This delicacy can be bought at a coffee shop or at a street kiosk, where it will be prepared right in front of you. You can order home delivery. And you can do it yourself in your own kitchen, and by choosing the most convenient recipe for yourself.
Lovers of lavash stuffed with vegetables and meat, flavored with sauces, do not get tired of arguing about how to properly call this dish - shawarma or shawarma. But they are completely unanimous in that their favorite treat deserves the highest praise. By the way, both sides are wrong: if we talk about the original name of the treats, then it is better to call it the outlandish word “dener-kebab” - that's what they call it in Turkey. Why is it necessary to take the Turkish name as the basis, because there are a lot of pita appetizers in the cuisines of different countries? It's simple: it was from Istanbul that the distribution of this street snack began, which today is one of the most popular in the world.
But do not torment yourself with an unpronounceable word. Let's try to cook Turkish shawarma on our own. Fortunately, everything you need can be bought at any supermarket or in the nearest market.
Features of the Turkish recipe
Thin pita bread, pita, doggie and even rice paper are used as the basis for this snack. The filling is made from grilled chicken, veal, pork and other types of meat. Fresh and pickled vegetables, mushrooms, greens complement the composition. To increase calorie content, some supplement the recipe even with fried potatoes. But the main violin is, of course, sauces.
Surely Turkish shawarma has its own characteristics? It really is.
- For the filling, only chicken meat or lamb pulp is used, but not pork.
- There are no unexpected ingredients in authentic Turkish shawarma recipes. Korean carrots, sauerkraut and cheese leave for other dishes. The taste of meat is emphasized by seasonal vegetables and oriental spices.
- Ketchup is never used for the “right” shawarma.
- You have to tinker with the sauce: it has many components and a certain set of seasonings.
- As a basis, you can use Armenian pita bread or very thin pita.
Product proportions
If you are not scared of these rules and you still want to figure out how to cook Turkish shawarma, let's proceed to the selection of ingredients.
For filling:
- half of Armenian lavash;
- 200 g of chicken fillet or lamb pulp;
- medium-sized cucumber;
- a tomato;
- a piece of salad onion (a quarter large or half small);
- lettuce or lettuce - 1-2 leaves;
- cilantro, parsley.
For marinade:
- 0.5 tsp. peas of black pepper, zira seeds, cardamom;
- 0.25 tsp. turmeric, dried garlic;
- a pinch of paprika;
- 0.25 Art. l salts;
- 0.5 tbsp. l refined oil.
For the sauce:
- 2 tbsp. l unsweetened yogurt without filler, ideally homemade;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 0.5 tsp. coriander, black pepper (ground), wine vinegar, salt;
- 0.5 tbsp. l fresh lemon juice or half as much lime.
Planning to enjoy real Turkish shawarma alone? Use the specified number of components, this is just enough for a serving. And if gatherings are planned in the company, count the ingredients, focusing on the number of guests.
Meat preparation
Even within the traditional Turkish cuisine, shawarma is prepared in slightly different ways. Some masters insist on a tender fillet, someone votes for juicier thighs, and there are those who are sure that there is nothing better than combining these two parts of the chicken carcass. Focus on your tastes and preferences. But the skin is worth getting rid of in any case.
If you use lamb, films, fascia and fat should also be removed.
Cut the meat into pieces until you need to. It should be grated with spices and butter crushed in a mortar, and then left alone for at least an hour. Oil here works like a conductor: being absorbed into the pulp, it “drags” seasonings and salt along with it. And during heat treatment it will allow the meat to bake faster and better (the temperature of oil heating is not very high, it will quickly gain heat and begin to warm the tenderloin from the inside).
Sauce
Usually fast food sellers simply mix sour cream and mayonnaise in equal parts. But since we started cooking great oriental dishes, we will pay special attention to the sauce.
Combine the yogurt with grated garlic, seasoning, lemon juice and wine vinegar. Let the sauce brew while the meat is pickled.
Cooking meat
For the next stage, you can use both a conventional oven and a barbecue. You can bake fillets in a slow cooker (in the "Baking" or "Baking" mode). If you have a grill pan or grill gas, fry the chicken on the stove.
After frying the chicken completely, wrap the piece in foil and leave for a few minutes. This kind of meat is cooked quickly, and if you use lamb, it will take about half an hour to cook it.
Cook the meat should be a whole piece, and only then cut into small cubes. This will "seal" the juice inside and not overdry the pulp.
Stuffing Vegetables
This is perhaps the easiest cooking step. Tomato, onion and cucumber simply need to be thoroughly washed, peeled and cut into thin rings or half rings.
Assembly
Put lettuce on a pita leaf, vegetables on top, and then pieces of lamb or chicken. Pour the sauce, trying not to have too much of it. Add greens. Lubricate with lavash sauce is not worth it, otherwise it will get wet and tear.
Tuck one edge and start twisting the roll. Try to keep it tight and don't drop anything out of it.
Fry the cooked shawarma in the remains of the fat in which the meat was cooked. Ideally, a grill and coals can be used for this stage.
Optional ingredients
If the set of products seems insufficient to you, you can add a couple of pieces of avocado, bell pepper, jalapenos to the shawarma. The taste of the sauce can be supplemented with a small amount of ground nutmeg and cloves, paprika or turmeric.
Authentic Dener Kebab
It is unlikely that it will be possible to realize at home the option that the venerable Istanbul Shawarmaster use. But every lover will certainly be interested in how this dish is prepared in Turkey.
Not only pieces of lamb, but also chunks of fat tail fat are planted on a spit. The layers are interspersed with casts of carefully mixed and beaten minced meat, in which onions and a large number of spices are added. Meat is cooked vertically near a roasting pan with coals. As baking, the layers are cut into a dish.
Serving to the table
Even photos of Turkish shawarma are appetizing. What can we say about the freshly prepared fragrant dish!
Etiquette allows rejection of cutlery. This dish is not served in restaurants and at official receptions; it is intended for long walks, noisy company of friends or even evenings alone with you. Shawarma involves an informal setting, so it is perfectly acceptable to eat it in your hand. In order not to burn yourself and not get dirty, you can simply wrap the bottom edge with a napkin.
Shawarma is served with sauces, seasonal vegetables, pickles. As a drink, you can offer guests salted tomato juice, cranberry juice, cola or mineral water. If the holiday format involves alcohol, it is worth giving preference to live beer of good quality. But since the basis of the shawarma is baked or fried meat, it will go well with red unsweetened wine.