Deconstructed shawarma
Abhipriya Raghav
Our favorite street food deconstructed and presented in a plate with pita bread, grilled chicken, salads and some flavorful sauces too!
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Rest Time 4 hours hrs
Total Time 5 hours hrs
Course Main Course
Cuisine Middle Eastern
To prepare the toum
- ¼ cup garlic cloves
- ¾ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp ice cold water
- ¼ tsp salt
To prepare the tzatziki
- 1½ cups Greek yogurt
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 medium cucumber, unpeeled and grated
- 1 tbsp chopped dill leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- salt, as required
To prepare the chili mayonnaise
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
- ½ tsp chili flakes
For the coleslaw
- ½ medium red cabbage, thinly sliced
- ½ medium green cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2 medium carrots, julienned
- 2 tbsp black olives, chopped
- 2 tbsp gherkins, chopped
- 2 tbsp jalapenos, chopped
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- salt, as required
- ¼ tsp black pepper powder
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
For the pita bread
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1½ tsp instant yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1+1 tbsp olive oil
For the chicken marinade
- 1 kg chicken drumsticks
- 4 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 1½ tbsp sumac powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
- 1 tsp sweet paprika powder
- 1 tsp cayenne powder
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg powder
- ¼ tsp cloves powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper powder
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp garlic paste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt, as required
To prepare the toum
In a food processor, add garlic, salt, cold water and some lemon juice and pulse it until it forms a paste. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle the olive oil in a very thin stream alternating with lemon juice. Repeat until it becomes fluffy and fully incorporated. Transfer and chill before serving.
To prepare the chili mayonnaise
To prepare the coleslaw
Thinly slice the carrots and the cabbage, chop the olives, gherkins and jalapenos. In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and mix to combine. Chill before serving.
To marinate and grill the chicken
To prepare the pita bread
In a large mixing bowl, add lukewarm water, sugar, instant yeast, salt and olive oil. Mix gently.
Add the flour, little at a time and mix well. Knead until it forms a smooth dough.
Add some olive oil in the walls of the bowl and on the dough. Cover and let it proof for at least 2 hours or until it doubles in size.
Punch and knead the dough once again after proofing. Divide equally into 4-5 dough balls. Roll into a slightly thick disc and cook on a heated tawa until it puffs up and cooks well on both sides.
- While making the toum, you can cut the garlic in half and remove the germ. This is optional though.
- Make sure the food processor or blender does not heat up while making the garlic sauce as it might make the sauce to separate.
- Alternate between the lemon juice and olive oil to smoothen and thicken the sauce.
- For the tzatziki, do not peel the cucumbers.
- If you cannot find dill leaves for the curd dip, then replace with mint leaves.
- For the chili mayonnaise, you can replace sriracha with any hot sauce or even red chili sauce.
- Let the sauces and dips sit for sometime before serving for all the flavors to get infused.
- Chilling the sauces and dips is completely optional.
- Let the chicken marinate at least for an hour before grilling. Marinating it over night is preferred.
- If you are using 1 kg boneless chicken, then add some more of all the spices used,
- To make it as a wrap, spread the sauces on the pita bread, place some shredded grilled boneless chicken along with the salad. Roll it and serve.
- Instead of the coleslaw, you can make a simple vegetable salad combining onions, tomatoes, cucumber and any other desired vegetable.
- If you are using active dry yeast, then combine water, sugar and yeast and let it sit for 15 minutes for it to proof before adding the flour.
Keyword chili mayonnaise, coleslaw, deconstructed shawarma, grilled chicken, pickled onions, pita bread, plate shawarma, salad, shawarma, toum, tzatziki