Enjoyment from Arabic cuisine
Competition for the kebab: delicious recipe for chicken shawarma with flatbread and garlic sauce
Juicy chicken, crunchy vegetables and an aromatic sauce – just the thought of shawarma makes your mouth water.
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Sometimes you need a little variety: chicken shawarma is a serious competitor to the classic doner kebab. The delicious recipe for at home.
Juicy meat, crunchy vegetables and an aromatic garlic sauce, served in a fluffy flatbread – no, we’re not talking about the doner kebab here. The Germans’ favorite dish is facing real competition from a dish that is at least as versatile, tasty and harmonious as the popular “original”: chicken shawarma.
Shawarma or kebab?
The dish, which comes from Arabic cuisine, is similar to the Doner kebab served in a flatbread or pita bread with various sauces and side dishes. The word “shawarma” comes from the Turkish term “çevirme”, which can be translated as “to rotate”. Here you can already see the first parallel to the “döner kebab”, which is also a Turkish term with the German counterpart “spinning grilled meat”.
Ultimately, you could call shawarma the Arab sister of the kebab. The slightly different marinade, which consists of lemon juice, yogurt and lots of spices such as cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, paprika, pepper, garlic and sumac – an Arabic table spice – gives the dish a slightly sour note. Different, but at least as good. All that’s left to say is: get the chicken – and enjoy your meal.
Recipe for aromatic chicken shawarma in pita bread
Ingredients for four servings
For the shawarma
- 600g chicken breast
- 3 tbsp olive oil, virgin
- 100g Greek yogurt
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, naturally cloudy
- Juice of half an organic lemon
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1/2 tsp cloves, ground
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder, sweet
- Salt pepper
For the sauce
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 300g Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 50 ml Ayran
- 1 tbsp olive oil, virgin
- Juice of half an organic lemon
- 1 tbsp parsley, dried
- 2 tsp dill, dried
- Salt pepper
- 1 pinch of sugar
In addition
- 4 flatbreads
- Cucumber
- 1/2 iceberg lettuce
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 large red onion
- Fresh parsley
- 200g feta cheese
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preparation
- Peel garlic and chop finely.
- Rinse the chicken, pat dry and cut into strips. Put aside.
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Then add the chicken strips and stir everything together.
- Let the chicken sit in the marinade for as long as possible (at least three hours, but preferably overnight).
- Prepare the dip: Peel and press the garlic cloves. Mix together with yogurt, mayonnaise, ayran, olive oil, lemon juice and spices to form a creamy mixture. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Also put in the fridge.
- Then prepare the vegetables: Peel the cucumber, quarter it and cut it into pieces, remove the outer leaves of the iceberg lettuce, wash the remaining head, halve it and chop it into small pieces. Wash the tomatoes, halve them, remove the stem and dice. Peel the onion, halve it and cut into rings. Rinse the parsley, shake dry and chop finely. Crumble feta.
- Toast the flatbreads in the oven or toaster.
- Heat some olive oil in a pan. Sear the marinated chicken until cooked through and golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.
- Slice flatbreads.
- Spread each bread with some dip and top with the vegetables and chicken strips. Spread the feta and fresh parsley on top and serve immediately.
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