Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches

Ingredients: 

(Yield:  3 ½ c cooked chicken)

• 3 large chicken breasts
• Arabic bread (you can also use pita bread or soft tortillas)
• Pickles
• Mayo 

Yogurt Marinade:

• ~¾ plain yogurt
• 3 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 TB chopped fresh)
• 1 tsp dried parsley (or 1 TB chopped fresh)
• 1 tsp dried sage leaves (or ½ tsp dried sage powder)
• 1 tsp Arabic chicken spice (my mix has white pepper, coriander, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and salt)
• ¼ tsp red chili flakes 

• 8X8” baking dish
• Aluminum foil

 Method:

1. Mix together all of the marinade ingredients.  Pound out the chicken breasts so that they’re equal thickness throughout; cut each chicken breast in half.  Cover the chicken with the marinade and refrigerate 1-2 days. |
   
   
2.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Remove the chicken from the marinade (making sure to scrape off the excess marinade) and layer it in an 8X8” baking dish, just in the center of the dish; don’t let the chicken go to the edge of the pan.  Around the perimeter of the chicken, wrap two pieces of aluminum foil, so that the chicken holds together in a square; don’t cover the top of the chicken with foil.  Bake the chicken for ~1 hour, or until the internal temperature is 165F (if you don’t have a thermometer, you can cut the chicken and make sure there’s no pink inside).  Let the chicken cool for 15 minutes, then put it on a cutting board and thinly slice it. 
3.  To make it into shawarma sandwiches, put some chicken, mayo, and pickles on a piece of Arabic bread and roll it up.
4.  To Get the Chicken Crispy:  My husband insists that the chicken tastes better crispy, so he takes this recipe one step further.  Once the chicken is thinly sliced he sautés it over high heat in a little olive oil until it’s crispy.