I love a doner. A few years ago my wife and I decided to change our dietary habits and get healthy, but we didn’t want to just eat carrots and quinoa, so we had fun re-creating guilty pleasures like this one, and this is now a favourite midweeker.
You could easily make each element, from the hummus to the pickles, but what I like about it is that you could actually buy everything from a decent supermarket or deli, open the packets, put them in little dishes, and all of a sudden you have a table of culinary delights to build your kebab, and any guests would be none the wiser to how easy it was.
During lockdown I built up my store cupboard with all types of pickles and ferments that would elevate this dish. I like to make a sauerkraut, which is just chopped white cabbage, lots of fresh cracked black pepper and caraway, plus 2 per cent salt by weight, all shoved in a jar and left out in your kitchen for a week or so, and then you have a fantastic homemade condiment that will last a few months in the fridge.
Robin Gill is an Irish chef and restaurateur based in London
Robin Gill’s DIY doner kebab
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
2-4 pittas or flat breads
2-3 chicken breasts
Smoked paprika
Sea salt
300g pickled beetroot
½ red onion, peeled and sliced
3 sprigs mint
100g feta cheese
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
200g tzatziki
100g pickled green chillies
300g hummus
Method
1 Season your chicken breasts with smoked paprika and sea salt and preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Place them on a baking tray or roasting dish and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, slice the beetroot into circles and toss in a bowl with the sliced onion, olive oil and mint.
3 Set up a build-your-own kebab station by arranging all your condiments into dishes. Chop up the pickled chillies. Add a drizzle of olive oil and black pepper to the feta.
4 After 20 minutes has passed, check that the chicken is cooked. I like to use a thermometer: it should be 75 degrees Celsius.
5 Remove the chicken from the oven and then place your pita or flatbread in the oven for four minutes.
6 Slice the chicken and keep it warm.
7 To build your kebab, start with the hummus on one side, then chicken and chillies and feta on the other half. Add the tzatziki and the beetroot mix, fold over and get messy!
