NIGERIAN STYLE SHAWARMA

I have a pretty important exam coming up on Thursday but this recipe has been burning a hole in my virtual pocket and I just had to post it. Shawarma is one of those things that I look forward to having whenever I go home to Nigeria.  Sometimes I even make sure that there is one waiting for me at home when I get home from the airport.

The last time I was back home was back home I definitely had more than my fair share of shawarma (don’t judge me) and once I was back in the UK I was having withdrawal symptoms and thus this recipe was born.

This shawarma tastes great and is pretty close to the real thing; the only thing not authentic about it is that I used flour tortillas instead of the traditional Lebanese pita bread so if you have access to the Lebanese bread by all means use that.  This recipe is very simple to make and would make a great week night dinner as you can make the filling a day ahead and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

This is great served with some chips or a side salad. 

NIGERIAN STYLE SHAWARMA

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

3.5 - 4 cups of cooked shredded chicken

2 finger chillies or 1 scotch bonnet (optional)

260g of white cabbage

4 hotdogs

1/4 cup of ketchup

1/3 cup of mayonnaise

Mature cheddar or your favourite cheese (optional)

Directions

Chop the chilli and the cabbage and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add in the chicken and stir fry for about 3 minutes (for my chicken I shredded some cooked chicken thighs that I had in my fridge, a rotisserie chicken works great as well).

Add in the cabbage and the chillies and stir fry for another 2 minutes. 

Mix together the mayonnaise and ketchup and add this to the chicken mixture in the pan. Stir for about a minute to ensure the ketchup mixture is well incorporated.

In another pan fry your hot dogs over medium high heat with very little oil for about 5 minutes making sure to turn them every so often. Most hot dogs come cooked so this step is just to heat them up and get some colour on them. 

Now it’s time to assemble!

Wipe down the pan used to fry the hot dogs and heat it up over a medium heat. Meanwhile, place a quarter of your chicken mixture on a flour tortilla and place one hot dog on top of the mixture and sprinkle on some cheese. (I like to cut my hot dog in half lengthwise so that more of my bites have hotdog in them. Hot dog-less bites need to be kept to a minimum; and yes hot dog-less is a real word).

Roll up your tortilla making sure to tuck one end in while you roll to seal that end. Place seam side down in the pre-heated pan and leave it for about 2 minutes to help seal it.

Enjoy!

Note: If you make the filling ahead of time, just pour into a saucepan when you are ready to use it and stir fry over a moderate heat for a few minutes to heat it up.