• metacritic on March 20, 2021

  Oh, my. This is an extraordinary book. The buttermilk chicken shish kebabs are as good as advertised. The lamb kebabs are even better. The sauces, however, are what make this book better than any like it. The burnt red pepper kebab sauce is swoon worthy. The garlic sauces and the tahini sauce are incredible. The cauliflower shawarma, the green tahini with burnt scallions are phenomenal. I cannot wait to dig further into this book.

• debkellie on June 27, 2020

  I agree with sarahj22 about the buttermilk chicken shashlik.. delicious

• sarahj22 on July 21, 2018

  I'm obsessed with this book. On first look there were dozens of recipes I wanted to make, and the ones I've cooked so far (Cauliflower Shawarma, Saffron Buttermilk-Fried Chicken, Cheeseburger Kofta Kebab with Kebab Salsa) have been super delicious. The Buttermilk Chicken Shish Kebab with all its accompaniments was superb. Ingredients lists can be quite long but usually it's mainly store cupboard ingredients and fresh herbs, and the recipes lend themselves well to adaptation. Often recipes will refer you to a sauce or salsa at the end of the book as an accompaniment - although you can leave these out, all I have tried have been fantastic and worth the extra effort. All cooking directions are for a barbecue but I've just used my kitchen grill instead. As with Ottolenghi there's a real focus on fresh veg and herbs, though the spicing is more robust (in a good way!). I'll be cooking from this book for a long time.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Burnt spring onions with green tahina

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    This is a fantastic dish. I've used ramps and spring onions, both cooked over wood fire. The green tahini sauce is complex and has received many praises. It's called for again with lamb kabobs and I use it with the buttermilk chicken.

• Berber & Q hummus

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    The toppings make this dish. Truth be told, I used the Ottolenghi basic hummus recipe with the toppings for this. It was the best hummus I've ever made, praise echoed by Israeli friends.

• Lamb cis kebab

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    As good a dish as I've ever made. These are extraordinary, though the sauces are requisite, not optional.

  • Stephenn31 on August 14, 2024

    I marinated chicken and it was delicious. Definitely make a series of the salads or sauces or sides, which go really well with all the recipes in this book.

• Green tahini sauce

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    I've seen other green tahini recipes but never tried them so cannot compare to this one. But this one is sensational.

  • Stephenn31 on August 17, 2024

    Nice vibrant green tahini sauce. Nice with grilled meat. Something different

• Izmir kofte with white bean salad & quick pickled red cabbage

  • Stephenn31 on August 14, 2024

    All the parts come together and make for more than just the kofte. Great balance of flavours.

• Minute steak yogurtlu with tomato gravy & Aleppo chilli butter

  • Stephenn31 on August 18, 2024

    Delicious!! Definitely make the garlic butter - the crunchy garlic bits were delicious. Lots of components but they make for an incredibly delicious meal

• Buttermilk chicken shish kebab with quick lemon pickle & oregano

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    Fantastic, especially with the addition of the garlic sauce plus the cabbage slaw.

  • Stephenn31 on July 20, 2024

    Delicious. I used the whey from yogurt instead of buttermilk and rose harissa instead of the chili paste. Lots of flavour. Easy to put together. The preserved lemon sauce was a nice change

• Roasted leg of lamb mechoui with harissa & cumin salt

  • ChelseaP on July 08, 2022

    Fantastic! Cannot recommend enough. We've made it twice now and always to rave reviews.

• Saffron & turmeric chicken thighs with saffron yoghurt, burnt lemon & za'atar (Joojeh kebab)

  • metacritic on June 13, 2022

    These were pretty good, especially with the saffron yogurt and blackened kebab sauce. But it needs another layer of sourness - especially for a Persian dish. Would warrant a squeeze of lemon or lime on the final product, and a final sprinkling of finishing salt. I'm not sure if I'll make these again, especially as there are more interesting chicken dishes in this very book.

  • brooke_3jatay on May 27, 2026

    Despite the marinade, the chicken was meh in flavor and the saffron yogurt also disappointed. All needed way more salt.

• Skewered monkfish kebabs with green charmoula dressing & caper mayonnaise

  • metacritic on June 13, 2021

    My spouse declared this the best fish sandwich of all time. She might well be right. It was also pretty straightforward. I made the charmoula (chopping lots of ingredients but nothing more) well in advance. I stumbled across a Kenji Lopez-Alt recipe online for mayonnaise that worked like a charm and folded in the capers, which I chopped as mine were large. I didn't have sour cream so skipped that. I marinated the fish for about 4 hours and that was about the whole of the steps required, other than throwing these on a grill. Will make again and again. In fact, I'm going to take the charmoula and caper mayo tonight and make this dish with shrimp, rather than monkfish, as that is what I have on hand for this evening.

• Marinated monster prawns with pil-pil sauce

  • metacritic on September 11, 2021

    I substituted harissa for the chili sauce. The results were fine but only fine with that substitution. A little wan, unlike almost every recipe I've tried in this book.

• Cauliflower shawarma with pomegranate, pine nuts & rose

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    Really beautiful, quite good, and much easier than it would appear if you have the garlic sauce already made.

