Homemade chicken shawarma with pita, tahini, amba and zhug

Method

1. Prepare the marinade (10 minutes): in a mixing bowl, combine 30 g olive oil, 15 g lemon juice, 3 grated garlic cloves, cumin, ground coriander, paprika, turmeric, baharat, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, hot chilli if wanted and 4.5 g salt (1 level tsp). This makes a thick orange paste with the aroma of a shawarma spit. Add the chicken strips and massage by hand for 1 minute to work the spices into the meat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight (see tips); these 2 hours are included in the total time.
2. With 30 minutes left of marinating, prepare the onions and tahini. Rub the sliced red onion between your fingers with the sumac, chopped parsley and 1 pinch salt; leave for 10 minutes to soften and turn pink. In a bowl, whisk the tahini with 1 grated garlic clove, 25 g lemon juice and 1.5 g salt: it will thicken and go lumpy, which is normal. Pour in the 75 g iced water in 3 additions, whisking: it becomes smooth and pale again, and should coat a spoon without running like water. Taste: it should be distinctly lemony and salty, as it seasons the pita; adjust the lemon or salt.
3. Make the salad and zhug. Cut the tomato and cucumbers into 5 mm dice and put in a colander over a bowl with 10 g lemon juice and 5 g oil; do not salt yet or they will release water. Slice the gherkins. Quick zhug: very finely chop the deseeded chillies, fresh coriander and 1 garlic clove, then mix with 10 g olive oil and 0.5 g salt (or use 1 tsp harissa instead). Slice the yellow onion into thin half-moons.
4. First batch (9 minutes): heat the heavy 28 cm frying pan over a high heat for 3 minutes until lightly smoking, then add 1 tsp oil (5 g). Lift out half the chicken strips with a fork and let them drain, leaving the marinade in the bowl, then spread in a single layer with no liquid. Sear untouched for 2 minutes to colour underneath. Then stir every minute for 4–5 minutes until the edges are caramelised and almost crisp. Add half the yellow onion and soften in the juices for 2 minutes, stirring: it turns golden and picks up the browned juices. It is cooked when a thick strip cut in half has no pink centre and its juice is clear. Transfer to a dish covered with foil.
5. Second batch: without washing the pan (wipe away only any blackened bits, keeping the brown juices), heat until smoking again, add 5 g oil and cook the remaining chicken, then onion, exactly the same way. Meanwhile, warm the pitas in the small dry pan over a medium heat for 30 seconds per side: they should be soft and barely marked; keep under a tea towel.
6. The street-stall finishing touch: tip all the chicken and onion onto the board and roughly chop with the large knife into 1–2 cm pieces. Return the pan to a high heat, add the remaining marinade and 30 g water, scrape up the browned juices with a spatula and boil for 30 seconds. Add the chopped chicken and toss over a high heat for 1 minute: the pieces should be glossy with crisp edges and the pan dry.
7. Salt the salad (1.5 g), stir and leave to drain while opening the pitas along a third of their edge. Spread 1 tbsp tahini in the bottom of each pita, then fill in layers: chicken, drained salad, sumac onions, gherkins, a dab of zhug, 1 tbsp amba and a drizzle of tahini. Serve one pita each immediately; leave the third, the remaining chicken and salad, and tahini in a sauce jug on the table for refilling.