This past Saturday I had the delightful opportunity to visit Almonte and enjoy the exciting Puppets Up festival. Many restaurants were in full swing along the main street but it was the visit to the local market with locally grown vegetables that thrilled me with booths carrying homemade prepared foods that I so enjoyed.
My eye caught the food in the Syrian booth filled with delicious freshly made Syrian foods that included square pieces of chicken breast and vegetables on skewers and barbecued. Also included were falafels (deep fried balls of chickpeas formed into balls). There was Syrian-style hummus made with roasted chickpeas that gives it such a unique flavour. The barbecued skewer called taouk had cubes of chicken breast and vegetables on the skewer. I was pleased to receive this recipe.
Barbecued Chicken on Skewers (Taouks)
5 to 6 skewers
- 2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- I medium to large onion, cut lengthwise into thick slices
- 1 green bell pepper, seeds remove, cut lengthwise
- Pinch of saffron
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) tomato sauce
- Pinch oregano
- Pinch garlic powder
- Pinch Arabic powder
- 2 tp 3 tbps (30 to 45 ml) vegetable oil
If there are not enough metal skewers use wooden ones that have been soaked in water overnight.
1. Cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch (5 cm) squares. Place chicken, onion and pepper slices in a bowl. In another bowl combine the saffron, tomato sauce, oregano, garlic and Arabic powder. Toss in the chicken. Then toss with oil and leave over night.
2. Place 3 or 4 chicken cubes on skewers in intervals with the green pepper and onion slices in intervals on each skewer.
3. Preheat the barbecue on medium to high heat. Barbecue the filled skewers from 15 to 20 minutes. Serve at room temperature.
