Tavuk Döner & Chips
- Ingredients
- 1kg chicken thigh fillets
- 3 tbsp natural yoghurt
- 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 2 tbsp Turkish sweet red pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp crushed chillies
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp onion granules
- ½ tsp garlic granules
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large onion, sliced in half (skin still on)
- You'll also need 4 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes - to thread the chicken onto
For the chips
- 500g white potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm thick chips
- 1ltr vegetable based oil, for frying (preferably rice bran oil)
- Method
Add all of the marinade ingredients (everything other than the
chicken) to a dish that will be big and deep
enough to eventually fit all of
the chicken thighs in to marinate.
Mix together the marinade ingredients, then add the chicken thigh
fillets, and give them a really good stir so that they are fully coated in the
marinade.
Cover the dish with clingfilm, and refrigerate the marinated chicken
for a minimum of 4 hours, or even
overnight.
Once the chicken has finished marinating, take the dish out of the
fridge 45 mins before you are ready to start
cooking them.
Prep your chips and keep them covered in cold water until your chicken
goes in the oven.
Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6
Now carefully thread each thigh fillet through the 4 skewers – the
skewers should go horizontally through each
fillet so that they can support the
weight of all of the chicken thighs once they have all been threaded. Don’t
push
the fillets together too tightly, as although they need to be close together to
get the desired döner
effect, the fillets must have room to ensure that they
are cooked all the way through; not pushing them too
tightly together will
allow this to happen.
Lay the onion halves flat in a deep dish that is shorter in length
than the skewers so that the skewers can sit
on top of the edges of the dish
(the döner is cooked horizontally, not vertically, but should also not lay
completely
flat in the dish – a short dish and the onion halves aid this cooking process)
Cook the chicken in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
After 30-35 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven, baste with
the juices in the dish, then carefully turn
the döner over so the other side is
facing upwards.
Place the chicken back in the oven for another 25-30 minutes
before the final stage of cooking.
Drain your chips, pat them completely dry and pour the sunflower
oil into a medium sized, deep non-stick pan.
Heat up the oil on a medium to high-heat. After 5-6 mins, test the
heat by carefully popping in one of the
chips. If the oil starts to bubble
rapidly when the chip hits the oil, then it is ready. If not, wait a few more
minutes.
Once the oil is not enough, very carefully add the chips to the
pan with a slotted spoon and cook on a medium
heat for 10-15 minutes for a nice
even cook.
Now that the chicken has been cooking for another 25-30 mins, take
out again, baste, turn over and pop back
in the oven for a final 5-10 minutes.
Take the chicken dish out of the oven, baste the chicken again
with the juices and allow to rest for 5 minutes
before carving (vertically).
The chips should be cooked and have turned a nice golden colour by
now, so carefully remove them to a plate
lined with kitchen paper.
If there are any juices left in the chicken döner dish, brush them
over the chicken just before serving.
Side Note: I like to prepare everything on a big platter in the
style of a Turkish restaurant meal and prep
everything on that platter so that it’s
ready for when the chicken döner and chips are cooked. We serve our
chicken döner
and chips with warm pitta bread, a little vermicelli rice, sumac salad, pickled
red cabbage and
peppers, and homemade dips such as cacik and chilli
sauce (videos on my youtube channel here.)
