Turkish Kebabs

Grilled meats or kebabs are a mainstay of the Muslim world, from Turkey to Iran to India and Pakistan to Muslim China to Indonesia (where kebabs are known as satay), and each country has its own way of preparing the meat or fish and marinating it for grilling. One of the earliest references to kebabs is found in an eleventh-century Turkish dictionary, which describes men as having "competed against each other in skewering meat." It was the Turks who disseminated kebabs all over the Middle East and North Africa during the Ottoman Empire. The recipe below is for classic Turkish meat kebabs, with a marinade that includes tomato paste and a mix of spices for an intense flavor.