Chicken Shawarma...a pocket full of love.

So as I previously mentioned, I spent part of my childhood growing up in Saudi Arabia.  Some of my earliest memories are of walking the streets of Khobar with my family, having an ancient Arab man, with skin like leather, wanting to touch wisps of my flaxen blond hair.  And the toothless shriveled woman relentlessly insisting that my parents buy a beautiful beaded necklace for each of their 5 daughters.  And the smells...even twenty plus years later, (please, don't do the math!) I can remember the musty, spice infused air.

When we moved bask to the USA my family continued to embrace the Arab culture and cuisine.  It was part of our family...our roots.  Even though I was a very finicky eater growing up, there was something about Arabic food that I loved.  I remember asking my mom to make sambuseks and baklava for special occasions.  Such exquisite memories...I feel kind bad to digress and show this hilarious video, buuuut it just fit too well with the Arab food theme I'm going for.

Hope you get a laugh from the video and enjoy the recipe for Chicken Shawarmas, which is, BY FAR, my most favorite meal ever. 

Chicken Shawarma

Ingredients

1 T ground coriander
1 T ground cumin
1 T ground cardamom
1 T chili powder
1 T. grill seasoning, Montreal recommended
1 tsp. smoked paprika
juice of 1 lemon
1 large clove of garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 large onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (yes I use the canned...so sue me!)

pita bread
hummus
tzatziki sauce, recipe as follows


Preparation

   Preheat outdoor or indoor grill to high.

In bowl, combined all of the spices.  Take a moment and just breath that aroma in.  It is intoxicating!  Add lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.  Stir until paste like.  You can add a little bit of water if necessary.

Take you mixture and slather all over the chicken until it is well coated.

Transfer chicken to the grill and cook on each side 6-7 minutes, 

until it is cooked through.

Remove chicken from grill and let the chicken rest before thinly slicing.

For bell pepper mixture, heat a large skillet pan over medium-high heat.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray or use a little olive oil.  Once pan is heated up, add peppers and onions.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes.

Once veggies begin to wilt, add tomatoes and cook another 3-4 minutes.

Place pita bread on grill to warm them and give them a nice light char.  To assemble, place chicken on pita, top with pepper and onion mixture, and then add hummus and tzatziki sauce.

  Oh my, eat well my friends!!

**On a side note, I have also made kabobs out out this recipe and works out great too.  Just omit cooking the veggies and skewer them along with chicken.  Dee-lish!!

Tzatziki Sauce

6 oz Greek style yogurt
1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp dill
1 T mayo
1-2 T lemon juice, depending on how much *zing* you want
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up and serve with anything.  Makes a great low fat, high protein veggie dip.