Chicken gyros with tzatziki and chips
- Prepare
- over 2 hours
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Nut-free
Charred chicken, fresh tzatziki, zingy chopped salad and crispy seasoned fries all come together in fluffy homemade flatbreads in Paul Ainsworth’s epic gyros.
Ingredients
For the pickled onions
- 50g/1¾oz caster sugar
- 50ml/2fl oz white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
For the chicken marinade
- 170g/6oz thick, full-fat Greek yoghurt
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp smoked sweet paprika
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 6 boneless chicken thighs
For the nigella seed flatbreads
- 370g/13oz strong white bread flour
- 200g/7oz natural yoghurt
- 30g/1oz ghee or melted butter, plus extra for brushing the finished flatbreads
- 2 tsp nigella seeds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 5g/¼oz dried active yeast dissolved in 50ml/2fl oz warm water
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp chopped fresh coriander, to garnish
- sea salt, to garnish
For the tzatziki
For the salad
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 110g/4oz pickled red onions (see above)
- 10g/1/3oz fresh coriander, chopped
- 10g/1/3oz fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cucumber, deseeded and thinly sliced
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
- 500g/1lb 2oz French fries
- ¼ tsp sweet, smoked paprika
- 100g/3½oz feta, crumbled
- sea salt
Method
To make the pickled red onions, place a small saucepan over a medium heat, then add 150ml/5fl oz water, the sugar, vinegar, mustard seeds and olive oil and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
When just warm, add in the sliced red onion and leave to pickle for at least 4 hours.
To make the chicken marinade, add all of the ingredients, except the chicken, to a large bowl and mix together.
Add the chicken and mix well, making sure the chicken is really well covered. Leave to marinate for at least 4 hours in the fridge.
To make the nigella seed flatbreads, use a mixer with a dough attachment and add all the flatbread ingredients to the bowl, excluding the fresh coriander and sea salt. Mix the ingredients on a medium to low setting for 10 minutes. The dough will be wet to start with, but after it has kneaded in the machine it will firm up.
Remove the dough from the bowl and form a ball with your hands.
Lightly butter or oil the bowl then place the dough back in. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place to prove for 1–1 ½ hours or until doubled in size.
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 5 or 6 evenly sized balls. Place onto a lightly floured tray and cover with the damp cloth and leave to prove again for 30 minutes.
Heat a large nonstick frying pan over a high heat. Take a dough ball and roll it out to form your desired flatbread shape (either rounds or ovals).
Add the flatbread to the hot pan and leave it to dry fry for 2–3 minutes – it should puff up. Turn the flatbread over and cook for a further 2–3 minutes until it is charred in places. Repeat with the remaining flatbreads, cover and set aside.
To make the tzatziki, put the cucumber in a bowl with the sea salt and leave for 10 minutes.
Transfer the cucumber to a clean tea towel, and squeeze to remove all of the excess liquid. Mix the cucumber with the yoghurt and finish with the mint.
To make the salad, add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix well, seasoning to taste with the sea salt and black pepper.
To cook the chicken, take two kebab skewers and fold the thighs in two, and thread onto the skewers. Repeat the process until all the chicken is on the two skewers.
Either cook the chicken on the barbecue or in the oven. To cook in the oven, preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5 and cook for 50 minutes, turning occasionally. To cook on the BBQ, turn the skewers constantly until cooked.They will take 40 minutes on the BBQ, always check with a temperature probe before serving BBQ food.
Meanwhile, cook the French fries according to pack instructions until nice and crisp and season with the smoked paprika and sea salt.
To serve, warm the flatbreads in the oven for 2–3 minutes. Brush with the extra ghee or melted butter all over, followed by a sprinkle of chopped coriander and a pinch of sea salt. Lay them out on a flat surface.
Carve the cooked chicken skewers like a kebab and divide between the four flatbreads, then top with salad and spiced fries.
Finish with the tzatziki and crumbled feta. Finally, roll up the flatbreads up and serve.
