Yummy Shashlik Recipe

Over the weekend my sister-in-law made a lovely meal for us. It was called “Shashlik”. Despite the curry powder and warm spicy flavour, its origins are European. I’m rubbish at curry dishes. I’m American. What do we know about curry dishes? I’ve only just learned to appreciate Biryani at our local curry restaurant. I’m a lightweight!

This dish seemed very do-able though. I figured even I could handle something like this. What I particularly like is that this is basically a 2 pot dish. 1 pot for poaching the chicken and later, cooking the rice and 1 pot for cooking the Shashlik. In our family we have decided to rename this dish “Shadrack” however as I can’t seem to remember the actual name very easily! Mind that “Shadrack” is a now-deceased, hairy, alcoholic mess of a character on the soap “Emmerdale”. Those of you who know this will laugh.

Here are your ingredients: 4-5 chicken breasts (thighs might work as well), assorted autumnal veg (I used mushrooms, onions, butternut squash, sweet potato and peppers), oil, tomato ketchup, Curry powder (I also used a dash of Cumin and Mixed Spice for fun), single cream and Thai Jasmine rice.

First, poach your chicken in some stock. This helps to retain some of the moisture. Retain the stock to add to the veg/spice mixture for simmering. Heat up your dish/wok with a good glug of oil and add your onions to sweat a bit. Then add all of the veg to saute and soften for a bit. Add your spices (any combination of the above) to warm and coat the veg. Keep on a medium heat but not hot as you don’t want the spices to burn. Add in your diced, poached chicken, stir to coat in the spices. Now add the tomato ketchup in a zig zag pattern across the mixture (just because it’s more fun). Finally, add stock to just cover the mixture, give it a good stir to combine everything and allow to simmer for as long as you like. This is a great dish to prepare mid-afternoon and allow to bubble away all day in anticipation for the evening meal.

Cook your Thai Jasmine rice about 10-15 minutes before serving. At this time, add the carton of single cream to the Shadrack mixture and allow to simmer and thicken for 5-10 min. If you’re feeling the need for elegant presentation, add a sprinkle of corriander to the top of the mixture before serving. Naan bread makes the obvious perfect accompaniment but garlic bread works just as well. Et voila! Dinner Shadrack style!

It went down a treat with hubby who has taken the leftovers for lunch at work. Little Miss wasn’t so keen but there you go. She did have a cold and was overtired so not much was suitable for her at the time. We’ll try again. Maybe next time I’ll have her help me?

I hope you can enjoy a bit of Shadrack in your family soon. Adapt it to your needs/likes; that’s what’s best about recipes like these. Thank you to my sister-in-law, Debbie, for the inspiration!

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