Many people like shawarma with chicken mainly because of its sharp appetizing aroma and spicy taste. Nowadays, it can be purchased almost everywhere, since it is the most common street food. But you can cook it yourself, adjusting the amount and composition of spices, as well as choosing the sauce most suitable for you. Below are the most interesting shawarma recipes. At home, cooking it is not at all difficult.
You do not need a lot of products: just a few familiar spices, and garlic, lemon juice and olive oil can give chicken meat an incredible taste. There are two main ways to serve shawarma. Classic meat is considered to be in pita bread with tomato, salad and a simple sauce of yogurt or mayonnaise. Other additional ingredients are usually red onions, cheese, hummus, chili sauce.
The second method of serving this dish is on a plate with boiled rice or french fries and vegetable salad. Separately served pita bread or another type of tortilla.
Middle Eastern home-made shawarma
Chicken cooked according to this recipe is incredibly flavorful. The marinade is preparing very quickly for her. The meat soaked with it can be frozen and then thawed before cooking. It is best to cook such a shawarma at home on an open grill or barbecue, because the aroma of coal enhances the taste. However, as follows from the reviews, the dish will be delicious, even if you make it in an ordinary kitchen. Serve shawarma on a plate with vegetable salad and tortilla. Let your guests fold it to their liking. For this recipe you need:
- 1 kg chicken thigh fillet, boneless and skinless.
- 1 large garlic clove, minced.
- 1 tablespoon coriander.
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds.
- 1 tablespoon cardamom.
- 1 tsp cayenne ground pepper.
- 2 tsp smoked paprika.
- 2 tsp sea salt.
- Black pepper.
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil.
Sauce:
- 1 cup of Greek yogurt.
- 1 garlic clove (minced).
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds;
- Lemon juice.
- Sea salt and pepper.
To submit:
- 6 cakes (pita or pita).
- Sliced lettuce leaf.
- Sliced Tomato.
How to cook this Middle Eastern dish
Homemade shawarma recipe looks like this. Combine the marinade ingredients in a large plastic bag. Add pieces of chicken there and stir evenly with your hands. Leave to marinate overnight or for a day.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix. Cover with foil and refrigerate. He can be there for 3 days.
Heat the grill or pan to a moderate temperature. You do not need to lubricate the surface with oil, because it is contained in the marinade and will have time to soak in the chicken. Place slices of fillet and fry on one side for 4-5 minutes until they are well browned, then turn over and cook the other side for 3-4 minutes. Remove chicken from heat and lightly cover with foil. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Cut the chicken into small pieces and place on a dish with tortillas, salad and yogurt sauce. To make shawarma at home with chicken in pita bread, take one of the cakes and apply sauce to it. On top, put a little salad and a few slices of tomato, add chopped chicken. Roll into an envelope and serve to the table.
Some helpful tips
You can make the basis for the day before. To do this, prepare the marinade, mix it with chicken in a plastic bag and immediately freeze. When you want to cook homemade chicken shawarma, simply transfer the bag from the freezer to the refrigerator. When the meat is thawed, it will be pickled and ready for roasting.
Of course, this dish is best made from chicken thighs, because they have more fat. But shawarma can also be deliciously made from chicken breast. If you want to use white meat, it is best to cut the chicken fillet in half horizontally to make 2 thin steaks no more than 1 cm thick. You should marinate them according to the same recipe, and then fry over high heat for only 2 minutes on each side. Steaks will be juicy and beautiful.
Cooking on the grill, grill or even in a pan helps to get a golden crust. Baking will not give exactly the same taste, but it still works out pretty well. If you want to reduce the calorie content of the finished dish, bake the chicken in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes.
Another flavorful dish
As a rule, in fast food establishments shawarma is prepared with mayonnaise sauce, and sometimes with the addition of ketchup. At the same time, chicken is most often used along with the skin, which is why the dish turns out to be too fat. You can cook home-made shawarma with chicken according to a more lightweight recipe by choosing the optimal ratio of ingredients for yourself. For this you need:
- 1 kg of chicken thighs, boneless and skinless.
- Olive oil.
For marinade:
- 1 cup unsweetened yogurt (it is best to take Greek).
- 3 cloves of garlic (minced).
- one and a half tsp ground coriander.
- 2 tablespoons ground caraway seeds.
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika.
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
- One and a half teaspoons of onion powder.
- Half a tsp black pepper.
- 2 1/2 tbsp. l tomato paste.
- One and a half tsp. sea salt.
- 1 tbsp. l lemon juice.
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
To submit:
- Lebanese bread / tortillas / pita bread.
- Iceberg lettuce".
- Fresh vegetables.
For the sauce:
- 1 cup yogurt without additives.
- 1 liter Art. olive oil.
- Fresh lemon juice to taste.
- Half a clove of minced garlic.
- Pepper and salt.
- Chili sauce.
