Whether you are enjoying hot summer sunshine or a cold winter day, using Janie’s favourite marinade will make your barbecue chicken or prawn skewers a massive hit. As I write, it should be balmy summer weather but it’s wet and wintry and the temperature is decidedly cool. Tonight we might be cooking these skewers indoors under the grill or Mr BBQ will be sheltering under an umbrella! Without a doubt, the barbeque adds a tasty extra flavour dimension if you can get outdoors. You may find yourself wanting to lick every last bit of barbequed flavour off your fingers!
My marinade is simple and only takes a few minutes to make. As well as being a perfect complement to chicken and prawns, it’s also delicious on firm white fish or salmon – see tips.
For vegetarians, marinate pieces of halloumi cheese for 3-4 hours in the fridge. Skewers of mushrooms, courgette chunks (zucchini), small shallots or wedges of onion, and red or yellow pepper pieces (capsicums/bell peppers) are wonderful when marinated for 1-3 hours before cooking, or brush marinade on both sides of long slices of courgette (zucchini) and/or aubergine (eggplant) before barbequing or pan-frying.
This recipe is suitable for Thermomix TM6, TM5 and TM31.
You will need wooden or metal barbeque skewers.
Method
- From one of the lemons, thinly peel 1 strip of yellow zest, approx. 5×1 cm (without white pith) and place in TM bowl. Squeeze juice from all three lemons, weigh 50 g juice into TM bowl and set the rest aside for another use – I like to freeze it in ice cube trays for convenience.
- Add tamari, garlic, coconut sugar, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, pepper and sesame oil then blend 45 sec/speed 10. Place chicken meat or prawns in a shallow bowl or casserole dish, pour marinade over it and stir well to coat chicken/prawns, then cover and place in fridge to marinate for 3-24 hours.
- If using wooden skewers, soak them in water 30 minutes – see tips. Thread marinated chicken/prawns onto (soaked) skewers and reserve the used marinade for basting. If making up your skewers in advance, place on a tray, cover and refrigerate skewers and marinade up to 3 hours.
- Barbeque the chicken/prawn skewers over a medium-low heat, turning and basting with reserved marinade a few times, until cooked through and tender. Discard any leftover used marinade. Serve skewers as is, or add an Indonesian touch with Sri Owen’s peanut satay sauce.