When the yard gives you carrots, make Tandoori chicken

The carrot crop came in, big time, this weekend.
The guinea pigs were beside themselves.

Everyone else was kind of frightened by the wild and crazy bunch.
I decided to ease the crew into the fresh and yummy carrot spirit by making our chicken dinner orange, too.
I put one teensy, tamed, grated, barely-discernable carrot into a non-threatening green salad*.

On the side.

Tandoori Chicken Skewers

by Sharon Graves

Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus an hour to ma

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Indian spiced chicken breast skewers, with a tangy lemon-yogurt marinade that makes the final product super moist and tender. Easy enough for weeknight supper, delicious enough to serve at your next barbecue.  

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Ingredients

For the chicken

• 1 c. Greek-style plain yogurt
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1 generous Tbs. Tandoori seasoning (available via The Shop)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• Oil for grilling
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the herb-yogurt dipping sauce

• 1/2 c. Greek-style plain yogurt
• 1 Tbs. crumbled feta cheese, optional
• 1/2 small cucumber, peeled and grated
• Handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
• Handful of cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• Small squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

Note: you will need 8-10 long skewers for this recipe. If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water while the chicken is marinating.

Whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, tandoori seasoning, and garlic in a large bowl.

Add the chicken chunks, and stir to ensure that all the pieces are well-coated. Set aside for an hour in the fridge.

While the chicken is marinating, make the sauce. Either mix all of the ingredients in a bowl with an immersion blender, or use a blender/food processor. Try not to pulverize it too much, as you still want to see flecks of the green herbs, and have some texture from the cucumber. Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve the chicken.

Working piece by piece, remove chicken from the marinade and thread onto skewers. Each skewer should have between 6-8 pieces. Don't scrunch them up too much, but the pieces should be lightly touching each other. Place skewers on a tray to rest.

Heat up your BBQ or grill pan until nice and hot. Either lightly spray the skewers with olive oil spray, or carefully oil the warm grill with a brush. Grill the skewers for about 3-4 minutes, then turn carefully and grill for another 2-3 minutes.  BTW, this will be messy, because of the thick marinade.  You can also broil the skewers for 8 minutes, rotating halfway through, and save yourself some clean up.

Taste, and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve warm with herb yogurt sauce.

* With curried fig balsamic vinaigrette:  2 Tbs. fig balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, 1 minced shallot, 1/2 tsp. curry powder, salt, fresh pepper and 1/3 c. olive oil, shaken vigorously in a jar until well blended.