Chicken Kebabs with a Kiwi & Rib Marinade

Today marks day 3 of the Zespri Blogger challenge. If you have just joined in, you can see what it is all about here, or see my yoghurt and kiwi popsicles or this amazing white chocolate and kiwi tart (killer!) If you are a regular reader you will know that is post is a little out of the norm. I mean something savoury has only ever happened one other time on Bits of Sunshine. I guess I do have to eat something other then cake every once in a while. Just kidding! I love to cook! I cook my dinners from scratch almost every night. For me it is one way of telling my wonderful husband I really appreciate him and all the hard work he does for our family! Speaking of appreciating my husband, if you have a moment to spare, pop over to this post by Dine and Dish, I know she was talking about Valentines day which is waaaay past, but it really made an impact on me and the way I think. Its so easy to expect things to be a certain way, that certain things must happen because that is the way the media portrays it, but its not entirely true! Just go and read it, you will know what I mean.

Now for the cool kiwi fact for the day: it is a brilliant natural meat tenderizer! 

It contains and enzyme called Actinidin which helps break down protein, aka tenderizes meat.

I know this seems obvious, but it was only in my teen age years, during a bio class that I realized that meat was muscle - and it totally grossed me out that I was eating an animal's muscle. It took me a while to come around and enjoy meat again! I am weird like that. But now I enjoy it, esp bacon. Man I could eat crispy bacon with everything!

Anyhoo - let's get down to what you came here for: the kebabs

I love this combo for chicken kebabs: chicken cubes, mushroom, BACON and pineapple. There is just something about the fusion of flavors that start a little tropical party in your mouth. Mmmmm, I can hear that music and bongo drums right now. I thread these onto kebab sticks anyhow and as it pleases me, so each one is different. It also disguises the fact that I load mine with bacon, oh yeah!

I usually make a sweet-chilli marinade for my kebabs, but since I am on a kiwi adventure I mashed up 2 kiwis with a fork, added 30ml olive oil and 1/2 cup spare rib marinade and brushed it thickly onto the kebabs.

These are best made in the morning and left in the fridge all day longto get tender and flavoursome , but if you are a last minute gal like me, 1-2 hours in advance is good enough to let the kiwi do its job.

These are wicked on the braai, but week-day-afterwork-in-between-church braais are impossible for me, so I just stuck these under the grill for 30 min, turning once.

 My husband was like: "wow- it smells really good in here!"while they were grilling. I mentally high-fived myself! Good job!

Kiwi and Rib Flavour Marinade Printable

Source: Bits of Sunshine Original

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Zespri kiwis

1/2 cup spare rib flavour marinade

30ml olive oil

Method:

in a bowl, mash the peeled kiwi with a fork

add the marinade and oil and mix

brush over any meat

leave in fridge for 1-6 hours

cook and enjoy!

www.bitsofsunshine.com  (c) Heidi Hawyes