Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets

Slowly but surely, middle eastern / Mediterranean food is becoming a part of Indian food scene. What was started by fine dining restaurants like Fez and Zerzura has been picked up by food-court chains like Al-zaitoon. However, even before all of this started, chicken shawarma rolls have been part of the street food culture for long. From the by-lanes of Calicut in Kerala to posh South-Delhi they could be found everywhere. 

We wanted to try making something like that at home but of course made it our style. We used shawarma styled spices to make a slow roasted chicken and filled it in home made pita breads. Topped with our greek yogurt, this was a great snack. 

Ingredients

4 pita breads

2 chicken breasts (slit from middle)

1 bowl of greek yougurt dip

2 tomatoes roughly chopped

1 onion roughly chopped

½ bell pepper – chopped (optional)

Lettuce (optional)

Marination for Chicken

1 tbsp hung curd

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 inch piece of ginger grated

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp oregano

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp olive oil

Sea salt

Method

Prepare the chicken
1. Mix all the ingredients under marination and rub it on chicken breast and leave it for at least 30 mins

2. Now grill chicken breast at 200 degrees for 10 – 15 mins in oven till they are cooked but still juicy. Cut to form uniform strips

Assemble
3. In pita bread, cut 1/3^rd of the bread to make a pocket

4. Fill it with cut tomatoes, onion, lettuce, chicken and yogurt dip and repeat till the time it is loaded.

Enjoy with any hot sauce!