Shwarma (Yaji For The Umami)

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So, I was thinking shawama and my sister Ify of eating nigerian made some. I swear she must have read my mind. Honestly, she knows how to keep me hungry. Ify Take your time o! I love you girl!

Shwarma, although Middle Eastern and not a  primary Nigerian delicacy, is a popular Nigerian street food. The meat is well seasoned and when done, it is shaved off and mixed with a medley of vegetables and rolled in a flat bread or tucked in to some Pita. Some meats used in making Shwama are turkey, lamb and chicken. For this post I used chicken and I could not ask for any better.

It seems this delicacy is huge in Nigeria. A lot of people seem to always need the recipe. The first time I made it, I used a whole wheat tortilla wrap and it was so delicious. I have made it with different types of vegetables, I once made it with squash and zucchini. The list of vegetables you can use to make this wrap is endless. If you can safely tuck it in; then you can use it. I now understand why Nigerians cannot get enough of Shwarma

For this post, I also made a Shawama bowl for lazy bones like me 🙂 You simply stack your bowl with all the ingredients, toss with the Shwarma dressing and enjoy with a fork. With the bowl, you may cut the chicken slightly bigger

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To wrap Shwarma, you may use any wrap from pita to flat breads. For this post, I used whole wheat flat bread wraps and whole wheat pita, I also tried it with a spinach burrito wrap. After wrapping the Shwarma, you may wrap it in a foil wrapper and sit in a warmer to keep warm or you may sear it in a pan for some crunch. The fun part of keeping it warm or searing is tasting the warm sauce inside of the wrap. The burst of flavors is amazing!

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I promise this recipe is fit fam friendly. I know it is Shwarma, but wherever I could, I made use of health conscious ingredients

Let us get to it!

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5.0 from 1 reviews
Shwarma (Shwarma Bowl)
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
For chicken
  • 2 large chicken breasts with the skin on
  • 1tsp of salt
  • 1tsp of Coriander
  • 1tsp of thyme
  • 1tsp of black pepper
  • 1tbsp of vegetable or olive oil
  • 1tsp of dry grinded pepper or red chili flakes
  • 2 garlic cloves(mashed or grated)
  • ½ an inch of ginger
  • 1tsp yaji powder (optional)
For vegetable mix
  • one small cabbage
  • 2 plum tomatoes(chopped or sliced)
  • 2 medium sized carrots(grated)
  • one medium sizedpurple onion(the sweet onion is okay)
for dressing
  • 10tbsps of light mayonnaise
  • 3-4 tbsps. of sweet ketchup(optional)
  • 1tsp of red chili flakes
  • 2 garlic cloves(mashed or grated)
For wrap(it all depends on what you want)
  • white or whole wheat flat bread
  • burrito wrap
  • pita bread
Instructions
  1. wash and pat chicken dry(make sure to keep all surfaces clean). Season with the salt, coriander, thyme, black pepper, red pepper, grated garlic, grated ginger and oil. set it aside for an hour or more
  2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, in a none stick skillet or frying pan, sear the chicken on both sides; after which you pour in about ¼ cup of water or meat stock and transfer into the oven and cover to let it cook. (If your skillet is not oven proof, simply transfer the chicken into an oven tray with the water or stock and let it cook in the oven until it is done and the juices have run clear). Let the meat rest for a few minutes before you cut or shred
  3. slice (at this point, toss the cut up or shredded chicken in the yaji powder)
  4. Chop all your vegetables and set aside together in a bowl
  5. Make the mix for the dressing by whisking it together and set aside
  6. You may warm the flat bread for 10 seconds if you want; then gradually assemble the veggies and chicken on to one end of the flat bread. Roll and tuck in the ends. You may wrap with a foil wrapper and leave in the oven to keep warm. You may also sear it on a none stick pan. This gives the roll a sweet crunch
  7. If using pita, slice it open down the middle and tuck all the veggies, chicken, and sauce into the Pita's pocket and enjoy!

6 comments

  1. adeyinka says:

    Hi. Thanks so much for this info I can’t wait to try it. Pls I didn’t get the oven bit properly. Shld just grill the chicken or cook in a pot with stork in the oven?. Help pls

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