Chicken Shawarma

Middle Eastern food is one of my favorite cuisine of all time. Shawarma is one of the staple dishes you will find in any Middle Eastern restaurant. Every time I’ve had one I would wonder how hard it would be to make this at home.

Since we are grilling regularly this summer I figured I’ll try making chicken shawarma with some grilled chicken. Shawarma can be served as a wrap in pita bread or with just chicken over rice.

Few Lines about Shawarma from wikipedia:

Shawarma is a Levantine Arab meat preparation, where lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef, or mixed meats are placed on a spit (commonly a vertical spit in restaurants), and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, and the remainder of the block of meat is kept heated on the rotating spit. Although it can be served in shavings on a plate (generally with accompaniments), “shawarma” also refers to a pita bread sandwich or wrap made with shawarma meat. Shawarma is eaten with tabbouleh, fattoush, taboon bread, tomato, and cucumber. Toppings include tahini, hummus, pickled turnips and amba. Shawarma is a fast-food staple across the Middle East, Europe and the Caucasus.

Preparation Time : 40 minutes excluding the marinade time.
No Of servings : 2-3
Spice level : 2 out of 5

Method Of Preparation:

1. wash and clean the chicken and marinade it with the above ingredients listed under To Marinade.
2. Refrigerate and let the marinade sit for atleast 2 hours or whole night.
3. If you have a gril just grill the chicken pieces until it’s well done or bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes in 400 F until it’s fully cooked and it  becomes golden Brown.
4. Or you can also just fry the chicken pieces in the pan with a tbsp of oil.
5. Now slice the cooked chicken thighs into thin strips and keep it aside.
6. For making tahini sauce just dry roast the sesame seeds and grind it with the rest of the ingredients listed under tahini sauce. 
7. Or if you using store bought tahini sauce  mix it with teh rest of the ingredients and add water little water to adjust the consistency.
8. Now just warm the pita bread in a pan by turning two sides for couple of minutes.
9. And spread the tahini sauce on the pita bread and place few spoons of cucumber, onion, lettuce tomato and chicken strips on the bread and roll it gently.
10. Serve it with little hummus on the side.