Recipes

Shawarmas are like the kebabs that you can justify as being good for you. Well, they’re not particularly bad for you really, and they are actually quite easy to make. You don’t need a roly thing, or a special bread knife or tray. Let me show you how.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C and lightly grease a 900g loaf tin.

For the shawarma, mix together the cornflour, salt, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cloves, cayenne and cinnamon.

Put the oil into a bowl, then add the chicken and stir it around. Add the dry spice mix and stir to coat all the chicken pieces well. Layer the pieces of chicken in the loaf tin and press down, then bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the slaw. Put the broccoli into a large bowl.

Put the yoghurt into a second bowl and heat the oil in a small pan. As soon as the oil is hot, add the mustard powder and seeds – when the seeds begin to pop, pour the oil and seeds over the yoghurt, add the salt and stir. Pour this dressing over the broccoli, then mix in the parsley.

When the shawarma is ready, leave it in the tin for 10 minutes so that all the juices can go back into the chicken.

Tip it out of the tin and slice your shawarma. We like to eat this piled into flatbreads with the slaw. Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge, or frozen for the next time you need your shawarma fix.