Grilled skewers of beef or lamb, marinated in rich Turkish spices & ALEPPO PEPPER, & grilled up crispy brown. A perfect picnic appetizer, and a favorite at the Penzeys’ annual picnic, served with zesty seasoned yogurt. Turkish kabobs make a great lunch too -wrapped in warm pita bread with tomato and onion.

Cut the meat into small, 3/4" cubes. Each piece should be a one-bite morsel. This allows for the crispiest cooking on the grill, plus, traditionally the most tender cuts of meat are not used for kabobs, so small pieces are better. Wash the meat, pat dry. Toss with TURKISH SEASONING, ALEPPO PEPPER, and olive oil. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight for best flavor or at least 2 hours. Soak the skewers in water overnight if possible or a minimum of 20 minutes. In both cases, the longer the better. Thread the meat loosely but still touching on the skewers. Keeping the pieces close together near the tip helps prevent burning the skewer. Hibachis were designed for grilling skewers so if you have one this is the time to use it. If not, stack the coals two deep in half the grill. The kabobs should be cooked over high heat but that can burn the exposed ends of the skewers. That is what makes the hibachi ideal because they can hang off the edge. Grill, uncovered, turning every couple minutes until crispy brown (about 10 minutes). Combine all of the ingredients for the yogurt dip together, stir well, and serve with the kabobs.
For a delicious sandwich, wrap with warm pita bread (remove the skewer), top with the yogurt dip and SUMAC seasoned onions (plain onion is fine if you don’t have SUMAC).  For Seasoned Onions: toss 1 medium thinly sliced onion with 1 TB. olive oil and 1-2 tsp. SUMAC. Yield: 30-40 skewers

Prep. time: 20 minutes (starting with bone-in meat) plus marinade time
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves 8-10