Chicken Shawarma

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 INGREDIENTS

Serves: 6-10, depending on how you choose to serve it

  • 12 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
  • 2 unwaxed lemons
  • 100 millilitres regular olive oil
  • 4 fat or 6 smaller cloves garlic (peeled and finely grated or minced)
  • 2 dried or fresh bay leaves
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 2 teaspoons Maldon sea salt flakes
  • lettuce leaves (to serve)

FOR THE SHAWARMA SAUCE

  • 250 grams plain yoghurt
  • 4 x 15ml tablespoons tahini
  • 1 fat or 2 smaller cloves garlic (peeled and finely grated or minced)
  • fat pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes (or to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds

METHOD

Take a large resealable freezer bag and put the chicken thighs in it.

Using a fine microplane grater (for choice), grate in the lemon zest, then squeeze the lemons and add the juice. Pour in the olive oil and add the garlic, then add all the remaining ingredients, except for those for the sauce.

Squish everything about together, then seal the bag, place it on a plate or in a dish, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or up to 1 day.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7/425°F, remove the chicken from the fridge and allow it to reach room temperature.

Tip the contents of the freezer bag into a shallow roasting tin — mine measures 44 x 34 x 1.5cm (a half sheet with a small lip of ½ inch) — and make sure all the chicken thighs are lying flat and not on top of one another (if possible) before roasting in the hot oven for 30 minutes, by which time they should be cooked through (though obviously you must check) and golden on top.

When the chicken’s more or less cooked, make the sauce simply by combining the yogurt with the tahini and garlic, stir and salt to taste, and sprinkle with a few pomegranate seeds.

Line a platter or a couple of plates with crisp lettuce, shredded or torn into pieces, and then top with the piping hot chicken, pouring the oily juices over them, unless you are, for some inexplicable reason, anti-oily-juices. If you wanted to make the chicken go further, you could cut the thighs into chunky slices rather than leaving them whole. And please do add any of the suggested accompaniments, itemized in my Introduction.