Harissa Chicken Kebabs (Slimming World Friendly)

These gorgeous Harissa Chicken Kebabs are ideal for the BBQ or cooking under a grill and make for a lovely and light summer meal. 

I tend to serve with a big salad dressed in lemon juice and sumac and here I also roasted some peppers, red onion and courgette in Fry Light and served with wholemeal pitta. I'm currently doing Slimming World and the below makes x4 skewers which each work out to 1/2 syn each making this a really low-syn-meal especially if you use your Healthy Extra Option B choice for a wholemeal pitta or wrap. 

This is also great with a syn-free Tzatziki dip too; use this recipe but switch the Greek Yoghurt for Greek Fat Free Yoghurt instead. 

Here's how:

• 500g skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 tbsp Harissa paste (you can find in most spice sections of supermarkets, I really like the M&S one)
• 2 tbsp fat free yoghurt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic granules
• Fry Light

A few hours before you wish to cook the kebabs, get a bowl and fill with the fat free yoghurt, harissa paste, cumin, garlic granules, a pinch each of salt and black pepper and the garlic cloves, roughly chopped. Halve the lemon and squeeze in the juice and then throw the lemons into the bowl too for extra flavour. 

Give the marinade a good mix. 

Now chop the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces and throw into the marinade. Use a spoon to mix the chicken around in the marinade so every piece is immersed and soaking up the flavours. 

Cover with a lid or clingfilm and place into the fridge for a few hours, removing about 30 minutes before you wish to cook. 

When ready to cook; thread the chicken pieces onto skewers so they are tightly packed on. I recommend investing in some reusable metal skewers; you can pick up for under a fiver in the summer months, and they are much better than the throwaway wooden ones; plus there's no chance of them setting alight on the BBQ or under the grill.

When the chicken is all threaded on, give each one a spray with Fry Light then place the skewers under a hot grill or onto the hot BBQ and allow to cook for exactly four minutes, then carefully turn onto the over side and cook for a further four minutes, which should be ample time to cook through. Take one skewer off and check one of the biggest pieces of chicken by cutting into the centre, and ensuring it isn't pink inside. 

If satisfied these are cooked, remove from the grill and place onto a plate to rest for another four minutes, or return to the grill for a couple more minutes to finish off. Enjoy!

If like us, you love a kebab or food one a skewer here are a few other recipes you may like:

• Adana Kebab
• Chicken Tikka Kebabs
• Italian Chicken Skewers
• Beef Terriyaki Skewers
• Lamb Shish Kebab
• Beef Kofte Kebabs
• Chicken Souvlaki
• Healthy Chicken Shish Kebabs

Chicken Souvlaki

Greek food is without a doubt my favourite and I’ve made a variation of souvlaki for more than ten years; adapting and tweaking along the way.

Happily, my children and Glen also love Greek food and chicken or pork souvlaki with couscous, Greek Salad, pitta and tzatziki have become a favourite weekend meal.

My souvlaki game went up a notch when I discovered and begun incorporating the ‘ladolemono’ – which essentially means brushing the cooked meat with a simple lemon and olive oil dressing before serving, which is frankly a game-changer.

When you marinate the meat, try to do so for at least a couple of hours, or overnight if you can, it does make a difference.

You can cook souvlaki on the BBQ – but at this time of the year, I cook them under a grill. The below serves four people. 

Chicken Souvlaki

Here’s how:

600g chicken breast
1 lemon juice and thrown in the body
7 cloves garlic
1.5 tbsp oregano
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tbsp. rosemary
Salt & pepper
250ml glass dry white wine
250ml olive oil
For the ladolemono
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
Pinch of sea salt

Peel the garlic cloves, cut them in half and then place into a bowl for the marinade with the olive oil, white wine and the lemon juice. Pop the two halves of the lemon into the bag too.

Now cut the chicken into pieces – as equal as you can get them and throw into the bowl.

Now add the oregano, cinnamon, paprika and rosemary and then season generously with salt and black pepper.

Use a spoon or your hands to move the chicken all around and ensure it all gets a good coating. Now cover with clingfilm and place into the fridge.

If using wooden skewers, ensure to stand them in water so they are fully immersed for a good hour before cooking.

