Shawarma

• Hello folks, however I have made one of the sauces that also goes on falafal besides shawarma.  We are going to deal just with the shawarma today and falafal later Inshallah. Falafal Is going to be a future post of mine.

What is shawarma?  Shawarma is almost like a gyro but at the same time it isn’t. It is Arabic in origin but it took off like gangbusters and now everyone is wanting it and it is liked everywhere even in Nigeria, USA and Pakistan.  Yes It is street food now in Peshawar, Pakistan even.

I think it is because lots of people leave to go work in Dubai, UAE. They get hooked on something tasty and bring it back to Pakistan with them. Who can blame them, right?  A lot of people come  here from  Arabic speaking countries  and brings this tasty shawarma  with them and it mainstreamed here too as well.

For the meat:

You will need 1 kg or 1 lb of  either chicken, beef, lamb, turkey or veal.  Make sure It is cut in to tiny bite size pieces.  In mortar and pestle 1 each of green cardamom a small broken piece of cinnamon stick and clove,  1 pinch each of black peppercorns, allspice, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, grind in to a coarse powder and  add it to the meat.

Add 1 pinch each  of sumac or if you are not using cinnamon stick you  can use cinnamon powder, basil oregano and thyme also gets added to the meat. Stir to mix. Add  1 pinch either of mint, parsley or  dill, 1 clove of garlic crushed in a mortar and pestle, add  either 1 pinch of  pink salt, bullion cube or 3 pinches of vegtea seasoning, 3 dashes each of maggi or knorr aroma, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice to the meat.  Stir to combine.   Let sit in the fridge  to marinate for 10 minutes.

Spray the grill pan or cast iron skillet  with cooking spray and cook until the meat is done and tender.   If you are using turkey  it is advised that you cook it in the oven on 350F or 180C   for the turkey wings and drumsticks would be  for 1 to 2 hours  at 30 minute intervals depending on how much turkey you are going to make. I would say   about 4  to 5 wings and drumsticks,  The breasts will work nicely too if you can get a turkey in pieces like that.

For the rest of the meat you can cook it on stovetop.  If you want to use lamb, please ask the butcher to remove it from the bone.  I used chicken breast which works great for shawarma.   Cook on medium low until meat is tender and brown.  Set this aside in a nice warm place.

Now it is time to make the sauces.

1.  Yogurt tahini  sauce:

2 tsps of tahini, 3 tsps of yogurt,  1 cove of garlic crushed in a mortar and pestle,  1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 pinch of pink salt,  1 pinch of either  mint, dill or parsley,  1 tbs of water, combine all of these in a small bowl and mix very well until smooth.

2.  Tahini sauce:

3 tbs of tahini, 3 tbs of olive oil, 1 clove of garlic crushed in a mortar and pestle,  3 tbs of water, 1 pinch of pink salt,  1 tsp of balsamic vinegar, 1 pinch of either mint, dill or parsley,  combine all of these in a small bowl and mix very well until smooth.

3.  Tarator sauce:

3  tsps of tahini, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 clove of garlic crushed in a mortar and pestle,  1 pinch of cumin seeds ground in to a coarse powder in a mortar and pestle, 1 pinch of pink salt,  1 pinch of either mint, parsley or dill, 1 tsp of water,  mix in a small bowl until smooth and well blended.

4.  Chili sauce  for shawarma and falafel is the only one that has to be made on stovetop because there is no other method on how to make it:

1 drop of hot pepper sauce,   I used Trinadad scorpion pepper sauce for this one. I would recommend using ghost pepper  or other really  extremely hot sauce for this.   3 tsps of tomato paste, 1 clove of garlic crushed in a mortar and pestle, 1/4 cup of water, 1 pinch of pink salt, 1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 pinch of either mint, parsley or dill,   cook in a small  pot on stovetop on low heat  until it is a little thick. Keep stirring the whole entire time.  After It has thickened, turn off the heat.  Let cool a little and transfer to a serving bowl.

5.  Yogurt sauce:

We are on our fifth and final sauce for this shawarma recipe so hear it goes;

3 tbs of pain Desi yogurt,  1 garlic clove crushed in a mortar and pestle, 1 tsp of lemon juice,  3 tsps of water, 1 pinch of either mint parsley or dill,  mix until it is a very smooth  consistency.

For The bread:

Make the dough  shown in the link going left.   With this dough take  4 or more depending on how many people who are eating with you in to golf ball size.   The chapati  in this case should be thin.  It should cover the whole tawa when it is  rolled out correctly.  Heat up the tawa on high heat  as you are making these.  Place the dough  that you had rolled out on the tawa and cook on 20 seconds on each side until it is done. It should be slightly brown and there should not be any rawness in the  chapati itself.  Repeat until you have made your desired amount.

For the veggie topping:

In a bowl  slice 1 of each in half moon slices, tomato, onion and cucumber.  You can even slice 1 green chili too that has been deseeded which is optional.  Since one of the sauces is pretty spicy that I didn’t bother.

For assembly:

Take a plate,  add 1 thin chapati which is now the shawarma wrapper,   add sauces of choice  by the teaspoonful’s then add your meat,  and then veggies of choice. Do not add so much or you would find it hard to roll the shawarma.   Add  just a tiny bit of more sauce of choice at the top and add achar  too if you want to. The achar is purely optional.  I put the filling on the part of the chapti that was towards me. I took this and folded it in the direction away from me.

With this done  and out of the way then it is time to relax.  I have made these before  and people was asking me for recipes so I have to make amends here.  I said next time Inshallah I make these I am posting it on blog for the whole world to see.  Now we have it and it is about time.

Enjoy.