Our entire family enjoys Lebanese or Middle Eastern food.  We are lucky to have many restaurants that specialize in these foods in our area.  I have learned to make a variety of them at home.  Each of our children wanted to highlight these delicious treats at their high school graduation parties.  I think I finally found a truly great recipe for Chicken Sharwarma for our last graduation party in June of 2016.  It was found on a blog/webiste called RecipeTin Eats.  The author is shown as Nagi.

We have had very unseasonably warm weather here in Ohio – so I decided last weekend would be a great time to grill some of this delicious chicken and share it with good friends.  It was delightful to sit on our back porch in the middle of winter enjoying the smells wafting off the grill!

I am also including a recipe for a very loosely traditional Tabbouleh salad.  The ingredients and quantities can be modified easily to your own taste. This food has a wonderful variety of textures and flavors.  Spicy, sweet, smokey – and creamy, chewy and puckery tart are all great descriptions of the food presented at one meal.

For the chicken, I used a few large chicken breasts that I cut into manageable serving pieces.  I also had some boneless chicken thighs and legs that were purchased at Costco.  There was a fair amount of fat trimming that needed to be done with the thighs so they wouldn’t flare up on the grill. For our graduation parties, we cut the chicken into smaller – but larger than bite size – pieces for ease in serving.  It makes the grilling a little more of a challenge with so many pieces – but we learned that it could be done an hour or so ahead and kept warm in foil pans in the oven (and not grilled until completely cooked through so it wouldnt’ dry out while in the oven warming).  The spice mixture and marinade come together easily in a zip lock bag.  The marinade could easily handle up to about 3 lbs of chicken meat- but can also easily be increased.  I think an optimal time for marinating the chicken is 4-6 hours.  With the lemon juice in the marinade, I often think less time is better so that the meat doesn’t toughen or “cook” from the acid in the lemon.  I also like to let the marinated chicken sit out of the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before grilling.  I think it cooks more evenly and, that fairly short time unrefrigerated will not cause a problem with bacteria.  I like to squeeze a little lemon juice on before serving too.  This adds a fresh spark to the crispy chicken.

Interesting mix of spices. If you don’t like it hot, reduce the amount of cayenne pepper!

The yogurt sauce is a great creamy addition to the chicken whether you use flatbread to make a wrap or sandwich or not.  On Saturday we did not use cabbage or other garnish – but used the tabbouleh salad to add to grilled naan bread (Indian – not middle eastern – but very good with the sharwarma) to the chicken and yogurt sauce. A softer, more pliable bread is recommended here.  Traditional pita should be fresh and split before wrapping the chicken, otherwise there is too much bread.  I served green beans and a carrot/onion rice pilaf with the chicken and tabbouleh.  We almost could have done without the rice -but it sure tasted good!

Most traditional tabbouleh does not have chopped peppers added.  I really wanted some nice color – and was serving more grains with the rice pilaf- so I opted for more vegetables in the salad than grains this time.  Fresh mint and dill are critical to the flavor of this salad.  If you do not have zataar in your spice cupboard, I suggest you find some.  It is a really lovely mixture of dried spices.  There are sesame seeds in the mixture that add a nice little crunchy texture too.  I know that Penzey’s website carries it if you can’t find it in your local grocery store.  We can purchase it in large bags at our local Meijer store.

Chicken Sharwarma

recipe serves 4-6
Prep time: 10 minutes
grill time - about 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless chicken thighs or breasts (or a combination) I like to cut the breasts into 3-4 equal sizes for easier grilling and serving.  The pieces can also be smaller 3-4″ chunks.

Marinade:

1 large, or 2 small garlic cloves, minced or crushed

1 Tbs. ground coriander

1 Tbs. ground cumin

1 Tbs.  ground cardamon

1 tsp. Ground cayenne pepper (or less to reduce heat)

2 tsp.  smoked paprika

2 tsp. salt

black pepper to your liking

2 Tbs. lemon juice

3 Tbs. olive oil

Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup Greek Yogurt

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp. cumin

Lemon Juice – 2-3 Tbs. – your preference for taste and consistency

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

flatbread – lebanese, pita – or naan

shredded red cabbage, carrots, chopped mint

Instructions

1.  Combine marinade ingredients into large ziplock bag.
2. Add chicken, squeeze excess air out and manipulate the chicken and marinade so it coats all of the chicken in the bag.
3. Allow chicken to marinate for at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours.
4. Combine the Yogurt sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.  It will last for about a week.
5. Heat grill/BBQ to medium high.  Grill 4-5 minutes on first side until lightly charred, then turn and cook on the other side for 3-4 more minutes.
6. Remove chicken from grill and cover loosely with foil.  Wait 5-10 minutes before serving so meat will stay juicy.
7. Larger pieces can be sliced and served on a platter with flatbread, garnish and yogurt sauce.

Notes

I have used several versions of Sharwarma recipes found on line but this is my favorite!  The ones that use yogurt in the marinade break down the chicken more than I like before cooking.

This recipe was found on RecipeTin Eats – author shown as Nagi – originally published in 2012.

Quinoa and Wheat Berry Tabbouleh

Serves 4-6 as a side salad
Prep time - 30 minutes
Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa – or 1/2 cup quinoa and 1/2 cup wheat berries

3 cups water, lightly salted

1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped into small bite sizes

2/3 cup chopped tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes in the off season for best flavor)

2/3 cup chopped orange and yellow peppers

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced or crushed

1 lemon, juiced (about3-4 Tbs.)

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley and mint

1 to 2 Tbs Zataar

salt and pepper to taste

 

Instructions

1.  Begin by cooking the Quinoa or Quinoa and Wheat Berries.  Place quinoa and salted water into medium pan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover until fully cooked, about 15 minutes.  If you are using wheat berries, you will want to start them about 25 minutes ahead of the wheat berries as they take closer to 45 minutes (or longer) to cook enough for a softer chew.  Check water level in pan and add water if it gets too dry.  Extra water can easily be strained off.  When grains are cooked to your liking, strain extra water if needed and place grains into a bowl to cool slightly.
2.  Add all vegetables, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, chopped mint and parsley to the bowl and stir to combine.  Last, add Zataar and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve at room temperature – or cover and refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavors blend further and serve chilled.

Notes

I love Middle Eastern Food – and Tabbouleh salads of all kinds.  Traditionally, Tabbouleh is made with cracked or bulgur wheat.  I enjoy a variety of grains and the combination of quinoa and wheat berries happen to be what I often have on hand at home.  Feel free to use other grains like barley or freekah.  I have used many recipes found online over the years and realize that each one is different and measuring ingredients is not as important as tasting as you go and flavoring it to your own liking.