Turkish spiced Chicken Pita

We had such fun at the lovely Turkish Food Festival over the weekend. What was especially endearing to us as foodies was that each food stall had printed recipes of the food served within. Since I have been meaning to make a Chicken Pita sandwich for the longest time, I decided to do a variation of Tavuk Izgara (Grilled Chicken) from my newly hoarded Turkish recipe cards.

Before I get into the recipes, I have to share some pics of the Festival, especially of the cool cooking device called a Sac they used to make Gozleme

Gozleme

And of the lovely vibrant vests worn by the dancers:

Turkish Folk Dance

I love catching brief glimpses into other cultures and can’t wait for the next Fest to hit us (by all accounts it’s going to be the Vaisakhi Fest next month – can’t wait to see what culinary goodies I can glean from there )

Ok. Here’s how we made our Turkish Spiced Chicken Pita (this recipe serves two).

What We Used:

For the Grilled Chicken:

Cubed Chicken Breasts – 1 Cup

Plain Yogurt – 2 tbsps

Grated Onion – 1/4 of a yellow onion

Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp

Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

Ground Cumin – 1/2 tbsp

Red chilli powder – 1/2 tbsp

For the Pita Spread:

Finely chopped Cilantro – 2 tbsps

Finely diced Scallion – 1

Yogurt – 3/4 cup

Canned Chipotle Pepper – 2 tbsps

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Pita Bread

Lettuce – for filling

Bean Sprouts – for filling

Freezer Bag – 1

Pan – 1

How We Did It:

1. Preheat oven to 375 °F.
2. In a large freezer bag, combine the chicken pieces, yogurt, onion, garlic paste, lemon juice, cumin, chilli powder, salt and pepper.
3. Mix the ingredients so that each piece is completely coated. Using the freezer bag means you have one less dish to wash (thanks Food Network)
4. The original Turkish recipe asks to marinate overnight for at least for 8 – 10 hours. Since I wasn’t going for the traditional recipe and had my very own spiced spread that would give me flavor, I opted out of marinating it at all.
5. Spread chicken pieces on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. In the meantime, prepare Pita Spread by mixing spread ingredients in a large bowl. Remove chicken from oven and add them to the bowl.
8. Lightly heat the pocket pita bread.
9. Fill bread with lettuce and sprouts. Spoon chicken spread into it and you are ready for an afternoon snack!