Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik)
Cubes of lamb marinated overnight with onion and vinegar, threaded onto skewers, grilled over coals, and finished with a pour of melted butter.
Turkmen · easy · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 20 min
~684 cal · 58g protein · 11g carbs · 44g fat · 2g fiber · 5g sugars · 21g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shashlyk, known in Turkmen as cislik, is the grill at the heart of Central Asian outdoor eating: chunks of well-marbled lamb marinated with raw onion and a splash of vinegar, skewered, and cooked over charcoal until the fat crisps and the meat stays juicy. Where palaw is the cauldron dish of the feast, shashlyk is the smoke and sizzle of the mangal grill, cooked in the open air for gatherings and roadside meals alike.
The marinade is deliberately simple, letting the lamb speak: sliced onions and a little vinegar or lemon to tenderise, salt and black pepper, and sometimes cumin or pomegranate. The meat rests overnight so the onion works its way in, then it is grilled turning often, drizzled with a little water if the flames rise.
Pulled hot from the skewer, the pieces are often finished with a pour of melted butter and a scatter of raw onion rings and herbs, and served with flatbread that catches the juices. It is convivial food, meant to be shared straight off the grill with plenty of company.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 lbs boneless lamb shoulder, in large cubes
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
to taste salt
2 tbsp butter, melted (to finish)
to serve onion rings and fresh herbs (to serve)
Instructions
1
Toss the lamb cubes with the sliced onions, vinegar, lemon juice, cumin, black pepper, and salt, pressing the onion into the meat. Cover and marinate in the fridge at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.
2
Thread the lamb tightly onto skewers, discarding the marinade onions, and let the meat come to room temperature while the coals burn down to a glowing bed.
3
Grill the skewers over the coals, turning frequently, for about 15 to 20 minutes until charred outside and cooked through, sprinkling a little water over any flare-ups.
4
Slide the meat off onto a platter, pour the melted butter over the hot pieces, and scatter with fresh onion rings and herbs. Serve with flatbread.
Central Asian mangal-grill tradition, Turkmenistan.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ashgabat. Dograma is named for the tearing. Dogramak means to cut into pieces, and the flatbread, baked fresh in a tamdyr clay oven, is pulled apart by hand rather than cut, then mixed with shredded boiled mutton and onion. Hot broth goes over it and the bowl is covered so the bread drinks it in.
🗺️
Turkmenistan. Dograma is holiday food rather than everyday cooking, made above all for Gurbanlyk, and its name comes from dogramak, to cut to pieces: tamdyr-baked bread torn up by the whole family, then combined with boiled mutton and onion and moistened with the broth. The tearing is the part everyone is expected to help with.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Turkmenistan
DogramaHand-crumbled flatbread and boiled meat with onion, moistened with rich broth, Turkmenistan's dish of celebration.
ChorekRound tamdyr-baked bread with a crisp crust and soft crumb, torn warm with tea and butter.
IchlekliA large baked pastry pie filled with spiced meat, onion, and potato, a rustic Turkmen specialty for gatherings.
Browse all Turkmenistan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Turkmenistan meal
Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds)Dessert
IchlekliLunch
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik)?
Cubes of lamb marinated overnight with onion and vinegar, threaded onto skewers, grilled over coals, and finished with a pour of melted butter.
Where does Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik) come from?
Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik) is a Turkmen dish from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Can Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Turkmen Shashlyk (Çişlik) take to make?
About 50 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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