Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to: exe.chef@horizonmanor.comShashlik is a form of a shish kebab popular in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Gulf countries. It originally consists of beef chunks marinated in vinegar-based marinade skewered with onion and other vegetables cooked over charcoal fire and served on the skewer itself. You can also make your own variant of chicken or lamb or vegetables only. The meat is marinated, traditionally overnight, before it is taken to the grill. Some recipes use vinegar, onions and other spices, including hot pepper flakes or dried herbs. There are as many recipes that use vinegar and many that don’t use it, recipes that do not use vinegar often use lemon juice. Some recipes just call for salting the meat, mixing it with onions or shallots and then leaving it to marinate in the onions overnight to impart their flavour and allow the naturally exuded chemicals to tenderise the meat. This is a simple recipe without much preparation that you can easily try at home and prove your culinary skills to friends and family. Chicken Shashlik(Serves 2) IngredientsChicken boneless 500gOnion 1 noBell peppers red and yellow 1 each Garlic, crushed 4-5 noApple vinegar 6 tbspWorcestershire sauce 2 tbspGround coriander 1 tspChilli flakes ½ tspChilli powder ½ tspParsley, chop ¼ cupKosher salt to tasteBlack pepper, crushed to tasteOlive oil 3 tbspSkewers 6-8 no (equipment required)MethodCut chicken, onion and bell peppers into even sized cubes and keep aside.Prepare a marinade by combining olive oil, crushed garlic, apple vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, ground coriander, chilli flakes, chilli powder, chopped parsley, crushed black pepper and salt in bowl.Marinate the chicken, onion and bell peppers in the prepared marinade and refrigerate overnight. Skewer the chicken, onion and bell peppers on a grill over hot charcoal for about 15- 20 minutes.Turn the skewers occasionally to achieve even browning.Once the chicken is cooked, serve on a platter along with warm bread and choice of salad.Note: The meat is traditionally marinated overnight but you can reduce this time to few hours depending on the time you have to prepare and serve the dish.BasbousaBasbousa is a semolina cake popular in the Middle East as well as the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores. The cake itself is not too sweet but it is soaked with sugar syrup scented with rose water. It is very easy to prepare and the best thing I like about it is that you can make it ahead and serve it as a no-fuss dessert. We prefer to prepare the batter a day ahead then bake it just before the guests arrive. This ensures that you get the smell of freshly baked basbousa filling the house. Do this if your guests will be staying for a few hours as the basbousa needs to cool down before removing from the baking pan. BasbousaIngredientsSemolina 500gMilk powder 2 tbspHoney 50gYeast 1 tspGhee 150gVanilla essence few dropsCastor sugar 1 tbspCoconut powder 4 tbspWater 500mlTahina 2 tbspFlour 2 tbspFor garnishPistachio to garnishAlmond to garnish For sugar syrup Water 500mlSugar 500gRose water 100mlMethodCombine semolina, milk powder, coconut powder, yeast in a bowl.Add ghee and honey and vanilla essence mix well to combine.Add water gradually to make a smooth batter and rest the batter for 3 hours at room temperature.Grease a baking tray with ghee and tahini and dust with flour.Pour the prepared batter in the tray and give impressions using a spatula in the desired size.Now place one piece of almond or pistachio on each cut square.Bake in a preheated oven at 250 degree C for 25–30 minutes.In the meanwhile, prepare a sugar syrup by boiling sugar water and flavour with rose water and keep hot.Once the basbousa gets the brown colour remove from oven and cut again on the same impressions. Pour hot sugar syrup on the prepared basbousa to sweeten it and allow to absorb for 20 minutes and to cool down.Serve hot or cold as desired and can be stored in air tight containers for later use.