Spicy sriracha sauce and yogurt marinade with zesty sweet ginger paste and Indian spices.
Raise your hand if you like chicken skewers! I have both hands up! Plain chicken can get a little boring, so this is a no-fuss way to give some major “whoa” flavor to your bird. This recipe can’t really get any easier. Simply mix the chicken with the yogurt marinade in the morning then throw it on the grill for dinner.
Ahhh…. sriracha. Love that spicy, garlicky, vinegary sauce and as you may know, it’s one of my favorite hot sauces. Cooking and experimenting with it is so much fun and I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate sriracha into recipes like this Spicy Sriracha, Hoisin and Garlic Ramen and Spicy Ramen Noodle “Macaroni” and Cheese. It’s just a yummilicious sauce- using California grown red jalapeno chilies. As many of you may know, the rooster sauce is in a spicy situation with the city of Irwindale in California, making the future of my fav Asian sauce, well saucy. When the chilies are harvested and crushed, local residents complained the odor and fumes they omit are irritating and offensive, causing them to cough, gag, and their eyes to itch and water- in other words, a public nuisance. David Tran, the owner of the company that makes the hot sauce is entangled in a lawsuit with the city of Irwindale. Boo! Fingers crossed things get worked out and production is not brought to a complete halt! A sriracha shortage be, OMG, not good!
Now that I went on a slight tangent about sriracha sauce, I’ve got to discuss a ginger paste I used in this recipe. It’s made by a company called Gourmet Garden and I’ve been using the paste off and on for a couple of years. But let me back up first for a second…. When I started cooking Indian food at home, a lot of the recipes called for ginger paste. I rushed out to my local Indian grocery store, which sadly has since closed its doors, and bought a jar. I was so eager to try it out and naturally did a little taste test before actually cooking with it and it was waaaay, and I mean way too salty. Not to mention it had a texture that, to me, did not remotely resemble ginger. It was a disappointment and I could not bring myself to use it. It could have just been that particular brand, but it was the only one available at my teeny tiny Indian market.
I decided to try a paste I found in a tube in the fresh herb section of my grocery store and Wal-Mart made by Gourmet Gardens. I personally love it and Gary really loves it. It’s a little sweet though, which I find complements the spiciness of ginger. I used their dill paste in this Havarti, Dill, and Yogurt Pasta with Peas, Bacon and Chicken and Alaska Crab, Bacon and Brie Wrap with Dill Mayo. I thought it was great! Ginger and dill are the only blends I’ve tried and, for the record, these opinions are 100% mine. I see online there are mixed reviews of the product, but I still suggest giving it a try. I think this paste tastes fresh, much more so than the paste I bought at the Indian market; it works perfectly for this marinade and blends smoothly with the yogurt. If you prefer fresh ginger- no problem. Grated or minced fresh ginger works wonderfully too and is what I normally use in my regular Tandoori Chicken or any other Indian cooking I do. I would add 2 tsps. of sugar though if you go with the fresh stuff.
So now that summer is right around the corner, our grill will be getting used a lot more….what am I saying? Gary grills all year in any weather! My grill will be getting used much more! So fire it up and bring in summer with these spicy skewers and if you want a cool, refreshing dipping sauce, mix a half cup of yogurt with a tsp. or two of sriracha sauce. It’s the perfect complement to this awesome take on Thai meets Indian Tandoori chicken! Oh, and so is a cold beer 😉 Enjoy it!
- 2 lbs. chicken, cubed bite-sized
- 6 wooden skewers soaked in water
- ¾ cup plain yogurt
- ¼ cup Sriracha hot sauce
- 1½ Tbsps. ginger paste
- ½ tsp. each yellow, red food color (optional)
- ½ tsp. cumin, paprika, salt, turmeric
- ¼ tsp. cardamom, curry powder, fenugreek
- Mix marinade ingredients together and add the chicken cubes making sure you coat each piece thoroughly.
- Cover and refrigerate 4-8 hours.
- Thread chicken cubes on the skewers, leaving a slight gap in between each piece.
- Preheat an outdoor grill on medium heat and grill each skewer 5-7 minutes on each side or until chicken is done and no longer pink in the middle.
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