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Today's recipe for chicken jujube kebabs is part of the hashtag Dadek collaboration
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Now we are celebrating Persian cuisine here, so check out all the other recipes that are
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part of it. Now jujube is actually Persian for chicken. It's like saying chicken, chicken kebab
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It's like saying chai tea, which is tea, tea. But since people may not be familiar with Persian, we're just going to call it chicken jujube
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Moving on, this dish is used usually to celebrate special occasions. And the dish itself is pretty special because of the use of spices, especially saffron
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which is the most expensive spice in the world, along with other aromatics that really helps
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to flavor and color that dish into this rich golden hue. And the dish also celebrates the diversity of cuisine that has come up in Iran over the
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multiple civilizations that have kind of been part of that area and part of the world
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And if you're liking what you're seeing, then consider supporting and following us on these
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other platforms as well. And it always is a good thing if you subscribe and turn on all notifications
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The first most important step is to deal with that saffron. Now we are using ground saffron, but usually you don't get it ground up in the store
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You get strands. So you would want to take a modern pestle and just grind that up
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You can even use a paper towel, wrap the spice up in there, and then kind of try to smash
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it with like a heavy object, like the back of a knife or something, and just try to get
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it as ground up as you can. Then you want to bloom that saffron so that it releases its aroma and its orangish golden
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color into that water. So I'm going to put boiling hot water and let that just sit for about 30 minutes
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This is the perfect time to cut up your chicken. I'm using all thighs
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It's the easiest and best way to enjoy skewers because the risk of it drying out is very low
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You have to try to make them dry. I'm just cutting these thighs into these cubes, as you can see
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And once you're done, just add it all into your bowl and we'll add in that bloomed saffron
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water from earlier. Now this is going to be our first marinade, and this step is important to really help
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give the chicken a head start to impart that saffron deep within it
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Now the second marinade, we're going to start adding in some onions, which I've sliced over here
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And then there's lime juice, some yogurt, turmeric, salt, pepper, minced garlic, some
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olive oil, and then just give it all a good mix. Now the turmeric is going to work with the orangish hue to really give it that goldenish
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kind of color. Now if you're worried about salting, just add lesser than you think is needed for six
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to eight thighs, and then you can always cook a sample and then adjust as you go
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Now I will be serving this with a homemade saffron rice, and it really is not that crazy
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of a recipe. You really need some more of that saffron water from earlier that we used for the chicken
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and you just cooked basmati rice like usual, but you take part of it out into a separate
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portion, add in the saffron water, color it yellow, basically impart that saffron flavor
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within the rice, and then you mix it in. And that just adds a simple contrast of white and orange
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So if you want a full recipe, more details on it, tips and tricks to make this rice perfect
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then let me know. But for now, this is what you have. Now I'm going to be broiling this in the oven
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I'm using metal skewers so I don't have to worry about soaking. And I feel like even the wooden ones, even if you soak it under the broiler, they always
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seem to char up. I just don't like the hassle. My oven had been heating at around 450 Fahrenheit for about 30-40 minutes, and now I'm going
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to switch that to the broiler setting. Now for the baking sheet you want to get one that's just smaller than your skewer so
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that the meat has some gap, there's some space between the top of the skewer and the bottom
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of the pan so that you can easily manipulate the actual skewer and the meat is not directly
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touching the bottom of the pan because that's going to result in uneven cooking
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I've skewered all these chickens up, and I've also skewered up a couple of tomatoes, and
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that's going to go in the broiler as well. And it should take around the same amount of time as the actual chicken
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Just look for the tomatoes to kind of shrivel up slightly as the skin and the inside cooks
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and some char on it. Even if it turns black, don't worry about it because that's not going to be bitter at all
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It's just going to kind of add a nice smokiness to the tomato itself. Add that under the broiler
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I'm at the second highest rack, and you want to now keep a close eye and make sure that
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you don't let it get too brown. But when you do start to see it getting brown, you want to get some of that marinade from
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earlier and just brush it over the top. You can even add some butter in there, and that butter is going to add some extra smokiness
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Just mix it all up, brush it, you can brush the tomato if you want, and then continue
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to broil. Once one side is charred to your preference, then flip the skewers
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You may have to kind of manipulate it, stick them together so they don't move and want
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to go around. As you can see, I was kind of struggling over here to make sure that they stay
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You can put it back and continue the same procedure until the other side is broiled
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It really is that easy. You want to baste at least one or two times, and that really helps to keep everything moist
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and juicy. And once you're done broiling, you're going to have these beautiful chicken jujube kebabs
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that I have for you over here. And the tomatoes look amazing
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Serve it with your homemade saffron rice. And this is the ultimate chicken rice recipe to celebrate Persian culture
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Plus, it's an easy way to experience lots of flavor with really not that much work
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I guess skewering it is a bit of work, but technically, you can just dump it all on a
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wire rack and broil it without having to skewer it. But I'm going to go all out because it's just fun to eat meat from a stick
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I'm going to go enjoy that, and I'll see you on the next one