• Hasselback potatoes with red tahina & sour cream

  • metacritic on October 25, 2021

    A better baked potato. That's either a a glorious achievement or pretty humdrum, depending on how you view the original. I expected something a little more glorious, crisp at the edges, melting in the middle. That's not really what this recipe yields. Instead, it is a baked potato with lovely segments that have been basted in rosemary infused olive oil and melted butter, which gives ample flavor. The red tahini is fine on its own but excellent with the potato and the sour cream. Anyway, well worth making but not transcendent. I'll certainly make again, probably instead of a normal baked potato in most instances (which I've made twice in my life just to put this declaration in context.)

• Blackened hispi cabbage with lemon crème fraîche, Urfa chilli & pistachio butter

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    This might be my favorite recipe in the book. it's not easy to find hispi/pointed cabbage in the US. I can imagine substituting Napa cabbage without a real problem and replicating the dish. The lemon creme fraiche is terrific and the smokey urfa/pistachio butter pairs gorgeously and unexpectedly with it. This dish get huge praise from guests.

• Grilled broccoli salad

  • metacritic on June 11, 2022

    Quite good, especially as the recipe takes no more than 10 minutes from start to finish. The smokey flavor of the Aleppo pepper feels obligatory, not optional.

• Turkish 'shepherds' salad

  • Stephenn31 on August 18, 2024

    For me it needed a bit more acidity. Use lots of sumac

• Charred carrots with spiced nuts & lime yoghurt

  • Stephenn31 on August 17, 2024

    I overcooked the carrots on the grill. They go from perfect to burned quickly! The lime yogurt was amazing

• Middle Eastern slaw

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    This is so very good. I have been substituting grape molasses for date molasses. The key has been to add sufficient salt to balance the very sweet flavors of the dressing.

  • cmaccooks on April 18, 2022

    This was very good and I will make it on repeat. I rinsed the salt off the cabbage before adding it, I think it would have been too salty otherwise.

  • pensky on May 24, 2026

    One of the best slaw ever. The dressing is genius.

  • pensky on May 27, 2026

    Juicy, crunchy, sweet, sour, addictive. Hugely popular and perfect for hot weather.

• Mejaderah

  • alex_ckq5df on March 26, 2026

    Super easy in the instant pot - prep as instructed then add 1:1 cold water to rice/lentil volume, and cook at high pressure for 3 mins then natural release. Need to make min 1 cup.

• Blackened corn-on-the-cob with harissa aioli, kefalotyri & Persian lime

  • metacritic on September 11, 2021

    The dried lime added a terrific note. The aoili added nice body to the corn but wasn't transformative. Overall the dish was fine, not revelatory.

• Berber & Q shakshuka

  • metacritic on May 30, 2021

    This is a phenomenal version. It has just the right amount of heat, acid, and depths from the pepper paste + red pepper. The tahini "aioli" involves no eggs, so emulsification is pretty much a given. I happened to have garlic confit and garlic oil in the fridge, so this sub recipe was a cinch. I would probably make the tahini sauce on its own and serve that if I didn't have the garlic oil on hand. This is my new standard go-to recipe for this dish.

  • Stephenn31 on September 12, 2024

    Classic simple version. The tahina aioli was a level up from the usual shakshuka and easy to make.

• Quick-preserved lemon pickle

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    Nothing special on their own, but they lift the flavors of the buttermilk chicken.

• Pickled cauliflower

  • metacritic on June 06, 2021

    These are absolutely fantastic. I used hot water (205 degrees) to slightly cook the cauliflower, not least so the pickles would be ready immediately, rather than in three days time. I didn't have any dill so will add that next time, which I'm sure will add to an already fantastic pickle. I had loose cauliflower, which was especially beautiful with this brine.

  • Stephenn31 on June 22, 2025

    I used dried dill. These were delicious and crunchy and flavourful. Will make again

• Blackened chilli kebab sauce

  • metacritic on May 07, 2021

    Fearsomely hot, deeply complex flavors, this is the sauce of my dreams. it makes the lamb kabobs but would be fantastic on almost any meat. I can't recommend enough but use in moderation. A half recipe or less should satisfy anyone not cooking at restaurant scale.

  • Stephenn31 on August 14, 2024

    Delicious. I made a small batch and with pickled jalepenos instead of the habaneros because that’s what I had on hand. Delicious. Will make again.

  • brooke_3jatay on May 27, 2026

    Delicious, but a time investment.

• Kebab salsa (Acili ezme)

  • Stephenn31 on August 14, 2024

    I was hoping it would be a bit more 'punchy', but decent flavours and good with grilled meats.

• Garlic sauce (Toum)

  • metacritic on October 31, 2021

    With a heat and intensity generated by 40 cloves of raw garlic, it will pair with any grilled meats, not least the lamb and chicken kebabs in this cookbook. This is a dead easy recipe if you buy pre-peeled garlic.

• Tahina aioli

  • metacritic on May 30, 2021

    The tahini "aioli" involves no eggs, so emulsification is pretty much a given. I happened to have garlic confit and garlic oil in the fridge, so this sub recipe was a cinch. This is excellent and easy if you happen to have the garlic confit and oil on hand, whether from this book or, say, Gjelina.

  • Stephenn31 on September 12, 2024

    Delicious and really easy. I liked the mix of confit garlic and raw garlic.