When ready to cook, remove the chicken in the marinade from the fridge, and place each piece of chicken onto the skewers, pack them quite close together.

Place the chicken skewers under a hot grill and cook for about 4-5 minutes, and then carefully turn them around and cook the other side for 4-5 minutes, or until cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, make up the ladolemono – just combine the olive oil and the lemon juice in a small bowl or cup and add a pinch of salt.

Once the chicken is cooked and out of the grill, give it a brush of the ladolemono – using a pastry brush, on both sides before serving. Enjoy!

Here are a few other Greek recipes I’ve shared on here that you might like to try;

Pastitsio – the Greek Lasagna
Moussaka
Briam
Greek Chicken Traybake
Gemistes – Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
Prawn Saganaki
Feta and Spinach Open Tart
Greek Chicken One Pot

Healthy Chicken Shish Kebabs

I'm as guilty as anyone else of loving my takeaways, and I always think if we have a Turkish takeaway it's healthier than most - although probably not when we have the chips to go with it all! I've been having a go for the last couple of months at different versions of a homemade chicken shish kebab, and this is where we've landed with it. Our very own fake-away!

I always serve it as a platter for the family, as it's just fun; it looks great to look at, and we all love digging in and sharing off of the same platter. I do have to do some plainer chicken, not for the baby, who will literally devour the chicken on these kebabs, but for Bridget who says these are too spicy! They are very mild, but that is toddlers for you! Luckily she does eat everything else on the platter! 

The recipe here is just for the chicken shish, but I serve with toasted pitta, a tomato, red onion and cucumber salad (literally as simple as that with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of black pepper), tzatziki, and either white rice, or couscous, or in this case, both! I'm obviously watching my calorie and carb intake, so couscous is a good option, but Bridget and Beatrice love their white rice, and Glen prefers it over couscous too! For my couscous, I use a basic one, and add parsley, mint, dill and chives plus some chopped up dried apricots - it's delicious with the chicken shish.

The below makes 5 healthy sized skewers and the trick is to marinate the chicken for as long as possible, if you can do overnight for the following evening meal, the chicken will be so flavourful and tender, it's well worth the wait. 

One final note - this is by no means an authentic Turkish recipe, it is in fact, an amalgamation of me trying tons of recipes and experimenting, and this is simply the one we've settled on as our favourite. 

Healthy Chicken Shish Kebabs

Here's how:

• 3 large chicken breasts
• 5 tbsp natural yoghurt
• 1 large lemon
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 red onion
• 4 cloves garlic

Firstly open up the container you're using to marinate the meat, this can be a plastic container, a zip up bag, or you can use a large yoghurt container, as I have - I save these for such occasions! 

Pour in the olive oil, yoghurt and tomato puree. 

Now you need to grate the onion, and throw in the result, including the juicy pulp, into the marinade. 

Mince the garlic and add to the mix. Slice the lemon in half and then squeeze out as much of the juice as you can then throw the lemon halves into the marinade. 

Finally add all of the herbs and spices and give a really good stir. 

Now dice the chicken into decent sized chunks, this doesn't have to be exact, but try to get similarly sized pieces where possible. Throw all of the chicken into the marinade, and use a spoon to mix so all of the chicken is fully immersed in the yoghurt mix, then pop the lid on and place back into the fridge. 

Chicken Shish Marinade

Try to leave to marinade for at least four hours, but overnight is better. 

If using wooden skewers, soak these for an hour or so in water before cooking. 

To cook, simply load the marinated chicken pieces onto the skewer, pack them pretty tight together, and leave a good gap at either end of the skewers, and place under the grill for about five minutes, then turn and cook for a further five minutes. If you like a more charred chicken shish, increase the cooking time slightly. Before serving, just use a sharp knife and make an incision into one of the biggest pieces of chicken into the centre, to ensure the chicken is cooked through. If so, turn off the grill, and leave the chicken to rest for a few minutes, before serving.

Serve with your choice of accompaniments: pitta, rice, couscous, tzatziki, hummus, salad, chilli sauce, feta, halloumi - all will work a treat! If cooking for the family, do try and serve on a board to add a bit of theatre and fun to your evening meal, pile it high and let everyone dig in! Enjoy!