The last time we were in London we paid another visit to Pop in Brixton for some street food. I usually go for some Masala Fries but this time I went for Ramen. When I went back to meet himself he had picked up a chicken and halloumi souvlaki wrap from Souvlaki Street. Now, Greek food wouldn’t usually catch my eye but this looked incredible. He kindly kept some for me to taste and it tasted every bit as good as it looked.

When I came home I went into research overload, desperate to recreate the taste for myself. There were recipes for different types of souvlaki in My Street Food Kitchen by Jennifer Joyce, Masterchef: Street Food of the World by Genevieve Taylor and in Rick Stein’s Venice to Istanbul. They were all completely different. So I took a bit from each and tried to remember the taste of the one I had. After a bit of experimenting this recipe is the end result, and I love it

I’ve called them Greek Style Wraps as they are not traditional souvlaki. Souvlaki literally means skewers and I don’t bother skewering the meat. Now come next summer, they would be perfect to cook on skewers on the barbecue. I’ve also added more paprika than seems to be in most recipes.

Useful tips & links:

• Souvlaki is traditionally made with lamb or pork. However as I don’t like pork and himself doesn’t like lamb, it had to be chicken. I will make these with lamb when I get a chance though. Halloumi can be used on it’s own for a veggie wrap but I like the addition here with the chicken. Or you could serve these Halloumi Fries on the side.
• Tzatziki would be a traditional sauce to serve with these but the one I had was served with special souvlaki sauce. I improvised on this by mixing a little of the marinade with some mayo and milk to loosen the mix.
• Souvlaki Street served fries in the wrap itself, so if you can’t get enough of carbs feel free to add them.
• I made the flatbreads for these, drawing inspiration from this post on Recipe Tin Eats. I didn’t use butter and added some nigella seeds. I’ll keep working on a flatbread recipe and post it when I’m 100% happy.
• For a more traditional souvlaki recipe have a look at this BBQ Greek Lamb Souvlaki from Jono and Jules.
• Another delicious chicken wrap that I like to make is this Chicken Shawarma.

Greek Style Wraps

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons or 60ml of olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon of dried mint
• 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Aleppo Pepper or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper
• The zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 chicken breasts or 3-4 thighs, boned and skinned
• 200g of halloumi cheese

To serve:

• Flatbreads (see useful tips and links)
• Lettuce leaves
• 1 small red onion, finely sliced and steeped in lime juice
• 1 tomato, chopped
• A piece of cucumber, deseeded and chopped
• Tzatziki or souvlaki sauce (see useful tips and links)

Method:

• Mix all of the ingredients from the olive oil to the bay leaves in a large bowl and mix well together. Keep a little of the marinade to the side if making the souvlaki sauce.
• Prepare the chicken, depending on how you plan to serve it. If you do want to make proper souvlaki, cut it into cubes so that you can skewer it. If like me, you could not be bothered, butterfly the chicken breasts or pound the thighs until they are fairly uniform in thickness.
• Add the chicken to the marinade and mix thoroughly. Cover and allow to marinate for a few hours in the fridge or for 30 minutes at room temperature.
• Meanwhile make your flatbreads and keep warm in a low oven and prepare your accompaniments.
• Heat a non stick pan or griddle pan over a medium high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook for a few minutes on each side until just cooked through.
• Remove and allow it to rest for a few minutes. Leave the pan on the heat and slice the halloumi to about 1cm thick. Cook the halloumi until golden brown on both sides.
• Place the warm flatbread on a plate and top with leaves, tomatoes and cucumber.
• Slice the chicken and place that and the halloumi on the flatbread. Top with your sauce of choice and the lightly pickled red onions and serve immediately.