If you’ve ever been on holiday to Greece, you will have heard of chicken souvlaki and this meal will take you right back to the sunshine, blue skies and clear Aegean sea, whatever the weather in the UK. The chicken is gently spiced and usually presented on a skewer and served with tzatziki. In Greece, we had it with pitta bread, but this recipe serves it with ciabatta, which is tastier, in my opinion.
If you’re trying to cut down on carbs or calories, you can cut out the bread and just have salad and chips.
This is a Gousto recipe, which is really easy to make and so delicious, that I wanted to share it with you. These ingredients serve 2 people.
Ingredients for the Chicken
1 shallot
1 teaspoon dried garlic granules
320g chicken thighs
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Ingredients for the Tzatziki
80g natural yoghurt
Quarter of cucumber
3 sprigs of fresh mint
Ingredients for the Sides
2 large potatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 ciabatta rolls
Your favourite side salad – eg cherry tomatoes, gem lettuce, radish, cress, cucumber
Salad dressing – 6 teaspoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon tahini, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon honey.
First of all, prepare the chicken.
The Gousto recipe says that you can marinate the chicken and cook it straight away, but it is always better to marinade for longer, so the earlier you can prepare the chicken, the better. Store it in the fridge for a couple of hours before you cook it.
Take the skin off the shallot and slice it as thin as possible.
Add it to a large bowl with the chicken thighs, garlic, cumin seeds, paprika, red wine vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix everything together, until all the chicken is covered, then thread the thighs onto 2 metal skewers.
Transfer to a tin-foil lined baking tray and sprinkle with any remaining shallots from the bowl. These will go nice and crispy in the oven.
Next make the chips by slicing the potatoes (keeping the skin on). Put them in a large bowl and sprinkle with a little olive oil and the dried oregano. Give them a good stir and transfer to another tin-foil lined baking tray. Add some salt and pepper.
Bake the chicken and the potatoes for 25 minutes at 200 degrees/ 180 degrees fan.
Meanwhile, make the tzatziki.
Cut the cucumber in half and take out the seeds. Grate it and add it to a bowl with a teaspoon of garlic granules and the yoghurt. Take all the leaves off the sprigs of mint and finely chop them. Add to the bowl and stir. Put in the fridge until the chicken and chips are ready.
With 5 minutes to go, put the ciabatta rolls in the oven to warm.
Put the side salad on the places and make the dressing by mixing olive oil, tahini, Dijon mustard and honey together in a cup. Drizzle over the salad.
Assemble the meal by putting half of the chicken into the ciabatta, with a few chips and a dollop of the tzatziki. Serve the rest on the side, with the salad, chips and another dollop of the tzatziki.
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