CHICKEN SHAWARMA

RACHAEL'S CHICKEN SHAWARMA
Tahini Sauce:
1 tablespoon tahini
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Yocheese or Greek yogurt
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice *
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pinch salt

Chicken Seasoning Rub:
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon ground cardamom **
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon lemon juice *
1 large clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons oil
4 boneless chicken breasts

Veggie Mixture:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, sliced, 5 1/4 ounces
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

4 low carb pita breads or tortillas, optional (not included in the counts)

In a small bowl, combine all of the sauce ingredients and keep chilled until serving time. Make sure that all of your vegetables are prepped and spices measured out before starting to do any of the cooking.

In another small bowl, mix all the chicken seasoning ingredients, except the chicken, to form a paste. Rub the paste mixture all over the chicken to coat well. Grill the chicken on an indoor or outdoor grill about 3 minutes per side until just done. Don't let the chicken overcook or it will be dry.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Cook the onions and peppers until they just start to char a little on the edges and the onions are caramelized; season with salt and pepper.

Slice the chicken thinly. Serve with the peppers and top with some of the yogurt-tahini sauce. If you wish, you can put the chicken, peppers and sauce in pita bread or tortillas like Rachael did.

Makes 4 servings
The chicken can be frozen but not the peppers

* You'll need 1 lemon total for the whole recipe.

** Rachael's recipe called for cardamom but I couldn't bring myself to use it. It has such an awful smell that I was afraid it would ruin the dish. I'm glad that I left it out because the seasonings were very nice without it. If you like the flavor of cardamom, go ahead and add it.

Per Serving: 357 Calories; 21g Fat; 31g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 10g Net Carbs

This is from Rachael Ray's TV show (click here to see her original recipe). I made only a fourth of the amount of tahini sauce that Rachael made and it was plenty. I've never had real chicken shawarma so I can't say if this tastes authentic or not but it sounded good to me. My cousin has eaten a lot of shawarma and she said that the ingredients in this version aren't anything like in the real thing. Normally dark meat chicken is marinated and cooked on a spit then shaved off in thin slices. It's served in pita bread and topped with raw onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles and sumac. The sauce is usually loaded with a lot of garlic which Rachael has left out for some reason. Click here to see a photo of real shawarma. I really liked the seasoning mixture on this chicken whether it is authentic or not. I grilled mine on my outdoor grill and I think that enhanced the flavor quite a bit. This looks like a long, complicated recipe but it really goes together pretty quickly. If you're going to use yocheese, you'll have to make it the day before or at least a few hours before making the rest of this recipe.

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