Marinated Turkey Kabobs - Shish Hindi

Flavorful and tender, these Marinated Turkey Kabobs aka Shish Hindi are a delightful main course. Stuff them in pita bread or eat them plain! So good!

For years I’ve been making shish tawook, the chicken version of this dish. It’s truly one of our favorite meals especially when served with homemade hummus and tabouli for a full-on Middle Eastern dining experience. 

While researching turkey (the fowl) for this recipe, I learned that in many languages it is called some version of “Indian bird,” for instance, in Armenian, it is called hndkahav or hntkahav, which translates to “Indian chicken.” In Hebrew, the turkey is called tarnegol hodu, literally meaning "rooster of India." In both Polish and Ukrainian, turkey is called indyk, a reference to India. Similarly it is indik in Yiddish, also referring to India. And there are more! Source: Bare Bones Translations. 

If you are saying to yourself, I had no idea that turkeys originated in India! Well, that's because they didn't. Turns out that the story is more convoluted than the name in other languages would have you believe and, frankly, the whole thing started making my head hurt. Suffice to say that the turkey is a native north American bird but it's been domesticated in many locales and one of those is India. 

At some point in my google fest, I found a site that called turkey skewers (skewers = shish) shish hindi and I can only imagine that what they were trying to indicate was Indian chicken aka turkey. I have since lost that link but it tickled me so I kept the name. 

Marinated Turkey Kabobs - Shish Hindi

I haven’t included the recipes for the garlic mayo or salad since this post is primarily about the turkey but making garlic mayo is simple. Add 1 clove of minced garlic to about 1/4 cup or 60ml of your favorite mayonnaise. For the salad, I include deseeded cucumber, finely sliced onion, sliced black olives and small tomatoes, halved. Dress the salad simply with a drizzle of olive oil, a generous squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Ingredients

1/3 cup or 80ml plain yogurt

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 tablespoons or 45ml fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 lb or 450g turkey breast fillet 

8-10 wooden skewers, soaked in water for an hour. 

Optional to serve:

Pita bread

Garlic mayonnaise - see note above

Mixed salad- see note above

Method

Put all the ingredients except the turkey into a nonreactive bowl and mix well.  

Clean the extra fat and sinews off of the turkey breast, if any, and cut it into bite-sized pieces. 

Pop them in the bowl with the marinade and stir until the turkey is well-coated.  Let this marinate for as long as you have but at least one hour. 

When you are ready to cook the shish hindi, push the turkey pieces on to your soaked wooden skewers.

Heat a well-seasoned iron skillet till very hot.  Put the turkey on and cook for several minutes. Turn the skewers over when they are well-browned. 

Cook for a few more minutes until both sides are browned and the turkey is cooked through.   

You can eat the turkey kabobs as is with side dishes but we like to stuff them into a folded pita bread with garlic mayo and salad. A delicious, tasty meal!

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes in celebration of National Something on a Stick Day, which happens to be tomorrow, 28 March! Many thanks to our host, Mayuri of Mayuri’s Jikoni.

• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Bacon Mini Cheese Balls on a Stick
• A Day in the Life on the Farm Homemade Corndogs
• Food Lust People Love: Marinated Turkey Kabobs - Shish Hindi
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Mini Caprese Salad Skewers
• Sneha’s Recipe: Paneer Lollipops
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Vegetable Seekh Kababs

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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