BBQ Chicken Skewers and Chopped Salad
Serves: 3
Time: 40 mins plus time to marinate
These chicken skewers take a bit of time to prepare and are best if you can marinate overnight. They have a really good flavour so are worth the little bit of extra effort. I served this meal up over the weekend when we had guests staying and it works great as a simple BBQ dinner that’s still inside the healthy parameter. Perfect dinner for these hot summer nights, I really enjoy a BBQ and sitting outside on a warm evening but I think what I like the most about the BBQ is that my husband will generally do the cooking so once everything is all prepped I get to chillax.
Leftovers
Set some of the salad aside before you dress this one so that tomorrows lunch is still nice and fresh. I have also boiled up some sweet potato for some good carbs to get you through the day.
What you'll need
6 chicken thigh fillets skin off (go ahead and use breast if you prefer but I find the breast too dry)
1/2 a bunch of coriander
2 limes
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 garlic cloves
2 zucchini
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1/8 red cabbage
1 cucumber
1 packet cherry tomatoes
1/2 bunch of basil
1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley
1 pomegranate
From the pantry
balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
olive oil
coconut oil
salt and pepper
Preferably metal skewers, otherwise soak bamboo skewers beforehand.
Optional extra for lunch
1 large sweet potato
Feeding Four
I have added an xtra 2 chicken thigh fillets to your list, plus 1 zucchini
Prep and Cook
Prep Chicken
If you can do this ahead of time it’s more ideal as the flavour will be stronger.
Cut each thigh into 6 squares and place into a metal or glass mixing bowl (Tumeric will likely stain plastic.)Peel and finely grate garlic over the chicken. Wash and roughly chop the coriander and add to the bowl along with the zest and juice of your lime, the fish sauce, turmeric and a splash of coconut oil (enough to lightly coat).
Just in case you're unsure
The easiest way to get a small square of cabbage is to place your quarter of cabbage with one flat side on the board and the other flat side facing towards you. Cut your cabbage as if you were slicing a loaf of bread, each size the width of your little finger. Remove the half of your quarter you don't need. Rotate your board clockwise. Place your hand firmly on the cabbage and repeat your bread slices. This will produce your small square.
Season well and mix all together.
Cover and pop into the fridge to marinate.
Prep Salad
Slice cabbage into a nice small dice.
Cut your cherry tomatoes into quarters.
Cut the cucumber into a similar sized dice.
Pick your basil and parsley leaves and finely shred with a (sharp) knife.
Slice peppers in half and remove the core then cut out the white pith and again cut into a small dice.
Combine all of the above ingredients in a salad bowl and set aside.
Cut the pomegranate in half then hold it loosely in the plan of your hand with the skin side facing up, hovering above a bowl use a wooden spoon or mallet to whack the skin so the seeds pretty hard so the seeds fall out and into the bowl beneath.
Make Skewers
Use a peeler to peel long even strips off the zucchini.
Skewer the meat onto metal skewers, alternately with the zucchini ribbons.
You should end up with 6 good sized skewers.
Preheat your BBQ to 200c. and make sure the grill is well oiled.
Cook the chicken on all four sides for a couple of minutes until lightly golden. I like to keep the hood down so that the chicken cooks right through. Check your chicken is well cooked then remove from the heat and allow to rest for 2 minutes.
Plate it Pretty
Splash approximately 2 tablespoons of balsamic and a touch of olive oil over the salad and season well with salt and pepper. Toss all together and make a nice crescent shaped pile on your serving platter.
Lay skewers over the rest of the platter and garnish with a few sprigs of coriander.
Scatter the pomegranate around the salad.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
Peel sweet potato and cut into lovely big chunks. Put in a pot and cover with cold water, add a pinch of salt and boil till soft.
Otherwise lunch is exactly the same - just 1 skewer each though and I strip the chicken off the skewer.