Chicken Kebabs With Turmeric & Chile

Taco night is complete with chicken kebabs and greens and beans with red chile. The chicken kebabs is a Mark Bittman recipe published on the New York Times. In turn, he gets this particular recipe from an Armenian- American chef in Los Angeles. These days, it’s hard to categorize food based on geography or cuisine alone. At least in my kitchen, it tends to be a hodgepodge of food from around the world that appeals to our melting-pot sensibility.

The kebabs marinade is a simple mix of dried spices: red chili powder, garlic, turmeric and saffron and a copious amount of lemon juice. The recipe calls for marinating the chicken thighs for at least three hours or overnight. The grilling technique is somewhat different. Unlike a hot sizzling grill like most barbecues, here is a slow and not-super hot fire until the meat turns golden brown. The end result is a moist and tender chicken meat that everyone seems to like a great deal.

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Chicken Kebabs With Turmeric & Chile

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 white onion, sliced
• ½ teaspoon crushed red chile powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch saffron
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup olive oil

Instructions

1

Combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive dish (or a resealable plastic bag), and marinate in the refrigerator between 3 hours and overnight.

2

Once the chicken has marinated, discard the onions (or grill them on the side in a grill basket, or sauté on the stovetop, if you like), and thread the chicken onto skewers. Heat a charcoal or gas grill; the flame should be fairly low and the rack about 6 inches from the heat.

3

Grill the chicken slowly, turning as necessary and basting with any leftover marinade, until it’s browned all over, 15 to 20 minutes.

Notes

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014920-chicken-thigh-kebabs-with-turmeric-chile-and-saffron?action=click&module=Collection%20Band%20Recipe%20Card®ion=Mark%20Bittman%20Chicken%20Recipes&pgType=supercollection&rank=4