The Doner Kebab/Chicken Shawarma Experiment Turned Lovechild.

How did I survive before Chicken Shawarma finally made it to Chennai?

Incidentally, how did I survive before Sub of The Day existed? Or Subway? I know they've pulled the offer; and it's thoroughly depressing.

Everything comes late to Madras, thanks to honcho-types firmly believing in the penny-pinching cliche of Tamilians. Cliche is not uncalled for, since Mum nearly goes into Kussmaul's breathing when she finds out how much fancy things like Callebaut gelato or a pint of Haagen-Dazs costs; and I always tell her only half of what it actually did.

What I meant by things coming late: KFC, Mocha, Costa, Starbucks and the like. Extremely annoying, except maybe when I have to pour/squeeze/pull/push/shimmy/wriggle into skinny jeans.

Along the way, I've learned to make most of the things these places have to offer. Breaded Chicken (way better than KFC's), Momofuku's Crack Pie (I've no clue about the original, but it'll be interesting to find out) and Magnolia Bakery's Cupcakes (Ditto).
Chicken Shawarma, I learnt to make quite recently. I'm sure you think there is no reason for you to attempt these, when there's a stall within 200 metres of your home.

I'd like to insist (very politely) that you try. You can control the spice mix, the moistness of the chicken, the crispness of the potato wedges, the fluffiness of the pita and instead of a gloopy mayonnaise, you can make your own garlic-scented tahini and yogurt sauce. Instead of a garden variety chicken-and-mayo roll (which at Rs. 50, is still ah-mazing). And it's supremely easy and takes up only one bowl (each).

This is one of the dishes that redeemed my savoury-cooking skills at home. I had to search high and low for the recipes of each of the components, and I am in love with all of them. The chicken part is from a Dubai-based site, so that comes with a Bonafide attestation. I added some garlicky fries, some tahini and shawarma pickles, because I'm a big believer of foodgasms.

I'm also going to try something new. I'll put up all the pictures and basic recipe details first, and a detailed and uninterrupted recipe below. Let me know if you like it!

Start off with the best spices you can find.

Pound the elaichi/cardamom pods, grind the cinnamon sticks, make your garam masala, whatever it takes.

Taste the marinade before the meat goes in and adjust, if necessary!

Marinate the chicken for at least an hour. Cover with cling film or some random lid and pop it into the refrigerator, if you live in a hot place like Madras!

Cook the chicken in all of the marinade over low heat, breaking it up as you go.

For the fries:

Refer to this post. And try parboiling, instead of microwaving... it makes a world of difference.

For the tahini-yogurt sauce:

Make a not pretty (but deelishus) batch of tahini.

Add lemon juice, salt and yogurt, playing by tongue and eye.

Use thick, preferably hung or Greek yogurt, for this sauce. You can make a regular yogurt sauce.

For the pita:

Make wholewheat pitas or buy the fluffiest, grainiest piece of pita bread in your city.

For the shawarma pickles:

Recipe coming soon! I don't give everything away on the first date. You can skip this step and add a couple of more drops of Tabasco, to spice it up.

Assembling these babies:

Get all of you stuff on one table and gather the people around it.

Slick the tahina-sauce on the pita.

Add chunks of cooked chicken.

Add the lettuce, pomegranate seeds, onions, tomatoes, shawama pickles and fries.

Splash on some tabasco, wrap it up and CHARGE!

Doner kebab/Chicken Shawarma Lovechild:

(marinade recipe from Sips and Spoonfuls)Ingredients:

For the chicken shawarma marinade:

500 gms boneless chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup thick yogurt

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp cardamom pod powder

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Salt to taste

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp garam masala

3 tsps ginger-garlic paste

For the tahini-yogurt sauce:

1/2 cup white sesame seeds
3 tbsps Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Greek/hung/full-fat yogurt
2 plump cloves of garlic
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:

1 batch of Garlicky baked fries
8 wholewheat pita bread (1 batch of this recipe)
1 cup iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1 cup tomato, chopped
Pomegranate seeds.
Shawarma pickles.
Chopped coriander and mint leaves-plenty.
Tabasco, as needed.

