If you love shawarma, then this post on Chicken Shawarma Salad is just what you need. It takes the best part of the shawarma; that’s the smoky, juicy meat and the finger-licking tahini sauce, and builds a summer-friendly salad with them.

Chicken Shawarma Salad / www.quichentell.com

What is a shawarma?

Put simply, shawarma is spit-roasted meat (chicken/lamb/beef) cooked on a continuously turning spit. Slabs of meat are seasoned with olive oil, salt and shawarma seasoning, skewered in layers on a tall, vertical rod, fixed at the top and bottom, with a panel of heated coils at the back. As the rod turns slowly, the meat cooks and acquires a beautiful char. Slices are shaved off and used to make shawarma rolls.

My Chicken Shawarma Salad recipe is a simple riff on using the wonderful flavours in a salad. No spit is needed; the chicken breasts are seasoned with shawarma seasoning and cooked in a pan on a somewhat high flame to get a char. They evoke the flavours of the classic shawarma in the home kitchen, with little effort.

Shawarma seasoning

Or as we Indians would call it, shawarma masala, is where the focus of this dish lies. Now shawarma is common to cuisines in many countries which includes Arab nations, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and even Israel. Understandably, the seasoning has as many variations. I have used a recipe that is a combination of a few versions. You can make this version or try a store-bought mix. Having said that, I would definitely recommend making a small batch at home. It’s a wonderfully flavorful masala that can be used in a variety of other dishes as well. The seasoning contains onion and garlic powder, ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, paprika, chilli flakes and oregano. Some people add cardamom, nutmeg and turmeric as well. Go with what suits your taste.

Don’t skip the tahini sauce

This Chicken Shawarma Salad is anchored by the deliciously nutty and tangy tahini sauce. As simple as it is, the sauce is like the soul of the salad. A luxurious creamy texture and rich nuttiness make tahini an outstanding ingredient for salad dressing. This sauce is just a healthy portion of tahini, salt, black pepper, water, a little grated garlic and lemon juice mixed together in a bowl. I sometimes like to add a few tablespoons of thick, natural yoghurt and a healthy glug of extra-virgin olive oil to it. It’s salty, tangy and creamy in a way that makes you smack your tongue against your palate in delight. I eat it with eggs, chips, toast, crackers and literally everything.

This Chicken Shawarma Salad is predominantly savoury, so the black grapes add a pop of sweetness to make the dish rounded and complete. If you want to skip the grapes, throw in a few halved, cherry tomatoes for a touch of colour. Persian cucumbers, iceberg lettuce and half a thinly sliced red onion make up the rest of the salad. I cannot recommend this salad enough – it is protein rich, full of fibre and healthy fats, easy to put together and so satisfying. In my home, we eat it as a meal, but you could serve it as a side with flatbreads or other carbohydrates such as quinoa, pulao etc.