Cardamom and Tea

pomegranate sumac shish kebab

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It’s a long weekend and everyone with a grill will be grilling. Burgers and hotdogs are all well and good, but if you’re looking for something a little punchier, with a lot more color, you’re going to want to try this recipe. Chunks of lamb are marinated in pomegranate molasses, and then glazed with more pomegranate molasses as they cook. The tangy caramelized sugars make this lamb completely irresistible. As if that wasn’t enough, the veggie skewers are marinated in za’atar and sumac, and they blister, char, and soften to perfection on the grill. This shish kebab is fabulous for entertaining because the whole thing can be prepared ahead, left to marinate in the refrigerator, and once they go on the grill, they’re done in a flash.

There’s no magical reason why this recipe calls for tomato, onion, and bell pepper. It’s the veggie mix my family always makes, it’s always easy to find, and it goes great with grilled meats. The sumac flavor adds just the right zest to the mellow flavor of the charred and blistered veggies. But feel free to experiment with skewering other produce for grilling. Mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, radicchio, asparagus, or even stone fruit like peaches, all work great here. It doesn’t matter what color cherry tomatoes, onions, or bell peppers you find—a more colorful variety will give this dish a brighter presentation, but red tomatoes with red bell pepper and red onions look chic in their own monochromatic way.

And speaking of good looks: while it would be even prettier to put the veggies on the same skewers as the lamb pieces, this is one time when you’ve got to sacrifice some style for substance. The vegetable skewers will be done cooking a couple minutes before the lamb, and it’s important that you take them off the grill as soon as they’re ready. You know the veggie skewers are done when the tomatoes are blistered, slightly softened, and just starting to shrivel. You don’t want to cook them beyond this point or you will make a delicious tomato sauce, which will slough off the skewers and sink right through the grill grates.

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pomegranate sumac shish kebab

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  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes *
  • Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds semi-boneless leg of lamb (if you are buying bone-in, buy 2 1/2 to 3 pounds)
  • About 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoons salt (to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (for marinade)
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 green bell pepper (can substitute another color bell pepper)
  • 1 pound cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 teaspoon sumac
  • 1/2 teaspoon za’atar (optional, add 1/4 teaspoon more sumac instead)
  • About 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoons salt (to taste) *
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (for grilling)

Instructions

  1. Trim any large pieces of fat from the leg of lamb, and cut the lamb into chunks, discarding any bone or gristle.
  2. Place the lamb it in a ziplock bag (or another sealable container), add the salt and pomegranate molasses, mix it around by squeezing the bag, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day. **
  3. Chop the onion and bell pepper into large chunks. Mix together in a ziplock bag with the cherry tomatoes, sumac, za’atar, salt, and olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day.
  4. Once they’re ready, skewer the veggies and the lamb separately. ***
  5. Pre-heat the grill to medium-hot and brush one side of the lamb with 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses.
  6. Once the grill is hot, add the lamb, molasses-side-down, and brush the other side of the lamb with the other tablespoon of pomegranate molasses. Then add the veggie skewers.
  7. Regularly check to make sure nothing is burning, and turn everything once or twice to cook evenly.
  8. Remove the veggies once they are charred and slightly wilted. For medium-rare, the lamb should be internally 135° F, although they’re also very tasty when cooked beyond medium rare.

Notes

* Use a little less salt if your za’atar is seasoned.

** If you’re in a hurry, you can get away with marinating it for 30 minutes, but the flavor intensifies if you leave it a bit longer. If you marinade for a shorter period, glaze the lamb with a little extra molasses during the grilling.

*** If you’re making everything ahead of time: Simply mix the veggies with the seasoning, skewer them immediately, and refrigerate for up to a day. Start the lamb off by marinating it in a ziplock bag for an hour, then skewer and refrigerate for up to a day.

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ingredient highlight: pomegranate molasses

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While I’ve always loved to cook, when I was about nineteen or twenty years old, I started getting “serious” about it. I started reading about food science and became totally fascinated with the dogma of traditional French cuisine. During this serious-cook phase, I became obsessed with hoarding spices and specialty ingredients; I think I thought of them as trophies or badges of honor that showed everyone how committed to cooking I really was.

I once bought a giant bag of Ceylon cinnamon because one of my favorite TV chefs recommended it. He made it sound so unlike anything I’d ever tasted before, and I thought it would completely revolutionize everything. After I bought my own stash, I never missed a chance to inform people that the cinnamon they knew and loved wasn’t real cinnamon (I might have been a little bit obnoxious).

True cinnamon has a fabulously dreamy flavor that’s an important part of many cuisines (try it in horchata!), but it didn’t add the right flavor to most of the foods I made that called for cinnamon, and so I hardly ever used it. For me, it was definitely not revolutionary. It travelled from spice cabinet to spice cabinet, in five different apartments in four different states, over the course of a decade, slowly losing flavor and growing sad and dusty.

That’s all just to say that I’m no stranger to the lure of specialty ingredients, as well as the ridiculous cost of buying so many of them. There’s this naive idea that if we just had all the right ingredients, we could unlock a whole new world of delicious food. I still love learning about different cultures and ingredients that are unfamiliar to me, but to do so in a meaningful way takes so much more than just buying something.

But, more practically speaking, there are some specialty ingredients that you’re going to get more use out of than others, and sometimes buying something is a good start. So, while I suggest substitutions as often as possible, occasionally you’ve just got to track the ingredient down (or find another recipe). This is one of those times, because if you want to start cooking a lot of Middle Eastern food, pomegranate molasses is a good thing to have in your pantry. But even if you only occasionally cook Middle Eastern food, part of the beauty of pomegranate molasses is that you’ll start wanting to put it on absolutely everything. It just makes food so tangy and sweet, with that wonderful tannin pomegranate flavor.

Where to find it

You can find pomegranate molasses online, in almost all Middle Eastern markets, some South Asian markets, some larger upscale grocery stores, and in the international aisles of some supermarkets.

How to use it

If you buy a bottle, be sure to check out Yasmin Khan’s list of ways to use pomegranate molasses. My favorite uses from her list are salad dressings, marinades, roasts, and cocktails. It’s also wonderful as a glaze, with braised meats, and as an ice cream topping. Check out my pomegranate molasses recipe archives for a full list of my favorite pomegranate molasses recipes, or try one of my favorites below: