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.
  

Grilled Chicken Kebab

I love to grill and BBQ. AND I like to do it straight on the fire or charcoal which does create a bit of mess and smoke when it wants to ( which is most of the time!!). Due to these hazards my mom decided to buy an electric grill which desperately needed my magic touch. Thus here are the results......the kebabs turned out so delicious that when I asked my loyal subject ( my little brother) what should I name it, he promptly suggested "pet-bhora kebab" which in English means "Stomach filling kebab". I guess you just have to try it to find out whether his naming for this kebab is perfect or not.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast fillet - 1 kg(2 lb), cut into 1 inch thick long strips
• Naan bread - for 4 servings
• Tomato - sliced into 1 cm thick rings
• Onion - sliced into 1 cm thick rings
• Green capsicums - sliced into 1 cm thick strips
• 
  
• Marinade:*
• Natural Yogurt - 1 cup
• Garlic cloves - 4-5, mashed/paste
• Green chilies - 4-5, mashed( depending on heat preference)
• Lemon juice - juice of half a lrg lemon
• Ginger - 1.5 cm pc, mashed/paste
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp, powdered/crushed
• Caraway seeds - 1 tbsp, powdered/crushed
  
• Coarse salt - 1 tbsp, crushed
• Chili flakes - 1 tbsp, crushed
• Cinnamon stick - 1 inch long pc, crushed
• Cardamon pods - 2-3, crushed
• Whole cloves - 2-3, crushed
  
• 
  
• Dipping Sauce:
• Natural Yogurt - 1 cup
• Hot sauce - 1 tbsp
• Ketchup - 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice - 1 tbsp (freshly squeezed)
• Salt & pepper - to taste
• Garlic clove - 1, grated finely

Methods:

• 1. Blend all the ingredients together for the marinade and marinate the chicken strips for 4 hours refrigerated.
• 2. Mix in all the ingredients for the dipping sauce, set aside for the flavours to develop. Heat your electric grill or your stove top grill** to maximum.
• 3. Take the chicken strips out of the fridge half hour before cooking. Mix in 1/2 cup of oil in the chicken strips. Make sure to coat all the pieces evenly.
  
• 4. Place the chicken strips side by side on the grill and cook for 3-5min on both side, or till cooked through in few batches. Depending on the type of grill you have the cooking time will vary. If you have an electric grill, it might take shorter time to cook since you can close the clam shell lid and cook on both sides simultaneously.
• 5. Once all the chicken strips are cooked, place the vegetables or some other vegetables of your choice on the grill and spray some oil and season with salt and pepper, grill for 3-4 min till they get a nice dark grill mark.
  
• 6. Once the veggies are done, place the naan breads on the grill and cook for 1 min on each side, this is just to warm up the breads as well as giving them a char grill taste.
  
• 7. Serve the chicken kebabs with side of the dipping sauce, grilled veggies and naan. Bon Appétit!

Hints:

• * I like putting all the ingredients except the lemon juice and yogurt in mortar and pestle and crush it all up together to a paste. It does not need to be a fine paste, I like it pretty coarse. But make sure that you carefully grind all the mustard seeds and anise seeds finely before adding the rest of the ingredients to the mortar.
• ** If you do not have a grill, you can also bake this in the oven or cook it in out door BBQ .

Fish Kebabs

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

• Canned Mackerel fish - 1 can (1 lb/450 gms)
• Potato - 1 lrg, boiled and mashed
• Carrot - 1 med, boiled and mashed
• Green beans - 1 cup, steamed and mashed
  
• Onion - 1 med, chopped
• Garlic cloves - 2 , crushed
• Cilantro - 1 cup, chopped
  
• Egg - 1
• Breadcrumbs - 1/2 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Chili powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Methods:

• 1. In a non-stick pot, heat 1 tbsp of oil. Add the garlic and the onions. Saute for 2-3 min till the onions are translucent.
  
• 2. Add the canned fish, salt, all the dry spices and 1/2 cup of water. Simmer on med heat, till all the water has evaporated and fish is dried out of moisture. Make sure to stir constantly to avoid any burns at the bottom of the pot. Once the fish is processed, turn the heat off and let it cool down.
• 3. In a bowl, mash in the potatoes, beans and the carrots with a fork for a coarse texture. Make sure there is not too big a lump.
• 4. Mix in the fish, cilantro, egg and bread crumbs with the mashed up veggies. Form into disks, roughly about 1/2 cm thick and 2 inches in diameter. The recipe yields about 12-14 kebabs.
  
• 5. In a non-stick pan, heat enough oil for deep frying. On med-high heat, fry the fish kebabs, till crispy and dark brown, about 2-3 min on each-side. Serve hot as it is with some dipping sauce. It can also be served with pita bread or even rice.
  

