In praise of the healthy kebab!

I am really hoping Summer is just around the corner because I am totally ready for lovely warm sunshiny days and balmy evenings! In preparation for the season that seems to have been an interminably long time coming, I am trialling some good bbq foods. Growing up in Australia, BBQ's were frequent and we used to cook a variety of things on a huge round bbq plate that was sourced from somewhere by my uncle. Steak, sausgaes, lamb chops, chicken, even salmon would find there way onto the bbq plate. Then there was the range of salads to go with this meat feast including potato salad, both hot and cold, tabouleh, green salad, and pasta salad. A few times, my mum even whipped up some pancake batter and we cooked panackes for dessert on the bbq! The one thing I am not sure we ever did that much was kebabs and I'm not sure why but probably because we were usually cooking the BBQs for a load of people and it was easier to just have meat on the bbq.

I recently found a lovely kebab recipe in a diet cook book of mine. Having been told by my Dr that I was close to being pre-diabetic, I began to look into ways to get my blood sugar levels down and also lose a bit of weight and I came across the blood sugar diet, which was created by the same guy who designed the 5:2 diet. The recipe book has some fabulous recipes amongst which was a few pages of great kebab recipes. I would recommend this recipe book to anyone, not just people with high blood sugar.

I decided to start with the recipe that required the least amount of ingredients because I really like to try and use up everything I have in my cupboards before buying new ingredients. Luckily I found a recipe for which I didn't have to buy anything new! Here it is!

Paprika chicken kebab (taken from the Blood Sugar Diet recipe book by Dr. Michael Mosley)

1 skinless chicken breast

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove crushed

1 tsp paprika

Juice of half a lemon

Pinch of chilli flakes

1 courgette

1 red onion, quartered

3 skewers (soak in water if using wooden ones)

Slice the chicken into 3 long strips and then dice each strip, aiming to get about 12 cubes. Mix the oil in a bowl with the garlic, paprika, lemon juice, chilli flakes, if using and some seasoning, and then add the chicken, tossing everything together so it gets a good coating. Chop the courgette into 12 chunks and then cut the onion quarters into three so you have 12 chunks of that too. Toss the courgette and onion in a bowl with a drizzle of oil and some salt and pepper.

Thread the kebab pieces onto the skewers, alternating the chicken, courgette and onion. Place them under a hot grill for 12-15 minutes, turning every 3-4 minutes.

So, here's a picture of the ones I made, I doubled the recipe so I had enough for my lunches for the week! The recipe said that there was only 190 calories per three kebabs!!! Healthy and delicious!

If the sun comes out this bank holiday weekend, then I encourage you to wipe the dust off that bbq and give these kebabs a try!!