On any holiday table, chicken hearts on skewers will create a sensation. You can enjoy delicious barbecue all year round, since its preparation does not depend on the weather or any other circumstances. The dish is baked in the oven, fried in a frying pan, grilled, and not just at the countryside, on the grill.
As with any barbecue, the taste of the meat largely depends on the marinade. And here there is complete freedom! Marinate traditionally, in soy sauce, add honey, mustard, lemon or pomegranate juice to the marinade. As for barbecue skewers, they will be replaced by ordinary wooden skewers. If you often cook hearts, and you have a man in your household, I advise you to cut the sticks yourself. But it must be made from fruit trees, then the taste of the meat will be extraordinary.
Chicken hearts on skewers in the oven
Bad weather is not a reason to deny yourself Sunday barbecue. Prepare them simply, in the oven, and you will be happy.
Required:
- Hearts – 800 gr.
- Soy sauce – 50 ml.
- Ginger root – 30 gr.
- Garlic cloves – 3-5 pcs.
- Hot chili pepper – ½ pod.
- Sunflower oil – 40 ml.
- Kiwi – 1 fruit.
How to cook:
- Chop the kiwi into small cubes (remove the peel).
- Add oil and soy sauce. Puree with a blender until smooth.
- Add the garlic pressed through a press.
- Cut the ginger root into tiny cubes, chop half the chili pod. Remove the seeds or leave them - decide for yourself.
- Rinse the offal, cut large ones in the middle, but not all the way, then unfold. Cook small hearts whole. Remove all excess, pay special attention to blood clots, remove them completely.
- Add ginger and hot chili to the bowl with meat. Stir, pour in kiwi puree. Stir the contents thoroughly again and cover the bowl with cling film. Hide on the refrigerator shelf for at least 2 hours.
- Each standard skewer contains approximately 3 hearts. String them, piercing them in several places if they are cut. Place whole hearts crosswise on the sticks, otherwise they will come out a little dry.
- Place semi-finished kebabs on a baking sheet, maintaining a distance of 3-5 cm.
- Preheat the oven to 200 o C. Cook for 15 minutes. Then take out the baking sheet and turn the pieces over.
- Return to the oven for another quarter of an hour. The hearts are ready if a small cut releases clear juice from them.
Bamboo or wooden skewers must be soaked in cold water for half an hour before use. Then dry and grease with oil.
What is the use of hearts
If you are looking for something to diversify your menu, then chicken hearts will be a good “ace in the hole”. They are not only tasty, but also healthy. If we talk about BJU, the picture will be like this. 100 g of product contains: proteins – 15.8 g; fat – 10.8 g; carbohydrates – 0.8 g.
Calorie content is about 160 kcal per 100 g. But this is two times less than everyone’s favorite diet muesli!
Regarding the vitamin and mineral composition, this is a real pantry:
- B vitamins are represented by almost the entire ensemble. They provide regulation of metabolism. And therefore, the production of hormones and enzymes will be at the level;
- vitamin A – youth and health. Beauty of skin and hair, vision, bone condition, immunity;
- a nicotinic acid. It prevents the development of dermatological diseases, improves blood composition, regulates energy metabolism;
- potassium – our heart and nerves;
- phosphorus – bones and connective tissue;
- iron, copper, magnesium, zinc - increase hemoglobin, improve blood quality, oxygen metabolism.
Based on all of the above, we immediately include it in the diet.
Chicken hearts on skewers in a frying pan
A very quick way to enjoy a delicious dish on skewers is to fry a kebab of hearts in a frying pan. The marinade is classic, made with soy sauce, and is also suitable for baking in the oven.
Take:
- Chicken hearts – 800 gr.
- Honey - a large spoon.
- Soy sauce – 50 ml.
- Garlic – 3-4 cloves.
- Red hot pepper, black pepper - a pinch.
- White sesame seeds for decoration.
- Sunflower oil for frying.
Step by step recipe:
There are two opinions regarding the preparation of a meat product for barbecue. Based on personal experience, I realized long ago that it is better to cut large specimens in half and open them, then they will bake faster in the oven. Small hearts can be cooked whole. But in any case, be sure to remove blood clots and excess fat.
For the marinade, combine soy sauce with liquid honey in a bowl. If you find sugared honey, dissolve it in a water bath. Grind the mixture.
Using a press, crush the garlic cloves and place in a bowl.
Season the sauce with black and red pepper. The red front is added to the marinade if desired, if you like spicy marinades. Stir the contents.
Pour the marinade over the hearts. Leave to soak at room temperature for 40 minutes. If you decide to refrigerate the meat, increase the preparation time to 2 hours.
Place three pieces of meat on each skewer. Sew each heart with a stick 2-3 times to hold it tightly.