Kebab Pockets

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• Pocket pita breads - 4, cut in half
  
• Avocado - 1, diced
• Vine tomatoes - 2, diced
• Red onion - 1 sml, diced
• Feta cheese crumbles - 1 cup
• Romain lettuce - 4 leaves, chopped (you can use any greens of your choice)
• 
  
• For the Kebabs:
• Ground beef - 1 lb (450 gm)
• Black pepper - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp ( or to taste)
• Dried herbs - 1 tsp (a blend of oregano, rosemary, thyme and parsley)
• Jalapeno - 1, finely chopped
• Garlic cloves - 2, finely chopped
• Ketchup - 1 tbsp
• 
  
• For the Sauce:
• Sour cream - 1/2 cup
• Ketchup - 3 tbsp
• Lemon/Lime juice - 1 tbsp
  
• Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp (freshly made, or just use finely chopped garlic)
• Chili Sauce - 1 tsp
• Salt & pepper - to taste
  

Methods:

• 1. In a bowl mix in all the ingredients for the kebabs. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
• 2. Chop the avocado, tomato, onions and the lettuce. Divide into 8 equal portions, set aside.
• 3. Heat your griddle to smoking hot. If you do not have a stove-top or electric griddle, you can also use a pan or a skillet.
  
• 4. Take the beef out of the fridge and form into flat disks/patties. The recipe should yield about 8 disks.
• 5. Sear the meat patties on your hot griddle for about 2-3 min each side. Remove and let it rest on a plate. You should not need any oil as the fat released from the beef will be more than enough to lubricate and cook the kebabs.
• 6. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix in all the ingredients for the sauce, set aside. Once all the kebabs are done, use the griddle to warm/toast up the pocket pita breads.
• 7. Fill the pita pockets as such, lettuce-> tomato-> avocado-> onions-> feta cheese and then the kebabs (1 each for each pita pocket) and top it with a generous amount of the sauce. I had roughly chopped up my kebab patties. You can serve it either chopped or whole. Enjoy!
  

Kebab Fingers in Sweet Pepper Sauce

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• For the Sauce:
  
• Sweet peppers* (banana peppers) - 3, sliced
• Green Capsicum - 1 med, sliced
• Fresh Tomato - 3-4, sliced lengthwise
• Tomato puree - 1/2 cup
  
• Vinegar - 3 tbsp (any would do, I used apple cider vinegar)
• Sugar - 1 tbsp
  
• Onion - 1 med, thinly sliced
• Salt & Pepper - to taste
  
• 
  
• For the Kebabs:
• Minced Beef - 2 lb (1 kg )
• Ginger paste - 1 tsp
• Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
• Salt - 1.5 tsp
• Black pepper - 1 tsp
• Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp
• Dried parsley - 1/2 tsp
• Chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
• Chili powder - 1/2 tsp (or more if u like it hot)
  
• Whole coriander seeds - 1 tsp, lightly toasted and coarsely crushed
• Whole anise seeds - 1/2 tsp, coarsely crushed

Methods:

• 1. In a bowl, mix in all the ingredients for the kebabs. Do not over work the meat as that will create a hard kebab, rather mix in the ingredients with a fork.
  
• 2. Form the mince into finger long kebab. The recipe yields about 20- 22 kebabs. Chill for about 1/2 hour.
• 3. In a non-stick frying pan, spray a little of oil spray, and heat. Add the kebab fingers and saute on high heat. The fat content released from the minced meat will be more than enough to cook the kebabs. So you will not need any frying oil.
  

• 4. Just make sure that the kebab fingers are browned on all sides very quickly, they do not need to be cooked through as they will finish cooking in the sauce. Once they are browned, remove from the pan and set aside.
  
• 5. Add the onions to the pan. You do not need to add any oil, as the remaining fat released from the mince will be used for the cooking. Saute the onions on high heat till they brown up on the edges.
  
• 6. In a cup, mix in the tomato puree, sugar and the vinegar, set aside.
  
• 7. Add the sliced sweet peppers, salt and pepper to the pan and saute for 2-3 min. Add the tomatoes.
• 8. Add the tomato puree mixture, stir to combine. Carefully return the kebabs to the sauce, since they are still fully uncooked, they will be fragile.
• 9. Add 1 cup of hot water and simmer on low-med heat for about 45- 60 min. The sauce will thicken to a sticky consistency. Serve hot with pita/flat bread or Polao or even plain Basmati rice.
  

Hints:
*Sweet peppers vary in different shapes and colours. Capsicums/bell peppers are a kind of sweet pepper. The specific ones I had used are long, light green in colour and very sweet and tasty. They are also called banana peppers, as they look like bananas.
I am here giving a pic I got from the web to give you an idea about which one I used.