Chicken Shawarma

Image courtesy of Yash Bharwaj at Unsplash

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Marinade Time: 2 hours or more

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes plus marinade time

You just finished reading The Orient Express and now you're planning to watch the movie. You're flipping through photos of your trip to the Middle East or India. Your mouth starts watering, thinking about the wonderful flavors found in that cuisine. 
Your mind starts spinning, wondering how you can capture those flavors without killing yourself.

That little light in your head goes off: "Chicken Shwarma, I found you at last! It has a lots of Middle Eastern that are not too hard to find at the local grocery store. Hmmm, the turmeric may be a little challenging but I bet if I search the web I can find a nearby, international market that has it. Or there's always Amazon if I can wait until tomorrow."

The biggest delay and lengthy part of preparing this is how long you want the chicken to marinade for. This is a matter of personal preference that depends on how thoroughly you want the flavors to permeate the meat and how long you can hold out until you have to sit down and watch the movie and make it more life like with a regional dish. Personally, I prefer to marinade overnight or longer.

The recipe I am sharing here is a mild version that you can add heat to with a bit of Cayenne Pepper, which I will discuss after the basic recipe. Shawarma is traditionally served as a wrap using Pita bread, but we have also been incredibly happy with it wrapped in a Taco. It’s less filling and allows the flavors to shine. And there is a great sauce to go with it!

Ingredients for the Sauce:

· 2 cups of yogurt, you can use Greek if you prefer

· The juice of ½ a large lemon or lime

· 2 cloves of garlic pressed in a garlic press

· ½ tsp of Salt

· 1/8 of tsp of Black Pepper

Ingredients for the Shawarma:

· 3 to 4 Pounds of boneless, skinless, chicken thighs cut in quarters

· 1 Cup of Olive Oil

· The juice of 1 large or 2 small Lemons or Limes

· 1 large yellow Onion, quartered and cut into ¼ inch thick slices

· 2 tsp of Paprika, for a touch of heat use Smoked Hungarian Paprika

· 1 tsp of Salt

· ½ tsp of Black Pepper

· 2 tsp of Cinnamon

· 2 tsp of Turmeric

Cooking Instructions:

The Marinade:

· Pour the Olive Oil into 1 gallon, zippered, plastic, storage bag

· Add the Lemon or Lime juice and the onion slices

· Add all the spices to the bag, seal it and mix all the ingredients thoroughly

· Add the chicken thighs and mix with the marinade in the bag until all the chicken is coated

Place the bag with all the ingredients on a dinner plate and put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Overnight is better. If you really can't wait, 1/2 an hour will get you some of the flavor you're craving.

Image courtesy of Paul Istoan at Pixabay

The Sauce

· In a medium sized, mixing bowl add the 2 cups of yogurt and press the garlic with all the pieces

· Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper

· Stir everything together and mix thoroughly

· Transfer to a serving bowl and allow to sit for ½ an hour to let the flavors marry

A few things I would like to point out here. The first is if you like Greek yogurt it’s a great way to go: I am not a big fan as I find it to be too thick. I tend to use regular, plain yogurt. But not just any plain yogurt. It has to be tangy and not watery. When I live in the NYC area my go to was Axelrod. I now use Mountain High plain yogurt. It doesn’t claim to be organic, but the ingredients seem to be fairly pristine, it has a nice tangy flavor and is rich without being overly thick.

Secondly, if you want it hotter, start by adding a ¼ tsp of ground, Cayenne Pepper. Feel free to use more, but I recommend starting there so you can better gauge how much pepper will get it to the heat level you like most. The yogurt sauce will cool it down somewhat as well so you can vary the heat with by changing the amount of sauce you use.

I also want to mention is that for the marinade, Lime juice is a bit sweeter than Lemon juice and we have been very happy with result, so much so that we use Lime juice instead unless we are only have lemons on hand. And now onto the actual cooking.

Last of all, before we actually cook the shawarma, you can use chicken breast if you prefer white meat. But you will need to reduce the cooking time and keep a very close eye on it or it will get dry and overcooked.

Cooking the chicken:

There are two ways to approach how to cook the Shawarma.

· You can put them a kabob skewers and fire up the grill to a high heat. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes and flip to other side for 3 to 4 minutes longer

· Or fire up the heat on a cast iron skillet to medium high. Cook on one side for 3 to 4 minutes, flip the pieces and cook on the other side for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Either way, you should get a nice char on the meat, which really enhances the flavors. One other trick is to sauté the onion slices from the marinade with a few tablespoons of the marinade. Cook thoroughly on a medium high heat and bring to a boil. If you use the cast iron method, throw the onions in the same pan that you cooked the chicken in. This makes a great addition to the toppings. Speaking of which, some toppings you may enjoy are:

· Tomato cut in small chunks or thin slices

· Lettuce

· Raw onion, cut in a small dice or thin slices (red or Spanish are particularly good)

· Sautéed, marinated onion slices with some of the cooked sauce – this is a great hit of added flavor

The finished dish, time to chow down

As I mentioned, Shawarma is usually served as a wrap in Pita Bread with the sauce on top of the meat, very much like a Greek Gyro. Other ways to enjoy it are in a Taco instead of Pita Bread, with rice, pilaf or Couscous.

This is a great, warming dish full of earthy flavors contrasted by the citrus and the tang of yogurt. It is very much a taste of Middle Eastern street food, as is Falafel. It is relatively easy to prepare: most of the work is in cutting chicken into pieces and the onion into slices. Shawarma take you to the bizarres of the Middle East without leaving your home or backyard. It is a great addition to your barbecue repertoire that uses wonderful spices which are not typically brought together in Western cooking. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do. Please give it a try, I am sure you will be glad you did. Happy eating!