28 August 2022
Welcome friends. Here is another image from my neighborhood. This is the entrance to the Green Mill. I have no idea how old the signage is, but I don't think they make signs like this anymore. It is a combination of neon and small bulbs that blink on and off. It's been a jazz club for quite some time, but it was the hangout of the notorious Al Capone during prohibition. There is no connection between the image and the recipe for this post. Today, I'm sharing my recipe for Shawarma Chicken.
Shawarma is a Middle Eastern preparation for meats. I like Shawarma Chicken a lot. I used to get a shawarma chicken sandwich every week from the Olive Mountain Grill that was near the office. There are also a couple of Middle Eastern restaurants in my neighborhood that offer it. I decided that I should try and make it.
I started out with a recipe from the New York Times. It didn't taste like the dish that I was getting locally, so, I started playing around with it and looking for other versions online. I discovered there aren't many versions of this online, and they are all very similar. What followed was what I like to call "detective work". The Spice House sells a Shawarma blend. I bought some of it and tried making the dish with the blend. There was a list of the spices they used on the packaging. This too did not taste like the dish that I was used to. I went through a period where I was getting Chicken Shawarma in the neighborhood and changing the spices in my recipe based on what I thought might be used. I always felt like something was missing.
Long story short. The missing spice was fenugreek. I picked up a shawarma blend at the local Middle Eastern store when I was buying olive oil. I tried it and was happy with the results, so I looked though the list of ingredients. However, there were also things that I liked about my blend of spices. So, I added fenugreek to my blend.
Sometimes I add a couple of chicken breasts to the marinade. Most of the time, I just use thighs because they are less expensive.
Shawarma chicken is very versatile. You can serve it as a sandwich using a pita or a wrap. I like my sandwich with tomato, pickles, cucumber, and radicchio. You can plate it with some roasted vegetables. I also like to plate it, and serve it with curried couscous from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook". If you don't have that book, check Food Network website for the recipe.
Shawarma Chicken
30 min. prep time | 2 hr marinade or overnight | 1 hr 30 min. bake time
Ingredients
serves 4 to 6
- 2 1/2 to 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12)
- juice of 1 lemon, about 1/4 cup
- 3 Tbl olive oil
- 1 Tbl greek yogurt
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground fenugreek
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- pinch ground turmeric
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
- 1 medium red onion
Directions
Make the Marinade
place the chicken pieces in a large baking dish.
combine the lemon juice, olive oil, yogurt, and spices in a measuring cup. Whisk to combine. Dice the garlic, add it to the marinade, and whisk again. The mixture will thicken as you are dicing the garlic. Spoon the marinade over the chicken. Use your hands to coat both sides of the chicken with the marinade.
cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
Roast the Chicken
preheat the oven to 375 °F.
place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet or in a large roasting pan. Peel the onion and cut it in half. Cut each half into quarters and each quarter into 3 or 4 chunks. Tuck the onion chunks into the chicken pieces.
roast the chicken for 30 minutes. Use tongs to turn the chicken pieces over and return to the oven for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces again and return to the oven for 30 minutes.
remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before cutting or serving.