Chicken Shawarma Wraps with Quick Pickles

Ingredients

• 700g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm strips
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small turnip, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 150g Greek yoghurt
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 4 large flatbreads or wraps, to serve
• 15g fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly torn, to serve
• 10g fresh mint leaves, to serve
• 1 tsp sumac, to serve
• extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle, to serve

Method

1. Start with the pickles — they need 20 minutes minimum to soften and stain. Combine the turnip matchsticks and red onion in a bowl with the white wine vinegar, caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Toss well and set aside, turning occasionally, until the turnip has gone limp and shocking pink from the onion bleeding through.
2. Build the spice paste. In a large bowl, stir the cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and cayenne into the olive oil to make a loose rust-red paste — the oil is what lets the spices bloom in the pan rather than scorching dry on the chicken; raw spices taste dusty, oiled spices taste of themselves. Season generously with salt and black pepper, add the chicken strips and toss until every piece is slick and evenly coated.
3. Whisk the Greek yoghurt, grated garlic, lemon juice and tahini in a small bowl until smooth and pourable. Taste it now — it should be sharp, garlicky and faintly bitter from the tahini; adjust with salt and a touch more lemon juice if it's flat.
4. Set a large stainless steel or cast iron frying pan over high heat until it's properly smoking — you want hard contact heat to char the spices and render the thigh fat, not gentle warmth. Add the chicken in a single layer and work in two batches: crowd the pan and the meat steams in its own juices instead of charring, and you've lost the whole point of shawarma. Cook 5–6 minutes, turning once, until the edges are deeply blackened in patches and the chicken is cooked through with no pink remaining.
5. While the second batch cooks, warm the flatbreads directly over a gas flame or in a dry pan for 30–40 seconds a side, until soft, pliable and freckled with char. Stack them under a tea towel so they stay supple.
6. Taste a piece of chicken before you build — this is your last seasoning checkpoint. A final pinch of salt now, not at the table.
7. Spread a generous spoonful of the garlic-lemon-tahini yoghurt down the centre of each warm flatbread. Pile on the shawarma chicken, then drain the pickles and heap them over the top — the acid from the pickles is what cuts through the rendered thigh fat and the tahini richness.
8. Scatter the torn parsley and mint leaves over each wrap, dust with sumac, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and finish with a squeeze of lemon from the wedges. Roll tight, slice on the diagonal and serve straight away with the remaining lemon wedges alongside.