Indian Chicken Kabab (Murg Malai)

Pat the chicken cubes dry with paper towels to help the marinade adhere to it better. When this is done, lay the pieces out neatly in a flat dish.

Sprinkle the white pepper, cardamom and the first lot of salt over the chicken. Also, add the garlic and ginger pastes.

Mix thoroughly to ensure that the chicken is fully coated. Cover with plastic and put into the refrigerator to marinate for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, prepare the remaining part of the marinade. Put the grated cheese in a deep bowl and mash it with clean hands to ensure that it forms a paste and has no lumps.

Now add the sour cream and salt to taste to the cheese and continue to mash and mix so that there are no lumps in the mixture.

Grind the coriander leaves and green chilies into a coarse paste using a blender or a mortar and pestle. Add this coarse paste to the cheese-sour cream mixture and stir to blend well.

After the chicken has marinated in the first part of the marinade for 30 minutes, add it to the second part of the marinade—the cheese-sour cream-coriander chili mix. Combine well to ensure all the chicken pieces are well coated.

Now add the oil and mix well again. Allow the chicken to rest for 1 hour.

Heat your oven or barbecue grill to 450 F/230 C/Gas Mark 8.

Soak your bamboo skewers in water so that they don't burn during the cooking process.

When the chicken has marinated for 1 hour, thread 3 to 4 pieces on each skewer, ensuring that you do it in a way so as to expose most of the chicken to the heat.

When you have threaded all the chicken onto skewers, lay the skewers on a baking tray and put into your oven. Cook for 15 minutes, remove and turn the skewers so that the part of the chicken pieces that was facing down, is now facing up. Put back into the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.

When done, gently remove the chicken pieces from the skewers and arrange on a serving plate. You also can leave the skewers as is and serve as individual portions.

Garnish with a sprinkling of the chaat masala and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve murg malai kabab with naan and a salad to make a meal or serve it just by itself as an appetizer.