Description

An intriguing and unique minced chicken kebab recipe made with contrasting heat of green chilies, sweetness of mango chutney and the aroma of kafir lime will leave you craving for more. 

Easy Chicken Kebab Recipe Inspired by Oriental Flavours.

There are different types of chicken kebabs, some made with chunky chicken pieces, like chicken tikka or chicken in skewers.

The gyro style chicken kebabs are thinly sliced slithers.

This dish is a ground chicken kebab recipe, that is it is made with minced chicken combined with subtle oriental flavours.

The ease of this dish is that you can easily combine all the ingredients together in a blender and grind it together into a course texture.

All that is then left for you to do is make them into flat balls and shallow fry.

Ingredients for Chicken Kebab

While choosing and putting all the ingredients for making the chicken kebabs I was not sure what the outcome would be.

A distinct flavour of this dish is the use of Kafir lime leaves popularly used in Thai cuisine.

The leaves impart a very fresh taste, reminiscing of a Thai chicken curry so I thought of naming the dish ‘Thai chicken kebabs’.

Apart from the kafir leaves, there is a  combination of South East  Asian flavours , like Japanese miso paste and Indian sweet mango chutney.

Essentially the kebabs had an oriental under tone to it, which was the idea.

There were contrasting taste and texture of each ingredient used.

The bland taste and crunch of green papaya combined with the smoothness of minced chicken. Bringing the dish together was the sweetness of mango chutney, the heat from the chilies, the sourness of lemon juice, the nutty flavour of miso paste and the fresh aroma of kafir lime leaves.

Because of the many clashing flavours and textures, I was not feeling very optimistic.  My first try was with a single piece of chicken.

Below is the snap shot of the ingredients I used.

Substitute Ingredients for Making Kebabs With Minced Chicken

As with all my recipes, I do not buy any special ingredient to make a dish.

I simply make do with what I have in the fridge and the cupboard. Rather than throw away the not so popular ingredients, I recycle or re purpose them in some way or form.

This one turned out to be a success story !!

I simply happened to have half raw papaya and the rest so I combined them all. But you dont need all the ingredients listed to make this oriental style chicken kebab.

Here are few alternatives for you :

1. Papaya lends a crunch to the kebabs. You can omit it or add peanuts is you wish.
2. Substitute mango chutney with sweet chilli sauce.
3. Substitute kafir lime leaves with lime rind and lime juice.

Is Chicken Kebab Gluten Free and Low Fat?

All the ingredients used in this recipe is gluten free and low fat.

This is an excellent low carb chicken kebab recipe with all the goodness and health.

I recommend using sesame seed, avocado or coconut oil for shallow frying the kebabs.

The approximate calories in the chicken kebab can be broken down as under:

• 500 gms chicken breasts – 142 kcal
• 50 gms raw papaya – 36 kcal
• 1 tbsp miso paste – 35 kcal
• 2 tbsp sesame oil – 240 kcal

As you can see the calorie count for this healthy chicken kebab recipe is low and makes a great tasting meal for those who are into weight watchers.

What to Serve Chicken Kebab With?

I had served this oriental style kebab as a starter.

But if you wish to turn this into a complete meal then here are few suggestion for you:

1. Add salad to the side to make it into a low carb healthy chicken kebab meal.
2. Serve with rice noodles sauteed with pakchoi.
3. Turn them into a filling and add them to corn or whole meal tortilla wraps, pitta pockets or even buns. Add salad, sauces of your choice  they are ready to be eaten.

These wraps are also a good finger food option and can be eaten both hot and cold.

That is what makes this minced chicken kebabs a great lunch box meal.

Cooking Tips to Make Oriental Style Chicken Kebab

1. Do not over blend the ingredients into a paste. It should be slightly coarse in texture.
2. Miso paste and mango chutney already have added salt so watch on the salt intake.
3. Do not overheat the oil else the kebabs will burn.
4. Turn the kebabs over only after you see 3/4 of each rounds has turned opaque
5.  If for some reason the kebabs do not keep the shape and starts to break then add an egg to combine.
6. Use boneless chicken breasts or thighs.
7. You can also use pre-minced chicken and then blend the other ingredients in a blender, later add them to the minced chicken and give a good mix.
8. Grease your hands with a little oil or water if the mixture sticks to your hands when shaping them.

Stepwise Recipe on How to Make Chicken Kebabs

Below is the step wise guide to make these succulent aromatic chicken kebabs at home.

STEP 1

Roughly chop raw papaya, chicken breast, ginger,kafir lime leaves and chillies . Then add miso paste, mango chutney, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and blend into a coarse paste.

STEP 2

Transfer the mince to a plate

STEP 3 

Heat oil in a pan.

Take a spoonful of the blended chicken mixture and drop it in hot oil and gently flatten it to form a round flat kebab shape and shallow fry. Turn over once one of the side turns opaque more then 1/2 way through.

STEP 4

Serve minced oriental style chicken kebab as a starter or with your chosen accompaniment to make a complete meal.