Spice Trip

Tahini paste, made with ground sesame seeds, is a versatile ingredient. You can use it with meat, fish or vegetables, but try to buy a tahini that’s quite light in colour as the darker ones tend to taste like peanut butter. These lovely little kebabs work well with lamb, or even livers, too.

SERVES FOUR

PREP & COOK: 20 MINS

For the tahini sauce:

½ garlic clove, crushed with a pinch of salt

juice of 2 lemons

3 tbsp tahini

olive oil

For the kebabs and salad:

½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns, toasted

1 star anise

7 whole cloves

1cm (½in) cinnamon stick

3 black peppercorns

¼ tsp fennel seeds

4 chicken thighs, boned

½ cucumber, roughly chopped

1 tomato, roughly chopped

the seeds from ¼ pomegranate

juice of ½ lemon

olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

4 flatbreads

Make your tahini sauce by combining the garlic, lemon juice, tahini and a good glug of oil in a bowl. Pour in cold water, stirring constantly, until you have a mixture that resembles double cream. Taste it – it should be zingy and quite acidic, full-flavoured enough to work as a condiment.

In a pestle and mortar, grind the spices vigorously until you have a coarse powder. Transfer to a large bowl, add the chicken and rub the spices into the meat, season with salt and grill for 8 minutes on both sides until cooked through. Cut into thick slices and keep warm.

Combine the cucumber, tomato and pomegranate in a bowl. Season well, squeeze the lemon juice over the salad and drizzle with a little oil. Toss well.

Warm your flatbreads. Split them open and stuff each one with the salad, followed by the chicken and a generous drizzle of tahini sauce.