How to learn how to cook delicious shawarma according to a classic recipe

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In the world of modern dishes, shawarma is a fairly new phenomenon. But in a short time, this snack option has become so popular with everyone that it is now perceived as an integral part of culinary culture.

Like any other dish, you can buy shawarma, or you can cook it yourself at home. In the second case, you will know exactly what your gourmet is made of. And besides, you can experiment and choose ingredients so that they exactly meet your taste preferences.

The big advantage of this dish is that it can be prepared quickly and easily. You don't need special equipment or special cooking skills to have a tasty and satisfying snack.

And of course, in order to understand how this snack is prepared, there is absolutely no need to turn to street vendors. You can find all the necessary information on the Internet. In particular, in this article. We have collected 6 excellent recipes for making homemade shawarma for you. Don’t be lazy, and in just an hour you will be able to get a hot, flavorful dish without leaving your home.

Shawarma: origin story

They say that the very first version of shawarma was invented by steppe nomads who wrapped saiga meat fried over a fire in a flatbread. And in Europe, this snack appeared in the 70s of the last century, when the Turkish chef Kadir Nurman decided to introduce the residents of Berlin to oriental cuisine and began wrapping fried meat in pita bread, successfully selling this unusual sandwich to city dwellers who are always in a hurry. Thus, the Turkish kebab (as shawarma was called in Turkey) was liked by the residents of Berlin, and by the end of the 20th century, vertical skewers with rotating meat could be seen in the capitals of many European countries. Eastern cooks mixed the meat with raw vegetables and sauce, then wrapped it in flatbread. Shawarma became popular among Europeans because this dish was quick to prepare, filling and tasty.

How to cook meat for shawarma

In oriental cuisine, any meat except pork is used for this appetizer, but in non-Muslim countries, shawarma is prepared from any moderately fatty meat, including pork. The meat is skewered on vertical spits that rotate around their axis - they are called a vertical grill. When the meat is ready, cut it into very thin pieces with a sharp knife, then chop them further.

Experienced chefs recommend marinating the meat first - this way it will cook faster and will be tastier, juicier and more aromatic. For the marinade, water is mixed with lemon juice, olive oil and any spices, such as curry.

The meat fillet is cut into pieces, lightly beaten, immersed in the marinade and placed in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or better yet for 5–8 hours, depending on the hardness of the meat. The marinade can also be made from kefir, pomegranate juice, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar or wine - as you like, just add more spices.

After the marinade, the meat is lightly dried with a towel, cut into thin strips and fried on the grill, in the oven or in a cast-iron frying pan with a ribbed bottom, without adding oil and with constant stirring. The meat turns out golden brown and with a crispy crust, but inside it remains juicy and soft if it is not overdried during frying. Interestingly, many people use sausages and sausages instead of meat, and some cooks fry the meat with onions and stew it in broth with the addition of a small amount of vinegar.

Classic shawarma: recipe without cabbage

There is no cabbage in the shawarma prepared according to this recipe. Not everyone loves the taste of this vegetable, but fortunately, the very structure of the dish makes it easy to experiment with its composition. Even despite the absence of this ingredient, the roll turns out tasty, juicy and satisfying. Try cooking it right now and you won’t regret the result.

To prepare 3 servings you will need the following amount of ingredients:

• 2 fresh tomatoes;
• 1 fresh cucumber;
• 3 chicken legs;
• 6 lettuce leaves;
• Turmeric;
• Khmeli-suneli;
• Greenery.

Separate the legs from the bones so that only the fillet remains. Cut the meat into strips and fry in vegetable oil, sprinkled with spices.

We cut the tomato and onion into thin rings, the cucumber - in the same way as the meat. We chop the greens. Lettuce leaves must be washed and cored.

Place vegetables on a sheet of lavash in random order and pieces of chicken on top. Add salt to taste. Lubricate everything with ketchup and mayonnaise sauce.

Roll the pita bread into a roll and fry in a hot frying pan without oil until a crispy crust appears.

This beautiful and satisfying dish can be served by cutting the rolls in half and garnished with green leaves, or taken with you. Bon appetit!

Tips for preparing shawarma: flatbread and filling

The ideal flatbread for shawarma is thin pita bread or half an Arabic pita. The most important thing is that the flatbread is fresh and soft, otherwise the dish will not be very tasty, besides, dried pita bread or pita bread crumbles when rolled, and cracks appear on them. You can roll shawarma only with very fresh pita bread.

