Chicken Kofta Hummus Bowls
Chicken Kofta Hummus Bowls- Grilled ground chicken patties, homemade hummus, a fresh spinach salad, and toasted naan bread make up this Mediterranean inspired protein bowl.
April 15, 2021 by Nicole Collins
These are my happy times.
The weather is warming. The sun is shining. Nature is blooming.
We are at PEAK Yummy Muffin happiness over here.
It is no secret that I do not do winter very well. Cold, grumpy, and irritable are complete understatements.
I've always said that I thrive when there's sunshine and water. Well, my current situation (I'm pre writing this post) is that I'm sitting on my back porch being absolutely blasted by the sun with a peach IPA in hand while the doggies splash in the mud after this morning's rain storm.
That's not exactly the type of water that I was talking about; but you can't win them all, right?
Today's recipe is the epitome of spring/summer eating, if you ask me. It's practically sunshine in a bowl!
Today, we're making Chicken Kofta Hummus Bowls!
Here's the line up for today. We're making a protein packed bowl of deliciousness loaded with homemade hummus, a fresh spinach salad, little ground chicken football patties, and crispy toasted naan. It's gonna be really hard to convince me that there's anything better than this platter of food!
Let's start with the hummus. This is my go to recipe for hummus that I should probably be able to make in my sleep by now. You've seen it here before, and I have no doubt that you'll see it here again. All of the standard players are invited to the party for this hummus: chickpeas, garlic, lemon, tahini, olive oil, salt, and a little water to smooth the whole thing out. But, the real secret here is peeling the chickpeas before you blend the dip. There's no impact on the flavor, so if you really can't find the extra 10 minutes to peel them, it's not the end of the world. But, the texture of hummus made with peeled chickpeas absolutely cannot be beat.
The next layer of our bowls is a light, fresh salad. This salad is sooooooooo easy, and we're even going to let the grocery store help us with the dressing. All we need is some fresh spinach, some grape tomatoes, some sliced cucumber, and some shaved shallot. This is my go to fast and easy salad that I make a couple times a week. Though I love making my own salad dressing, it's ok to take the easy way out sometimes. Trader Joes makes a phenomenal greek feta salad dressing that is the perfect coating for our fresh veggies. I know this is unpopular opinion, but I HATE shopping at Trader Joes, so I don't always have this dressing on hand. If you feel the same as me or don't have a TJ's close by, a light caesar dressing would absolutely work here too.
If I'm being honest, I could devour this bowl with just the hummus, salad, and naan. I don't even need the chicken. But boy, does the chicken up the ante even more on this hummus bowl.
Kofta is basically football shaped Middle Eastern meatballs. They typically start with a base of ground meat, onion, and lots of spices. So, that's the game plan for our chicken kofta today. We'll start with ground chicken, grated onion, and warm spices like cumin, tumeric, and allspice along with our typical players like garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. We'll mix it all together, form the meat mixture into little patties, and pop them on the grill until they're just cooked through and perfectly tender on the inside.
Now, I know there are a lot of people that have an issue with the texture of ground meat. Don't worry. You're not out of luck on this one! This spice mix works beautifully with chicken breast cubes, as well. Just add a little extra olive oil to the spices to make a marinade consistency, use my 5 minute marinade trick, and grill the chicken kabob style instead.
To assemble our bowls, we'll schmear the hummus all over the bowl, top it with our spinach salad and kofta patties, then serve the whole thing with some lightly toasted naan bread. You can be polite and gently assemble each bite with a fork, or you can go for it and pile everything onto one of the naan slices for one epic bite. YOU DO YOU. Whatever you do, just make sure you get a little bit of everything in each bite.
Trust me.
This bowl is absolute heaven. The hummus is perfect cool and creamy. The spinach salad is fresh and crisp. The kofta is warm and comforting. And, the naan adds the perfect crunch to tie it all together. You won't believe what kind of incredible flavor comes from the most humble of ingredients!
Ok, everyone. I hope you've enjoyed our week of protein bowls. These seem to be my current obsession, so I'm sure you'll be seeing many more in the future.
I hope you all enjoy. And, let's eat!
Chicken Kofta Hummus Bowls
Serves: 4 Print
Ingredients:
For the Creamy Hummus:
1 can (15.5 oz) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and peeled
1/3 cup tahini
3 tbsp lemon juice
6 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
For the Chicken Kofta:
1 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
½ small onion, grated
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp ground allspice
grapeseed oil
For the Salad:
2 cups spinach
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 ½ cups cucumber, sliced and halved
½ shallot, thinly sliced
2 tbsp greek salad dressing (I used Trader Joes Greek Style Feta Dressing)
toasted mini naan, for serving
Directions:
Make the Creamy Hummus: In the bowl of a food processor, add chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, water, olive oil, and ½ tsp salt. Process for 1 minute until combined. Scrape down the sides, and process for 1 more minute until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Make the Salad: To a mixing bowl, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, shallot, and salad dressing. Toss gently to combine. Set aside.
Make the Chicken Kofta: To a mixing bowl, add ground chicken, olive oil, grated onion, salt, cumin, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, turmeric, and allspice. Mix gently to combine and fully incorporate the spices, being careful not to overwork the meat. Divide the meat into 8 portions, and form each portion into a small football shaped patty. (Think about forming a kabob without the skewer.) Set aside on a plate.
Heat a grill pan over medium high heat. Brush grapeseed oil to lightly coat the pan. Add the chicken patties, and cook for 5-6 mins per side until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Assemble the bowls: Evenly divide ingredients, and spread hummus over one third of the bowl. Place salad in the open space in the bowl. Top with chicken kofta. Serve with toasted mini naan. Enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*Peeling the chickpeas before making the hummus is an absolute must. I never used to do it, but it makes a ginormous difference in the texture of the hummus. It only takes an extra 5 mins or so to peel all of the chickpeas. Just pinch each chickpea gently between your fingers, and the skin comes right off. Discard the skin.
*To toast the naan, drizzle both sides with a light drizzle of olive oil, and toast it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 6-7 minutes.
*If you're not serving all of these bowls at once, wait to dress the salad, wait to toast the naan, and wait to assemble to bowls until you're ready to serve. Each component can be stored separately in the fridge.
*If you don't have Trader Joes Greek Feta dressing, you could use a light caesar dressing here too.
*If you're not a fan of the texture of ground meat, the spice mix used for the chicken kofta works very well as a marinade for cubes of chicken breast. Just add some extra olive oil to create a marinade, and cook the chicken like kabobs instead.
