Shawarma - one of the most famous Middle Eastern dish in the Slavic countries. It has gained such popularity due to the incredible taste of juicy grilled chicken or turkey meat, nutritious salad and spicy sauce. In countries where this dish is national, it does not apply to fast food, it is customary to use it as a full meal at the family table. In our country, the shawarma is mainly sold in small stalls, where it is cooked in just a few minutes. That is why many people are afraid to buy this dish in eateries with a dubious reputation.
Many people simply do not know the recipe for how to cook shawarma at home, so that it is really juicy, tasty and satisfying. In fact, the cooking process is quite simple and does not require tremendous culinary skills. Moreover, pita bread, in which the main ingredients are wrapped, can not be bought at the store, but cooked on your own, then this dish will get a truly home-like taste.
Cooking pita bread for shawarma
The process of making shawarma with chicken at home begins with the manufacture of pita bread. Of course, this product is sold in any market and has a very good taste, but if you have a desire, and most importantly - time, then it’s better to do it yourself.
To prepare pita bread for 2 servings, several ingredients should be prepared:
- flour - 360 g;
- water (freshly boiled) - 200 ml;
- vegetable oil - 20-30 g;
- salt - 1 pinch.
The first thing you need to boil water. While it is heating, pour flour into a deep bowl. In the center, make a small notch where to pour vegetable oil and pour a little salt. When the water boils, measure the required amount and carefully pour into a bowl, all the ingredients must be actively mixed immediately. You need to do this with a spoon, since the water is still very hot. After a minute of mixing with a spoon, you can begin to knead the dough with your hands. The mass should be very elastic.
The dough should be covered with cling film and set aside for 20-30 minutes. You can fry pita bread in a pan, then it will be small in size, but you can take a baking sheet, put it on the burners and fry on it, then pita bread will turn out in size just like a store one. If frying will take place in a pan, then the resulting dough should be divided into 4 parts, if on a baking sheet - 2.
Each piece of dough should be rolled out very thinly, so that the color of the table is visible through it. After this, the lavash preparation should be fried for a minute on each side. When frying, you do not need to add any oil, the required amount of fat is already in the dough. This completes the process of making pita bread. Now, to cook a delicious shawarma at home, as from fast food, you need to start preparing the remaining ingredients.
How to cook meat?
Oriental cuisine is famous for the use of a large number of spicy spices. You can use any kind of meat, except pork, often chicken or turkey. In the original, the meat is first pickled, then strung on a skewer, and when it is ready, slices of it are cut with a sharp knife. When cooking shawarma in pita bread at home, the skewer is not used because of its absence, but the meat can be made as tasty and juicy.
The selected type of meat must be thoroughly washed and put in a deep bowl. Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, coriander, caraway seeds and turmeric. Add a small amount of vegetable oil and mix everything thoroughly. If desired, the meat can be sprinkled with a small amount of lemon juice.
Depending on taste preferences, chicken or turkey can be marinated in kefir, pomegranate juice, soy sauce and white wine. After adding all the ingredients for the marinade, the bowl of meat should be left in a cold place for at least two hours, but if there is time, overnight.
When the time allotted for pickling is over, the chicken or turkey should be fried in a grill pan. If there is no such kitchen equipment, then you can use an ordinary cast-iron pan with a thick and ribbed bottom. You need to fry the meat without adding oil (it was already included in the marinade). The main ingredient is to get a beautiful golden crust.
Note! If the meat on the outside already has a roasted appearance, and the inside is still raw, it can be brought to readiness in the oven. But the process of heat treatment must be carefully monitored so as not to overdry the meat.
Cooking Shawarma Salad
To properly cook shawarma at home, as the original recipe suggests, special attention should be paid to the salad. The main ingredient is ordinary cabbage. This product should be finely chopped. If you do not have certain culinary skills and cabbage is cut into sufficiently coarse pieces, then you can use the device for cleaning vegetables. Thanks to the "housekeeper" the vegetable is chopped very quickly, and the slices are thin and tender.
Filling process
After shredding, add the rest of the salad products. To cook real shawarma at home, as is done in eastern countries, you need to add carrots and bell pepper to the cabbage. Carrots need to be peeled and grated in Korean for carrots, if one is missing, then you can use the usual coarse grater.
Bell pepper must be cut in half, remove all seeds and the stalk, rinse it and cut into strips. Cut the pepper in very thin slices so that it does not stand out against the background of the whole salad.
After that, all the ingredients need to be transferred to a large bowl. Add salt, a little sugar, vegetable oil and a little apple cider vinegar. All these ingredients must be put strictly according to their taste preferences. The original salad should have a distinct taste of acid and salt. Mix the products thoroughly with your hands, at the same time they should be squeezed a little into a fist so that the cabbage is softened and let a small amount of juice.
