Vegetable Sizzler (Shashlyk)

Vegetable Shashlyk or more commonly know as sizzler in India is an arrangement of rice, vegetables or meat on a hot iron plate lined with a bed of cabbage leaves. Usually, when you order it in a restaurant it comes sizzling with lots of smoke coming out of the plate. Its quiet dramatic!

Sizzlers are really popular in this part of the world and also the Middle East (I think because its so magnificent….. like saganaki), but its mostly prepared with meat …so its a lot like kebabs over rice with some fries maybe and sometime it is also served with some kind of a bread like pita or naan.

Just a few tips for when you make the shashlyk, don’t overcook the veggies - you want the veggies with a little crunch and not completely mushy. It will help them retain their shape and will give a nice texture to compliment the rice. Add the BBQ sauce mix to the rice as soon as they are done cooking - this will help them absorb the flavor nicely. Use your favorite BBQ sauce to make the marinade for this recipe. I used Hickory Smoke by Kraft.

I don’t have a sizzler plate - so I just used an iron skillet and it worked well. At some point though I would like to invest in a sizzler set - it comes with an iron plate that sits on a wooden platform just slightly bigger than the plate (to avoid accidents). In the meantime enjoy this recipe with or without a sizzler plate or an iron skillet.

Serving for 3 people

Cooking time 1 hour

Things you will need:

5 large mushrooms

3 medium to small potatoes, boiled & peeled

1 medium zucchini, cut into big pieces

1 red onion, diced into big chunks

1 green bell pepper, diced into big chunks

few broccoli florets

few button mushroom, stems removed

1 cup rice, uncooked

1 cup BBQ sauce

1/2 cup tomato puree (canned)

few cabbage leaves to line the iron skillet (optional)

salt & pepper

1. Mix BBQ sauce and tomato puree and mix well. Keep a 1/4 cup of the sauce mixture aside - the rest is for the rice.
2. Cooke rice. Add the BBQ sauce mix, salt and pepper and mix with a spatula till all the grains are coated well. Don’t over-mix or else the rice will break.
3. Add all the vegetables in a big mixing bowl. Add the 1/4 cup BBQ sauce mix and toss till all the vegetables are coated evenly. Let it marinade for 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Put the vegetables on skewers in a desired order.
5. Spray a griddle, or an electric grill with some olive oil and cook the vegetables (on skewers) for 5 minutes on each side.
6. Serve the skewers over rice.
7. If making a sizzler - heat up the sizzler plate (if you have one) or an iron skillet over medium high. Arrange the cabbage leaves on the surface. Spoon some rice and place 2 to 3 skewers on it. Add 1/2 tsp of butter to make it sizzle…serve right away.