Pitta Patter: Yotam Ottolenghi’s Recipes For Homemade Pitta With Chicken Skewers Or Herb Fritters

What you choose to stuff your pitta with is completely your individual enterprise, however I beg you to consider having the right ensemble of parts to hand: one thing bulky, one thing saucy, one thing crisp, something tart … and lots and plenty of flavour!

A wonderfully balanced pitta sandwich is as close to sublime as you’ll get from a bunch of unassuming substances. So, as we speak I provide you with the last word pitta, with just the suitable sort of fillings to stuff it with.

The final word pitta

These pittas are notably mild and airy, so they’ll absorb sauces and juices like sponges. Get forward by making the dough the evening before and leaving it to prove in the fridge in a single day; convey it as much as room temperature before you work with it once more. Fill them with the seven-spice hen or tabbouleh fritters , or at any time when you’ve got an incredible filling in want of a bready home.

Prep 5 min
Prove 1-2 hr
Cook 40 min
Makes 6 large pittas

240ml lukewarm water
2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
300g plain flour, plus further for dusting
50g wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for oiling

Put the water in a small bowl, sprinkle over the yeast and sugar, and leave for 5 to six minutes, till it reacts and turns foamy.

Put each flours and the salt in a stand mixer with the dough hook hooked up and mix on low velocity to mix. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cowl with a damp tea towel and depart in a heat place to rise for one to two hours, until doubled in measurement. (Or prove in a single day within the fridge.) Add the yeast mixture and oil, turn the pace to medium-high and knead for seven minutes, till the dough is smooth, elastic and a bit sticky.

Divide the dough into six items weighing roughly 100g each. Lightly flour a clean work floor with flour and mould each piece into a ball. Cover with a tea towel and depart to rest for another 20 minutes.

Heat the oven to its highest setting and put in a large tray to heat up. Cut out a pair pieces of baking paper roughly the identical dimension because the tray and sprinkle with flour. Transfer to a clean plate or bowl and canopy with a tea towel to keep warm when you repeat with the remainder of the dough. Transfer the paper and bread rounds to the heated tray and bake for 4 to 5 minutes, till evenly golden and puffy. Working two at a time, use a frivolously floured rolling pin to roll out the balls into roughly 12cm-diameter rounds on the paper.

Seven-spice chicken with tahini (pictured prime)

Lebanese seven-spice is a blend that’s used liberally within the Middle East, particularly in meat marinades. Serve this rooster with store-purchased or homemade pitta (see earlier recipe), a simple crisp salad, the tahini sauce and a few pickles to make the last word pitta sandwich.

Prep 10 min
Marinate 30 min+
Cook 50 min
Serves 4-6

For the rooster
700g boneless and skinless rooster thighs, each lower into 3-4 pieces
1 tbsp Lebanese seven-spice
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
three tbsp olive oil
70g Greek-fashion yoghurt
1 lemon - half juiced, to get 1 tbsp, the opposite half reserved to complete
Salt and black pepper

For the sauce
80g good-high quality tahini
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1½ tbsp lemon juice

Yotam Ottolenghi’s soup recipes

Put all the chicken ingredients (besides the reserved lemon half) in a big bowl with a teaspoon of salt and loads of pepper, and mix to combine. Cover with a plate and marinate for a minimum of half an hour (or refrigerate in a single day, if you wish to get ahead).

Make the sauce by whisking all the substances with a quarter-teaspoon of salt and 70ml water, till you've gotten a easy, pourable sauce. It'll thicken because it sits.

Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/ 425F/fuel 7 and put a nicely-greased griddle pan on a excessive flame. Skewer the marinated chicken on to four roughly 23cm-long metallic skewers (or soaked wooden skewers). Once the griddle is extremely popular, grill the hen two skewers at a time (or as many as will fit comfortably) for eight to 10 minutes in whole, turning frequently, till properly-charred all over.

Transfer the skewers to an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 20 minutes, or till cooked by. Squeeze over the reserved lemon half and serve warm with pittas, salad, pickles and the sauce.

Tabbouleh fritters with fast chilli sauce

These herby fritters may be served just as they're with a squeeze of lemon, or with the short chilli sauce. The sauce keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to per week, so double the portions, in case you fancy. A third and more filling possibility could be to stuff them into fresh pitta, drizzle with the tahini sauce from the previous recipe and a spoonful of the chilli sauce, and end with a few slices of tomato or cucumber.

Prep 25 min
Cook forty five min
Makes 8, to serve 4

70g bulgur wheat
Salt and black pepper
200g baby spinach
50g parsley, roughly chopped
20g mint leaves, picked
½ pink onion, peeled and roughly chopped (60g net weight)
1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp floor allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon zest
75ml olive oil
3 giant eggs

For the fast chilli sauce
three tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
½ onion, peeled and roughly chopped (75g)
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 contemporary red chillies, roughly chopped, seeds and all (20g)
2 vine tomatoes, roughly chopped, seeds and all (200g)
1½ tbsp apple cider vinegar

Put the bulgur in a small saucepan for which you will have a tight-fitting lid, and add 75ml water and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, cover, flip off the heat and leave to sit and steam gently for 10 minutes. Fluff up the bulgur with a fork, then set aside to cool barely.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Add the tomato paste, cook, stirring usually, for a minute longer, then add the chillies, flip off the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Fry, stirring often, for 5 minutes, until softened and lightly colored. Tip the combination right into a meals processor, pulse till finely chopped, then add the tomatoes, vinegar and half a teaspoon of salt, and blitz easy. Put the oil in a small frying pan on a medium-excessive heat and, once hot, add the garlic and onion.

Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 20 seconds, or till just wilted, then drain. Refresh in chilly water, then drain once more and squeeze out as a lot liquid as possible. You’ll find yourself with about 90g.

Put the cooled bulgur, spinach, herbs, onion, garlic, spices, lemon zest, a tablespoon of oil, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a great grind of pepper in a food processor, and pulse a couple of instances, till finely chopped. Transfer the batter to a bowl or jug (will probably be pourable). Add the eggs and pulse a number of occasions more, till combined.

Put the remaining four tablespoons of oil in a big saute pan on a medium-excessive heat and, once scorching, drop (or pour) three to 4 large spoonfuls of the batter into the pan and gently form them into patties roughly 8cm in diameter x 2cm thick. Fry for 2 to a few minutes on every aspect, until crisp and cooked through, then switch to a tray lined with absorbent paper while you cook the rest of the batter.

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