Spiced chicken skewers with yogurt sauce

These spiced chicken skewers with yogurt sauce that I bring you today are firm candidates to become the star dish of summer. In fact, they already are in my house, but I'm sure it will also become an infallible dish in yours... Do you want to know why?

Because they are simple and quick to prepare, because they solve a meal for many in the garden just as well as a dinner for two in front of the TV, because they are very tasty and tender and also have the perfect combination between the intense flavor of the spices, the refreshing touch of the yogurt sauce and the crunchy point of the vegetables .

Do you need more reasons to adore them? Well, I am going to give you one more reason, and that is that they are very light , because we are going to prepare them on the grill. How about? I have used them for the first time with my new Le Creuset grill , and I promise you that I couldn't have liked the result more... This is going to be my summer love!

Do you want to see the recipe for these delicious skewers? Well, let's go for her!

Pallarès carbon steel knife , Nezumi Tokyo Design Studio ceramic plate , Zester Premium Microplane grater and Le Creuset rectangular grill grill

Ingredients (For 6-8 skewers approx.)

For the chicken skewers:

• 500g boneless chicken thighs (or chicken breast)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• Zest and juice of 1 lime

For the yogurt sauce (Tzatziki):

• 1 Greek yogurt
• ½ cucumber
• ½ clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt
• A few fresh mint leaves

Elaboration

For the yogurt sauce

1. We start by washing the cucumber well (you can peel it if you prefer), grate it and leave it to drain for a few minutes on a strainer with a pinch of salt so that it loses excess water.
2. Once it has drained, we put the cucumber in a bowl (or in some ramekins , which I love to serve the sauce directly in them) and add the yogurt, olive oil , garlic and mint finely chopped and the lemon juice.
3. Mix well until all the ingredients are well integrated and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes so that the sauce takes shape.

for the skewers

1. First of all we are going to clean the chicken of skins or possible remains of fat that it could have. Next, with the help of a very sharp knife , we cut the chicken into medium-sized pieces (that are comfortable to eat in one bite).
2. In a bowl , mix the olive oil, salt, ground cayenne pepper and cumin, paprika and zest, and lime juice. Mix until homogeneous.
3. Put the chicken in a bowl and pour the previous mixture over it. Stir well, until all the chicken pieces are well impregnated with the mixture and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so that the meat absorbs the flavors of the marinade well.
4. Once the marinade rest time has elapsed, we begin to assemble the skewers. To do this, cut the pepper and onion into cubes of a size similar to that of the chicken and add pieces of chicken, pepper and onion to the skewer alternately, as we like, but that the amounts of the different ingredients are balanced.
5. Next we put the Le Creuset grill on the fire, over medium heat and without oil, and let it heat up for a few minutes.
6. To find out if the grill is hot enough, we splash a little bit of water with our fingers (a little bit, because we know each other... hahaha), if the water sizzles and evaporates almost instantly, it's ready to use. If it produces steam but does not sizzle, we must let it heat up a little more.
7. Once we have the grill very hot, we grease it, we can help ourselves with a silicone brush , and we put the skewers on it.
8. Let them cook for a few minutes and when we see that they easily come off the grill, it is a sign that they are well done on that side and we can turn them around.
9. We let them cook on the other side and, when they are ready, we remove the skewers to a plate.
10. We serve accompanied by the yogurt sauce.

Pallarès carbon steel knife , ceramic plate Nezumi Tokyo Design Studio and rectangular grill grill honda Le Creuset

Grades

• In the recipe I indicate that the skewers can be prepared with both thigh meat and breast meat, but I prefer to do it with the thigh meat because it is more juicy.
• If the skewers are going to be eaten by children, you can omit the ground cayenne.
• If we are going to use wooden skewers, we submerge them in water for about 10 minutes before assembling them to prevent them from burning when we put them on the grill.
• We don't put the oil on the grill from the beginning because we want the grill to be very hot and the oil can burn.

I hope you are encouraged to prepare these skewers, and that they become the star dish of all summer gatherings.