Spicyana

In praise of grill pans !

Summer is not playing hide and seek with us here anymore, we are up in the eighties and hopefully will be staying around there for some more time. Sunshine magically lifts everything out of the ordinary, a work day evening feels like a new beginning, happy sounds floating in the air, and if a friend drops in, a party!

Talking of parties! I will never stop loving my grill pan for helping me with it, this cast iron “contraption” has, over the past couple of years helped us grill practically anything regardless of the season, achieve incredible grill marks on whatever we put on it and then without us even knowing it, might have helped to save a couple of bucks in liquid propane!!!!

Making these mini kebabs is a breeze if you have a stove top grill pan, you will need a grill top vegetable basket if you are firing up your outdoor barbecue grill. I used this recipe for spicing these kebabs, loved it for the prefect blend of subtle yet contrasting flavors. Feel free to use your favorite spices in the marinade, but do try out this mess free way of serving these appetizers, very easy to pass around, in its own cup and loaded with a day’s servings of vegetables ( Oh, not really !!)

Method

I use frozen chicken breasts for making these mini kebabs to make the prep work easier. A single breast piece will give you 10-14 strips. Thaw the piece on kitchen counter for 20 minutes or so, and then cut breadth wise into 5 to 7 strips. Cut each strip lengthwise in to two. This whole process will only take 5 minutes if the meat it still partially frozen. Marinate the pieces with flavors of your choice and thread on to pre-soaked bamboo skewers. Prepare vegetables, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds (if using zucchini, carrots etc) or small bite size pieces, marinate.

Oil the grill pan very well and wipe it off with paper towels. Heat the pan, oil it once more, and wipe the excess off with paper towel. Grill the chicken pieces by arranging many together in the pan at a time. Grill 1 minute each side (ie by the time you are done arranging the last piece on the pan, it is time to turn the first one and so on). Clean up the pan with a moist paper towel, spread the vegetables in the pan and grill for a minute.

Serve 3-4 kebabs over a bed of grilled vegetables in a transparent cup. You can set this up in advance and then serve with a fresh dollop of dip/dressing on top.

6 comments Grilling

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