Indian spiced chicken Kebabs
By James Bacon
If your Dad is anything like mine, he loves Indian food and BBQ’s. For Father’s Day I like to do them both… Indian Spiced Chicken Kebabs - what’s not to like? These super flavourful kebabs have a taste of the tandoor when cooked on the BBQ which makes them really special, but if the June weather lets us down, you can get the flavour by going under the grill!
Helpful Kitchen Tools:
London Acrylic Salt & Pepper Mills
Prep: 10 mins plus more for marinading
Cook: 15-20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4
Ingredients for the Kebabs
- 1 kg of boneless skinless chicken (I use thighs as they don’t dry out as much as breast)
- 1tbs garam masala
- 1tbs mild curry powder
- 1tbs of coriander powder
- 1tsp turmeric
- 1tsp smoked paprika
- 1tsp of cumin
- 1tsp chilli powder
- 1tbs tomato puree
- 2 cloves of garlic (grated)
- A thumb size piece of ginger (grated)
- 60 ml of oil
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Salt and pepper (a good few grinds of the Cole and Mason Acrylic London mills)
Ingredients for the salad
- 7 ripe tomatoes
- 1/2 a cucumber
- 1 medium white or red onion
- 2 good handfuls of baby leaves such as spinach
- Handful of fresh chopped parsley
- 3 sprigs of mint (leaves only and roughly chopped)
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2-3 tbs of oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Mix all of the ingredients for the Chicken Kebab marinade in a medium sized mixing bowl and let the flavours infuse while you chop the chicken, cut them into 1 1/2 inch pieces incorporate in to the marinade, cover with clingfilm and place them in the fridge for at least an hour*
- Before you build and cook the kebabs, if using wooden skewers place them in a container of water and soak for 30 mins. This will stop the skewers catching in the heat of the Barbeque. Next, make the salad; chop the tomatoes and cucumber into large bitesize pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Finely slice the onion add to the bowl along with the baby leaves and herbs. Add salt and pepper at this stage, but leave the oil and lime until later to prevent the salad going soggy!
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and start building the skewers. Fill the skewer to leave an inch gap at either end. Fire up the barbecue or set the grill to a high temperature. Place the chicken skewers under the grill or straight onto the barbecue and turn occasionally - roughly every 5 mins and turn to cook on 4 sides. The chicken should catch a good char to add extra tandoori flavour. To test the cooking of the meat, gently squeeze one of the larger pieces - it should feel soft but with a little resistance however its chicken so to be on the safe side you could remove a piece of chicken from the skewer and cut it open to check that the flesh is white but juicy!
- Rest the kebabs for a few minutes and dress the salad with the oil and lime juice, remember to check the seasoning!
- Serve the Kebabs and salad with a good wedge of lemon, on the Cole and Mason Barkway serving board for a great sharing feast.
*You can prepare the Chicken kebabs a day before and set aside in the fridge over night to let the flavours intensify.
Also, a handy tip is to make a little more than is needed so you can have leftovers the next day and I suggest reheating in the air fryer and then loading it in to a sandwich along with the salad with a bit of mayo… delicious!
