Spiced Chicken Skewers

Zafar, Jawairia. 'Health Benefits Of Turmeric'. Home Remedies Web. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 May 2015.

Feature Ingredient: Turmeric 

Turmeric is a plant originating from the ginger family, native to southwest India. It has a bright gold colour which becomes more of a mustardy shade once processed into a powder. The spice is commonly used in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, for example, in Indian cuisine, turmeric is used as a spice in curries. The plant is also known for its dying purposes - some recipes utilise turmeric as a colouring agent, adding a bright yellow-orange colour to dishes. Turmeric has also long been prized for its traditional medicinal uses, believed to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Typically, turmeric is used in savoury dishes, although there are some sweet dishes that also call for its use.

In this weeks recipe, I'll be using turmeric in an awesome spice rub and chicken skewer recipe I found (here), by the awesome food blogger Hilah Johnson! I used her recipe and made some minor adjustments which can be found below. 

Recipe: Spiced Chicken Skewers

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the spice rub

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin seed

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp cinnamon

For the skewer

5 free range chicken thigh fillets

10 large button mushrooms, quartered

1/2 red capsicum, cut into medium squares

1/2 green capsicum, cut into medium squares

1 small brown onion, quartered 

About 12 medium length wooden or bamboo skewers, soaked in water whilst prep. Or you can use steel skewers.

Olive oil

Method:

1. Combine the spice rub in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Cut the chicken into about 2.5 cm squares/pieces. Mix the cubes with 3/4 of the spice mix, with your hands and allow to marinate whilst you finishing preparing the other vegetables. 
3. Clean the mushrooms and spray/drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining spice mix; the olive oil helps the spice stick. 
4. Cut the 2 types of capsicum into medium squares, repeat the same process as with the mushrooms. 
5. Thread the skewers onto the bamboo skewer or a metal skewer, in a various order, however, try to centre the chicken towards the middle of the skewer where the heat will be most centred if using a barbecue. Also avoid packing the various capsicum, chicken, mushrooms, and onions too tightly. 
6. Barbecue or grill the skewers over a barbecue or hot girl for about 6 minutes; 3-4 minutes on each side or until the chicken is cooked through. 
7. Serve the skewers whilst still hot. 

Here's some photos of what I did:

The brightly coloured spice rub.

Marinate the chicken with the spice rub; I kept the chicken in the fridge whilst prepping the other ingredients.

Drizzle with olive oil and with sprinkle with spices.

Chop the vegetables into smaller bite sized pieces.

The skewers before and after being cooked - remember, position the chicken towards the middle! Also don't forget to soak the skewers in water otherwise they'll burn.

Ratings/Comments:

Price: 3/5

Difficulty: 2/5

Taste: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

(1 being low - 5 being high)

The recipe was super yummy and didn't take TOO long to make. The spice rub/mix made such a big difference - not only did it make the chicken look so bright, it tasted delicious! I thought this recipe was great; although it does not really follow a traditional use of turmeric, I think it certainly exemplified the ingredient's importance and taste. I suppose a change I would make next time I cook this would be to cut the capsicum, mushrooms and onions to an equivalent size to the chicken - this will ensure that the cooking time is even and the flavours do not over power one another. Happy cooking!

- C