Method:

For the chicken:

Marinate the chicken pieces in the marinade ingredients for at least an hour.

In a non-stick pan (no need to grease), over medium-low heat, cook the chicken for about 10 minutes. The marinade should have dried and the chicken should be moist and tender. Break up the chicken as it cooks.

Keep aside.

For the tahina sauce:

Roast the sesame seeds over low heat until it turns a pale shade of brown and pops. Take it off the pan in which it is heated, or it will continue to cook in the residual heat and burn.

Once cooled, grind the seeds to paste in a mixie/food processor. Add in the garlic, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and blitz until a nice paste is formed.

Add in the yogurt, and adjust the salt as per taste.

To assemble:

Heat the pita over a non-greased tawa for around 10 seconds on both sides, on medium heat.

Spread the tahina sauce on it.

Add the chicken, fries, pickles, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pomegranate, herbs, tabasco as per each diner's choice.

Serve immediately.

Store each of the components separately, closed in the refrigerator.

I didn't bother with that, because there was enough left over for one tiny roll.

A midnight-snack-portion roll. As my own personal toast to the amazing Nigella Lawson. Cheers!

Muhammara/An Arabian Romesco

Muhammara. I didn't even know something like this existed until a week back. By that name, at least.

Quite simply, it consists of roasted red bell peppers blitzed with toasted walnuts, pomegranate molasses and spices into a luscious spread that goes on toast or pitas. And as far as I know, no place in Madras makes it. Correction, I haven't been to Kefi at Taj Mount yet (maybe I will when I win the lottery or sell a kidney).

So I made it at home! Surprise, surprise. Substituting commenplace ingredients for the exotic. It won't taste the same, but we'll settle for pretty damn good, won't we?

Incidentally, everyone knows that Extra-virgin Olive oil is very healthy. Not if you are on a vague-ish diet, though. It has calories equal to that of butter or ghee or peanut oil. Good fat? Yes. But, it is still detrimental to your Summer-is-here diet, when consumed in large quantities.

Enter Muhammara. This is one of those rare Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern recipes that don't call for lashings of olive oil. You can argue that walnuts are calorie-laden, but they actually spike up your metabolism (negative calories) and you've got to get your Essential Fatty Acids from somewhere so your skin doesn't go all Phrynodermic(toad skin) on you!

Ignore the last two paragraphs. After polishing off half-a-batch of these cupcakes last night, I really have no right to deliver a righteous spiel on your nutritional requirements.

Let's just talk about the Muhammara. It tastes more sweet-spicy than hot-spicy, to my Indian palate. Pick up quboos at Sea Shell Cafeteria for ten rupees a piece or make some. Make the muhammara a day ahead so the flavours meld into each other. Whip up a batch of Tzatziki. Chips and dips, in a unbelievably healthy way.

Perfect spread for a game night. With the DLF IPL coming up (Chennai Super Kings-ku PERIYA WHISTLE podu!), you can rest assured that I'll be making plenty of nibbles to pick away at during commercials.

Muhammara:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup walnuts
1 tbsp tomato paste (I used ketchup)
1-1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1 large red-bell pepper
1 tsp cumin
3 slices wheat bread
2 dried cayenne chilli pepper (vathal/dried red molaga)
salt to taste.

Method:

1)Roast the red peppers. I inserted a big fork and roasted it directly over a gas ring (a skewer would be the most obvious and the safer choice).

You can also brush it with olive oil and throw into the oven and roast until bits of it turn black. Let it cool a little, and then peel the blistered skin off. Chop it roughly and keep aside.

Or you can used jarred roasted red bell peppers.

2)Shred the bread into little bits. Lay them out and bake in the oven at 180 C (350 F) for 5-6 minutes. Keep aside.

