Bank holiday weekend food mood: chicken shawarma!! Bursting with Middle Eastern flavours and accompanied by a refreshing yoghurt cucumber sauce and homemade pita bread; I only have one word in mind... HOB!! (love in Arabic)
Ingredients:
For the chicken shawarma marinade:
-6 chicken skinless thigh fillets, tenderise using a meat mallet
-4 tbsp Greek style yoghurt
-1 tbsp oil
-1tbsp lemon juice
-1/2 tbsp of salt
-1/2 tbsp minced garlic
-1/2 tbsp ground coriander
-1/2 tbsp paprika
-1/2 tbsp cumin,
-1/2 tsp of chili pepper
-1 tsp of ground cinnamon
-1 tsp black pepper
For the Tzatziki sauce:
-3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
-6cm of cucumber, grated (excess water squeezed out, like to core my cucumbers first before grating to reduce water content)
-2 cloves of garlic, minced (more if you like a stronger garlic flavour, less if you don't)
-half a lemon (juice)
-1 tbsp of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
-pinch of salt and pepper
-tsp mint sauce (optional)
Quick side note: I like to add a small tsp of mint sauce if I have some in the fridge just to give a bit of zing.
Making your own pita bread is optional. I used BBC good food recipe.
For the pita bread:
-2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
-500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
-2 tsp salt
-1 tbsp olive oil
Method:
1. Preparing the marinade, mix all the ingredients together. Then place the chicken thighs in a bowl, make sure all surfaces are nicely coated. Cling film the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours if you can but no less than 20 mins.
2. Roast meat in the oven for 50- 60 mins (check colour of the meat after 50 mins but if you like it a bit browner keep in for the extra ten mins).
3.To assemble the shawarma, pre heat oven to 180C. Cut and peel a large brown onion placing one half flat side down in the middle of a roasting tray (make sure you cut the onion clean and evenly so the meat doesn't topple over). Use a wooden skewer to put in the middle of the onion pushing down to the roasting pan (blunt end into onion, point end up) and layer on the individual thighs by piercing through the skewer (make sure the sides of the chicken thighs are in different positions so as to keep the weight evenly distributed, I like to follow a star pattern). If you need to carefully cut the top of the skewer off so it fits in the oven (a strong pair of scissors should do the job).
4. For the Tzatziki sauce, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Season to taste.
5. For the pita bread, in a large bowl mix the yeast with 300ml warm water. Leave to sit for 5 minutes until you see the yeast is bubbly, then tip in the flour, salt and olive oil. Bring the mixture together into a soft dough.
6. On a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough for 5-10 mins until it becomes soft and smooth (try to knead using as little extra flour as possible, just enough so that the dough doesn’t stick; this will keep the pittas light and airy). Once kneaded, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to double in size, approximately 1 hour.
7. Heat the oven to 250C, place a large baking try inside to get very hot. Next divide the dough into eight balls then using the palm of your hand, flatten each ball making a disc shape. On a lightly floured surface, place each disc and roll into an oval shape, 20cm long, 15cm wide and 3-5mm thick.
8. Remove the hot tray from the oven. Place the pitas directly onto it and put back in the oven and bake for 4-5 mins, or until the pitas have puffed up and are a pale golden colour. Whilst the others are cooking, wrap each pita bread in a tea towel to keep them from becoming hard. ENJOY!! XXX
Comments