Chicken Shawarma Recipe

Shawarma is essentially a Middle Eastern sandwich-like wrap made of shaved lamb, chicken, turkey, beef or a mixture of these meats. To make shawarma, normally strips of meat is placed on a stick and onion and tomato are placed on top of the stack for flavoring. The meat is slowly roasted on all sides. It is grilled for as long as a day. The meat remains juicy because of the chunks of fat in it. After cooking, the meat is shaved off the stack using a large stick.

Shawarma is to the Middle East, what burger is to the West. Normally shawarma is wrapped in pita bread or flat bread and served with some salad (like cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce, eggplant, cabbage, pickled turnips, pickled gherkins, etc.) and it is topped with tahini, hummus, picked turnips, etc. The difference between chicken shawarma or any other shawarma is that, a chicken shawarma necessarily is served with garlic mayonnaise or garlic sauce. Also in some middle eastern countries, chicken shawarma is toasted before it is eaten, while the other shawarma is eaten immediately after it is made. The Greek dish gyros has a striking similarity with the shawarma. It is said that the origin of shawarma is in Turkey, where it is known as dőner kebab.

How to Make Chicken Shawarma

Are you also bored like me of eating the regular 'prawn mayo' or 'cheese and pickle' sandwiches? Try one of the chicken shawarma recipes given below and you may never go back to any other sandwich.

Recipe # 1
This is an authentic chicken shawarma recipe. It will take you approximately 40 minutes cooking time and an additional 10 times preparation time.

Ingredients To Make Shawarma

• Boneless and Skinless Chicken Thighs or Chicken Breasts 1 ½ lbs
• Plain Yogurt 1 cup
• Vinegar ¼ cup
• Garlic (crushed) 2 cloves
• Pepper 1 tsp
• Salt ½ tsp
• Cardamom Pods 2
• Allspice 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice from 1 lemon

Ingredients for the Sauce

• Tahini Sauce 1 cup
• Garlic (crushed) 2 cloves
• Lemon Juice ¼ cup
• Yogurt 2 tbsp

Ingredients for Pita Fillings

• Pita Bread 4 large
• Cucumber thinly sliced
• Onions thinly sliced
• Tomatoes thinly sliced
• Sumac ½ tsp
• Fresh Parsley (finely chopped) ½ cup
• Pickles of your choice

Method

• To make the shawarma combine all the ingredients apart from chicken to make the marinade.
• If the marinade seems little dry, you can add little olive oil to it.
• Now add chicken to the marinade and roll it to coat well.
• Leave the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. It would be good if you could leave it in the refrigerator overnight.
• Cook the chicken in a large sauce pan over medium heat, till it is well done. It will take approximately 40 minutes. But make sure you do not overcook the chicken.
• When you are cooking the chicken, if it feels dry, you can add little water to the chicken.
• In the mean time, you can prepare the shawarma sauce and the pita bread.
• Combine all the ingredients of the sauce and set is aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber and onions together and sprinkle sumac on it.
• Then add the other ingredients, combine well and keep it aside.
• Once the chicken is done, shred the chicken.
• Place sufficient quantities of chicken on the ¼ of the loaf.
• Top the chicken with the vegetables and pour sauce over it.
• Roll the bread, if you want it toasted you can toast it for a few minutes or eat it without toasting it.

Recipe # 2
This is another chicken shawarma recipe, which will serve 8 people and will require 10 minutes of preparation time and about 40 minutes of cooking time.

Ingredients To Make Shawarma

• Chicken Thighs (Boneless & Skinless) 8
• Mixed Spice 1 tsp
• Cardamoms ¼ tsp
• Salt to taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
• Plain Yogurt ¼ cup
• Malt Vinegar ½ cup
• Vegetable Oil 1 tbsp

Ingredients for the Sauce

• Plain Yogurt ¼ cup
• Tahini Sauce ½ cup
• Garlic (minced) ½ tsp
• Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
• Fresh Parsley (chopped) 1 tbsp
• Olive Oil 1 tbsp
• Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

Ingredients for Pita Fillings

• Pita Bread 8 rounds
• Tomatoes (thinly sliced) 4
• Onion (thinly sliced) ½ cup
• Lettuce (shredded) 4 cups

Method

• In a baking dish mix together, malt vinegar, ¼ cup plain yogurt, vegetable oil, mixed spice, cardamom, salt and pepper, then add chicken thighs to the mixture and coat well.
• Cover the chicken and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours, preferably overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In another bowl combine tahini, ¼ cup plain yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley together. Add salt and pepper as per taste.
• Cover the sauce and place the bowl in the refrigerator.
• Cover the chicken and let it bake for 30 minutes, but do turn the chicken once in between.
• Uncover the chicken and let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, till the chicken is browned and thoroughly cooked.
• Remove the chicken from the dish and shred it.
• Place shredded chicken, tomato, onion, lettuce inside pita bread and top it with the sauce. Now you can relish your chicken shawarma.

Personally I like both the shawarma chicken recipes and make them alternately. It also depends on the amount of time I have at home and also on the availability of the required ingredients. I hope you do relish the chicken shawarma as much as I do.