My favourite chicken kebab recipe

I’ve been craving a kebab for a few weeks now, the want has intensified with seeing people on Instagram getting takeaways and then my parents also rubbing in that they can get a kebab delivered.

At the moment, we have no such luck – it seems in the North Cotswolds, deliveries are still out of service, so what can you do but make your own?

As you may know, I am incapable of following a recipe, so I took a Greek chicken kebab recipe from BBC Good Food and made it my own. Although, I didn’t change the flatbread recipe because that is just perfect, or so I’m told by the handsome one.

To truly take this kebab to the next level, you need to focus on the main part – the chicken. This needs to be free-range and / or organic – the quality is better and most importantly, so is the animal welfare.

Ideally, you’ll marinade the meat for up to two days, but even a few hours is better than nothing. I don’t put the chicken on skewers, as I grill it as they are, but you could skewer them and BBQ them – I’d recommend metal skewers. The flatbreads you’ll need to start a couple of hours before you want to eat and right now you might be thinking, this sounds a bit of a ballache. Don’t be put off by the prep, it’s easy and more than worth it.

What you’ll need for two people is:

• Chicken Kebab:
• 6 x free-range chicken thigh fillets (you could use free-range chicken breasts but they’re not as succulent – I’ve tried)
• 1tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 4 garlic cloves left whole, but crushed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp paprika
• pinch of cinnamon
• zest and juice of a small lemon
• Small handful of shredded mint leaves
• 2 tbsp of rapeseed / olive oil

• Flatbreads (makes four but you can keep the two you don’t use in the fridge until the next day):
• 9oz / 250g strong white flour (you could also use plain)
• 7g sachet of dried yeast
• 1 tsp of caster sugar
• 2 tsp of olive oil

• To serve:
• Anything you want! I recommend:
• Tzatziki
• Shredded lettuce
• Slices of the best tomatoes you can find
• Hot / chilli sauce (of course)
• Wedges of lemon
• Finely sliced red onion
• Mint and more mint
• Chips

1. To make the marinade put all of the ingredients listed in the chicken kebab above into a bowl, add a bit of salt & pepper and give it a good mix. Pop it in the fridge for up to two days.
   
2. A couple of hours before you’re ready to tuck in, make the flatbreads. In a bowl, mix the flour, yeast, sugar and a tsp of salt. Add 150ml of lukewarm water, your two tsp of olive oil and make the dough. Turn this out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, which inevitably ends up being five minutes! As long as it feel elastic, you should be good.
   
   Then very lightly oil the bowl you’ve used and cover loosely with some waxpaper or tea-towel (I’m trying to avoid using clingfilm) and pop your dough in for about an hour. It will increase in size and should look about double the size, but don’t worry if it’s not quite double.
   
   Once it’s rise, cut into four pieces and roll into a circle, as thinly as you can. This for me is the hardest part as mine never look anything like a circle, but regardless they still taste good! Pop them onto a plate, cover lightly and let them rise for another 15 mins. They won’t rise too much, but you should notice a difference.
   
3. Now it’s chicken time! Pre-heat your girl to as high as it’ll go and line a tray with tin foil. Take the chicken from the fridge and place on the tray, making sure they all have space to cook. If you wanted, you could add some chunks of pepper and onion, so they all cook together. The chicken will take about 10-15 mins to cook.
   
4. Whilst the chicken is grilling (make sure you keep an eye on it and turn it over once or twice), heat a large frying pan for the flatbreads. You’ll want these on quite a high heat, then add a drop of oil to the pan and carefully place the flatbread in. Once you start seeing bubbles appearing you should be ready to turn them over.
   
5. Once the chicken is cooked, let it rest for a couple of minutes, whilst you assemble your flatbread. Some people say more is less, but I’m not one of those people. My plate is loaded with chips, flatbread, salad, tzatziki, chill, onion, mint and of course, chicken. As you can see, the handsome one likes coleslaw with his, which I find bizarre!

Now all that’s left is to enjoy! And I highly recommend a lovely, crisp white wine to wash it down with.

Happy Friday!

A x