The ritual of skewering marinated meat onto pointy metal sticks and cooking them over glowing coals is one that spans the world, as fire-cooking expert Genevieve Taylor shows in these smokily alluring, global-flavour-mixing recipes
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Tandoori venison kebabs
Makes 8 kebabs Hands-on time 30 min, plus 24 hours marinating Specialist kit 8 metal skewers
FOOD TEAM’S TIPS
Achiote paste is popular in Central America. Buy it at mextrade.co.uk (check it’s gluten free if you need it to be). You can buy kashmiri chillies, sold dried and usually whole in the UK, from Waitrose or online suppliers such as spicesofindia.co.uk. Buy venison haunch steaks in good butchers or at wildmeat.co.uk.
• 50g achiote paste, crumbled or chopped (see Genevieve’s know-how and tips)
• 3 kashmiri chillies (or more to taste), stalks removed, roughly torn (see know-how and tips)
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 150g greek yogurt
• 50g fresh ginger, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp salt
• 750g venison haunch steaks (see know-how and tips)
• 2 red peppers, cut into 2-3cm pieces
• 1 small red onion, cut into 6-8 wedges and separated into slivers
• Grated zest and juice 1 lime
• Small bunch coriander, chopped
1 Set a small frying pan over a medium heat and add the achiote, chillies, cumin and fenugreek seeds. Toast for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a spice grinder and whizz to a powder. Pour into a bowl and stir in the yogurt, ginger, garlic and salt to make a paste. Cut the venison into cubes and mix thoroughly so all the pieces are coated. Cover and put in the fridge for 24 hours.
2 The next day, fire up the barbecue ready for direct cooking (with the coals directly under the grill), leaving a space where there are no coals so you can slide the kebabs off the heat if they’re cooking too fast.
3 Thread the venison onto the skewers, alternating it with the red pepper and slivers of onion. Grill directly over the hot coals for about 15 minutes, turning regularly. Yogurt marinades can burn, so be prepared to slide them further from the heat if they’re catching too fast.
4 Rest on a serving plate, then add the lime zest and juice and scatter over the coriander.
Per kebab 147kcals, 3.5g fat (1.6g saturated), 23.8g protein, 4.4g carbs (3.7g sugars), 0.9g salt, 1.6g fibre
Steak, spring onion and ginger skewers with chilli peanut oil
Makes 8 kebabs Hands-on time 45 min, plus cooling and up to 48 hours marinating Specialist kit 8 metal skewers
• 800g quick-cooking s
