Despite the fact that shawarma was originally an Arabic dish that was common in the Middle East, today it has become popular in many countries. Almost every person has tried shawarma or chicken roll at least once in a lifetime. And for this it is not necessary to go to a cafe or a street stall with fast food, everything you need for shawarma with chicken can be found in your home refrigerator or in the nearest store.
What is "shawarma"
In the common sense, shawarma is a thin pita bread in which the filling of meat, vegetables and sauces is wrapped. In this case, various types of meat can be used: chicken, beef, lamb, pork. For classic shawarma, the meat is fried on a special skewer, but when cooking such a dish at home, the meat is fried in a pan.
What ingredients will be needed for cooking shawarma
In order to cook such a simple and nutritious food, first of all, you should decide which ingredients will be used. There are basic products without which it will not be possible to make even the simplest shawarma with chicken. But many people prefer to add additional ingredients to the dish that make shawarma tastier and more nutritious.
The main ingredients for cooking shawarma
The main ingredients for shawarma with chicken are just two products:
- Chicken fillet. If you are wondering “how to make homemade shawarma with chicken”, then first of all you need to decide how you will cook the meat. You can use both boiled and baked chicken, but most people prefer to fry the meat in a pan, after pickling it in your favorite marinade. At the same time, you can fry the meat in small slices, or you can fry the fillet in the form of steaks, which will need to be cut into smaller pieces after cooking.
- Thin pita bread. You can use traditional thin pita bread, or you can choose color pita bread with additives. Now very popular cakes with the addition of spinach (painted in green), cheese (have a yellow color) or beets (pink).
It is without pita bread and meat that it will not be possible to make shawarma, and all other ingredients are considered additional. However, some of them (for example, fresh vegetables and sauces) are considered traditional and are included in most recipes, while other additives are used less often, depending on the taste preferences of a person (for example, olives and cheese) or the culinary traditions of the region.
Traditional complementary ingredients
Chicken meat goes well with vegetables and various sauces, so they are the most popular additives, without which we no longer imagine a shawarma recipe with chicken in pita bread. Most recipes contain ingredients such as:
- garlic Sause;
- tomato sauce (ketchup);
- cabbage (white and Beijing);
- Fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.
With such additives shawarma will turn out tasty and juicy. Along with traditional additives, you can often find additional ingredients for shawarma with chicken, which are popular with most people:
- cheese (hard, processed, cheese sticks);
- mushrooms (fried, pickled);
- salted or pickled cucumbers;
- carrots in Korean;
- radish;
- greens (parsley, dill, cilantro, basil).
When adding to the dish many different components, it should be remembered that they must be combined with each other. Therefore, do not add to the dish everything that you found in the refrigerator.
Less Popular Shawarma Supplements
Some people prefer to add shawarma products that will give it a little piquancy. If you want to experiment with taste, try adding the following ingredients to the chicken shawarma filling:
- mustard (regular or French)
- bell peppers;
- olives or capers;
- avocado;
- French fries.
No matter what products are added to the filling, they must be cut or chopped in a certain way. Cut them should not be too large (for convenient placement in pita bread), but not very small (products must retain their juice and aroma).
The easiest and most delicious shawarma recipe
In fact, preparing a decent shawarma is quite simple. The list of ingredients for chicken shawarma is as follows:
- Chicken fillet - 200 grams.
- Thin pita bread - 1 piece.
- White cabbage - 100 grams.
- Fresh cucumber - 1 each.
- Garlic - 1 clove.
- Mayonnaise - 2 tablespoons.
- Ketchup - 2 tablespoons.
- Onions - 1 piece.
- Salt, pepper, other spices to taste.
- Vegetable oil (for frying).
The cooking process is as follows:
- Rinse the chicken fillet, cut into small slices, salt and season with your favorite spices, leave for 10 minutes, so that it is slightly marinated.
- Pour a little sunflower oil into the hot pan, fry the chicken fillet in it, add the onions chopped in half rings into the pan a few minutes before the meat is ready.
- Chop cabbage, cut into small slices of cucumber.
- Mix mayonnaise with garlic crushed or grated.
- Divide the pita into two equal parts, grease it with a thin layer of ketchup. Put cabbage on the edge of the pita bread, spread garlic sauce (mayonnaise with garlic), lay the fried meat and cucumbers on top, grease the filling with garlic sauce again.
- Roll lavash stuffed in the form of a neat roll and fry it a little in a dry frying pan until crisp.
The ingredients for shawarma with chicken are used the most ordinary and uncomplicated, but the result will surely please the whole family.
Hearty Shawarma Recipe
In order for the traditional shawarma with chicken to become even more nutritious and satisfying, additional ingredients must be added to the filling. The taste of the dish is balanced if, in addition to products used in a simple recipe, add it:
- fried mushrooms;
- cheese sticks;
- fresh tomato;
- greens (parsley, dill).
The cooking process is practically the same as described above, except that finely chopped greens are added to the garlic sauce, and a little fried mushrooms and cheese are added to the filling. Mushrooms can be laid out together with meat, and cheese sticks are disassembled into smaller fibers and laid out on top of the entire filling (before the shawarma is folded). This type of cheese is very suitable for this dish, it gives shawarma additional juiciness and pleasantly stretches during the meal.
To understand which shawarma recipe with chicken in pita bread will be ideal for your family, you just need to remember which foods your household loves the most. And then analyze how these products will be combined with chicken and pita bread, and then turn on fantasy and experiment.
Is it necessary to fry shawarma
Many people ask: “Is it worth frying shawarma?” But there is no unequivocal opinion, it is better to do everything to your taste. Some people like softer dishes - in this case, shawarma should not be fried. But most prefer her to have a crisp. Then it should be fried a little. You can do this in a dry frying pan or add a little oil to it.
Not very common, but quite tasty is the option of frying home shawarma in an electric waffle iron. Shawarma is placed in a heated waffle iron and squeezed a little, after the pita bread gets a delicious crust, it can be laid out on a dish.