[custom_adv] Kebabs are various cooked meat dishes, with their origins in Middle Eastern cuisine. Many variants are popular throughout Asia, and around the world. [custom_adv] In most English-speaking countries, a kebab is commonly the internationally-known shish kebab or shashlik,though outside of North America a kebab may be the ubiquitous fast-food doner kebab or its variants. [custom_adv] In contrast, in Indian English and in the languages of the Middle East, other parts of Asia, and the Muslim world, a kebab is any of a wide variety of grilled meat dishes. Some dishes ultimately derived from Middle Eastern kebab may have different names in their local languages, such as the Chinese chuanr. [custom_adv] Although kebabs are often cooked on a skewer, many types of kebab are not. Kebab dishes can consist of cut up or ground meat or seafood, sometimes with fruits and vegetables; cooked on a skewer over a fire, or like a hamburger on a grill, baked in a pan in an oven, or as a stew; and served with various accompaniments according to each recipe. [custom_adv] The traditional meat for kebabs is most often mutton or lamb, but regional recipes may include beef, goat, chicken, fish, or more rarely due to religious prohibitions, pork. [custom_adv] Evidence of hominin use of fire and cooking in the Middle East dates back as far as 790,000 years, and prehistoric hearths, earth ovens, and burnt animal bones were spread across Europe and the Middle East by at least 250,000 years ago. [custom_adv] In ancient times, Homer in the Iliad (1.465) mentions pieces of meat roasted on spits and excavations in Santorini unearthed stone supports for skewers used before the 17th century BC. [custom_adv] Kebab dishes originated in the medieval kitchens of Persia and Turkey. They were generally made with smaller chunks or slices of meat, or ground meat, often cooked on skewers over a fire. [custom_adv] This cooking method has a long history in the region, where it would be practical in cities where small cuts of meat were available in butchers' shops, and where fuel for cooking was relatively scarce, compared to Europe, where extensive forests enabled farmers to roast large cuts of meat whole. [custom_adv] The word kebab, most likely of Arabic origin, came to English in the late 17th century partly through Urdu, Persian and Turkish. In Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 10th-century cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh, kabāb is described as cut-up meat either fried in a pan or grilled over a fire. [custom_adv] According to linguist Sevan Nişanyan, the Turkish word kebap is also derived from the Arabic word kabāb, meaning roasted meat. It appears in Turkish texts as early as the 14th century, in Kyssa-i Yusuf , though still in the Arabic form. [custom_adv] The American Heritage Dictionary also gives a probable East Semitic root origin with the meaning of "burn", "char", or "roast", from the Aramaic and Akkadian. These words point to an origin in the prehistoric Proto-Afroasiatic language: *kab-, to burn or roast. [custom_adv] According to Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan traveller, in India, kebab was served in the royal houses during the Delhi Sultanate period (1206-1526 AD), and even commoners would enjoy it for breakfast with naan. [custom_adv] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. [custom_adv] Suya is a spicy kebab which is a popular food item in West Africa. It is traditionally prepared by the Hausa people of northern Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Ghana and some parts of Sudan (where it is called agashe). [custom_adv] Kyinkyinga is common and popular in West Africa. It is a Ghanian dish, very similar to or synonymous with the Hausa suya kebab, also known as sooya, tsinga, chichinga, tsire agashi, chachanga or tankora. [custom_adv] Sosatie (pl sosaties) is a traditional South African dish of meat (usually lamb or mutton) cooked on skewers. The term derives from sate ("skewered meat") and saus (spicy sauce). It is of Cape Malay origin. Sosatie recipes vary, but commonly the ingredients can include cubes of lamb, beef, chicken, dried apricots, red onions and mixed peppers. [custom_adv] Kabab koobideh or kūbide is an persian meat kabab made from ground lamb or beef, and less commonly chicken, often mixed with parsley and chopped onions. [custom_adv] Koobideh or koubideh refers to the style that meat was prepared, originally meat was placed on a flat stone (precisely a black flat stone and smashed with a wooden mallet. It is cooked on a "seekh" , Persian for skewer. [custom_adv] Lamb or beef (precisely 20% fat, 80% meat) is minced twice for finer consistency. Salt, garlic powder, black pepper, celery powder, sumac, very finely grated onion (the extra juice is squeezed out and saved for later) and one egg yolk per pound of meat are added. All ingredients are mixed, covered, and left to marinate in the refrigerator for at least four hours or overnight. [custom_adv] Kabab koobideh is grilled on skewers, traditionally over hot coal, and is served with Polo , accompanied by grilled tomatoes and onions. Sumac is usually served as a tableside garnishing spice. [custom_adv] Chicken kabab koobideh is made using chives or green onions, parsley, salt and pepper–no turmeric and no sumac. It is served over Baghali Polo (dill and broad bean rice pilaf).
