Chicken Tikka Skewers & Some good news!

We just got our results from Uni and I passed my first year! I did very well overall gaining firsts and upper seconds in everything, bar one unit, which annoys me as I put 100% effort in. However, the results aren’t broken down at all so I have no idea what I received individually in the unit as throughout the year we handed in our manual drawings and got them back with our marks so I know I was doing well with that. This basically means I must have done crap at the CAD side of that unit and I wish I could see exactly where I went wrong, but all we get is the overall unit, a number and pass/fail. Anyway I’m happy as it’s proven that I can do it, but now comes the tough bit as I’m trying to transfer to a uni closer to home for the start of second year. It’s not 100% that I’ll be able to do it, so I’m just crossing everything that it’s possible.

I went to an open day at the new uni back in January and really liked the new place. The lecturer there wanted me to transfer for the beginning of the second semester, but paperwork wise this wasn’t possible so he said to email him when I get my results, which I’ve done so it really is just sit back and wait now :/

My reason for transferring is because I can’t be away from my boyfriend. I know this probably sounds ridiculous to you and you’ll be calling me a fool in love, sorry but that’s how it is for me. For a long time at the beginning of our relationship we were long distance because I still lived at home with my parents and he lived 90 miles away in Essex. I also had a job which meant I only had every other weekend off so we only saw each other twice a month.

My boyfriend had already asked me to move in months before I did, but I said it would be best to wait until I moved out of my parents and into uni so I could split my time between Southampton and Essex. It was good being able to see my boyfriend every weekend, but it was getting harder and harder to leave on a Sunday night so I started pushing it to Monday morning. This meant getting up at 5:30am to drive to Southampton, but it meant I got an extra night at home and to be honest, I can’t sleep without my other half.

Come Christmas, we had 3 weeks off and I was so settled at home, I couldn’t go back to living at uni. I stuck it out for the first term, spending most of my nights crying in bed because I missed him so much, we’d MSN every night and talk on the phone, but it wasn’t the same as I’m sure many of you know and we knew we were dead serious about each other so it wasn’t a rushed decision, I may only be 21, but my other half is 34 and my Dad always said I came out 40. I’ve always been super mature and ready to settle down, I don’t drink and I don’t go out clubbing etc. This was a well thought out decision. So at the start of the second semester I made the decision to commute every day from Essex to Southampton, a 260 round trip. This cost over £100 a week in fuel and I couldn’t find anyone else to live in my room at uni and as I wasn’t leaving the uni I couldn’t get out of my accommodation contract so I was still paying for a room I wasn’t staying in. I didn’t mind though as I am and always have been a homebody and the fact that at the end of every day I could actually go home meant the world to me, no matter how far I had to drive.

People were worried about the travelling taking its toll on me, but I was fine, yes a bit tired, but I love driving and I was happier at home. So I managed it for a whole term. However, I won’t be able to commute for the next 2 years. The workload will be heavier so any time spent commuting will be time spent not working on projects and I just can’t afford it, so I really need this transfer.

Worst case scenario, my boyfriend has said he’ll move down to Southampton with me for the next 2 years for me to finish my degree. I really don’t want to do this though, it’s too much upheaval for us, the dog. My boyfriend has a life here, work, friends. I just don’t think I can do it to him, but it means the world to me that he would do that for me. It takes me a while to get settled in a place and I’m settled here in Essex now so I don’t want to have to move again even though it would be temporary.

Anyway enough of my ramblings and onto today’s recipe. It’s chicken tikka skewers! These turned out so well, really yummy and as I don’t like spicy food, these were a good mix of flavour and just a tiny hint of spice, my palate could cope with it! Of course if you like spicy food then you can add more cumin and some cayenne pepper etc, but for me this recipe is perfect 🙂

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You will need:

> 3 wooden or metal skewers
> Skillet/grill pan
> Hand blender/food processor
> Bowl for marinading chicken

Serves 2-3 (depends how many you want, we made 3, I had 1 and my boyfriend had 2)

Ingredients:

> 2 chicken breasts, chopped into chunks
> 2tbsp natural yoghurt
> 1tbsp tomato purée
> 1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
> 1 clove of garlic
> 1cm piece of ginger, peeled
> 1tsp paprika
> 1/2tsp ground cumin
> Spray cooking oil

Method:

> Place the yoghurt, purée, onion, garlic, ginger, paprika and ground cumin in a blender.
> Blitz it in the mixer until a smooth paste has formed.

> Place the chunks of chicken in a bowl and pour the marinade on top. Mix until all the chicken is coated.
> Place the bowl in the fridge and leave it to marinade for at least 2 hours.
> After 2 hours, take the chicken out and thread the chicken as evenly as possible onto the skewers. Think we ended up with 6 chunks on each.

> Heat up the skillet on a medium temperature, spray with cooking oil (we used the 1 calorie per spray stuff) and heat until it smokes.
> Once up to temperature, place the skewers into the skillet. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side of the chicken.

> Sorry for the blurry picture it’s a combination of my rushing and the smoke I think! :/ Keep rotating the chicken until it’s cooked through and nicely browned.
> Serve immediately, we served ours with rice 🙂