Today we will try to figure out how to cook shawarma at home, but in order to make it tasty, you need to understand the essence and origins of this dish. Shaverma is an Arabic word, it is pita bread or pita, which is stuffed with meat (beef, pork, chicken), after which various aromatic sauces and spices are added, as an option - the addition of fresh vegetables and lettuce.
As a rule, meat for a real shawarma is fried in special grills using a special technology. A juicy tenderloin is strung on a skewer located vertically, it rotates around its axis, which allows the meat to be evenly fried. As they fry, thin rags of meat are cut with a very sharp knife, they fall into a specially prepared pan and are used for wrapping in pita bread or pita. Of course, how to cook the shawarma correctly, you need to ask the Arabs, who became the pioneers in this matter, but today we prepare the shawarma at home with affordable products and simple technologies.
So, what kind of meat is suitable for shawarma at home?
In principle, this can be any meat that lies in your freezer, be it poultry or a piece of lamb, since the principle of preparing meat is the same in any case. The meat is cut into slices with a sharp knife, carefully fried in a pan with thick walls and the bottom. To make the meat juicy, and our shawarma, respectively, you must first marinate it, for example, in white wine or apple cider vinegar, and for chicken, the ideal marinade is mayonnaise with aromatic spices.
Choosing Shawarma Bread
There is nothing complicated, it can be an ordinary purchase pita or pita bread. The best option for pita bread is Armenian, thin.
As for the shawarma sauce ...
Before you think about how to cook a shawarma at home, first check out your arsenal of spices. Agree, adding a mixture of mayonnaise and ketchup to this Arabian dish is boring, trite and beaten. But to fill the shawarma with a sauce especially suitable for meat is a great option. Sour-sweet sauce or the Georgian “tkemali” will play the role perfectly . They perfectly emphasize the juiciness and taste of the meat product.
There is a classic version of shawarma sauce ; its recipe is extremely simple. You will need olive oil, a few eggs, a couple of garlic cloves and salt. Using a mixer, we carefully beat the salt with the eggs, and put the grated garlic in a fine mixture into the resulting mixture. After that, add oil in a thin stream to this aromatic sauce, continue to whisk. At the end, you can add your favorite spices and herbs to taste.
How to cook shawarma at home in Arabic?
We will need Armenian pita bread, a few fresh cucumbers, a tomato, meat (its quantity depends on how many servings you expect), spices need paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, garlic and salt. To prepare shawarma sauce in Arabic, you need sour cream of medium fat content, green onion, pickled cucumber, curry and vegetable (or olive) oil.
So the process has begun. In the evening, cut a piece of meat into thin strips, put it in a marinade made from vinegar, grated garlic and spices. In the morning, when the meat is well marinated, fry it in vegetable oil, over low heat until a pleasant, beautiful golden crust. To make the meat more juicy, you can put it in the oven for 20 minutes, after covering it with foil.
Sauce: take all the sour cream and mix it with garlic, finely chopped pickles and green onions, add all the available spices. We put chopped cucumbers, tomatoes on pita bread, put meat on top and pour generously with sauce. Gently wrap, making sure that the sauce does not leak. Done!
Today we learned how to cook shawarma at home. I hope the recipe comes in handy and you will delight your loved ones with a delicious Arabic dinner!