How to cook
Consider how to make homemade shawarma for this recipe. Place all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add the chicken. Mix everything. The marinade needs to cover all the meat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Choose a baking dish so large that you can place the skewers on top from edge to edge. It is important that the chicken pieces do not come into contact with any surface. Cover the bottom of the pan with foil. Next shawarma home step by step is done like this.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Put each piece on both skewers around the edges. Put the skewers on top of the mold, on the edges. Butter the chicken on the surface. Bake for 35 minutes. Pour the meat with melted juice, collected at the bottom of the mold. Then turn the skewers, sprinkle the meat with oil and bake for another 20 minutes. Pour it with melted juice again and cook for another 5 minutes.
Lift the skewers on one side and chop the meat thinly at an angle. Slices must be very thin.
To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients for it in a separate bowl.
Dish assembly
To cook shawarma at home, grease pita bread with sauce, place chopped salad, slices of vegetables and chicken on it. Fold in an envelope and wrap in foil to prevent cooling before serving. If desired, cheese or tabula can be added to the dish. According to reviews, this oriental side dish goes well with pickled chicken.
Such home-made shawarma can also be made on a plate. To do this, put chicken, french fries, chopped lettuce, tomatoes, red onion slices, tabule and hummus on a large serving dish. Pour sauce on one side, put pita bread or other white cakes on a separate plate.
How to make a tabula on a side dish
The above recipe for shawarma with chicken at home suggests adding a tabula. How to cook this side dish? Take 4 tablespoons of bulgur and pour half a glass of boiling water. Wait until the croup is soft. Mix it with a glass of finely chopped parsley, a quarter cup of chopped fresh mint, half a red onion and a large tomato, chopped into small cubes. Season with lemon juice (fresh), olive oil, salt and pepper.
How to make shawarma cakes
Of course, you can make shawarma at home with chicken, using store pita bread or other oriental bread, but it is better to bake it yourself. To do this, you will need:
- 1 sachet of active dry yeast.
- Half a glass of warm water.
- 3 cups whole flour.
- 1-1 / 4 tsp salt.
- 1 tsp granulated sugar.
- a glass of slightly heated water optionally.
How to bake
You can use these tortillas in any chicken shawarma recipe at home. Dissolve the yeast in half a glass of slightly heated water. Add sugar and mix. Let it brew for 10-15 minutes, or until the water begins to foam.
Combine the flour and salt in a mixer bowl. Make a small depression in the middle of the mixture and pour the yeast mixture into it. Turn on the mixer at low speed and beat until mixing. Continue whisking for 10-15 minutes until the dough becomes elastic and smooth.
Lubricate a large bowl with vegetable oil and place the dough in it. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 3 hours. The dough should double in volume. Put it on a lightly floured board and roll it into a sausage. Cut it into 10-12 small pieces and roll them into balls.
Place the balls on a floured surface, cover with a clean cloth and leave for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven and baking sheet to 230 degrees and make sure that the rack is at the bottom of the oven.
Roll each ball of dough with a rolling pin into a circle 5-7 mm thick. Bake each of them for 4 minutes, then turn over and bake another 2 minutes. Remove each cake from the pan using a spatula, then cool and cover with a clean cloth.
Arab shawarma
This is another homemade shawarma recipe that can be easily made. In this case, Arabic spices are used, as well as tahini sauce, which will give the dish a slightly unusual taste. You will need the following products:
For chicken:
- 800 grams boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts (thinly sliced).
- 1 cup of Greek yogurt.
- A quarter cup of vinegar.
- 2 garlic cloves (minced).
- 1 tsp black pepper;
- Half a tsp table salt.
- 2 pods of cardamom (chopped).
- 1 tsp chili sauce.
- Juice from 1 lemon.
For the sauce:
- 1 cup tahini.
- 2 cloves of garlic.
- 1/4 cup lemon juice.
- 2 glasses of Greek yogurt.
For filling cakes:
- 8 small pita breads.
- Thinly sliced cucumbers.
- Red onion cut into thin rings.
- Thinly sliced tomatoes.
- Half a glass of fresh parsley, finely chopped.
How to cook arabic shawarma
This step-by-step recipe for homemade shawarma looks like this. Combine all the vegetables for the filling, stir well. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a spoonful of olive oil.
Put the chicken in the marinade, cover and leave for 8 hours. After that, in a large skillet, fry it over moderate heat for 20-30 minutes until cooked.
Cook the sauce while the chicken is fried. Combine all the ingredients for it, mix well and set aside. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a little more lemon juice or water until it reaches the desired consistency.
Put enough chicken on pita bread. It should fill about 1/4 of its surface. Add vegetables and pour the sauce. Fold into an envelope and serve immediately. As you can see, this homemade shawarma recipe is very simple.
Reviews
People’s opinions on purchased shawarma with chicken are not quite favorable. People say that it can be too oily, skins can be found in meat, and the sauce can be tasteless, too spicy or unpleasant due to the abundance of spices.
Cooking shawarma at home, you can avoid all these disadvantages. Those who have tried such a dish, note its fullness and excellent taste. Many people say that in homemade shawarma, you can optionally control the amount and type of spices, and make chicken meat more juicy and tender.