SPICED CHICKEN ARAYES
Arayes are essentially pan-fried pita bread sandwiches. They’re great either for snacking on before a meal or as a meal in themselves, served with a fresh chopped salad and some sumac yoghurt.
Getting ahead: The filling can be made ahead of time – up to 3 days if you just make the tomato sauce and up to a day if you’ve added the chicken – ready for the arayes to be filled and fried to serve.
Serves 4 as a snack
EASY
GREAT VALUE Preparation: 30 minutes Cooking: 25 minutes
olive oil 4T onions 2, finely chopped garlic 6 cloves, crushed caraway seeds 1½ t, roughly crushed using a mortar and pestle cumin seeds 1½ t, roughly crushed using a mortar and pestle ground cinnamon ¾t chilli flakes ½t tomato purée 2t plum tomatoes 2–3, coarsely grated and skins discarded minced free-range chicken thighs 350 g (either ask your butcher to mince these for you, or put skinless and boneless thighs in a food processor and blitz a few times) coriander leaves 25 g, roughly chopped pitas 4 unsalted butter 20 g salt and black pepper, to taste lemon 1, cut into wedges, for serving tahini sauce, for serving (optional)
1 Place 2 T oil into a large sauté pan and place over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and ½ t salt and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until soft and golden. Add the garlic, spices and tomato purée and cook for another minute, until fragrant. 2 Stir in the tomatoes and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until they have completely broken down and the mixture is quite thick. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. 3 Once cool, transfer the mix to a medium bowl along with the chicken, coriander, 1 t salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix well to combine and set aside. 4 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Using a serrated knife, slice the pitas open to create two separate rounds. Place them on a clean work surface, cut side up. Spread one of the rounds with about 140–150 g of the chicken mix – it should be about ¾ cm thick – then place an unfilled pita on top, pressing down gently to make a sandwich. Continue with the remaining chicken mixture and pita slices to make 4 sandwiches. 5 Put 2 t butter and 1 T oil into a large pan and place over a medium-high heat. Add 2 of the sandwiches to the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes, turning after a minute or so until both sides have taken on some colour. 6 Transfer to a large parchment-lined baking tray and blot gently with kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil. Continue with the remaining sandwiches, adding another 2 t butter and 1 T oil to the pan with each batch. Once they are all panfried, transfer the tray to the oven and bake for 7 minutes, or until cooked through.
7 Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes before slicing each pita into 4 pieces. Serve warm, with a wedge of lemon and some tahini sauce alongside to dip into, if using. HEALTH-CONSCIOUS
WINE: De Wetshof Finesse
Chardonnay 2018
These arayes are great for snacking on before a meal or as a meal in themselves