Sooner or later, you will start to ask yourself that how many Kebab varieties exist in Turkish Cuisine. The answer is simple; we have an infinite number of Kebabs and Chicken Shish Kebab is one of them. In Turkey, we make kebabs from everything. We make kebabs from vegetables, fish, and meat. For us, anything can be “Kebabable”. Chicken meat has no exception too.
‘Shish’ word defines two things in our culture for centuries. One is a tool that you can line up the food through it and use for cooking; in the west, this tool is called a ‘skewer’. Another one is used for defining the way of cooking concept.
Chicken Shish Kebab is for those who have limited time for cooking. This dish can be prepared in a blink of an eye time period. Even if you are the busiest person on earth, there is always time for making Chicken Shish Kebab on the electric grill.
The Story of Chicken Shish Kebab
The historians say that Fatih Sultan Mehmet, (the conqueror Sultan of Istanbul), who likes to eat white meat more than the previous Sultans. According to Ottoman Period historians, he likes to eat shrimp, fish, and chicken meat more than red meat. During his period, the palace chefs were cooking white meat dishes and Chicken Shish Kebab was one of his favorite dishes.
The historians also say that it was the palace kitchen’s duty to please Sultans and their families with different dishes than usual by using new cooking techniques. If you eat chicken shish kebab or lamb shish kebab in Turkey before, you had probably noticed that the chefs are putting vegetables to the skewers such as tomatoes and peppers and then they cook it at the same time with your kebab order even if you haven’t ordered such a thing. Some city tales say that this technique (making vegetable kebabs) has found during the Fatih Sultan Mehmet period.
I definitely suggest you try to add some vegetables to the skewers and cook them with your Chicken Shish Kebab. I think; it gives an additional taste to Chicken Shish Kebab.
Chicken Shish Kebab
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast meat dice cut by 1.5 inches
- 4 tomatoes dice cut by 1.5 inches
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp yogurt
- 1 tbsp red pepper paste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
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Put all the ingredients to a big bowl and add the Chicken breast meat cubes in it and mix them well.
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Put the one chicken breast meat cubes on skewer than put one tomato piece right after it. According to your skewer size, you can put between 4-5 meats cube and 4-5 tomatoes pieces. If you are going to use wood skewers, leave them in water for 10 minutes to prevent them catching fire.
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Cook Chicken Shish Kebab on the electric grill or bbq till all sides of chicken breast meat cubes are golden brown.