Kebabs are made using small pieces of tender food that have been threaded onto a skewer and then grilled. Just what you put on the skewers could range from choice tender cuts of meat such as poultry, red meat and seafood.

Chunks of vegetables such as onions, sweet potato and capsicum (bell peppers) as well as various types of fruit including; pineapple, apple and banana are also commonly to be found skewered along with the meat.

This recipe; not surprisingly, revolves around the Chinese five spice and chicken that give it its name. While I am sticking with the chicken here don’t forget that you can pretty well substitute almost any meat you desire. Here is the list of ingredients and then we will prepare the skewers and then the chicken marinade.

Ingredients

• 1 Kg (2.2 Pounds) of Chicken Tenders
• Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
• Salt
• Skewers

Marinade Ingredients

• Fresh Ginger
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1 Medium Onion
• 1 Lime (we will be using the juice as well as the zest from the lime in this recipe)
• 2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
• ½ Tablespoon of Chinese Five Spice
• 1 Teaspoon each of Brown Sugar and Tabasco Sauce

Preparation

1. If using bamboo skewers make sure that you soak them in water for at least 1 ½ hours prior to use
2. Mince the garlic (a garlic press is the easiest)
3. Peel and mince the ginger
4. Dice the onion
5. In a glass bowl combine all of the marinade ingredients
6. Add juice and zest of the lime
7. Use a whisk to thoroughly blend all ingredients
8. Pour the marinade into a large salable plastic bag
9. Now add the chicken to the marinade bag
10. Remove excess air and seal the bag
11. Give the bag with the marinade and chicken pieces a real good vigorous shake to ensure that all surfaces of the chicken are coated in marinade
12. Place the marinade bag into the refrigerator and allow the chicken to marinate for 4 hours
13. Once marinated take each piece of chicken tender in turn and thread them down the middle length-wise onto the skewers
14. Note that you can inter space each piece of chicken with chunks of vegetables (bell peppers, pineapple, sweet potato etc)
15. With all of the chicken on skewers season well with salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Cooking

Grill the chicken on skewers over a medium high heat until cooked through (about 3 minutes per side should do the job).

To Serve

Serve your chicken kebabs hot with condiments for dunking (plum sauce, ketchup sour cream and sweet honey sauce all go down well). You may also wish to serve with garlic bread, potato salad, coleslaw and/or green salad.