Jerk Chicken Skewers

Jerk Chicken- Probably the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Caribbean or Jamaican  food. Jerk chicken is made from a jerk spice marinade in which the primary ingredient is the extremely hot wear-gloves-while-you-cut-them scotch bonnet peppers, along with a host of other ingredients. Scotch Bonnet peppers are used in most of the dishes from the Caribbean. The jerk style of cooking, where the meat is marinated in the aforementioned marinade and then grilled over an oven or slow roasted is the key to a great recipe. Unfortunately, I don’t have access  to many of the ingredients to make the marinade,let alone the outside grill/roast over charcoal method of cooking. So, I used a ready made jerk seasoning/marinade which comes in a jar (Walkerswood Traditional Jamaican Jerk Seasoning) and has great flavor and reviews as well. This recipe uses that marinade along with some staple ingredients which you should be having in your pantry. Chicken thighs are great in absorbing the flavor and I used an indoor grillet to give it some smokiness. Spaghetti is a good add-on to curb the heat from the jerk chicken. I would love to visit some of the Caribbean islands someday and try some of their authentic native food. This ready made jerk seasoning was a great hit and I can only imagine what a marinade made from scratch coupled with the authentic way of cooking tastes like.

{Recipe}
Spaghetti and jerk chicken skewers

INGREDIENTS:
Chicken thighs-2
Spaghetti-200gms
Jerk seasoning-2tbsps
Pablano peppers-1
Lime juice-1tsp
Soy sauce – 1tsp
Red chili flakes-1tsp
Minced garlic – 2tsps
Red wine vinegar-1tsp
Bacon ranch-2tbsps

PREPARATION:
1)In a bowl, add the jerk seasoning, red wine vinegar, red chili flakes, minced garlic, soy sauce, lime juice and mix well till you get a nice even marinade/paste.
2)Add the chicken thighs into a zip lock bag and add the marinade to the bag and seal the bag. Now massage the chicken from outside the bag with the marinade. Marinate in the fridge overnight.
3)Now, boil some water in a saucepan and once the water starts to bubble up, add the spaghetti along with some salt. Cook for about 10 minutes or until soft.
4)Drain most of the water out and keep the pasta aside. Add some bacon ranch and chopped up peppers to the spaghetti.
5)Meanwhile,while your pasta is boiling, heat up your indoor grillet and add the chicken to the grillet and cook till evenly grilled on both sides(about 6 minutes on each side at 325°F). Then cut them into small cubes and load them onto the skewers. Serve as shown. Enjoy! 🙂