When you can’t go to the kebab shop, make kebab! In this case make homemade chicken Shawarma. We found different recipes online, and we sort of mixed it up a little to suit the content of our pantry as well as our taste. I would dare say that this recipe is easy, apart from the detail that we wanted our kebab to stand in the oven, which was the adventurous part. You don’t have to do the same and can instead use skewers (like in the updated images), just bare in mind the marinade will take overnight and you will then need 50 minutes for the chicken to be cooked in the oven (if you want to make it stand like a kekab). This makes dinner (or generous lunch) for four, or three very hungry people.

• Ingredients:
• 6 chicken thighs filleted and with no skin
• 1 cup of natural yogurt
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbs paprika
• 1 tbs ginger (freshly grated)
• 1 tbs oregano
• 1 tbs tumeric
• 1 tbs black pepper
• 1 tbs cumin
• 1 tbs ground coriander
• 1 tbs vinegar
• a few bay leaves
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tbs cardamom
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• A few medium size potatoes or a big one (if you are going to try and make your kebab stand).

Step 1 – Wash and dry the chicken thighs and make sure they are clean of all the fat. Then place them on a side.

Step 2 – In a large bowl, place all the ingredients for the marinade, mixing them up with the help of a fork or a wooden spoon. Add the chicken to the marinade and cover the bowl with cling film. Place in the fridge to marinade overnight.

Step 3 – If you are adventurous like us, you might want to try and make your kebab stand. To do this you can use some skewers to skew the chicken vertically. Make sure you are skewing on the thinner parts, so it’s easy for you and you don’t risk under cooking the middle. Then pin the skewers into something that will help your “kebab” stand, we used a potato. After this, take a pot with some medium depth – we used this enamel pot we sometimes we use for sauces – place the whole thing inside, making sure only the potato is inside the pot, If you need to fill up more depth add one or a few more potatoes. Additionally, to make sure the kebab stood straight, we placed a few disposable chopsticks around it, which really did the job (yeah, I’m also surprised!). On the top of the skewer, we place half an onion, which dripped juices on the meat, tenderizing it.

Step 4 – If you are a normal person, and you don’t care about recreating a vertical kebab at home, cut the chicken in cubes and thread the cubes onto skewers, alternating with onion slices or bell peppers. You can place the skewers on top of an oven dish, as long as you keep one end out for you to turn the skewers around easily.

Step 5 – Place the kebab in the oven at 180°C for 50 minutes if it’s standing. If you are making skewers, cook them in the grill at maximum heat for 10-12 mins, turning them around every couple of minutes. They have to build a char but they shouldn’t dry or burn.