Kebab Morgh

Makes 4 servings (serving a crowd?)

2 lbs boneless chicken breast (about ½ lb each)
1 cup chopped onion (about 3 oz)
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon cayenne
4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup yoghurt
¼ cup lemon juice
pinch salt
assorted vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, zuccini, small onions, peppers

Special equipment

food processor
skewers (utterly optional)

Method

Combine onion, lemon juice, salt, and coriander and whirr until smooth. Spread over the chicken and refrigerate overnight. You may want to cut the breasts into 1½ inch chunks, especially if you plan to place them on skewers with the vegetable pieces for grilling.

Roast the chicken and vegetable pieces on the barbecue grill or under the broiler.

Notes

Ok, ok, allow us some creative license here. The inspiration for Kebab Morgh (literally ‘chicken kebab’) is not strictly Moroccan. There's a little bit Persia in there too and a little bit of Lebanon, but similar dishes of marinated cuts of meat exist throughout the Middle East, Near East, North Africa, Mediterranean, even into the Balkans and Russia. One man's kebab is another's kabab is another's kebabe, kebap or even souvlaki or shashlik. Never mind the sish or şiş, the ‘skewer’, whence our shish kebab 'skewered meat-bits'.

We try to emphasize North African flavour by (1) making certain the chicken is grilled, albeit not on a traditional Morrocan naffekh a small, portable brazier, complete with notches to hold the skewers, (2) serving with pita to scoop up the ingredients the way the natives do (although anyone who thinks the practise is limited to the Mahgreb mustn't get around much), by (3) making certain we accompany the dish with some form of eggplant and chickpeas, and by (4) adjusting the spicing (note the cumin in the hummus, a rare but welcome touch).

Suggestions

Try butter or olive oil for the yoghurt, or use a pinch of tumeric or saffron instead of the garlic.

First served: Lughnasad 1995
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Last modified: © July 2006