What is your fondest memory associated with shawarma?

Enjoying a sandwich on a long walk with your best friend on a cold winter day discussing everything that you love and hate about your new school?

A family dinner on the first day of summer break excitedly planning trips and activities for the whole summer?

Finally nailing the recipe for homemade shawarma and beaming as everyone tells you that it is just as good as the stuff you buy at your favorite restaurant?

We all have memories associated with that juicy combination of perfectly spiced and aromatic chicken, beautifully complemented by the creamy yet tangy tahini sauce but how about creating some new ones by taking the shawarma you know and love and giving it a mini-makeover to make it tastier (if that is even humanly possible!), more fun and easier to share with friends and family?

The kids and I have a twist on traditional shawarma that we love to prepare on movie nights or during the school break:

 

Shawarma nachos!

The kids can help in preparing it (which makes eating it double the fun for them), we get to spend more time together and create our own magical memories. Win-win situation in my book.

Turning your basic shawarma sandwich into an irresistible bowl of nachos couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is transform your sandwich bread into pita chips (perfectly crunchy and easier to scoop things with) then layer your chicken, fries, pickles, tomatoes, and olives on top of the pita chips and finish everything off with my secret ingredient tahini sauce. 

Shawarma nachos

1 chicken shawarma recipe 

2 loaves pita bread cut into squares

2 tomatoes deseeded and cut into strips

3-4 cucumbers pickles cut into thin rounds

2 medium potatoes cut into sticks and fried

1/3 cup black olives (pitted and cut into circles)

1/3 cup parsley leaves

Direction

1. Spray the pita squares with olive oil or toss them with a little olive oil.
2. Spread them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
3. Toast them in a 200 C oven for 7-10 minutes, stirring them after 5 minutes to get them to toast evenly
4. Take the pita chips out of the oven and allow them to cool slightly
5. Transfer the pita chips to your serving dish, top them with the shawarms, pickles, tomatoes, fries and olives
6. Finish the nachos off with a drizzle of tahini sauce (recipe below) and garnish with parsley

Creamy tahini sauce

1/2 cup tahini paste
2-4 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on how much zing you like)
1 clove of garlic minced (optional)
2 tablespoon Greek yogurt
salt to taste
1-2 tablespoons water (IF you want the dressing to be thinner)
1 tablespoon dried mint

Whisk the tahini with the lemon juice, at first it will get runny then it will thicken up and become lighter in color
add the garlic,  yogurt, dried mint, and salt then whisk until homogeneous.