Gyros is a traditional Greek meal made out of meat grilled on a vertical rotisserie (chicken or pork) wrapped in a traditional flat bread with vegetables and tzatziki sauce. It’s close relative of kebabs )including Arabic shawarma and Mexican al pastor). The original word for this type of meal was döner, but since it has Turkish origins they swapped it for gyros.
I’m sharing with you today for chicken gyros, everything from flat bread and meat to tzatziki sauce. When I was in Greece they finished the gyros with some french fries so I incorporated some baked potatoes, which is really optional.
Ingredients for 6 people:
- 1 satchel of dried yeast
- 1 tea spoon of sugar
- 150 ml of milk
- 100 ml of water
- 330 g of strong flour
- 1 tea spoon of salt
- optional: handful of chopped fresh thyme
- 1 table spoon of olive oil
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- 1 table spoon of coriander seeds
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 lemon
- 2 table spoons of sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tea spoon of chili flakes
- 1 tea spoon of thyme
- 1 tea spoon of salt
- 1/2 tea spoon of pepper
- 50 ml of olive oil
- 600 g of thigh or breast chicken file
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- 1 cucumber
- salt, pepper
- white wine vinegar
- 300 g of Greek type of yogurt
- 1 clove of garlic
- olive oil
- fresh dill
Instructions:
- For the flat breads: mix together the yeast, sugar, milk and water and leave on the side for 5 minutes. Meanwhile mix the flour and salt with thyme. Add the yeast mixture and the olive oil and mix until the dough starts to come together. Move to the fairly floured work space and knead for further 5 more minutes until the dough becomes soft and smooth.
- Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rest for 45 minutes, then knead again and roll out in a shape of a cigar. Cut into 6 pieces and roll into little mozzarella looking like balls. Roll out each ball into an oval, couple of mms thick shape.
- Grill on a griddle for couple of minutes on each side. They’re gonna fluff up but that’s ok. The flat breads are thicker than tortillas but should be equally elastic and bendy.
- Slice the meat into thin strips. In a pestle and mortar crush the coriander seeds, then add the paprika, chili, grated clove of garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, oil, zest of one lemon and juice of half a lemon and mix well. Cover the chicken with the marinade and it keep in the fridge up to two days. When you need it, fry in batches without a lot of stirring so it’s nicely fried and caramelized, roughly 7 minutes.
- For the tzatziki sauce: peel and grate the cucumber, add a pinch of salt and one tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Leave to rest. Meanwhile mix the yogurt with olive oil, salt, pepper, grated clove of garlic and 3 table spoons of white wine vinegar. Add the drained cucumbers and a handful of chopped fresh dill. Stir gently.
- To serve: smear the flat bread with tzatziki, pile up the chicken with lettuce, tomatoes, fried potatoes and red onion on one side and then roll into a wrap. Use aluminium foil for easier handling.
Halfway through smear it with extra tzatziki and some hot sauce. The flavor combinations are entirely up to you.
The almighty juiciness.
Enjoy,
T 🙂