Add some oil to the pan. Lay out the kebabs. Fry on the underside for 2-3 minutes over full heat.
Then turn over and fry for a couple more minutes until the meat browns.
Selecting and preparing offal
Please note the following:
- The purchased offal must be a rich wine color.
- High-quality hearts always have a dense and elastic structure.
- If you were unable to purchase a chilled by-product, then a frozen one is also quite suitable, since this is not particularly important for the hearts.
- They must be defrosted on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
- Chicken hearts need to be carefully processed, that is: remove residual blood, cut off the fatty layer, get rid of film layers, remnants of veins and blood vessels.
- After removing these unnecessary inclusions, the offal must be washed and dried.
- Since the structure of the chicken heart is very dense, the hearts for the future barbecue masterpiece must be marinated.
- These kebabs are marinated for an average of 2 hours. Longer marinating will be required when using marinades with a soft base.
It should be noted that marinades for chicken hearts are very trivial and do not require special ingredients. Let's look at a fairly simple recipe for chicken heart shish kebab with a minimum of marinade ingredients.
An important stage in preparing kebabs is the choice of product and their preliminary preparation.
Shish kebab of hearts with mayonnaise on the grill
Any marinade is suitable for cooking chicken hearts on the grill, but here I suggest making it with mayonnaise.
Compound:
- By-products – 1.5 kg.
- Onion – 2 heads.
- Mayonnaise – 150 gr.
- Barbecue seasoning – large spoon.
- Salt.
Cooking technology:
- Wash the meat product, remove all excess, and place in a suitable container.
- Chop the onion into rings and add to the meat.
- Season with barbecue seasonings, salt, mix thoroughly, distributing the spices throughout the meat.
- Marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
- Place the pieces on skewers, tightly arranging the whole hearts lengthwise.
- Fry on the grill until soft and nicely crispy.
- Place the kebabs on the grill when the coals are already covered with a white coating. Rotate the skewers frequently to ensure the meat cooks evenly on all sides. Then the juice will remain inside the meat.
Tips and secrets
- Miniature kebabs will look great on a large flat dish, covered with large leaves of the freshest lettuce. Offer them a beautifully decorated side dish, chopped fresh vegetables, herbs. The still life will be completed with a beautiful jug or decanter filled with dry white wine, which you, of course, cooled in advance. It’s a good idea to wash down your kebabs with cold beer from a steamy glass.
- The hearts themselves have a delicate and fairly neutral taste. If the marinade also did not have a pronounced taste, prepare and serve some kind of hot sauce, for example.
- To avoid damaging the dietary status of chicken hearts, opt for a mild sauce. Instead of mayonnaise, use sour cream, ayran or yogurt, add foods that have delicious aromas of freshness to the gravy: lemon or cucumber juice, emerald greens.
- It is also advisable to choose a light side dish. Avoid fried potatoes; it is better to serve rice, green peas, stewed (baked) vegetables, and salads.
Chicken hearts on skewers - a very tasty marinade
Another example of a great marinade for chicken kebab, based on soy-honey sauce with numerous seasonings.
Ingredients:
- Hearts – 700 gr.
- Soy sauce – 80 ml.
- Honey – 2 teaspoons.
- Garlic cloves – 5 pcs.
- Apple cider vinegar (lemon juice) – 2 teaspoons.
- Curry, hot chili pepper - ½ teaspoon each.
- Black pepper - a teaspoon.
- Grated ginger root – 2 tablespoons.
- Sweet paprika - a teaspoon.
How to cook:
- Make a marinade of soy sauce, honey, apple cider vinegar, and all the spices listed in the recipe. Grind the garlic and ginger root.
- Add washed and trimmed chicken hearts to the resulting mixture. Cover with film and place on the refrigerator shelf for 2-4 hours.
- How to cook - decide for yourself. Bake in the oven or fry in a pan. See previous recipes for the technology.
Basic cooking rules
You'll most often find offal in East Asian cuisines. For example, in China there is a belief that many types of organ meats provide certain health benefits.
Chicken hearts are considered a delicacy. They can be fried, stewed, or barbecued. But first you need to marinate it well.
Fresh chicken hearts do not have a strong or distinct flavor. These are tender pieces with a surprisingly subtle red meat flavor. When quickly fried over a fire, they become crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Calorie content is about 160 kcal per 100 g. But this is two times less than everyone’s favorite diet muesli!
I'll give you some tips on how to prepare this delicacy. If you don’t have time at all, marinate the hearts at least 30 minutes before cooking. Ideally, of course, leave them in the refrigerator overnight.
If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes. This way they won't burn. And if you are preparing homemade kebab, remove the hearts from the refrigerator 1-1.5 hours before frying. This way they won't be raw inside.
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