese and Armenian and they loved them. One lady couldn't believe that an American white guy made them...her husband then asked me for the recipe...He said it was the best he has had since moving here.

I use 1-1/2" cut up cubes chicken breast for the skewers...the below recipe is used to marinate 3-4 lbs of chicken breast.

1 cup EV Olive Oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup ketchup
1 large brown onion coarsely cut
5-8 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 pinch of saffron dissolved in a tablespoon boiling water (optional, but adds a nice color to the meat)

Mix all ingredients, add cut up chicken breast and marinate 24-36 hours in the fridge.

Add to skewers and grill

Eat with hummus and pita bread....

This is my hummus recipe

Basically it's 2/1 Garbonzo to Tahini

2 15 oz cans Garbonzo beans.
1 15 oz jar of Tahini (Sesame Butter)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Reserve the water from the Garbanzo beans to adjust consistency. Mix all ingredients and blend in a food processor until smooth. Place in large dish and sprinkle EV olive oil, and paprika or cayenne pepper. Eat with warm peta bread, or baked pita chips.

Dave,

My wife and I both love Mediterranean food (just had some turkey shwarma over the weekend) and we just had to try your recipe. I fixed it last night after marinating the chicken for about 26 hours. It was absolutely fantastic! A wonderful blend of flavors and textures. Thanks so very much for posting this recipe. It will definitely be one of our favorites to repeat.

BTW, the chicken pieces were large enough that I just put them on the grill without skewers - made it a lot easier for me. I find that skewers are sometimes more difficult to handle.

Thanks again,

Ray

Thanks for the compliment!

I also sometimes not use skewers and just grill the pieces. But a friend gave me a bulk box of bamboo skewers from a restaurant supply.....5000....that's a lot of kabobs!

BTW, here is another recipe for Persian Chicken Kabobs (Kabaabe Joojeh)

3/4 C of EV Olive Oils
1/4 C Lemon Juice
1 chopped onion
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/4 tsp saffron dissolved in tbsp hot water (Saffron is really important for the flavor and to give the chicken a nice yellow color)

The Persian lady I work with who gave me the recipe says to marinate 48+ hours. But I found the chicken gets very strong lemon flavor...for my tastes, I like it around 24 hours.

For some reason I cannot edit my posts anymore...was able to the other day...

Anyhow, I forgot to add to the Persian Chicken Kabobs (Kabaabe Joojeh) in my last post that it also has 1/2 Cup Yogurt....

This looks good Dave, but what is a brown onion?

Tim

I cannot edit my post either. Is a brown onion the same as a Spanish or yellow onion?

Tim

Yeah....Brown Onion is the Spanish type....

I made these Lebanese kabobs this weekend, and they were excellent. Thanks for the recipe. I couldn't find spanish onions, so I substituted yellow onions and it still tasted great.

I made these over the weekend, and they were a very big hit. I served them with a dill tzaziki sauce and nan that I made, very very delicous. I was running behind so I didn't let them marinate as long as I wanted, only about 6 hours, but they still came out very nice. I used one large red onion for mine, and skewered the onion onto the kabobs with the chicken. Highly recommend!

Did these again last night, with a 24 hour soak in the marinade. Excellent, just like last time! Good hot fire, got nice and colorful, and excellent flavors.

tried this marinade the other night on whole chicken breast. Marinated over 24 hours and they came out excellent. Even better the next day sliced thin on a sandwich. So good in fact that my wife made more for dinner tonight.

I made this one this past weekend and it is a good recipe.
I did oversmoke the skewers, though. Too much cherry.
I skipped the saffron and used fresh instead of powdered ginger (Recommend!).
I might give it another go this weekend. Maybe with a bit of cumin.