Chicken - rain or shine

Even though we have just had an almighty thunderstorm in Peckham tonight I am convinced it'll be a long hot summer - fingers crossed. Anyway these are nice on the barbeque, or grilled or fried in a cast iron griddle pan (? I think that's what that is called).

Marinated chicken kebabs (oil, lemon, garlic, chilli, ginger) – great for a barbeque or for a simple supper. You’ll need a chicken breast per person. For the marinade you’ll need a knob of ginger about an inch long, finely chopped, a clove of garlic finely chopped, a red chilli de-seeded and finely chopped, the juice of half a lemon and a good slug of olive oil. You’ll also need some wooden kebab skewers – make sure they are well soaked before use (that way they don’t burn).

Mix the garlic, ginger, oil, chilli and lemon juice together. Cube the chicken breast (1 ½ inch cubes). In a glass dish pour the marinade over the chicken cubes, cover with cling film and refrigerate for four hours or over night.

When your ready to cook thread the cubes onto the (soaked) skewers. You may intersperse the chicken with red, yellow or green pepper if you wish, these should be de-seeded and cut into 1 inch squares. You can do the same with a red onion if you like. I prefer the chicken pure.

Then barbeque or grill under a high heat until the meat is browned and sizzling. Serve with aromatic rice and salad.

And if it is completely ghastly and raining and you just want to sit round the kitchen table try this:

Stir fried chicken and sweet chilli sauce

Take a frying pan, add some oil and turn up the heat. When the oil sizzles add chopped red onion, chopped spring onions (4 or 5), an inch of fresh ginger chopped finely, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely, a red chilli chopped up. Let them sizzle around until the onions have wilted then add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of garam masala (I have a concoction for this, this will follow in due course, stir around then add either cooked bits of chicken or sliced breast. Add some torn basil leaves. Then I adore the sweet chilli dipping sauce at all good supermarkets - give it a good slug. Finally add a squeeze of two of lemon. While this is going on boil up some noodles or rice. Serve, with a glass of water - it can be hot!