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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

Chicken shawarma wrap with garlic sauce (toum)

40 min, plus 4 hr marinating · 6 wraps

Spiced, lemony chicken thighs roasted hot and sliced thin, rolled in thin bread with toum (whipped garlic sauce), pickles and fries, then toasted so the wrap crisps. Amman, Dubai and Berlin's kebab counters all start here.

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You need

• 1 kg (2 1/4 lb) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• For the marinade: 4 tbsp plain yogurt, juice of 1 lemon, 3 tbsp olive oil, 4 cloves garlic, grated, 2 tsp seven-spice (baharat) or 1 tsp each cumin, coriander and paprika plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cardamom, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
• For the toum: 1 head garlic (about 12 cloves), peeled, 1/2 tsp salt, juice of 1 lemon, 250 ml (1 cup) neutral oil, 2 tbsp ice water
• 6 thin flatbreads (markook, lavash or thin pita)
• Pickled turnips and dill pickles, sliced
• A handful of fries (optional, the Amman way)
• Chopped parsley and tomato (optional)

How to make it

1. Marinate (4 hr or overnight): Mix the marinade, coat the chicken and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
2. Make the toum (10 min): Blend the garlic and salt in a food processor to a paste. With the motor running, add the oil in a very thin stream, alternating with the lemon juice and ice water, until it's white, fluffy and thick like mayonnaise. Chill.
3. Roast (25 min): Heat the oven to 230 C (450 F). Spread the chicken on a lined tray and roast until charred at the edges and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes (or grill it). Rest 5 minutes and slice thin.
4. Roll (5 min): Spread each flatbread with toum, add a line of chicken, pickles (and fries and parsley if you like), and roll up tightly, folding in the bottom.
5. Toast and serve: Press the wraps seam side down in a hot dry pan 1 to 2 minutes a side until crisp, cut in half and serve with extra toum.

Tips

• If the toum splits, start again with a fresh clove and a spoon of the broken sauce, adding the rest slowly.
• Berlin Gemüse Kebap: add grilled zucchini, peppers, potatoes, feta and a squeeze of lemon in a toasted bread pocket.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.