Chicken Shwarma

I am going to preface this by saying I have no idea how authentic it is.

It's one I've found on a reel somewhere and adapted it to my own taste.

I love it because:

• it's easy
• it's bombproof
• every plate is always clean after

Here we go, then. As ever, we must leap almost immediately into the recipe. Be forewarned, there is a fair amount of chucking, throwing and wanging. Buckle up:

INGREDIENT LIST

• 5-6 Chicken thighs
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt, pepper
• 1 red onion
• Spices and whatnot

THE SPICES AND WHATNOT

• blob of easy garlic
• 1tbsp each of paprika and thyme
• ½tsp each cayenne, turmeric cumin. Cinnamon optional. (I hate cinnamon, I suggest leaving it out.)

FOR SERVING

Here's what I recommend:

Pitta breads

Hummus

Plenty of salad

Bell peppers (translate: capsicum)

Gherkins (translate: pickles)

Dressings. I like garlic mayo and chilli

Sides: fries work! Skinny skin-on ones. Well-seasoned. More salad. Cous cous is OK, but not my personal favourite.

OVEN TEMP

200-220 ish. If you operate in Farenheit, I can't help you. I'm sorry. No one can. Reconsider your life choices.

If you intend to cook this beaut straight away, you'll need to turn the oven on, first. Dim the lights. Tell it what you want to do. Stroke the knobs a little.

RUB YOUR THIGHS

Time to prep your thighs, baby. Chicken thighs can be a bit fatty, so you might want to trim some off. I don't.

Once they have only the preferred amount of fat, drizzle those sexy mofos with olive oil and the juice of a lemon. Give them a really good scrunch of salt and pepper.

Slice up a red onion, and chuck that in

Now throw in your spices

Get your hands in there and massage it like you forgot its birthday and you're trying to make it up to it. Pour it some wine as well, you asshole.

MARINATING

You can marinate this baby for a couple of hours or so in the fridge if you like. If you do that, take it out a bit before cooking so it can come up to room temp before wanging it in the oven. I don't like doing this, because who has the effing time? It also just feels weird leaving chicken out of the fridge.

Pack this lot into loaf pan. Tight, if possible. I line it with foil because I'm lazy.

Bake it for 45-55mins

I LIVE TO SERVE

When it comes out, it should be very juicy.

Toast your pittas and slice them open (not a euphemism).

Spread on a nice fat dollop of hummus. Go crazy and use a red pepper or sweet chilli one. There's even a beetroot one which would probably work.

Pile it up with salad.

I like to char the peppers, slice them and chuck them on top.

I also chop up the gherkins and scatter them on.

Now pile up that chicken on a chopping board (careful, as aforementioned, JUICE,) and slice it up. It might start falling apart. This is fine. Wang it on the pitta on top of all the salady bits.

Drizzle some of the meat juices over it. (hur hur, meat juice.)

Be generous with your dressings!

Plate it up with your beautifully seasoned skin on fries, more garlic mayo to dip them in, more hummus (definitely) and more salad if you want to be all healthy and shit.

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Thank you for reading!

Please let me know if you give this a go.

We have it at least once a month. I've started putting a pack of emergency pitta breads in the freezer so I can make this pretty much any time we fancy it.

If you enjoyed this recipe, I've done a few others:

Put it in your mouth and tell me you you love me (Strawberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake)

Level Up Your Curry Night (the easiest flatbreads in the whole world, bar none. No yeast, no resting, no proving.)

Mmmm, Eggs Benny 😋 (hollandaise for dummies)

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I suck at food photography, so I nicked a pic of Unsplash. I'm not convinced that's even chicken. Whatever, close enough! Next time I make it, I will update this piece with pics!