Ingredients
Chips
- 800 gsebago potatoes, cut into 1 cm chips, or 800 g frozen straight-cut chips
- 2 litrescanola oil for frying
- chicken salt, to season
Meat
- 500 gdoner or shawarma-style lamb, shaved thin from a vertical spit, or 500 g lamb shoulder sliced thin and seasoned with 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp cinnamon, salt and pepper
- 1 tbspoil for the flat plate
Cheese
- 150 ggrated tasty cheddar or a mozzarella and cheddar mix
The three sauces
- Garlic: 150 g thick natural yoghurt, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 2 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tbsp lemon juice, salt
- Chilli: 100 ml chilli sauce loosened with 1 tbsp vinegar
- Barbecue: 100 ml smoky barbecue sauce
Optional additions
- sliced red onion, chopped parsley, pickled chillies, tabbouleh
- 1foam clamshell container, which is traditional
Directions
- Make the garlic sauce first by whisking the yoghurt, crushed garlic, mayonnaise, lemon juice and salt until smooth, then chill it; it should be thick enough to sit in a stripe rather than run.
- Rinse the cut chips, dry them thoroughly, and fry in oil at 140°C (275°F) for 5 minutes until pale and cooked through, then lift out and rest on a rack.
- If you are not working from a spit, sear the seasoned sliced lamb on a very hot flat plate or heavy pan in a single layer for 2 minutes a side, until the edges are dark and crisped and the fat has rendered.
- Keep the meat warm and slightly moist, covered, while you finish the chips. Doner meat that dries out ruins the whole pack.
- Raise the oil to 185°C (375°F) and fry the chips a second time for 3 minutes, until deep golden and rigid, then drain and season generously with chicken salt while they are still steaming.
- Pile the hot chips into the container, mounded high in the centre, and immediately scatter the grated cheese over them so the residual heat melts it into the chips rather than sitting on top.
- Heap the hot meat over the cheese, pressing it down slightly so the whole thing binds into a single mass rather than layers that slide apart.
- Finish with the three sauces in parallel stripes across the top, garlic first, then chilli, then barbecue, add onion and parsley if you want, and eat immediately with a plastic fork while everything is still molten.
Technique
- The order matters and is argued over seriously: chips, then cheese, then meat, then sauce. Cheese under the meat melts properly, cheese on top of the meat stays rubbery.
- It is Australian kebab-shop food with Lebanese and Turkish roots, eaten late at night, and it acquired its current name and cult status through the Halal Snack Pack Appreciation Society on social media in 2016.
- The three-sauce combination of garlic, chilli and barbecue is the canonical order. Asking for all three is standard, and adding a fourth is not.
- Assemble and eat within minutes. A snack pack that sits goes soggy fast, which is why no shop makes it ahead.
Substitutions
- No doner spit: lamb shoulder sliced thin and hard-seared on a flat plate is the honest home workaround and gets you most of the way; chicken shawarma is the other standard shop option.
- Chicken salt is the authentic seasoning, and most commercial versions contain no meat at all; plain seasoned salt with a little onion and garlic powder is a close stand-in.
- A meat-free version built on falafel is served in many Australian kebab shops.
Variations
- The mixed pack takes both lamb and chicken.
- A Melbourne variation adds tabbouleh and pickled turnip under the sauces.
- Some shops now build it on a bed of rice rather than chips, which purists dismiss.
History
A kebab-shop invention of western Sydney and Melbourne that went national in 2016 through an online appreciation society.
Frequently asked questions
What is Halal Snack Pack?
Halal Snack Pack is a street food from Australia: chips topped with doner meat and garlic, chilli and barbecue sauces. A kebab-shop invention of western Sydney and Melbourne that went national in 2016 through an online appreciation society.
How long does Halal Snack Pack take to make?
Halal Snack Pack takes 20 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 large snack pack, or 2 to share. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Halal Snack Pack?
Yes, within limits. No doner spit: lamb shoulder sliced thin and hard-seared on a flat plate is the honest home workaround and gets you most of the way; chicken shawarma is the other standard shop option. Chicken salt is the authentic seasoning, and most commercial versions contain no meat at all; plain seasoned salt with a little onion and garlic powder is a close stand-in. A meat-free version built on falafel is served in many Australian kebab shops.
What is the most important thing to get right in Halal Snack Pack?
Make the garlic sauce first by whisking the yoghurt, crushed garlic, mayonnaise, lemon juice and salt until smooth, then chill it; it should be thick enough to sit in a stripe rather than run.
