What makes this simple dish delicious is the marinating of the chicken and the home made pita. It is worth making the pitas and storing in your freezer for a quick snack. They don’t need long to defrost but you could you could heat them quickly in your toaster or in the oven. And of course, there can be no souvlaki without a good cucumber tzatziki!
Ingredients:Makes 4 Souvlaki – for 2 persons
For the Pita breads (it makes 8 small pitas)
- 200g Greek yogurt
- 100ml water, tepid
- 100ml sunflower oil
- 4g dried yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 350g flour and extra for dusting
- A pinch of oregano
- Virgin olive oil for frying
For the marinade
- 100g Greek yogurt
- 100ml ale
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ shallot finely chopped
- ½ clove of garlic finely chopped
For the chicken souvlaki
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- ½ red onion
- 12 cherry tomatoes
For the Ale Sauce
- 2 tbsp virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 1 medium sized tomato, peeled, deseeded and chopped in small dice
- ½ clove of garlic finely chopped
- A pinch of smoked paprika
- 1 pinch of dried thyme
- 1 pinch of dried basil
- 1 tsp of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp of cyder vinegar
- 150ml ale
For the Tzatziki
- 1 cucumber, weighing 350-400g
- 200g yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp dill, finely chopped
Instructions:
Start by making the dough for the pita breads.
In a clean bowl, place the tepid water, sugar and yeast and stir till the yeast is dissolved. Add the sunflower oil, yogurt, oregano and half the flour. Mix well. Start using your hands to form the dough adding flour till you get a soft and not sticky ball of dough. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour. Place the ball in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean towel and place somewhere warm to let it rise. I tend to pre-heat the oven to 100C and leave the dough in the oven for about 30 minutes. Take the dough out and split in equal size chunks. Roll out on a floured surface, sprinkling more flour as needed for the pitas not to stick.
To cook the pitas, place a small frying pan on medium heat and brush with olive oil. Cook each pita on both sides brushing with oil as you go along till all the pitas are cooked. I store them in the fridge or even freezer till needed with baking parchment in between, the whole thing wrapped in foil. If using from frozen, thaw fully before warming wrapped in foil in a preheated oven for 2-3 minutes. Alternatively ,if the pitas are cold and you want to revive them, just brush with a little olive oil and heat in a frying pan 1 minute each side.
To make the tzatziki, wash but do not peel the cucumber. Grate it on the cheese side of the grater and place in a colander with a sprinkling of salt. Leave it for 10-15 minutes so that the salt draws out the water off the cucumber. Squeeze tightly to get rid of as much liquid as possible and place in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper and adjust vinegar to your taste.
For the marinade, place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir.
Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts. Cut each breast in three long strips and each strip into 4 square pieces. Add the chicken pieces, chopped pepper and red onion to the marinade, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for 1 -1.30 hours to marinate.
To make the ale sauce, bring a pan to a medium heat. Add the oil and shallot and sweat for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, sugar, herbs and tomato and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Finely add the beer and cook till reduced by half. Remove the pan from the heat and using a hand whisk, blitz the sauce till smooth. Return to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook some more to reduce so a thick spreadable sauce.