When brainstorming weekly meal planning ideas, I try to come up with something that takes fairly minimal effort and utilizes ingredients I already have on hand. A few weeks ago, I had a craving for spicy chicken kebabs with a nice Greek salad. They were pretty easy to whip up for a weeknight dinner, not to mention delicious. We decided to give it a try for our lunch meal prep, and they were so yummy and easy that we made them two weeks in a row. The first week, my husband made them, and they were decidedly better than when I made them this past week. I tried to use a shortcut of blending the onion/garlic/ginger together, which you certainly can do, but we both agreed we like the extra bite and texture of having chunks of these in the kebabs. For a balanced, nutritious meal, you could serve them with your favorite roasted veggies, a Greek or side salad, or in pita pockets with some greens and hummus!

*If you don’t have all of the Indian spices on hand, I have also used a store-bought Seekh kebab masala before, and it’s easy and tasty too! You just have to adjust the amount based on how much meat you use.

You could make these with any ground meat you want. If you have more time and nicer weather, you could shape them into long thin kebabs using skewers and then grill them.

Ingredients (made about 26 kebabs)

• 4 lbs ground chicken
• 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped (or food processed)
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped (or food processed)
• 6 gloves garlic, finely chopped (or food processed)
• 2-inch piece ginger, finely chopped (or food processed)
• 4 green chilies, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp coriander powder
• 2 tbsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp red chili powder (optional for extra heat, adjust to your liking)
• 1 cup gluten-free flour all-purpose flour, or regular breadcrumbs
• Lemon juice from half a lemon
• 1 large egg, whisked (for brushing)
• Salt (a generous amount given the amount of meat) and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Turn on oven broiler and place the top rack about 6-8 inches under the broiler.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and mix well.
3. Line 2 large cookie sheets with aluminum foil and lightly grease with olive oil.
4. Form round kebabs (sized to your liking – ours were about 3-4cm in diameter) and place evenly apart on cookie sheets.
5. Brush the tops of the kebabs with whisked egg.
6. Sprinkle some extra coarse salt or pink Himalayan salt on top of the kebabs.
7. Broil for 6 minutes.
8. Remove from oven, flip, brush the other side with egg, and broil again for another 5 minutes.

This amount provided lunch for two of us for about 4.5 days!