RecipeTin Eats reveals the secret to making this cult souvlaki bar’s chicken gyros at home

Welcome to my new column for Good Food, Secret recipe. Every month, I’ll be sharing a recipe for one of the world’s great dishes that you’ve always wanted to make at home. The signature lasagne from a famous Italian trattoria. The crispiest Korean fried chicken using a technique the Korean community normally keeps to itself. The plumpest, juiciest gyoza. Australia’s favourite sausage roll. I’m talking the best of the best!

My team and I are hitting the streets to find a version of this dish we think totally nails it. Once found, I am pleading with the owners to share the recipe. Then I am putting it through many rounds of testing in my home kitchen (making sure it is Dozer-approved!) to perfect a version for you.

First up – the great Greek gyros. Truly one of mankind’s greatest food inventions, succulent marinated meat is cooked on gigantic vertical rotisseries, thinly shaved then generously stuffed inside warm pita bread and drizzled with sauce. A handful of shredded lettuce wouldn’t be a sacrilege but the true Greek way demands hot chips instead for carb-on-carb perfection. I could live my entire life eating only gyros and never tire of them.

This is the sort of food I love: abundant, messy, delicious, economical to make, and perfect for sharing with family and friends.

The hunt for the best gyros

I made it my mission to find a pita-swaddled wrap that represents everything a great gyros should be.

Though Sydney is blessed with great versions, Melbourne’s vibrant Greek neighbourhoods were calling my name. So I hopped on a south-bound plane in search of a recipe worthy of sharing with the world. And, having pounded the pavements, I fell in love with Kalimera Souvlaki Art in Oakleigh, in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.

This family business, owned by Thomas Deliopoulos, who migrated to Australia from Athens with his wife and young son, is pumping all day. Locals and regulars are greeted with a smile and the irresistible smell wafting from the spit-roasted gyros. The thinly shaved meat – succulent and perfectly spiced, with just enough crispy bits – is stuffed generously inside warm pillowy pita bread with a fistful of crispy hot chips (thick cut, always!), slices of fresh tomato and lashings of a secret gyros sauce.

While pork souvlaki is the signature, it was the chicken that I swooned over. It is a cut above the usual, and one (big) bite was all it took to win me over. And it turns out I am not alone in my love of Kalimera, with esteemed chef Ben Shewry from Attica being a huge fan, as well as Sam Sifton, the well-respected food critic and editor of New York Times Cooking.

I dialled my charm up to full wattage to sweet-talk Thomas into sharing his secret chicken gyros recipe with me – and I was thrilled when he agreed.

His secret ingredient? A touch of curry powder. Yes, really! Barely identifiable once mixed with everything else and cooked, it adds extra layers of flavour and warmth that makes Kalimera’s gyros stand out from the rest.

Tested for your kitchen

I took the Kalimera recipe for many test runs in my kitchen and in my final recipe, I ended up tweaking the spice quantities to adapt it to regular quality spices that everyday folk like you and me get from the grocery store or supermarket. (I’m pretty sure Thomas gets something higher quality and more pungent.)

I was concerned I’d miss the extra flavour that comes from spit-roasting and without the fistfuls of fat used to layer between the slabs of chicken for the vertical rotisserie. But actually, pan-frying boneless thighs on a boring old stove yielded an excellent result.

I think it’s to die for. My friends swooned over it. My team couldn’t get enough of it. It really is something else. I hope you love it as much as I do. Thank you for sharing your secret recipe Thomas!

Kalimera’s famous chicken gyros recipe

Adapted from the recipe provided by Kalimera Souvlaki Art, designed to achieve the same flavoursome gyros made in home kitchens using accessible everyday ingredients.

