Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Chicken Kebabs with Mustard & Roast Tomato

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
  • Chicken breast fillet - 1 kg( 2lb), cut into 1 inch thick, long strips
  • Small red onions or shallots - 2-3 per person
  • Roma tomatoes - 4, cut in half
  • Salt & pepper
  • Olive oil for grilling
  • Wooden skewers

  • Marinade:
  • Jarred roasted tomato - 4-5 pcs, or 2 tbsp paste
  • Dijon mustard - 1 tbsp
  • Garlic cloves - 3-4
  • Green chili- 3-4 ( or depending on heat preference)
  • Salt & pepper - to taste
  • Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Methods:
  • 1. In a mortar and pestle (or a grinder), mash in all the ingredients for the marinade except the olive oil.
  • 2. Cut the skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets into 1 inch thick long strips. Marinate the chicken strips in the mixture for 2 hours or overnight.
  • 3. When ready to grill, mix in the olive oil in the chicken strips. Thread the chicken strips onto the skewers. The recipe yields about 10 skewers/kebabs.
  • 4. Heat up your griddle on high heat. Once smoking hot, brush the griddle with a little bit of olive oil and lay the chicken kebabs onto the grill. Grill the chicken kebabs for about 3-4 min on each side, until cooked through and charred a bit. DO NOT cook the chicken for too long or press it down with your spatula as that will make the chicken loose its internal juices and make it really dry and hard.
  • 5. Once the chicken kebabs are grilled. Toss the veggies with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill the veggies till they are a bit charred.
  • 6. Serve with grilled naan or pita bread.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Grilled Basa

My beloved readers, first of all please allow me to apologize for vanishing from the face of the earth, i. e. face of this blog for the last few months. :D I have been doing some traveling and it took longer than I expected to settle down and shower you with my newest concoctions. However, here I am, back and buzzing with an aromatic and smokey recipe just for you.

Servings : 4


Ingredients:
  • Basa filet - 1 kg (2 lb)
  • Olive oil for grilling
  • Onions or any other veggies of choice for grilling

  • Spice rub:
  • Cajun spice - 1 tbsp
  • Caraway seeds - 1 tsp
  • Cayenne pepper - 1 tsp
  • Salt - 1 tsp ( or to taste)
  • Dijon mustard - 1 tbsp
  • Mixed dried herbs - 1 tsp
  • Black pepper corns- 1/2 tsp
  • Garlic cloves - 4-5
  • Green chili - 4-5 ( or depending on heat preference)
Methods:
  • 1. In a mortar and pestle (or a grinder), grind in all the ingredients for the spice rub.
  • 2. Wash and pat dry the Basa fillets with a paper towel. Lay the fillets side by side flat on a tray. Rub a generous amount of the spice mixture on the fillets and let it marinate for 1/2 hour to 2 hours. Keep it covered with a plastic wrap and in the refrigerator if it s a hot day.
  • 3. Heat up your grill till smoking hot. With a BBQ brush spread a bit of oil on the grill so that the fish wont stick.
  • 4. Grill the fish fillets for about 2-3 min on each side, till they are cooked through and gets a charred look. Make sure you do not over cook the fish as it will get very dry.
  • 5. Serve on a bed of rice or with a side of garden salad and some grilled onions*.
Hints:
* For the grilled onions, just cut some sweet onions in ring. Toss the them with a bit of olive oil, pinch of salt and black pepper and grill them. The salt is only added to bring out the natural sugar in the onions, which allows it to caramelize nicely, so don't add to much salt.