You could add a tabbouleh salad to this recipe, but Arabian style chicken shawarma usually comes with a simpler green salad, including pickled vegetables. Some people also add or substitute ‘all spice‘ into the shawarma mix. Still, the main thing for me is that the meat is marinated in spiced vinegar and yogurt, and tahini is the accompanying sauce.
The name’s origins, which means ‘to turn’, is from Anatolia, and it’s closely related to the doner (in Turkey) or gyro (in Greece). This preparation is from the Levant region. You can make the tabbouleh and tahini part on their own as a dip or to go with pretty much any other meats. I hope you enjoy making this Arabian style chicken shawarma as much as I did.
Savoury Arabian Style Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
- 4 cups ground chicken (minced chicken)
- ¾ cup plain yogurt
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 2 stick cinnamon stick
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg - shavings
- 10 cloves garlic
- 3 pods cardamom - seeds
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium lemon
Instructions
- To make the spice mix for the marinade, put the following into a pestle and mortar: sprig of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom seeds, pepper, salt and nutmeg shavings. Grind for a few minutes until the spices are broken down into a coarse powder.
- Pour the yogurt, vinegar, crushed garlic, lemon, and powdered spice mix into a bowl. Cut or poke the fillets so they will marinade well, and then add the whole chicken fillets to the liquid and leave them to marinate for a few hours (or overnight) in the fridge.
- When ready, remove the marinade from the fridge and cook on a BBQ, skillet, or roast in an oven. If you cook it in the oven, you’ll need to be careful not to overcook or dry out the meat.
- Assemble the shawarma by putting your choice of sauce and the meat stuffing into pita bread.