Zucchini wrapped Mint & Coriander Chicken Kebabs

I don’t consider myself to be a non-vegetarian but rather a chicken-atarian. In fact its only been less than a decade since I have starting eating chicken. So I often find myself searching for all sorts of chicken recipes. And to be honest, I have not tried many recipes but I love the way my husband cooks chicken. So here is one of the recipes which I really loved making (needless to say loved eating to) and I found it very easy to cook. Whenever I am searching for any recipes, I tend to look at the ingredients which are easily available in any household and can be cooked anytime. These chicken kebabs will be a good starter if you are cooking for loads of friends. These can be grilled, char-grilled, cooked on barbecue or cooked in oven (I had cooked it in oven) This recipe has been inspired from Jamie Oliver’s recipe with quite a few tweaks of my own.

Zucchini wrapped Mint & Coriander Chicken Kebabs

Ingredients:

• 500 gms boneless chicken breasts
• 4 zucchini/courgettes, sliced very thinly lengthways
• 6-8 bamboo skewers (soak them in water)
• few sticks of fresh rosemary, lower leaves removed, tips kept on

For the marinade:

• 1 handful fresh coriander
• 1 1/2 handful fresh mint
• 5 cloves garlic
• 4 spring onions
• 6 green/red chillies (adjust the heat according to your taste)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

Steps:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius or around 480 degrees Fahrenheit on the grill setting.
2. Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and place them in a bowl.
3. Blanch the zucchini/courgette strips in salted boiling water for 30 seconds then drain them with the cold water and allow them to cool.
4. Blitz all the marinade ingredients in a food processor, then loosen to a paste with a little olive oil.
5. Add the marinade to the chicken pieces and mix well.
6. Allow to sit for up to an hour. Then wrap the marinated chicken pieces with the zucchini/courgette strips and then pierce them onto the skewers.
7. Arrange the skewers on a baking try so that the front and the back of the skewers rest on the opposite sides of the baking tray rim. Avoid letting the chicken pieces rest on the bottom of the tray. Another suggestion is to line the baking tray with aluminum foil so it helps in cleaning up later.
8. Original Jamie Oliver’s recipe suggests using Rosemary sticks as skewers but I found it a bit cumbersome so I used bamboo skewers instead. I scattered the rosemary sticks/leaves on top of the skewers just before they went into the oven.
9. Put the baking tray with the skewers arranged in the aforementioned manner in the oven for 8-10 mins. After 8-10 mins, turn the skewers and brush the chicken pieces with some olive oil and leave the skewers for a further 8-10 mins.
10. Feel free to cut a piece open to check if they’re done.
11. Once done, serve them hot, preferably with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on them. You can serve the kebabs with coriander chutney or with cucumber and mint raita.

I hope you enjoy making the kebabs and do leave your feedback/suggestions below.