Easy Monday Kebabs with Fried Rice and a Yoghurt/Cucumber side

Monday, as many of you are aware, is my ‘bottom-of-the-fridge’ day – the day I check all the shelves and drawers for food that needs to be used up before I start buying the groceries for the week. There’s always something in there that I’ve forgotten about.

Today’s haul included a couple of very sad-looking peppers, chicken breasts – best-before ‘TODAY’, half a tub of Greek Yoghurt, some very large Portobello mushrooms, a bit of leftover cucumber.. and hey presto – here’s what we had for dinner:

This is a really easy yet delicious dinner which you can adapt to suit whatever’s lurking down the bottom of your fridge!

I’m going to write this recipe as I made it today, to give you an idea of flavours, combinations etc..

We both really enjoyed it.

EQUIPMENT:

• A medium-sized glass or ceramic bowl
• a large frying pan or Wok
• 1-2 kebab sticks per person – mine are truly ancient metal ones, but still working like a dream. If you’re using wooden ones, soak them in cold water for as long as you can.
• A grill at full heat, with the grill pan lined to reduce cleaning up afterwards. You could also use a stove-top Grill pan.
• A medium-sized saucepan
• a sieve
• A sharp knife
• A couple of spatulas or large spoons
• a small shallow bowl

INGREDIENTS: This fed us very generously, with a portion left over for Mr Sat. Night’s lunch tomorrow, so I’d say it would feed 4 normal people!

The Marinade:

• 1 thumb of fresh Ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 large Cloves of garlic, grated
• a pinch of dried Chilli flakes – or half a mild chilli, chopped
• 1 small teaspoon of Thai spices
• 1-2 tablespoons of dark Soy sauce
• Juice of half a lemon

The Kebabs:

• 1 Chicken breast per person, cut into cubes – you could also use Beef or Pork (they’ll need to be cooked for longer).
• half a red Pepper in large chunks; Half a Green pepper ditto
• 3-4 large Portobello mushrooms, quartered
• A red or white onion, cut into chunks, if you like..

The Rice:

Since I published this recipe, I have an Egg Fried Rice recipe which I really like – here’s the link..

https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/sticky-spicy-chicken-with-egg-fried-rice/

Or just go with this oldie but goodie –

• 50-100g) of Basmati Rice, cooked, rinsed and cooled
• a drizzle of Rapeseed or similar oil.
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• half a red and half a green pepper, finely chopped (the other half of the peppers in the Kebab recipe)
• 1-2 large mushrooms, finely chopped
• Pinch of dried chilli flakes, or fresh, as before.
• A teaspoon each of medium Curry Powder and Ground Coriander

The Yoghurt:

• 1-2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
• 2-3 inch length of fresh Cucumber, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped
• Pinch of Salt, and a good grind of Black Pepper
• Fresh Mint if you have it (I didn’t, of course)

METHOD:

• Combine all the Marinade ingredients together in the bowl, and stir in the chicken pieces. Leave to one side. Cover and refrigerate if you’re not cooking immediately.
• Chop all the peppers and mushrooms – half into large pieces, half into fine dice – keep them separately.
• Put the Rice on to cook. Then drain, rinse and cool. Leave to drain in the sieve – make a few holes to allow maximum drainage

• Heat a tablespoonful of oil and gently fry the finely-chopped onions, diced peppers and chilli until soft but not browned – about 5 minutes.
• Thread the chicken and vegetables onto the Kebab sticks – then put them under the Grill at about a 5inch/12cms distance from the heat. Turn them occasionally, so that all the sides get cooked, and the edges of the peppers start to char.

• Mix the Yoghurt, chopped Cucumber, salt and pepper (and Mint, if you’re more organised than me) together in the small bowl, and put in a cool place.

• Check that the kebabs are almost cooked – you might need to take them from under the grill, but 20-25 minutes cooking should do it –
• Raise the heat under the vegetables in the pan, then add the cold rice.
• Stir the rice around, turning it over to combine it with the vegetables, until the rice is fully heated right through.

• Add the Curry Powder and Coriander, and stir in.

• Place 2 kebabs on each plate, and add a generous portion of Fried Rice.
• Use your fork to slide the Kebabs off the stick

• Hand around the Yoghurt – it’s a lovely cool addition to the gently spicy rice and Kebabs.

NOTES:

• There are quite a lot of ‘bits’ to this recipe but it actually comes together very quickly at the end.
• You could always use cold cooked Rice from the fridge – I never use cooked rice that’s more than a day old.
• I find threading the pieces onto the Skewers a little tiresome, but amazingly kids absolutely love doing this, so do make use of any suitably trained youngsters. Careful though – the tips of the skewers are sharp!
• If you have time to prepare ahead, the kebabs will keep on the bottom shelf of the fridge for a day, or even overnight. Be sure to cover them well, and make sure that any marinade won’t spill in the fridge.
• Do make the Yoghurt dip – it is really lovely with this dinner.

ALTERNATIVES:

• Think about adding a handful of frozen peas, some Sweetcorn or some chopped Spring onions to the Rice.
• Chunks of Onions cook very well on the skewers, and can help make a small amount of meat go a little further. Try threading some firm(marinated) Tofu for Vegetarians.
• Go for the flavours that you like in your Marinade – I like Lemon, Garlic, Ginger and Soy sauce, but there are lots of flavour combinations out there. The Chicken actually needs very little marinating time to get a really good flavour, so never think that you haven’t got the time. By the time you’ve chopped the vegetables, the chicken is full of flavour!