Hands down the most delicious homemade chicken shawarma, with the secret homemade shawarma spice mix.
Chicken Shawarma
® This is a RAS signature Recipe©
Total time includes 30 minutes of marination time.
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Introduction, links to the Garlic Sauce recipe, Arabic Pickle Recipe, and Arabic Bread ( Khubz) and related links
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Chicken Shawarma
Description
The combination of warm, soft pita bread, garlic sauce, flavor-packed marinated grilled meat, fresh toppings, and fries, makes this famous street food, hard to resist!
Ingredients:
For 'Marinating the chicken':
For the Shawarma Spices:
Vegetables / Filling for the Shawarma
Instructions
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Dry roast the coriander seeds, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and allspice for 2 minutes in a pan - till fragrant.
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Add to a spice grinder along with 2 tsp paprika, white pepper powder, and turmeric..Grind this to a fine powder to be used later.
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Rinse and drain the chicken pieces. Add to a large bowl along with the prepared shawarma spice. Also, add ingredients for 'marinating the chicken'. Rub well into the pieces. The marinade should adhere to the chicken and not be runny.
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Set the chicken aside to marinate for 30 minutes ( at room temp). up to 3 hours ( in the fridge). Make sure the chicken is brought back to room temperature before cooking.
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Place a nonstick pan ( with a flat bottom and high curved edges that works best) on the stove and heat without oil. It should feel nice and hot when you place your palm over it.
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To the dry-heated pan - add the marinated chicken. This causes some smoke to develop.
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Leave the chicken to develop some smoke and then start stirring. (*This is why you need a good non-stick to make this).
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Toss the chicken well, till it begins to change color... Now add 2 -3 Tbsp olive oil. Drizzle it all around the pan. On high heat, keep tossing the chicken at regular intervals. Since the chicken and pan are quite hot, adding the oil to the chicken which is beginning to release liquids ...and tossing on high heat causes some flaming action in the pan. This is great for enhanced flavor!
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Keep tossing occasionally. The chicken will release liquids, which will later evaporate.
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Toss till the chicken pieces are beginning to get slightly charred in places.
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If you find any larger pieces of the sliced chicken.. now is the time to use kitchen scissors and cut them into smaller pieces. You can also test a piece to check if it's done.
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once the chicken is slightly charred and cooked well, drizzle a little olive oil over the pieces once more.
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Heat through stirring and right at the end add 1 tsp lime juice. Toss and remove from heat. Set aside.
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Heat oil for frying the homemade thick fries for shawarma. Once the oil is hot, first cook the fries till they look like they have been 'boiled' in oil. Remove from the oil and bring the temperature back up (of the frying oil).
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Return the fries to the hot oil again, this time fry till crisp  Initially do not stir frequently, as this might break the fries.. later the fries will start ' not to stick to one another'. At this time you can stir with tongs till the fries are slightly crisp. Drain from the oil and lay on kitchen paper. Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt over the fries.
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The cabbage and carrot for the filling should be very very finely grated, much like a coleslaw salad mix. Â Toss the two types of cabbage and carrot together in a bowl and set aside. Chop the onion, tomato, and lettuce to fill the chicken shawarma sandwiches. Set aside separately.
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To assemble/wrap the shawarma: Warm up each pita bread briefly in the Microwave oven or oven. DO NOT OVERHEAT, or the bread will become very hard. We just want to become warm and soft.
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Spread a layer of the garlic sauce vertically through the center. Be as generous as you like.
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Cover this with a vertical layer of cooked chicken. Place only 3-4 fries over the chicken layer. Followed by a very thin scattered layer of the cabbage and carrot mix. Followed by lettuce ( very scant).
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Place three slices of tomato or if you've diced the tomato, just sprinkle all over the filling.
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Lastly, add a dollop of more sauce and roll the shawarma sandwich, tightly and securely.
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Roll this up in sandwich paper, tightly twist the bottom end to secure the wrap and for the top edge, simply tuck it inwards.
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Serve while they are hot, with the Arabic pickle and extra sauce.
Note
Notes on Reheating Shawarma.
- You can freeze shawarma, to be eaten later.
- Defrost at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking in the microwave for bursts of 30 seconds.
- If reheating shawarma after some hours, simply microwave 1 shawarma for 30 seconds on high.
- If you wrap the shawarma in foil, you can place it on a pan on the stovetop and heat it. Turn the roll, to get it heated consistently through the sandwich.
- You can also prepare the filling the day before and store it in airtight Tupperware, to prepare the shawarma the next day.
- Key Ingredients: Chicken, Spices, Vegetables, Garlic Sauce, Pita bread, Potato, Olive oil, Salt.
I tried this shawarma recipe at home. I used beef instead of chicken …I didn’t have all the spices mentioned in the recipe… still the beef shawarma came out so delicious… I’m wondering how wonderful the taste will be if I put all the spices Shana mentions in her recipe.Thank you for this recipe… my kids are huge fans of shawarma…am glad I can make this at home now.