OVEN-COOKED CHICKEN SHAWARMA

Oven-Cooked Chicken Shawarma image

Chicken shawarma is usually cooked on a spit, but I saw a recipe by the excellent Sam Sifton (a home cook, therefore eminently trustworthy) in the New York Times (where he was the food editor) for roasting it in the oven, and felt it was therefore safe to give it a go. Though I should say that, while my recipe is inspired by him, it is not his recipe. And though I was delighted with it, for me the crucial test was my son's approval. For a while, we lived on what I could loosely call London's Shawarma Strip, and my son went out nightly--after dinner, if you please--for at least one shawarma. I proffered my version tentatively, and he pronounced in its favor. Here, I've served it modestly, on a pile of shredded iceberg, with some warmed (proper) pita, lemon wedges and a tahini sauce, as made below. Although here my son dissented, and said that only lamb shawarma should be served with tahini sauce. When I make this for friends, or for a family lunch or supper, I slice up some fresh tomatoes sprinkled with mint, cut some cucumbers into wedged slices, and macerate some red onions, cut into half-moons, with red wine vinegar or lime.

Provided by Nigella Lawson : Food Network

Time 6h40m

Yield 6 to 10 servings

Number Of Ingredients 18

Ingredients

12 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
2 unwaxed lemons
100 milliliters (scant 1/2 cup) olive oil
4 fat or 6 smaller garlic cloves, finely grated
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons flaked sea salt
Lettuce leaves, to serve
1 cup (250 grams) plain yogurt
4 tablespoons tahini
1 fat or 2 smaller garlic clove, finely grated
Fat pinch salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds

Steps:

Take a large resealable freezer bag and put the chicken thighs in it.
Using a fine microplane grater (for choice), grate in the lemon zest, then squeeze the lemons and add the juice. Pour in the olive oil and add the garlic, then add all the remaining ingredients, except for those for the sauce.
Squish everything about together, then seal the bag, place it on a plate or in a dish, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or up to 1 day.
When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 220 degrees C (350 degrees F)/gas mark 7, remove the chicken from the fridge and allow it to reach room temperature.
Tip the contents of the freezer bag into a shallow roasting tin--mine measures 44-by-34-by-1.5 centimeters (17-by-13-by-1/2-inches)--and make sure all the chicken thighs are lying flat and not on top of one another (if possible) before roasting in the hot oven for 30 minutes, by which time they should be cooked through (though obviously you must check) and golden on top.
When the chicken's more or less cooked, make the sauce simply by combining the yogurt with the tahini and garlic, stir and salt to taste, and sprinkle with a few pomegranate seeds.
Line a platter or a couple of plates with crisp lettuce, shredded or torn into pieces, and then top with the piping hot chicken, pouring the oily juices over them, unless you are, for some inexplicable reason, anti-oily-juices. If you wanted to make the chicken go further, you could cut the thighs into chunky slices rather than leaving them whole. And please do add any of the suggested accompaniments, itemized in my introduction.