Sauce making
Before you cook chicken shawarma at home, you must definitely make a delicious sauce. It is the highlight of the whole dish, even if all the other products are cooked correctly, and the sauce is tasteless, then the whole dish will be spoiled.
As a rule, two types of sauce are used in the original recipe. As the main ingredient for the first sauce, you can use:
- sour cream;
- fermented baked milk;
- kefir;
- natural yogurt;
- mayonnaise.
Additions are required to any of these products. Often, white sauce uses nuts, seeds, hard cheese, and herbs. What exactly to add to the base is up to you to decide, all these ingredients are perfectly combined with each other.
Delicious white sauce
To prepare the sauce, you should take mayonnaise, chopped herbs (parsley, dill or cilantro), a small amount of wine, cream, garlic. The amount of food will be indicated for two servings of shawarma. In a pan with a thick bottom, put 120 g of mayonnaise and add 50 g of cream. Put the dish on a small fire and bring the mass to a boil.
After this, add 30 ml of wine and 1-2 cloves of garlic grated on a fine grater to the pan. The resulting mass must be well mixed and boiled over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool completely and mix again before use.
Red Shawarma Sauce
A delicious recipe for making shawarma at home is impossible without a second sauce, which will elegantly shade all other products. To prepare a classic sauce, you should take tomato paste or tomatoes (previously they need to be crushed in a blender to a puree state). Then add hot adjika, cilantro, olive oil and lemon juice. If there were some difficulties with the search for adjika, then you can add heavily chopped chili pepper and garlic instead. All products are thoroughly mixed to a uniform consistency.
Of course, instead of making sauces, you can use the usual ketchup and mayonnaise, but still the taste of the dish will not be so original and rich.
How to cook shawarma at home? Step-by-step instruction
So, when all the ingredients are prepared, it remains only to combine them and wrap in pita bread. You must do the following:
- On the table you need to lay out a sheet of pita bread.
- Pour plenty of white sauce over it.
- Add the previously prepared cabbage salad with a slide.
- Put chopped chicken or turkey meat.
- Add various additional ingredients (a list of them can be seen a bit below).
- Pour red sauce over everything.
- Wrap food in pita bread.
- Fry the shawarma in a grill pan or in a cast-iron pan.
For a beginner, the process of wrapping the ingredients is quite complicated, but you have to adapt. On both sides on the sides you need to put a small amount of pita bread towards the center, it should slightly cover all the products. After taking the portion of pita bread, which is located at the edge of the table (closer to you) and completely cover the filling with it. Now, carefully from yourself you need to continue to wrap pita bread. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the filling does not begin to spill out on the sides.
Various additions to the filling
In addition to all the above products, additional components can be used in shawarma. For example, Armenians are very fond of adding ordinary french fries to this dish. You can also put in shawarma:
- Tomatoes
- cucumbers
- processed cheese;
- hard cheese;
- several types of meat;
- various types of greenery.
By and large, each person can add those products that he likes.
Cooking Tips
If you are not going to eat shawarma soon, then it is better to wait a while with cooking, since this dish must be eaten immediately after its preparation. Otherwise, the sauce begins to soften the pita, it will be moist, and afterwards it will begin to tear, so you have to eat the dish with a fork, which in itself is not shawarma.
When it has become too dry after cooking the meat, you can use orange juice. If they sprinkle a product, it will again become juicy, even if not the way it should ideally be, but still it will not be too dry.
This dish must not be heated in the microwave. In the process of warming up lavash becomes sour, loses its shape and crispy taste.
To enhance the taste of the dish, you can also anoint the shawarma with any of the prepared sauces from above, then it will become even more juicy.
Shawarma for vegetarians
Every year more and more people completely refuse meat products. However, they still want to touch the unique oriental cuisine. In this case, you can cook delicious shawarma with vegetarian products.
When cooking, you should use the same sauces and salad, and as a filling you can take mushrooms, Adyghe or goat cheese, gourmets can add even moldy types of cheeses. French fries, tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables will not be superfluous. You can also add more varieties of herbs, such as lettuce, spinach leaves or arugula.
Of course, the taste of such a dish will differ from the original, but you can still feel its charm.
Conclusion
Now you know how to cook shawarma at home. In the photo you can see the final result. Agree, it’s not at all difficult.
In this case, the recipe for cooking from chicken or turkey was described, but lamb or beef can also be added if desired. After you prepare this dish, your whole family will ask for supplements.