Indian Chicken Kabab (Murg Malai)

Make the First Marinade

1. Gather the chicken and first marinade ingredients.

2. 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.

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

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

Make the Second Marinade

1. Gather the remaining ingredients.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Grind the coriander leaves and green chiles into a coarse paste using a blender or a mortar and pestle.

5. Add the coarse paste to the cheese-sour cream mixture and stir to blend well.

6. 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 chile mix. Combine well to ensure all the chicken pieces are well coated.

7. Add the oil and mix well again. Allow the chicken to rest for 1 hour refrigerated.

Assemble, Cook, and Serve the Kababs

1. Preheat oven or barbecue grill to 450 F / 230 C / Gas 8. Soak your bamboo skewers in water so that they don't burn during the cooking process.

2. 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.

3. 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. Alternatively, you can grill the chicken skewers.

4. 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.