Shawarma

     I know a lot of you love shawarma, judging from a few shawarma stalls dotted around Male'.  I have tried a few recipes but most of them ended up with dried chicken. But it was only when I saw Chef Reem's chicken shawarma on her Instagram, where she had a metal skewer stuck to a large onion that got me thinking.  Maybe I can try it like that.

The end result is this delicious, juicy tender meat. I am not sure how authentic the spices and even the shawarma taste but my family loved it. 

Eating Shawarma is like eating tacos,  there is the lettuce, tomatoes the cooked chicken all rolled up in a flatbread that's been slathered with a garlic sauce. 

I just load everything in a large tray and everyone gets to help themselves. 

To make the shawarma, cut the chicken pieces into thin slices and each slice into half. then pound it a bit under a cling film to flatten it a little, don't go bashing the life out of it. 

Season with the spices mentioned and leave to marinate for a few hours or even overnight. Then to make the shawarma, take a large onion, cut it in half from the middle and place it on a baking tray or pan lined with foil( for easy cleaning). Stick about 4 bamboo skewers or even some palm tree eakles. Check if the whole thing fits into the bottom shelf of the oven and doesn't scrape the top of the oven.

Stick the chicken pieces one at a time into the skewers and once it is finished, gather them all into a bunch and stick a lemon or lime half.  

Pop in a hot oven and cook for 45 minutes to an hour.  Let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing it with a serrated knife or a very sharp knife. The onion at the bottom can be sliced up and added to the chicken.

The flatbread recipe I  made after adjusting this recipe I found on YouTube. They turned out so soft. 

The garlic sauce can be made with either plain yoghurt or mayonnaise, depending on what's available. 

To serve, slather the flatbread with sauce, then add some lettuce, tomato some onion slices and then chicken. Roll it up and enjoy!. 

Yield: 4

Author: Nammi

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Shawarma

Ingredients:

Chicken

• 2 large chicken breast pieces 350g- 400g
• 1 large white onion or red onion, peeled and left whole
• ½ lime
• 2 cloves garlic
• Juice of ½ lime
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground dried red chilli powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprika ( optional)
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon cardamom mix
• 1 tbsp yogurt (optional)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt

Bread

• 1 ½ cups plain flour, sifted
• ¾ cups warm milk
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp yeast

Garlic sauce

• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup mayonnaise ( or use plain yoghurt)

• fresh onion slices,
• sliced tomato
• shredded lettuce

Instructions:

Chicken

1. Line a baking sheet or pan with foil. Cut the onion in half horizontally. Place it cut-side down on the tray and stick one bamboo skewer right through the middle. Stick the remaining three bamboo skewers around the three sides. Set aside
2. Place the chicken breast on the meat cutting board. Lay it flat and slice it into thin slices. ( see photos above.
3. Place in a bowl or zip lock bag and add all the spices for seasoning along with lime juice and yoghurt if using. Season with about 1 level tsp of salt.
4. Mix well and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour. If keeping for an hour you can keep on the countertop in the kitchen but if keeping for a longer period, cover it and place it in the fridge but be sure to take it out 1 hour before cooking.
5. TO cook the shawarma, take each piece of chicken and stick it onto the skewer in the middle first, then carefully stick the ones on the sides to the sides of the pieces so its nicely secured. Repeat with the rest. See the photos above. Stick the lime half on top.
6. Preheat oven to 220 Degrees C. Carefully place the whole shawarma in the oven. Cook for mins. Remove and let it rest for 20 mins.
7. Using a sharp knife, slice along the shawarma, thin slices. Chop up the onion at the bottom so it doesn’t go to waste.

Bread

1. Sift the flour into a bowl, and stir in salt, sugar and yeast ( if using the yeast that has tiny grains and doesn’t need pre-soaking). 
2. Make well in the centre. Add lukewarm milk, and olive oil into the well and mix it all in and knead to smooth dough. 
3. Cover with cling film or a damp cloth and leave to rise for 1- 2 hours.
4.  ( If using the yeast with rounder grains and needs presoaking: add the lukewarm milk, that is just a little warm, stir in sugar and sprinkle in the yeast. Leave to froth for 10 mins, then add this whole thing into the flour.)
5. After it has doubled in size, shape it into balls, and roll it into flat breads. 
6. Heat a dry frying pan or griddle pan and once it's hot, place the flatbreads and cook on one side till bubbles appear on top and then flip to cook the other side. 
7. Place on a clean kitchen towel, repeat the same with the rest and then once all the flatbreads are done, loosely wrap the towel around the bread and keep until needed.

Garlic sauce and assembling the wrap

1. Prepare the vegetables and garlic sauce.
2.  Mix garlic into the mayonnaise. Taste and add salt and lime juice if desired. You can substitute it with yogurt instead of mayonnaise if you like.
3. Serve everything arranged in a platter. 
4. Take a piece of flatbread, spread some garlic sauce, some chicken, lettuce, tomato slices and onion rings. Wrap it up and enjoy.

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