Easy Chicken Kebabs : IHCC

"Kebab Krazy", our theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), where we are cooking from Madhur Jaffrey's recipes. So for this week, I've chosen an easy and quick kebab recipe, taken from the small and mini but "powerful" book, 100 Essential Curries. This book may be small in size but it is packed with delicious recipes for curries, some of which I have tried and really love! I've bought this book at  a bargain from the Big Bad Wolf book sale back in December. Grabbed this book immediately, when I saw the name "Madhur Jaffrey"!! 

I do not have an open grill nor any metal skewer. What I have is my oven, with a grill function and a pack of wooden "satay" sticks! I soaked the wooden sticks for a couple of hours, and they still got burnt even though they are under the grill for less than 10 minutes! These chicken kebabs are quick and easy to make. The chicken meat are marinated with all the lovely spices, yoghurt and lemon juice, and I've kept them covered in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Take them out about 30 minutes before you start the grill.

Pierce some pieces of the meat through the skewer. Place the skewered meat on a rack over a roasting tray. Baste some vegetable oil over meat and grill at 200F for 5 minutes, basting once more in between. Turn skewers over and baste with more oil. Grill for 3-4 minutes until meat has cooked through and has brown burnt marks.

Serve with chopped fresh coriander leaves. You may serve with a squeeze of lemon, but these kebabs have the right balance of tanginess from the yoghurt and lemon juice in the marinade. Marinating the chicken meat pieces with yoghurt and the rest of the spices for several hours results in a very tender and tasty kebabs. I served this kebab as part of our dinner meal, with fragrant curry leaves basmati rice, potato curry and an Indian vegetable stir-fry. 

To view other delicious kebabs the lovely ladies at IHCC made, hop on over to IHCC.

Easy Chicken Kebabs
(adapted from "100 Essential Curries", Madhur Jaffrey)
Serves 4
4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (about 550gm)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I use only 1 tbsp)
3 tablespoons natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon chickpea flour (also called gram flour or besan) (I use all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoon peeled, very finely grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed to a pulp
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
4 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil for basting

Step One
Cut each breast half into halves, lengthways, and cut crossways into 2.5cm (1in) pieces. Put in a bowl. Rub with a teaspoon of the salt and the lemon juice.

Step Two
Put the natural yoghurt into a separate small bowl. Add the chickpea flour and mix well. Now add the remaining salt, the ginger, garlic, chilli powder, turmeric, cumin and garam masala. Mix well and pour over the chicken pieces. Mix well again and set aside for 15 minutes or longer (you could even leave it overnight).

Step Three
Preheat the grill. Thread the chicken pieces on to 4 skewers and balance the skewers on the raised edges of a grill rack. You could, as an alternative, spread the chicken pieces out on the grilling tray. Baste with the melted butter or oil. Grill the chicken pieces about 10cm (4in) from the source of heat for 5 minutes, basting once during this time. Turn the chicken pieces over, baste again and grill for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. Serve immediately.

#25/100