Chicken Shawarma Wrap

My dad’s oldest sister, took me on all kinds of food adventures. She was my gateway to ethnic cuisine and my always food enabler. It was with her I fell in love with my first gyro. To this day I can’t eat one without thinking of her.

Fast forward 15 years and my Armo husband introduced me to the chicken tarna wrap from Zankou Chicken which got its start in Beirut by a Lebanese Armenian family. Chicken tarna, cooked on a spit and based on shawerma, is the bolder and more confident cousin of the gyro.

This wrap was inspired by the chicken tarna wrap and approved by my Armo. If you make everything from scratch the day you want to eat it, plan to spend about 5 hours in the kitchen plus a little bit of prep on the previous day.

You’ll need some solid pita bread. If you don’t have excess to an ethnic grocery, you can make your own or purchase lavash from a regular grocery. As a last resort, buy large tortillas or sandwich wraps. Regular grocery store pita won’t do the trick because they’re too small and too thick to fold over the filling. Pita bread is easy easy (read as very easy) to make, but it does take time and accounts for bulk of the kitchen time.

We like dipping veggies with hummus on the side and you always need pickles for the acidic kick. Zankou Chicken uses pickled turnips colored with beet juice (the most beautiful pickles there ever was and an Armenian staple). Turnips were no where to be found when I made this dish — blame it on summer and/or on COVID so I used pickled okra.

Along with the chicken, the actual wrap can be stuffed with spinach and arugula, radishes, Persian cucumbers, parsley and garlic sauce. Your imagination is the limit. Garlic sauce is a staple at Zankou Chicken and their large secret. I believe the real name for the sauce is toum. My Armenian says my garlic sauce is similar to but not Zankou Chicken’s. Trader Joe’s sells a mild version of the sauce called “garlic spread-dip”.

The chicken freezes well. For optimum results estimate how much you won’t eat and freeze that amount immediately. If you want individual portions, wrap pieces of chicken in Saran wrap and slide the wrapped chicken into a Ziploc bag. You can eat the chicken cold on top of a salad or with a side of roasted veggies. Both of them make quick meal options.

Last thing — this chicken has a spice list a mile long. If you don’t have all of the spices, omit some. There is no point in spending money on 10 spices you’ll never use again. With all the flavor packed in this dish, you won’t miss it.

Chicken Ingredients
olive oil
1 T black pepper
2 T ground cloves
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground fenugreek seeds
1 1/4 t ground fennel seeds
4 t ground cumin
1 t ground anise
1 t ground cinnamon
1 T ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground ginger
1 T ground paprika or red chile powder
1 T dried sumac
2 t salt
1, 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3/4 c minced cilantro (stems and leaves)
4 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
5 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken thighs

Chicken Directions
Heat 3 T of oil on medium heat in a heavy bottom frying pan until the oil shimmers. Add the ingredients (black pepper-paprika) to the pan. Stir until the spices darken in color and are aromatic. Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients except the chicken in the pan.

Put the chicken in a large plastic bag (can be plastic produce bag) and pour the spice mixture on top of the kitchen. Tie the bag and flip it several times to coat the chicken. Place the chicken bag in a large Pyrex and place it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator (you don’t want to put it on a higher shelf and have chicken juice oozing all over each shelf). Leave it there overnight and give the bag a quick flip every 3-4 hours (only while you’re awake).

Take the chicken out of the fridge about 45 minutes prior to it going in the oven. Do not put a refrigerator cold Pyrex into a hot oven! Preheat the oven to 350.

Dump the chicken (with the marinade) into the Pyrex, you might need to divide the chicken between two dishes. Add 1 cup of water to the pan (if you’re using two pans, divide the water appropriately). Bake. Every 10 minutes, spoon some of the liquid from the pan on top of the chicken. If you run out of liquid, add a little more water. The cooking time will vary based on the temperature of your chicken going into the oven and the size of the thighs. If you’re unsure when it’s done, the chicken should be tender and the chicken juice runs clear.

When the chicken is cool enough to touch, pick the meat off the bones. Dispose the bone (or save them to make a stock), and add the meat back to the Pyrex.

Toum Ingredients
1 cup (have extra on hand) of garlic cloves, peeled
salt
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
3 cups of oil (canola, vegetable) — don’t use olive
1/4 c ice water

Toum Directions
Add 1.5 t salt and garlic to a food processor and process until garlic is finely minced. You’ll probably need to scrape down the sides. Add 1 T of lemon juice. Process. Add 1 T of lemon juice. Process. It should be smooth and a little fluffy.

While the food processor is running, drizzle in 1/2 c of oil, then 1 T lemon juice. Repeat. When you’re out of lemon juice, add the water. Taste. Add salt if you need it. When done, the mixture will be white and fluffy.

Toum Notes
I cracked the garlic sauce code by following the “Armenian International Cuisines and More” group on Facebook. The recipe gave a tip to not to use olive oil because the texture will be loose. I tried it with olive oil once, and the finished product was a very thick sauce. From a flavor standpoint, it was still really good, but I wouldn’t call it toum. I can’t prove if the olive oil was the culprit of the texture issue, but the only time toum failed me was when I made it with olive oil.

Wrap It
Preheat the oven to 400. Stack the pita in a large covered dish or pot and place it in the hot oven. Cover the Pyrex with the chicken with aluminum foil and place in the hot oven. Leave it in there until the food is piping (read as too hot to eat).

Plate your sides and have your toppings at room temperature. You won’t hear me say this often, but you’ll need to work quickly. Cut a sheet of aluminum foil and lay 1 pita on it. Slather it with garlic sauce. Add the chicken, more garlic sauce, spinach, arugula, sliced radishes and Persian cucumbers and cilantro. Fold the sides of the pita to make a fat taco, fold the bottom piece of foil up, then the sides of the aluminum foil. The foil will hold the wrap in place for easier and cleaner eating.