Mishkak

Ingredients

• Beef or lamb — in small cubes800 g
• Tamarind paste3 tbsp
• Garlic6 clove
• Ginger30 g
• Ground cumin2 tsp
• Ground coriander2 tsp
• Turmeric1 tsp
• Ground red pepper1 tsp
• Vegetable oil60 ml
• Onion — to serve2
• Flatbread — to serve4
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Mix the tamarind, crushed garlic and ginger, all the spices, oil and salt into a marinade.

   10 min

2. 2

   Cut the meat into one-and-a-half-centimetre cubes and coat it in the marinade.

   15 min

3. 3

   Refrigerate for at least four hours, ideally overnight.

   8 min

4. 4

   Thread the pieces onto skewers packed close, without gaps.

   10 min

5. 5

   Get the coals hot — you should not be able to hold a palm above the grate for more than three seconds.

   20 min

6. 6

   Grill a minute and a half on each of four sides, basting with the leftover marinade.

   8 min

7. 7

   Slide the meat off the skewers into flatbread, add raw onion and serve at once.

   4 min

About the dish

The acidity comes from tamarind rather than lemon or vinegar. It tenderises more gently than citrus and does not turn the meat stringy overnight.

The pieces are cut small — a centimetre or so — and threaded close together. Over hot coals they cook in three or four minutes, and larger pieces simply will not.

Mishkak is evening street food: the braziers come out after sunset and the meat is handed over in flatbread with onion and sauce.

Worth knowing

• — Soak wooden skewers half an hour. Dry ones burn through before the meat is done.
• — Pour off basting marinade into a separate bowl beforehand. The one the raw meat sat in is not fit for it.
• — Thread the pieces tight against each other: between them the meat stays juicy, whereas gaps dry the edges out.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

540 kcal

Protein

46 g

Fat

26 g

Carbs

28 g

More from Oman

• Shuwa — Lamb in a spice paste, wrapped in leaves and cooked for a full day. Oman's dish for Eid.