I AM WOMAN, Watch me cook!: Lebanese Spiced Chicken Shawarma

Potluck events in my family are always a multi-cultural affair. I have a very large immediate family with

lots of uncles and aunts who married men and women from different countries. I have aunts and uncles from

Poland, Cuba, Venezuela, Trinidad, and Lebanon. My Lebanese aunt recently had our family over and

she made some pretty delicious food from her culture...and she also taught me some tricks that I

incorporated into my cooking. Turned out to be a pretty yummy meal!

You will need a lot of lemons and garlic for both the sauce and marinade.

For the marinade you will need the juice of 2 lemons, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tbsp Lebanese 7 spice and 6 garlic cloves minced (less if you are not a garlic fan).
7 spice is comprised of equal parts Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Allspice, Cinnamon, Ground Cloves, Fenugreek and Ground Ginger. I used my mortar and pestle to grind up all the spices myself...but in the future I will just buy them already ground up...my arm is still sore.

thinly slice 5 chicken breasts and cover in the marinade. Refrigerate overnight. When you are ready to cook spread the chicken out on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 375F for about 30 minutes, tossing the chicken around every 10 minutes or so.

While the chicken is cooking you can get your Tahini sauce ready. In your mortar and pestle take 2 chopped garlic cloves and sprinkle in some sea salt. Grind the garlic until it forms a paste.

Garlic paste!!

In a bowl pour out 1 1/2 cups prepared Tahini.

Add your garlic paste and the juice of 2 lemons and with a spoon start combining. Add a little water if the mixture is too thick...you want it to be the consistency of thick mayonnaise.