My copycat Zankou Chicken garlic sauce turned out smooth, and the flavor is spot on! And as a bonus, it uses a lot less oil than traditional toum recipes. I had avoided adding my potato to the blender because I was worried the starch would make it gummy. The solution! Blend it in the blender on the highest setting. It had a texture to it like fine grains of rice throughout the sauce. Next, I used a food mill to basically rice my cooked potato and then stir it in, thinking this would dissolve the potato more. Not the smoother texture you get at Zankou. The first time I mashed the potato with a potato masher and whisked it in. I decided to cook the potato and then measure out how much goes into the sauce, rather than saying a certain number of potatoes.īut how exactly do you use the potato? I tested out the recipe a few times. We'll stick with the humble russet potato for our version. Other recipes use instant mashed potatoes, but I never buy that for my personal use so it doesn't make sense to buy it just for this. I want everyone who tries this recipe to yield the same exact result, one that matches the garlic paste at Zankou as best as possible.
But potatoes come in all shapes and sizes, so this isn't a great way to gauge how much you need for a successful recipe that can be replicated. Some recipes call for a specific number of russet potatoes. From this you can deduce that it contains a type of starch, and the likely culprit is potato. I haven't tried this test since I now live 3,000+ miles away, but I will take their word for it. How do we know? Well, supposedly if you take some Zankou Chicken garlic paste and cook it in a pan, it will make a pancake.
My garlic sauce-loving forefathers at Chowhound already did some of the hard work figuring it out. This Armenian garlic paste is based on traditional toum, but it has a secret ingredient. But what makes Zankou so special? Unlocking Zankou's secrets You can find a version of it on Halal carts in NYC, and in various Middle Eastern restaurants. It also typically contains a lot of oil to help it get so thick. It's like an eggless garlic mayo but with brightness and complexity from the addition of lemon juice. It's basically a super intense garlic mayonnaise made with garlic, lemon juice, oil, and salt. Toum is actually a Lebanese garlic sauce found in many Middle Eastern restaurants, often accompanying shawarma. Yes, their chicken, shawarma, and other Middle Eastern delights are wonderful, but it's the garlic sauce people crave. You're probably wondering how spit-roasted chicken can be so exciting, but let me tell you it's not the chicken but the Armenian garlic sauce that put Zankou on the map. I had to resort to smuggling garlic sauce in my luggage after visits to LA. The best chicken experience of my life was at my fingertips any time I wanted!Īnd then I moved back east again and my Zankou Chicken dreams went down the drain. Years later I moved to Los Angeles and took advantage of the proximity to so many Zankou locations. Chicken would never taste the same to me without that incredibly pungent Zankou Chicken garlic sauce.
I remember it well because it basically changed my life. My first Zankou Chicken meal was in July 1999 during a visit to Los Angeles to see some family friends. Musician Beck even sang about Zankou Chicken in his song "Debra." The well-known chain also has a tragic history, but through it all they serve up some of the best quick Middle Eastern fare around. It's a landmark chain in Los Angeles with outstanding Middle Eastern cuisine to back up its reputation. The recipe is a guarded secret, but this easy copycat recipe is the next best thing! Most notably they're famous for their epic Zankou Chicken garlic sauce. Zankou Chicken is an extremely popular Armenian-owned fast casual restaurant chain in the greater Los Angeles area.
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