This easy chicken shawarma recipe can be prepared right from the comfort of your home. Nothing beats homemade chicken shawarma with homemade wraps, which are essentially (for me) very thin chapatis. Pita bread is also very suitable for this or you could even have your shawarma as a sandwich. Lettuce wraps make very good alternatives as well. Do not limit yourself.
Since we are getting creative here, how about a chicken shawarma pizza or chicken shawarma served over rice?
As you keep reading this post you might come across the term dhania, a lot, this simply means coriander or cilantro.
This dish can easily be eaten as a snack or as a main meal. In my house it normally constitutes a main meal because it’s just so filling.
My chicken shawarma sauce recipe consisted of a mixture of maziwa mala or fermented milk (you can substitute this with unflavoured yoghurt) and dhania leaves. Extremely flavourful stuff. You could also jazz it up some more by adding some tahini sauce, lemon juice and zest, salt as well as some pepper for that extra zing!
To elevate this dish I added some homemade potato fries within the wrap and also served the chicken shawarma with a side of more fries.
To give it a Kenyan touch, I added some kachumbari. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, let me explain. This is a mixture of tomatoes, onions, dhania, freshly squeezed lemon juice and salt to taste. You can also add green or powdered red chilli. In some parts of the world kachumbari is also known as salsa. Important to note here is that you should de-seed the tomatoes because they might end up rendering the whole dish wet.
It is also very important to marinate your chicken for at least 30 minutes, if you are pressed for time. I normally marinate mine for a few hours. I love me a yoghurt based chicken shawarma marinade because of the tang that it imparts. The lactic acid from the milk also acts a tenderizer, a win win situation all around.
Enough talking, let’s dive right into this easy homemade chicken shawarma ingredients and cooking instructions now.
Chicken Shawarma Spices
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) Maziwa mala (use unflavoured yoghurt as substitute)
- 1/4 Cup (60ml) Vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1/8 tsp All Spice (Pimento) powder
- 1 tsp White Pepper
- 1 tsp Cardamom Powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Curry Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Onion Flakes
- Pinch of dry parsley
- Pinch of dry thyme
- 1 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
- Salt to taste
- Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
Chicken Shawarma Kachumbari / Salsa Mixture
- 2 Medium Sized Tomatoes
- 1 Medium Sized Red Onion
- Salt to taste
- Freshly cracked Black Pepper
- Bunch of Dhania Leaves
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Ingredients for Chicken Shawarma Sauce
- 1/4 Cup Maziwa Mala
- Bunch of Dhania Leaves
- Salt to taste
Rest of the Ingredients
- 2 Chicken breasts (250g) – Chopped into bite sized pieces
- Enough Homemade Fries to wrap inside shawarma and serve on the side
- 2 Chapati Wraps
- 1/2 Cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 Cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
Directions
- Mix all the spice ingredients in a large bowl until well incorporated.
- Add the chicken pieces and coat them thoroughly with the mixture.
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 30 minutes or even overnight in the refrigerator.
- Pre heat a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat and cook your chicken for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through and set it aside to cook completely.
- Chop the kachumbari ingredients, mix together and set aside.
- Mash the dhania leaves with salt until completely mushed up then mix with maziwa mala and set aside.
- Place chapati wraps on your work surface and then start assembling the chicken shawarma.
- Divide chicken into two equal portions and serve on each chapati.
- Drizzle some of the chicken shawarma sauce over the chicken.
- Add a teaspoon or two of the kachumbari on top of this.
- Place the homemade fries on top of the kachumbari
- Add the freshly grated cheese on top
- Finish off by adding more of the chicken shawarma sauce.
- Fold the chapati wrap tightly so that it does not unravel.
- Brush the top with a bit of oil and transfer to a pre heated grill pan.
- Grill each side for about three minutes or until crispy and browned to your liking.
- Serve immediately with a side of fries and extra kachumbari.
- ENJOY!!
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