Shashlik (shish kebab)

Profile#

This is a completely unhealthy dish. Except onions there are no vegetables, just pure meat in a sauce. Typical man food that my mom made sometimes on Saturday evenings when I was a small boy. As I like it so much I started preparing this and modified it a bit. Here is my version of the Hungarian dish.
The original recipe uses different innards such as liver and kidney but I prefer it best with beef. Pork also tastes great and can be used alone or in combination with beef. Very important is the sauce. A shashlik sauce needs to be spicy and it is best to use a ready-to-serve sauce that is a little bit more refined such as chilli or a special shashlik sauce. Shish kebab can be picked up well in the freezer. So make a good amount right away..

Ingredients#

• 1 Kg or more beef or pork meat
• 5 slices of speck, cut in 3mm slices and not too fat
• 3-4 onions, not too big
• 2 bottles of shashlik or chilli sauce
• Salt, pepper, paprika, curry, Cayenne pepper, chilli powder
• Butter oil
• Wooden or metal skewers

Let’s go#

The best beef to be used is a sirloin with the fat cover being removed.

Cut the meat into 3cm thick slices.

Now cut the slices into cubes of 3cm length. The pieces should have equal sizes.

Remove the fat layer of the speck and cut 2cm wide slices.

If the onions are too big as here, cut them in quarters or even quaver. Otherwise you can cut them in half.

If you use wooden skewers put them in water for 20 minutes.

It’s time to skewer the meat in repeated meat-speck-meat-onion order.

Shashlik needs a lot of spicery to pimp the sauce. Season vigorously from all sides. I like to use north African Harissa to make it spicy.

In a large pot, sauté the skewers in portions from all sides. Take out the finished and fry the next one.

Cut another onion into slices and fry it slightly. Not too hot as we will cook them for a longer time afterwards.

Using ketchup is not a good idea. Use chilli or shashlik sauce like the one shown here.

Add the sauce to the pot and add the same amount of water (mix 1:1).

Add the skewers and cook it slightly for 1 hour.

You need to eat the shashlik with bread. A baguette is okay but a thicker white bread is even better.

After an hour, the meat is finished and tender.

Put a tablespoon of flour in a glass of cold water. Stir well so it does not clump.

Bring the sauce to a boil and stir in the flour and simmer for a while to cook the sauce.

Put a skewer on a plate and add a lot of sauce.

Add the bread and ready is the men dish.