Chicken gyros marinade

• 120ml (6 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp mustard powder
• 1 tbsp dried oregano (preferably Greek oregano)
• ½ tbsp mild curry powder – see note
• 1 ½ tsp cooking salt – see note
• ½ tsp black pepper

• 1.25kg skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets, thicker parts butterflied to make them uniform thickness – see note

Hot chips

• 400g thick-cut chips, frozen – see note
• ½ tsp sweet paprika
• ¼ -½ tsp cooking salt (depends on the saltiness of the chips)

To serve

• Kalimera gyros sauce (see recipe)

• 2 tomatoes, halved and sliced
• 5 x 20cm pita breads – see note

METHOD

1. Mix the gyros marinade ingredients in a large bowl until combined. Add the chicken and mix well, ensuring you get the marinade in all the cracks and crevices. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
2. To cook, heat a wide, heavy-based non-stick frying pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat (no need to add oil). Cook the chicken in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned and slightly crisped, but still juicy inside. Do not char the meat; we just want it to brown nicely.
3. Transfer the chicken to a tray and set it aside for 3 minutes to rest. Then cut it into 1cm thick pieces.

Warming the chips and bread

1. Prepare the chips however you like – deep-fried, air-fryer, oven-baked or whatever. I bake for convenience and fry to impress.
2. Season with salt (taste first; some brands are quite salty), and dust with paprika. Hold them in a low oven (75C) to keep hot, if required.
3. Heat the pita bread until warm and pliable. Use a microwave or brush both sides with water and toast in a lightly oiled pan.

Assembling the gyros

1. Place a pita bread on a sheet of baking paper. Spread 3 tbsp of Kalimera gyros sauce down the middle. Pile the chicken on top, then add tomato slices and chips. Roll up tightly in the paper, giving it a twist at the bottom to seal.
2. Serve gyros with extra sauce and any remaining chips on the side!

NOTES

• Salt – I use cooking salt (medium-size grains) in my recipes. If you only have table salt, use 1 teaspoon. If you have sea salt flakes, use 2¼ teaspoons.
• Curry powder – the secret ingredient in Kalimera’s recipe adds a touch of warmth and subtle layers of flavour. Use everyday curry powder from the grocery store (mild, not hot).
• Butterfly the chicken – if parts of the chicken thigh fillets are thicker than 1cm, open those sections by cutting across the meat (butterflying) so you get a piece that’s more or less uniform in thickness. Aside from promoting even cooking, this increases the surface area for seasoning, much like traditional gyros rotisserie meat stacks.
• Frozen or fresh chips – I use frozen thick-cut chips for convenience, though when I want to show off, I make fries from scratch using my crispy homemade fries recipe, but cutting the potatoes thicker.
• Pita bread – look for puffy rather than thin flatbreads. They must be warmed before use or they will break when folded. If yours are slightly stale, sprinkle with water before warming. This will moisten and revive the bread.

Kalimera gyros sauce

Thomas Deliopoulos was coy about sharing Kalimera’s sauce recipe. But he did tell me what went into it, so this recipe is built on my memories of the flavour. I think I got pretty close! This makes a little more than you’ll need. Use the leftovers on sandwiches, as a dip for vegetable sticks and crackers, or as a salad dressing.

INGREDIENTS

• 250ml (1 cup) Greek-style yoghurt
• 60ml (3 tbsp) whole-egg mayonnaise
• 60ml (3 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
• 40ml (2 tbsp) American mustard
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• ½ tsp cooking salt

METHOD

Mix the ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside for at least 20 minutes. The sauce will keep for a week in the fridge.

Give these two a spin

I enlisted my brother, Goh Maehashi, to help me scout the best gyros to kick off the Secret recipe series. These two places were close contenders.

SYDNEY

• Gyros Fix, Five Dock
  “A humble joint hidden down the gritty backstreets of Five Dock. They do tasty wraps with all the classic gyros fixings (chips, tomato, onion, special sauce). Pork or chicken are my picks!”
  Unit 5, 118-130 Queens Road, Five Dock, 02 9744 0971, gyrosfix.com.au

MELBOURNE

• Meat Me Souvlakeri, Oakleigh
  “My top pick: the tender and succulent lamb gyros. It’s is to die for! The gyros here are so generously packed they’re literally bursting at the seams (as would my pants if I could actually finish one).”
  24 Eaton Mall, Oakleigh, 03 9568 5555, meatmesouvlakeri.com.au