Moroccan Spiced Chicken Kebabs

Here's another menu item from my Sex and the City party! I was intrigued by the Moroccan Spiced Grilled Chicken Breasts I'd read about on Simply Recipes, but I decided to turn them into kebabs so that I'd have more surface area for the marinade, and so the chicken would be more finger food-ish. For some reason, putting a whole chicken breast on my plate makes me feel like, "Oh, now I'm eating a meal! I must also fit salad and other things onto my plate and make appropriate mealtime conversation!" Whereas I wanted folks to feel comfortable with slowly grazing through the food options while we watched some S&tC episodes. I also didn't want the chicken to seem like the main dish since I had invited veggie friends. The Otsu was the star of this show!

This marinade works out great for kebabs because the yogurt really traps moisture in the chicken -- you don't end up with a bunch of dried up pieces of meat on sticks. It's quite flavorful too!

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MOROCCAN SPICED CHICKEN KEBABS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (watch out - your hands will smell like cilantro for a while...)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mix the marinade ingredients (everything but the chicken) together in a large bowl.

Cut chicken breasts into kebab-sized pieces, about 2 x 2 inches. Put them in the bowl with the marinade and stir around so each piece is well coated. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to marinate and chill for 6 to 10 hours. (I marinated overnight.) If you're using wooden skewers, soak them while you marinate.



Choose a deep baking dish that is appropriately sized so the ends of your skewers can balance on the edges of the pan. Skewer the chicken, using two skewers for each kebab so it's easier to flip the kebabs later on. Leave a tiny bit of space between each piece of chicken. Balance the kebabs on the edges of the baking dish.




Turn the oven to broil, and put the pan of kebabs in on the top rack. After 5 minutes, flip each kebab to reveal the uncooked side and put the pan back under the broiler for another 5 minutes. Then set the oven to 400 and move the pan to a lower rack for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.