Joojeh kabab (Persian saffron chicken skewers) with rice and shirazi salad
55 min · 56 g protein · 490 cals / serving
Iran's favourite grill: chunks of chicken soaked in saffron, grated onion, lemon and yogurt until they turn sunset yellow, threaded on skewers and charred hot beside whole tomatoes. Served with buttery saffron rice and a chopped cucumber, tomato and mint shirazi salad, with lime to squeeze over.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 3 breasts (1 lb 7 oz) chicken breast, in 4 cm (1 1/2-inch) chunks
- 2–3 boneless, skinless thighs (9 oz) chicken thigh, in chunks
Marinade
- a generous pinch saffron, ground with a pinch of sugar, steeped in 3 tbsp hot water
- 1 medium onion, grated, juice and pulp
- scant 1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
To grill
- 6 plum tomatoes Roma tomatoes, whole or halved
Saffron rice
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp basmati rice, rinsed
- 1 tsp butter
- a small pinch saffron, steeped in 1 tbsp hot water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Shirazi salad
- 1 cucumber, in small dice
- 2 tomatoes, in small dice
- 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped, or 1 tsp dried
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- a pinch salt
- 1 tsp sumac
Steps
- Stir the saffron water, grated onion, yogurt, lemon juice, oil, turmeric, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Add the chicken, mix well, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Cook the rice like pasta in plenty of salted boiling water for 6–7 minutes, until just tender, and drain. Melt the butter in the pan, return the rice, drizzle over the saffron water, cover with a lid wrapped in a tea towel and steam on the lowest heat for 20 minutes.
- Heat a grill, grill pan or barbecue very hot. Thread the chicken onto skewers, scraping off the onion pulp so it does not burn. Grill 10–14 minutes, turning every few minutes, until charred at the edges and 165°F inside; grill the tomatoes alongside until blistered and soft.
- Toss the cucumber, tomato, red onion, mint, lime juice and salt for the salad and sprinkle with sumac. Serve the skewers on the rice with the grilled tomatoes, salad and lime wedges.
Good to know
Why grate the onion?
Grated onion juice tenderises the chicken and gives joojeh its sweet, savoury depth. Scrape the pulp off before grilling, because it burns long before the chicken is done.
No grill?
Use the oven grill (broiler) on its highest setting with the skewers on a rack about 4 inch from the element, 12–15 minutes, turning twice.
How do I get more saffron out of a pinch?
Grind the threads with a pinch of sugar in a mortar, then steep them in a few spoons of hot (not boiling) water for 10 minutes. The colour and aroma go about twice as far.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 103
- Protein
- (46%)
- 12 g
- Fat
- (23%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (31%)
- 8 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 240 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1961 kcal goes into the pot and 2327 g of ingredients comes out as about 1900 g of food: 103 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.