INDIAN INSPIRED BBQ // CHICKEN KEBABS WITH PANEER, MANGO SALSA & CAULIFLOWER STEAKS

It’s BBQ season! YAY! My favourite cooking season because I believe you can pretty much barbecue anything and how GOOD is barbecued food?! 

This recipe is an Indian themed BBQ. We did these dishes the other week and were both blown away with how good everything tasted. All washed down with a few ginger mojitos and a bottle of rosé. This was the perfect summer evening that I’ll be recreating over and over again. The dishes  are easy to make even if the ingredients list may look slightly overwhelming. It’s also doable in a kitchen oven as well if you don’t have a BBQ or would rather not have the hassle of the cleaning up afterwords. 

Feeds 4 people 

Prep Time 2 hours (Includes chilling time for marinade) 

Cook Time: 30 mins

Dishes: 

BBQ Tikka Chicken Kebabs

BBQ spiced cauliflower steaks

Paneer and Vegetable Kebabs

Tomato & Red Onion Salad

Mango Salsa 

Garlic & Coriander Naan Bread

Ingredients: 

For the Meat & Marinade:

  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • 3 tbsp Full Fat Yoghurt
  • 2 tbsp Tikka Paste
  • 2 Garlic Cloves
  • 2cm Ginger
  • 1 Lemon
  • Salt and Pepper 

For the Sides:

Cauliflower:

  • 1 Large Cauliflower
  • 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
  • 1 tsp Turmeric 
  • 1 tsp Garlic Paste (or 1 Clove Grated Garlic) 
  • 1 tbsp Curry Powder 
  • 1 tsp Hot Chilli Powder
  • Glug of Olive Oil
  • 1 Lemon (Zest & Juice)
  • Salt & Pepper 

Paneer Kebabs:

  • 1 Block of Paneer Cheese
  • 2 Mixed Peppers (my preference is red and orange because I think they’re the juiciest and flavoursome for the kebabs)
  • 1 Red Onion
  • 8 Mushrooms
  • Kebab Skewers 

Tomato Red Onion Salad:

  • 2 Large tomatoes 
  • 1 Red Onion
  • Large bunch of Coriander 
  • ½ Lemon
  • Salt 

Mango Salsa:

  • 1 Ripe Mango
  • Coriander 
  • ½ Red Onion
  • 1 Green Chilli
  • Fresh Mint 
  • 1 Lime
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt 

Garlic & Coriander Naan Bread

  • Naan Bread
  • 3 Garlic Cloves
  • Few Chunks of Butter
  • Fresh Coriander Leaves

BBQ Tikka Chicken Kebabs:

Grate 2cm of peeled ginger, 2 cloves of garlic and the zest of 1 lemon. Place in a bowl and add the juice of the lemon, 3 tbsp yoghurt, 2tbsp tikka paste, salt and pepper. Take your chicken and skewer it onto the kebab sticks. An easy hack for this is to lay the chicken breasts horizontally one above each other out on a chopping board and insert the skewers in vertically. Then slice between each skewer and you have quick and easy chicken kebabs. Lash the marinade over the chicken. (Make sure to set a small bit of the marinade aside for the paneer kebabs) Put the chicken in the fridge to chill and marinade for 1-2 hours (if you don’t have time don’t worry they can also be cooked immediately but the longer you chill them the more the marinade will absorb). 

Whilst the meat is marinading let’s prep all the sides! 

BBQ Spiced Cauliflower Steaks:

In a pestle and mortar grind the coriander seeds and cumin seeds into a more powdery form. Put in a mixing bowl and add the turmeric, garlic paste, hot chilli powder, curry powder, zest and juice of lemon, a big glug of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. It should form a nice paste. If it still feels quite dry add more olive oil or a splash of water so the consistency will be easy to coat the cauliflower steaks. I love a kick to my meals and find the chilli powder a perfect bit of spice but if you’d prefer the cauli steaks mild then don’t add the chilli.

Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and discard (or throw on the bbq and charr for an additional side if you fancy). Take the cauliflower head and cut in half down the centre. Then take each half and from the centre part cut thick steaks. You should get two steaks per side and some leftover cauliflower florets which you can refrigerate and use for a different meal. 

Lay the cauliflower steaks out on a tray with greaseproof paper and smother each side with the spicy paste. Set aside ready for the BBQ. 

Paneer & Vegetable Kebabs:

Cut the whole block of paneer into thick chunks. Coat the paneer in the leftover tikka marinade. Cut off the tops of both peppers and dice roughly into squares. Peel the red onion and do the same. Roughly chop the mushrooms into halves or quarters to be around the same size as the other vegetables. Gently pierce the paneer and vegetables onto the skewers one by one until you have run out of ingredients. This amount of veg and cheese makes around 4 large kebabs. Set aside ready for the BBQ. 

Mango Salsa: 

Peel and cut the mango and place in a bowl. Finely dice ½ a red onion, 1 green chilli, a handful of coriander and a handful of mint and add to the bowl. Squeeze over juice of 1 lime, a glug of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Mix together and set on the table for dinner. 

Tomato & Red Onion Salad:

Finely slice the tomatoes and red onion and layer on a plate. Roughly chop coriander and sprinkle on top. Drizzle with olive oil, juice of ½ a lemon and a sprinkling of salt. 

Garlic & Coriander Naan Bread

A super easy way to make this. Buy fresh naan breads from the bakery section of your local supermarket. Take a few cubes of butter set to room temperature and crush three cloves of garlic into it and give it a good mix. Layer over the Naan Bread and sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves. Wrap up in tin foil and put on the bbq for two minutes on each side. Divine!

Once all your sides are ready and the meat has marinaded it’s time to fire up the grill! Once the BBQ is ready to go place the chicken and cauliflower on the grill. Make sure the raw chicken isn’t touching any other food on the grill. After five minutes add the paneer kebabs and keep grilling.

If you aren’t BBQ’ing this recipe then heat your oven to 180 degrees and cook the cauliflower for 25 minutes. The chicken and paneer kebabs are best cooked under the grill. The chicken and will take 8 minutes to seal on ‘High Grill”. Then place in the oven with the cauliflower for a further 15 minutes (or until fully cooked). The paneer kebabs will need 8 minutes under the grill, and make sure to turn halfway through cooking. Serve with your sides and enjoy!! A chilled bottle of dry rosé wine goes beautifully with this dinner. 

Fancy a pre dinner tipple? Try out this ginger mojito. 

Serves 4

You’ll need: 

  • 200ml Golden Rum (or white if you prefer) 
  • Soda Water
  • 100ml Lime Juice 
  • Mint Leaves
  • Large Piece of Ginger
  • 1 Cup of Sugar 
  • ¾ Cup of Water
  • Ice

In a pan add the sugar and water and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Peel and slice the ginger (the more ginger the better in my opinion) and throw in the pan. Place lid on and simmer on low heat for around 10-15 minutes. Check on it regularly to make sure it doesn’t burn. Let it cool slightly before adding to mojitos. 

In a cocktail shaker place the mint and muddle for a couple of seconds. Add ice, 200ml rum, 100ml ginger syrup and 100ml lime juice. Shake very well and pour over ice in a glass. Top up with soda water. Add a lime and mint leaves to garnish. Cheers! 

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Where In The World

London