3)Toast the walnuts, either in the oven or over a tawa/griddle.

4)Pulse the walnuts in the food processor/mixie until coarsely chopped. Add the tomato paste, lemon juice, sugar, roasted red pepper, dried cayenne and cumin. Blitz/Pulse until it forms a smooth paste.

Add the bread crumbs, and give it one final blitz. Taste the mix. Add some salt according to your preference.

Source: loosely adapted from Desert Candy.

Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator before using it. In a tightly closed jar, it'll keep for a week, at least, provided it doesn't leave the refrigerator.

Spread it on your toast for an early morning blast of Vitamin C and chilli. Do the aforementioned chips and dips. Make a pizza out of pita, with Muhammara as the sauce, zome zucchini, olives and feta cheese as the toppings. Or. Spread Muhmammara on pita/roti. Stuff it with salty french fries and grilled chicken. Roll it up like a shawarma. EAT.

Just do the last thing. The shawarma thing. And EAT.

Get me to the Greek!

I’m going to suffer from Withdrawal symptoms when MasterChef Australia draws to a close. Yes, I know the results already. Remember how you felt when a random jackass sent you a text saying Dumbledore dies in the sixth Harry Potter, an hour after the copies were released? You waited years for the book; you saved up for it and stood in the line. Felt a watered-down version of that feeling, when I found out who the winner of Masterchef Australia 2 was.

It does not stop me from watching it every weeknight at 9, however. Masterclass, Celebrity Chef challenge, whatever. Geeky enough to catch them all. I park myself on the couch with an imaginary Do Not Disturb around me and the TV.

George Calambaris is one of my favourite judges. He’s incredibly proud of his Grecian roots (as he should be. I ate at Kryptos by Willi recently). When he made Tzatziki last week, I knew that I needn’t look further. OK. I confess; I upped the garlic and spiked it with vinegar.

Tzatziki is the new ketchup. I dunk my veggies/pita chips in it, make pita pockets with it, dress a salad, layer it in a Greek burger with feta et cetera. It goes with everything (for me) and I feel almost virtuous eating it. Make sure you follow all steps carefully, or you might end up with cucumber raita!

Tzatziki:

Ingredients:

2 cups yoghurt

1 medium-sized cucumber

1 big lemon, zest and juice of

2 cloves of garlic, grated/minced fine

I shallot (Madras onion or spring onion), grated/minced fine

1 tsp white vinegar

Dill/Parsley- I small bunch (I use coriander)

Olive oil, for dressing

Salt, to taste

Method:

1) Hang the yoghurt in a thin muslin cloth for at least 2 hours. I pour Nestle dahi into an old, clean chiffon dupatta, form a little parcel and hang it from one of the kitchen hooks, a bowl placed strategically underneath. It does not measure up to Greek yoghurt, but hanging it overnight in the fridge helps. Try curd made from full-fat milk if you have that at home. Use the leftover whey in your regular chapatti dough. Instant protein-packed, soft chapattis.

2) Grate the peeled cucumber (not with a micro planer and make sure you taste to see if it’s bitter!) into a bowl and salt it. Keep aside for a good 15 minutes. This dehydrates the cucumber. Make sure you drain every last bit of water. Remember, you’ve already compromised on luscious, gourmet yoghurt.

3) Toss drained cucumber with the minced shallot, garlic and lemon zest.

4) Add the drained yoghurt (it almost looks like thick cream cheese now) to the cucumber mix. Add the juice of one lemon and a healthy teaspoon of Extra Virgin Olive oil.

5) Mix well, folding in the chopped herbs. Dress with some more Olive oil. Season with salt to taste.

6) Serve cold.

I served with fluffy pita bread, Chicken gyros, Hummus and a red onion salad. I recommend you make this a day early and stash it in the refrigerator. Tastes better, and your evening gets less hectic. Easy peasy.