Middle-Eastern flavors are very unique, full of anti-inflammatory properties, and were formerly a staple of my diet! I remember there were three days straight where I had Chicken Shawarma (a garlic-based chicken recipe served with Tzatziki sauce) for dinner and was not even close to feeling sick of it. So, replicating this dish in a gluten-free form has been a high culinary priority.
Imagine my delight when I found (or thought I found) gluten-free pita bread on sale at Whole Foods! Nesteled between Udi’s frozen Blueberry Muffins and Ezekiel’s Sprouted Grain Bread was a package of 6 pitas! So, I bought it and rushed home to find a recipe for Chicken Shawarma. Here is that recipe:
http://kurryleaves.blogspot.com/2011/08/chicken-shawarma.html
As far as preparing the chicken and veggies to fill the pita goes, that recipe is gluten free! I bought plain greek yogurt for the seasoning, and followed the instructions given (which are pretty clear). However, I was used to having this dish with Tzatziki Sauce (which the recipe doesn’t call for), so I googled a separate recipe to make the sauce:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tzatziki-sauce/
The sauce is pretty easy to make. I used the hour that I waited between marinating the chicken and cooking to create the Tzatziki Sauce. I quartered the recipe (since as given you’d end up with TONS of tzatziki sauce!), and processed all of the ingredients in a magic bullet ^.^ I also didn’t have any dill on hand, but I thought the sauce came out delicious without it.
After processing the tzatziki sauce and still waiting for the chicken to marinate, I decided to look at the ostensibly-gluten-free pitas that I had been so enthusiastic about at Whole Foods. Well, I suppose the gluten-free foodie’s equivalent of beer goggles had worn off, because I realized at the VERY last minute that the pitas were, in fact, NOT gluten free. They were normal, wheat based Pita. So there I was, in the middle of a recipe that calls for pita bread, with no pita bread and at least 30 minutes away from Whole Foods.
Thank goodness I became gluten-intolerant in the age of Google. A quick google search lead me to this recipe for 20 minute gluten-free pitas:
http://www.weareglutenfree.com/gluten-free-pita-bread-recipe/
I didn’t have the flours that the recipe calls for (all I had on hand was All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour, which is very different from the Almond Flour/Coconut Flour listed in the recipe), but I followed the proportions given and hoped for the best. I’ve included a picture of the result. While they don’t look particularly glamorous, these pitas did come out flexible enough to wrap around the the rest of the recipe. They tasted fine, but were definitely not a main feature of the dish. I think next time I’ll use this recipe: http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/how-to-make-quickbread-pita-bread-step-x-step/ (Gluten Free on a Shoestring is awesome!).
This dish came out fairly well, although I wish the chicken had had much longer to marinate (I only gave it about an hour and 20 minutes), and I wish I’d added more salt to the marinade (I probably added 1/2 a teaspoon). The Tzatziki Sauce was excellent (even without the dill), and the pitas made the whole experience much more exciting than expected.
BUCKWHEAT 