While it may not be straightforward to mimic the cooking method of shawarma at home without your very own rotisserie, help is at hand when it comes to getting bags of that shawarma flavour into your meat or whole-roasted vegetables, thanks to brand new barbecue cookbook, Berber & Q, from talented Ottolenghi protégé, Josh Katz. In this feature, Josh, whose recipes are inspired by flavours from the Middle East and beyond, explains the brilliant properties of a good shawarma rub and shares his signature Berber & Q recipe. Over to you, Josh… Our shawarma rub is considered our ‘master rub’ at Berber & Q because of it’s versatility. We tend to find it goes well with just about any cut of meat that’s good for smoking and we always make a large batch of it because it keeps well in an airtight container and will invariably get used up pretty quickly. We rub it on all cuts of chicken, large joints of lamb, but also on short-rib and brisket and even pork butts and shoulders. It’s a complex rub, with a long list of different spices and aromatics, but the combination at its core of cinnamon, cumin, turmeric & coriander is one that we find particularly captivating and relevant to the regional food that we’re inspired by. When putting together a rub, the key ingredients are the spices, salt, and brown sugar which helps to caramelise the meat. Josh Katz’ Shawarma Rub recipe from Berber & Q (Makes about 160g) Ingredients:
5 cardamom pods3 cloves¾ tsp fennel seeds 10g coriander seeds, toasted and ground20g cumin seeds, toasted and ground¼ tsp dried chilli flakes10g ground allspice ¼ tsp ground white pepper18g table salt 25g soft dark brown sugar2 tsp cinnamon¾ tbsp ground ginger1½ tsp ground turmericpinch of cayennegrated zest of 1 lemon
Method: Toast the caramom pods, cloves, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds over medium heat in a heavy-based pan until smoking and fragrant. Set to one side and cool. Blitz the toasted aromatics with the chilli flakes to a coarse powder, then combine with all of the remaining ingredients. Trasnfer the rub to an airtight container where it will keep well, sealed, for up to 5 days. For more shawarma inspiration from Berber & Q, why not check out Josh’s Shawarma Cauliflower recipe, or the Berber & Q Hummus, which works perfectly served with your shawarma meat.
