Chicken shawarma

Chicken shawarma is one of my favourite fast foods, and I spent a lot of time experimenting with the spice blend and technique to make something I was happy with. Luckily, the best method was also the fastest and easiest - as long as the chicken is defrosted, this is totally doable as a weeknight meal. 

First, you have to use boneless skinless chicken thighs. Breast meat dries up too much. Unfurl them and butterfly the thick parts so you have a more or less even thickness all the way through. 

Next, the spice blend. These are approximate amounts for 7 chicken thighs:

1 Tbsp seasoning salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp oregano

2 tsp garam masala (you could probably get away with an equal amount of curry powder + coriander)

1 tsp cumin

2 tsp allspice

Drizzle about 2 Tbsp of olive oil onto chicken and sprinkle with about half the spice mixture. Mix to coat it well. Let marinate for... it doesn't matter! That's the beauty of this recipe. You can stick it in the fridge to marinate for meal prep purposes, but honestly I usually cook it right away and it tastes just as good. 

Line a cookie sheet with foil and bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. 

While the chicken is baking, make your white sauce. The base of this is 2 parts Greek yogurt to 1 part mayo. This unappetizing picture is just to show you how I 'measure' by putting a glob of mayo in a bowl, then sandwiching it with equal sized globs of yogurt on either side. The math works. This is maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of mayo?

Season this with about 1/2 tsp salt to start, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 1 Tbsp white vinegar. Taste it and adjust. I usually keep the sauce pretty plain - it's there for the creamy sweet-sour taste, but you can throw in garlic or garlic powder if you want. I like to put in chopped parsley sometimes, but I didn't have any today. 

Chicken is done! It looks pale and insipid, but that's OK, you're not done yet. Do not wash the pan or clean up the foil yet. 

Slice the chicken into small bite-sized pieces.

And throw it back onto the pan where all the juices and rendered chicken fat is. Sprinkle with about half of the reserved spice mix. 

And give it a good stir, making sure everything is coated in additional seasoning and chicken juice. Taste a little and add more seasoning mix as needed. This is why you don't need to marinate - you get seasoning all the way through from this process. 

Now put your oven rack up high, and turn on your broiler. This is where you get the crispy bits to mimic the stuff you get off the vertical rotisserie. Watch it carefully. Some broilers will crisp it in 2 minutes, some will take 5 or 10. Pull it out when you get some charring, stir it around some more and put it back in. Repeat until you get your desired balance of crispy vs juicy bits. Like this:

Serve as a pita wrap (if you really want to go all out, make homemade soft flatbread for your wrap) or on rice, or a salad, all drizzled with white sauce.