My uncle theorised that the reason why street food tasted so good and could not be replicated at home was down to the honest sweat of the vendor.  At the time I pulled a face but I secretly agreed with what he was trying to say. My uncle while not a wordsmith had a point worth making. Street food does taste better than it does at home.  My interpretation of that is that the wok, plancha, pot or whatever is used imparts a unique flavour.  A flavour that is missing from home cooking.  I have been in London for a few years now but I still get intense homesick pangs, mostly about food. So while I do not advocate the recreation of street food at home, you’ll only be disappointed, this is a plaster – a temporary measure until the real thing.

To have a successful Shawarma you need fat to keep things moist and flavourful. You also need salad (I avoid cucumber as I despise heated cucumber in sandwiches and kebabs), pickles, tahini and a hot sauce. The hardest part of this is recreating the flavour of the meat. I concluded after much research that the best way of achieving this was to poach the chicken first and once cool put it in a very hot frying pan to crisp up.  I poached a whole organic free ranged chicken in some water for about 1.5 hours on very gentle hear. I only used the drumsticks, thigh and wing meat as it’s the most flavoursome.  I kept the stock and the remaining meat for mid weak soups and salads.  If at all possible it’s worth making the Zhug in advance, as the flavour develops over a short time very nicely.

I was pleased with the result but I was let down by the bread, I bought (perhaps I should have made it) by accident some poor quality Lavash bread so make sure you us good quality bread it’s as important as the filling.

Ingredients:

Chicken (2 legs and 2 wings)
2 teaspoons of baharat spice
2 Lavash bread

Zhug
1 big bunch of fresh coriander
7 green chillies (I used what I had 2 fresh jalapenos,3 very hot and 2 mild)
2 gloves of garlic
5 green cardamom pods
2 teaspoons of black peppercorns
2 garlic gloves
1 lemon
1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
60 ml of olive oil
Salt to taste

Salads
4 pickled wild cucumbers
Half a red onion thinly sliced
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons of parsley finely chopped
150g of red cabbage
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Pinch of salt

Tahini
2 tablespoons of tahini paste
4 tablespoons of boiling water
Juice of half a lemon
1 garlic clove crushed with salt

Directions:

Salads:

1. Deseed and cut the tomatoes, place in a bowl with the finely chopped parsley and set aside.
2. Slice the red cabbage into another bowl and add the lemon juice,  olive oil and salt to taste, set aside.

Zhug:

1. Gently pound the cardamom pods to release the black seeds.
2. Gently heat the peppercorns, cardamom seeds, caraway and cumin in a frying pan until the aromas are released and for no more than a minute or two.  Remove from the heat and grind in a spice grinder, or pestle and mortar, until fine.
3. Crush the garlic with salt and place into a blender along with the roughly chopped coriander and chillies. Then add the spice-mix, lemon juice, olive oil. Blend until smooth.
4. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt if necessary.

Tahini:
Combine the tahini paste, boiling water, garlic and lemon juice in a bowl. The lemon juice will thicken the tahini.

To construct the Shawarma:
Spread the tahini on the bread, add chicken, pickles, Zhug and salads. Tightly wrap by folding the bottom up and then the sides.

Optional:
Chips, grilled haloumi, olives and pickles.