Turkey Kebabs with Jewelled Rice

I know I'm not very good at posting savoury recipes, mostly because dinner is usually just cobbled together, but I posted this on Twitter today and Ginny requested the recipe. I don't have exact quantities, or pictures of the process, but here goes… Remember, a recipe is just a guide, change veg/spices etc to suit your likes or needs.

For something like this, a selection of roasted Mediterranean veg would work well, but I had a bendy parsnip and a chunk of butternut squash that needed using… The Coconut milk yoghurt was earmarked for a key lime pie, but seemed too cold and windy to make it today, (definitely a hot pudding day…) so thought I'd experiment with a marinade for the turkey steaks lurking in the back of the fridge.

Kebabs:

2 thick turkey steaks, cut into 2cm chunks

2tbsp Coconut Milk Yogurt (unsweetened) e.g. CoYo/Coconut Cooperative

1tbsp Coconut Sugar/Palm Sugar/Honey (or any other sugar)

Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

1 Clove of Garlic, Finely Chopped 

Mix all marinade ingredients together.

Stir in turkey until well coated and set aside (I think mine only marinated for about 20 mins, you could leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours).

Put meat onto skewers (I left gaps between pieces so they would cook quicker).

Ready to grill

Grill under a hot grill until browned (would be great BBQ'd too).

Turn over, grill the other side (I was too impatient to brown them much, which is a shame as the brown bits had taken on an almost tandoori taste - could have been the smoking bamboo skewers…).

Jewelled Rice:

Brown Rice - probably about a cup full (I use 2 ramekin dishes full for 4 of us)

1 Large Parsnip

Butternut Squash (1/2 of the end with the seeds)

Vegetable oil

2 whole cloves of garlic

1 clove of garlic, chopped

Handful of Raisins

Handful of Chopped Nuts (I used almonds)

Zest of 1/4 Lemon

2 Balls Frozen Chopped Spinach (defrosted in microwave)

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

1/2 Cumin seeds (lightly crushed)

1/2 Whole mustard seeds (lightly crushed)

1/2 Mixed Spice

2 Cardamom pods

Finely chop the parsnip and butternut squash, lightly crush the whole cloves of garlic, drizzle with oil and roast until softened and lightly caramelised.

Rinse rice, then put in pan with 2 cups of cold water (double volume of water to rice).

Bring to the boil, then simmer until water mostly absorbed (about 20 mins, while veg roasting).

Put lid on rice and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Fry the nuts (if using), spices, chopped garlic, raisins and lemon zest for a couple of minutes.

Chop the roasted veg smaller, if necessary (and your trying to convince 7 year old to eat them), and stir into the spice mix.

Remove the whole cardamom pods and discard.

Stir veg into the cooked rice and mix well.