Colm O'Gorman's Friday feast is this delicious homemade chicken shawarma kebab

This week’s recipe is a homemade version of one of Colm O'Gorman's favourite kebabs, Chicken Shawarma.

This week’s recipe is a homemade version of one of my favourite kebabs, Chicken Shawarma. This is usually cooked on a spit on a rotisserie. The version I have developed here is pan cooked. I serve this on freshly made flat breads. These are a delight. I always make up more than I need as the dough will keep for a few days in the fridge and they only take minutes to roll and cook to order. I often cook one-off for lunch with whatever toppings I fancy.

Along with my chicken, I serve freshly made hummus, shredded cabbage, fried red peppers and red onion, and tzatziki, which yes, I know is not authentic, but I adore it with this dish. I top it all off with freshly made green shatta, a simple but delicious herby chilli sauce and some pickled chillies. Finally, I scatter the kebab with some fresh pomegranate seeds, which adds a lovely fresh sweet crunch.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp flaky sea slat
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 5 cardamon pods
• 40 ml extra virgin olive oil
• Juice and zest of half a lemon
  

Roast the seeds from the cardamon and the fennel seed in a dry pan along until toasted and fragrant. Grind to a powder in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Add to a bowl with all the other spices, salt, olive oil, lemon zest and juice. Stir to mix well. Add the chicken breasts, coating them well and let them marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.

Now make your hummus:

• 400g tin chickpeas
• 80g Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 30 ml olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tbps lemon zest
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp sweet paprika
• Good grind of black pepper
  

Drain the chickpeas and put them and all the other ingredients into a food processor. Blitz until smooth. Season to taste, adding a little more yogurt or a tablespoon of very cold water if you need to thin the hummus a little. Set aside until needed.

Next, prep the flatbreads:

• 500g plain white flour
• 250ml lukewarm water
• 7g active dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 180ml Greek yogurt
• 30ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon flaky sea salt
• 30g flat leaf parsley
  

Put the flour and salt into a mixer or large bowl. Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water and let it sit for five minutes until it foams. Add the yoghurt and olive oil to the flour and mix well. When the yeast mix is frothy, gradually add it to the flour, mixing all the time. I use my trusty Kenwood mixer and its dough hook for this, but you can mix it by hand. If using a dough hook, mix at medium speed for five minutes or so until the dough comes together in a ball around the hook and comes clean away from the edges of the bowl. If mixing by hand, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead strongly for five minutes. This is a soft and slightly wet dough, so do not be alarmed it if is a little sticky. If it is very wet, mix in a little more flour, but you should not need much more than the 500g. Shape the dough into a long sausage shape and cut into ten to twelve equal sizes pieces. Shape into balls, cover and let them rest for about fifteen minutes.

To make the trimmings for your kebab, finely shred some cabbage, white or red is perfect. Toss it in some olive oil and lemon juice with a little honey, sea salt and black pepper. Slice some red pepper and red onions and sauté them until they are soft and slightly golden.

Make the tzatziki. In a bowl mix together 300g of Greek yoghurt, half a teaspoon of flaky sea salt, half a teaspoon of sugar, half a diced cucumber and 20g of freshy chopped mint. Set aside until needed.

Next, make the chilli sauce:

• 30g of fresh coriander
• 30g of fresh parsley
• 6 green chillies with the tops removed
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp cumin
• 20g flaked almonds
• Good grind black pepper
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil
  

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Time now to cook your chicken. Heat a heavy-based pan over a high heat. Pop on the chicken breasts, you will not need any oil as there is enough in the marinade. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. Check to see if they are cooked through, then remove to rest covered with foil while you make your flatbreads.

Heat a clean dry pan over a high heat. Roll each ball of dough out into a disc, about 16cm in diameter. Brush the top with a little olive oil and put it face down on the hot pan. Cook for about a minute and a half until the surface begins to bubble. Brush the uncooked side with a little more olive oil and flip it over. Cook for no more than another minute. Remove to a warm plate and keep rolling and cooking until you have all the flatbreads you need. Stack them on top of each other as you finish them to keep them warm and soft.

Slice the chicken. Put a flat bread on a large plate. Add some cabbage, a generous spoonful of hummus and tzatziki. Pop on the sliced chicken the peppers and onions and some chilli sauce. Finish off with a few Turkish pickled chillies and a scattering of fresh pomegranate seeds. Heaven.