cava grilled chicken bowl

When I moved back to Washington, D.C. after living in NYC for about 5 years, they opened a Cava by my job and I was hooked ever since. Now, no shade but I do think the quality has gone down so I like to make my own version at home.

Now, with the recent cyclosporasis outbreak, I left out fresh herbs like parsley because I didn’t grab any from the farmers market this past week. Everything else like the lettuce is from the farmers market and sourced locally.

My tip to you guys, if you can go to your local farmers market in your city and ask where the produce is from to make you feel safe!

Hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I did!

Ingredients

• Serve with any type of white rice of your liking!

Shawarma Marinade

• 4 boneless & skin on chicken thighs

  • hot saucie tip: Getting boneless & skin on chicken thighs is pretty hard but if you go to the butcher at your local grocery store, you can ask them to remove the bone but keep the skin on.

• 1 tablespoon shawarma spice mix

  • hot saucie tip: I really like New York Shuk spice blends because they are super flavorful and a good price! You can find at Whole Foods, online & specialty stores

• 1 teaspoon cumin & coriander

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 cup greek yogurt

• 2 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane

• 1 lemon, juiced

• kosher salt & black pepper, to taste

Tzatziki

• 1 cup whole greek yogurt, full fat

  • hot saucie tip: DO NOT GET LOW FAT FOR FUCKS SAKE! TREAT YOURSELF IN LIFE!

• 1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane

• 1/4 bunch dill, finely chopped

• 2 Persian cucumbers, seeds removed & coarsely chopped

• 1/2 -1 lemon, juiced

• salt & pepper, to taste

Tomato Feta Salad

• 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 1 english cucumber, sliced

• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup feta cheese on the block, crumbled

  • hot saucie tip: grab feta on the block has more flavor to it and moisture vs pre-crumbled feta because it has a preservative on it which typically dries it out and very bleh in flavor

• 1/2 lemon, juiced

• kosher salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1. In a prep mixing bowl, add all ingredients for the chicken marinade and gently mix all ingredients together. Best to let marinate overnight but up to 4 hours is totally fine!

2. For the tzatziki: combine all ingredients together and let it sit in the fridge. The longer it sits the better it gets!

3. Tomato Feta Salad: combine all ingredients together and let it sit. Taste to adjust seasonings like salt to bring out even more of the tomato flavor (OMG so good)

4. When you are ready to cook the chicken, if you have a grill — cook them first skin side down for 3-4 minutes to get the skin crispy then flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes for juices to redistribute then cut into bite size pieces.

   1. If you don’t have a grill, cook them in a cast iron pan on medium heat the same time, 3-4 minutes each side until fully cooked through.

5. To assemble the bowl, add some rice, chicken, the tomato feta salad and top with lots of tzatziki & if you want a little spice a couple of dollops of hot sauce of your choice!