Shish taouk — garlic and lemon chicken thigh skewers with vermicelli rice and tahini

meat Israeli and Mediterranean · regular · 150 min, including 35 hands-on

Levantine chicken skewers: boneless thighs massaged with a thick marinade of garlic, lemon, tomato purée, paprika and baharat, grilled until opaque and juicy, then served over rice with golden vermicelli, drizzled with tahini sauce and topped with red onion, sumac and parsley.

easy version

Ingredients for two

Method

1. Make the marinade (10 minutes): in a mixing bowl, combine 30 g olive oil, 30 g lemon juice, the vinegar, 4 grated garlic cloves, tomato purée, paprika, baharat, cinnamon, 4.5 g salt and the pepper. You should have a thick red paste scented with garlic and spices. Transfer 2 tbsp to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate for basting. Add the chicken thigh pieces to the mixing bowl and massage by hand for 1 minute to work the marinade into the meat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, or prepare the day before (see tips); these 2 hours are included in the total time.
2. After 1 hour 45 minutes of marinating, start the rice: rinse in a fine sieve under cold water until the water runs clear, then drain thoroughly. Heat 15 g olive oil in an 18 cm saucepan over a medium heat. Add the vermicelli and stir constantly for 2–3 minutes until hazelnut brown with no black spots; they colour quickly towards the end. Add the drained rice and stir for 1 minute to coat the grains.
3. Pour in the 340 g hot water with the crumbled half stock cube (or 3 g salt), bring to the boil, stir once and cover. Cook over the lowest heat for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat without opening the lid and rest for 10 minutes: this finishes the absorption and separates the grains. The rice can wait another 10 minutes, covered, without harm; use this time to thread and grill the skewers.
4. While the rice cooks, make the tahini sauce and onions. In a bowl, whisk 60 g tahini with 1 grated garlic clove, 25 g lemon juice and 1.5 g salt. The mixture will thicken and become lumpy; this is normal. Gradually whisk in 60–70 g cold water until smooth, pale and thick enough to coat a spoon. Taste and adjust the salt or lemon. In another bowl, mix the thinly sliced red onion, sumac, chopped parsley, 10 g lemon juice and a pinch of salt by hand. Leave for 10 minutes, until the onion softens and turns pink.
5. Once the rice is off the heat and resting (the chicken has marinated for 2 hours), heat the griddle over a medium-high heat. While it heats for 4 minutes, thread the pieces without draining onto 4 skewers, 3–4 pieces per skewer, close together without overlapping. Discard the marinade left in the mixing bowl. Oil the ridges with a folded piece of kitchen paper dipped in oil, then lay the skewers side by side, with the handles facing you and extending beyond the griddle.
6. Grill for 12–14 minutes in total, turning a quarter-turn every 3 minutes with tongs or a tea towel: the handles will be very hot. At the first turn, brush with the reserved 2 tbsp marinade. Reduce the heat to medium if the paprika blackens. The chicken is ready when opaque all the way through and the juices run clear when the largest piece is pierced (72–75°C on a thermometer, if using). Transfer to a board and cover very loosely for 3 minutes.
7. Uncover the rice, fluff with a fork without crushing the grains and divide between plates. Add 2 skewers per person, drizzle a ribbon of tahini sauce over the chicken and serve the rest in a sauceboat. Top the skewers with the sumac and parsley onions; eat the starter alongside, Levantine-style.

On your plate

Cooking tips

With preparation the day before, the dish takes 45 minutes (see the easy method): massage the chicken with the marinade, cover with cling film and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Lemon and vinegar do not 'cook' thigh meat; it stays supple. There is no yoghurt here, as this is a meat dish: tenderness comes from the thick garlic, tomato purée and oil marinade, the thigh meat and basting during cooking. For the traditional Lebanese accompaniment, replace the tahini sauce with toum: pound 25 g garlic (5 cloves) with 3 g salt, then use a hand blender to emulsify with 120 g neutral oil poured in a thin stream and 20 g lemon juice until white and firm. This is trickier; tahini sauce is reliable every time. Without a griddle, use a very hot flat cast-iron pan for the same time, or the oven grill at 230°C, with the skewers on a rack over a tray, for 14–16 minutes, turning halfway through. If the rice is still firm or catches on the bottom after resting, add 50 g boiling water, cover and wait 5 minutes. For leftovers, cut up the cold chicken the next day and serve in a pita with the tahini sauce, sumac onions and tomatoes.

Equipment : 4 metal skewers, 20 cm long, griddle or ridged grill pan at least 26 cm across, kitchen tongs, 18 cm saucepan with a lid, fine sieve, fine grater for the garlic, bowl and whisk for the tahini sauce, cooking thermometer (optional)

Shish taouk from the grills of Lebanon and Israel, in a dairy-free version; riz bi sh'ariyeh, the vermicelli rice found throughout the Levant, with sumac onions and tahini sauce from the Israeli mixed-grill plate.