We recently bought Ammu by Asma Khan, a book full of Indian home-cooking recipes interlaced with lovely stories about Asma’s family life. Today was its first outing and we cooked these kebabs on the barbecue because the sun was shining, and our friend Michael keeps gifting us huge jars of pickled onions that he got for a bargain price in M&S (true). Asma recommends serving with a black-eyed bean salad called Lobia – and we agree.
Wine Suggestion: Find an easy, juicy barbecue red that isn’t too heavy and you’ll be happy here.
Murgh Seekh Kabab – serves 6
- 900g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2.5cm pieces
- 5cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced
- 300g well-drained pickled onions or shallots
- 6 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
FOR THE MARINADE:
- juice of 2 lemons
- ¾ tsp sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 3cm piece of ginger, grated
- 1 tsp chilli powder
Ideally you should marinade the chicken and leave in the fridge for about 4 hours. Mix all of the marinade ingredients together, then add the chicken and toss to coat, then cover and put into the fridge.
Get your barbecue going, we prefer charcoal but whatever you’ve got will do.
Thread the chicken pieces, thinly sliced ginger and pickled onions onto metal kebab sticks (you can use the wooden ones but you need to soak them in cold water for about 20 minutes first to stop them burning). Grill the kebabs for about 5 minutes on each side, basting with the ghee or vegetable oil.
(Original recipe from Ammu by Asma Khan, Ebury Press, 2022.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
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