Recipe: Chicken kebabs with pearl couscous salad

Enjoy the flavours of the Middle East with a colourful summer salad. Photo / Fresh Media

There’s quite the list of ingredients with this recipe, but there’s nothing complicated and you can get a lot of the work done before time.

Toasting the pearl couscous in a little oil gives it a lovely nutty flavour. All the different elements of the salad contribute something different – the rich, roasted vegetables, the sweet sultanas and the bright, fresh mint.

Chicken kebabs with pearl couscous salad

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Roast vegetable pearl couscous salad

1 courgette, cut into chunks

1 carrot, cut into chunks

½ red onion, peeled and cut into chunks

½ red capsicum, sliced

⅛ pumpkin, cut into chunks

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ cups pearl couscous

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2–3 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and black pepper

one-third cup sultanas

2 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted

a handful of fresh mint, finely chopped

Chicken kebabs

1kg boneless skinless chicken thighs, excess fat trimmed, sliced into 4cm pieces

1 cup plain unsweetened Greek yoghurt

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp paprika

½ tsp cumin

A pinch of ground cinnamon

½ –1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 lemon, zest

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced

Method

1. Marinate the chicken kebabs: combine the yoghurt, olive oil, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic.
2. Thread the chicken metal skewers. Brush the marinade all over the meat, coating well. Cover and refrigerate at least eight hours or overnight. This ensures the meat remains moist and tender when you cook it.
3. Prepare the pearl couscous salad: preheat the oven to 200C.
4. Place the vegetables on a lined oven tray. Drizzle olive oil over them and season with salt and black pepper, and roast for 25 minutes.
5. While the vegetables are cooking, heat 1 Tbsp oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the pearl couscous until it’s coated with oil and just starting to brown. Pour the stock in and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 12–15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
6. Combine the cooked couscous and vegetables in a large bowl. While everything is still warm, sprinkle with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and toss. Let it cool to room temperature and mix in the sultanas, pine nuts, and mint just before serving.
7. Cook the chicken kebabs: preheat the barbecue grill to medium-high heat. Grill the chicken kebabs until golden brown and cooked through, turning the skewers occasionally, 13 to 15 minutes. The yoghurt marinade can make these kebabs stick to the grill, so use a metal spatula to lift them. Alternatively, cook the kebabs in a 200C oven for 30–35 minutes.

– fresh.co.nz