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Chicken Shawarma Recipe for Cancer and Chemotherapy

Chicken shawarma is a delicious dish found in the levant and middle-east. Strongly seasoned chicken is slow roasted over coals to create a delicious, tender and spicy dish that leaves you craving more. This version uses a sauté pan to get the same delicious roasted effect, but with the added convenience of easy clean-up and no open flame!
This recipe is dependent on two other recipes:
My Pita Recipe
My Tzatziki recipe
You’ll need both of these made to make the perfect shawarma sandwiches.
Prep Time4 hours 15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Keyword: levant, maghreb, middle eastern, shawarma, spicy
Servings: 8 people
Author: Chef Ryan Callahan
Cost: 15

Equipment

  • Cutting board
  • knife
  • Saute Pan

Ingredients

  • 4 whole chicken breasts raw
  • 1 head romaine lettuce chopped
  • 8 ounces feta crumbled
  • 1 batch Tzatziki
  • 1 batch Fresh Pitas
  • 1 TT salt to taste
  • 1 TT black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1/2 tbsp yellow curry powder

Instructions

  • Start by trimming your chicken of excess fat.
  • Once your chicken breasts are trimmed, slice them into 1/4” slices across the thinnest part of the breast to make chicken breast strips.
  • Transfer these slices into a large mixing bowl.
  • Sprinkle the slices with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes ,garlic powder, cumin, curry powder, and sugar.
  • Mix these spices across the chicken breast slices until they are well coated. Increase the concentration of spices until the chicken breast smells warm and spicy.
  • Add enough lemon juice to moisten the chicken,
  • stir well and then allow to dry marinade at least 4 hours in the refrigerator.
  • Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and heat a large non-stick sauté pan over medium heat.
  • Add the chicken and sauté until the chicken is well cooked and form brown spots on most of the chicken.
  • The chicken is now ready to serve.
  • Take a fresh pita, add chicken, romaine lettuce, tzatziki and top with feta cheese. Enjoy!

Notes

Chef Tips:
When you cook chicken in a sauté pan, the meat will contract from heat exposure and will release the juices into the sauté pan, which will form a fairly large amount of liquid. You need to cook through this moisture phase to brown the chicken. Great news though, as the liquid reduces it’ll rehydrate the spices and allow them to become even more flavorful! Make sure to scrape the pan as you cook to keep any of the spices from sticking to the bottom and getting burned.