With the arrival of warm weather, it's finally time to take my cooking outside to my backyard surrounded by ivy-covered trees, tall shrubs and evergreens, and get my grill going to make some delicious کباب کوبیده مرغ - chicken koobideh for my family. The entire process of making کباب - kabab from preparing the meat mixture, shaping it on long metal skewers with evenly spaced ridges, to standing over a hot grill on a hot summer day with all the flames, smoke and smell of charcoal is an especially nostalgic experience for me. کوبیده - Koobideh is a dish that I remember the most from my childhood since my mother would make kabab very often while we were growing up. I remember our portable منقل - manghal (grill) that was placed by the side of the hayat (court-yard), always accessible and never put away even during winter. All it needed was some charcoal, matches and a بادبزن - badbezan (handheld fan) to get the fire going -- rain or shine. Well, of course mostly shine and very little rain where I grew up.
There are many varieties of kabab in Persian cuisine. Chelow Kabab Koobideh (saffron steamed plain rice with grilled kabab) is a national dish of Iran and it is traditionally made with ground lamb. However, when I moved here I found the lamb to have a strong smell and flavor and was very different from what I was used to in Iran. Therefore, I mostly use beef instead of lamb in my cooking. This is a low-fat chicken koobideh recipe for those of us trying to cut back on red meat A cross between kabab koobideh and joojeh kabab that's worth a try!
Kabab Koobideh Morgh - Chicken Koobideh
Ingredients:
Makes 6 metal flat skewers
2 pounds ground chicken (preferably thigh meat)
1 large onion, grated
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
1-2 tablespoons liquid saffron
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
A pinch of red pepper
Juice of 1-2 limes
Olive oil
Method:
- In a large mixing bowl combine ground chicken, grated onion, turmeric, saffron, salt, black pepper, and red pepper. Mix well using your hands. Cover with a plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes for the flavors to come together.
- Leave a bowl of cool water next to you on the counter. Take a handful of the chicken mixture, place it around the skewer, dip your hand in the water and shape the meat into a long kabab.
- In a small bowl mix the 2 tablespoons of olive oil with the lime juice.
- Prepare your charcoal or gas grill, place the skewers over the grill, turning them every few minutes until each kabab is fully cooked.
- Brush the olive oil and lime juice mixture over the kababs on both sides halfway through cooking.
Place the kababs on a platter, squeeze a bit of lime juice over the kabab, sprinkle with sumac. Serve with rice, grilled vegetables, mast o khiar and doogh.