The vegetable filling can be different - thinly sliced ​​white or Chinese cabbage with mayonnaise or ketchup, cabbage with Korean carrots, lettuce, onions, fresh or pickled cucumbers or tomatoes, eggplants and zucchini. Cucumbers are usually cut into cubes or cubes, and onions into half rings or small cubes. Do not skimp on greens - green onions, dill, cilantro, parsley and basil, because the more herbs, the tastier the shawarma. The filling with fresh or pickled mushrooms, bell peppers, hard or soft cheese is very pleasant, although many fans of Arabic cuisine do not recognize any other ingredients other than meat and spices. Well, there is no arguing about tastes!

Cooking steps

Before starting the main processes, you need to prepare all the products and wash them in advance. Next, we proceed directly to the preparation, namely:

• Shred the cabbage. It is recommended to chop very finely. Immediately add a little salt to get rid of excess moisture;
• Cut the tomatoes into cubes or circles, and the cucumber into strips. It is best that everything is cut into not very thick pieces;
• Next, let's start preparing the sauce. To do this, you need to mix mayonnaise, ketchup, add a little salt, black pepper and other spices to taste;
• We clean the chicken fillet from the transparent skin, add salt and pepper. You can fry the whole breast or pieces. Fry over low heat, stirring occasionally;
• Place a sheet of pita bread on the table. In the middle, grease the surface with sauce (it is advisable to make a medium thickness), then add all the vegetables;
• After this, cut the chicken into small pieces and place it on the vegetables. Pour a little more sauce on top;
• We wrap the pita bread so that the edges are closed. That is, an envelope;
• Next, fry the shawarma on both sides.

Making shawarma sauce

The sauce not only saturates the shawarma with new flavors, but also makes it juicier. As a base for the sauce, you can use sour cream, mayonnaise, cream, milk, fermented baked milk, kefir, yogurt, vegetable oil, tomato sauce and ketchup. The base is usually supplemented with other products - spices, cheese, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs and herbs.

The simplest no-cook sauce options are mayonnaise and ketchup, but if you want to make truly delicious shawarma, use only homemade sauces. The difference is immediately felt! The most popular sauces are white garlic and spicy tomato. Garlic sauce is prepared from medium-thick sour cream mixed with chopped garlic, chopped green onions and grated pickled cucumber.

For tomato sauce, mix tomato puree, tomato paste, spicy adjika, cilantro, olive oil and lemon juice, after which the mass is thoroughly crushed in a blender. Other sauces are also very tasty - cheese, cream, mushroom, cucumber and mustard. However, oriental chefs claim that real shawarma sauce is made from sour cream, kefir and homemade mayonnaise, taken in equal proportions - a few crushed cloves of garlic, salt, black and red pepper, coriander, curry, cilantro, parsley and dill are added to the mixture . When the sauce has sat for an hour, it is ready to be used.

How to roll pita bread correctly

After the ingredients for the shawarma are ready, the pita bread is laid out on the table, lightly sprinkled with water mixed with lemon juice. Next, the surface of the flatbread is smeared with white sauce, while, of course, you need to step back a little from the edges, then vegetable salad and meat are laid out on the pita bread, and red sauce is poured on top of the filling. This is how they make shawarma in cafes, but you can use any sauces according to your tastes and preferences.

The vegetables are covered with the edges of the flatbread in the form of an envelope and rolled into a roll - this is necessary so that the filling does not fall out of the shawarma, and it is more comfortable and tasty to taste it in this form. Pita is usually hollow inside, so you need to make a cut on the side and fill the pocket with filling and sauce. If you lightly fry the finished shawarma in a frying pan without oil before serving, it will turn out tastier and more appetizing.

With tomatoes

Shawarma is a dish of Armenian, Georgian, Turkish, Azerbaijani cuisine, which can now be bought in stalls in any country in the world.

The classic recipe is very popular in many countries, as it is prepared from simple ingredients that, when combined, give an incredible taste.

What ingredients will you need?

To prepare a dish for 2 people you will need the following set of ingredients:

To prepare the dish you will need 2 thin Armenian lavash, spices and table salt. Curry, coriander and ground black pepper are used as flavor and aroma enhancers for the sauce.

Step-by-step cooking process

The dish is quite easy to prepare.

Cooking steps:

1. First you need to prepare the sauce. This is done so that during the preparation of the main ingredients it infuses and becomes more saturated. This will make your homemade sauce more like store-bought dressing.
2. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients needed to prepare the sauce. The garlic must first be peeled and passed through a press, and the pickled cucumber must be grated on a fine grater.
3. The products must be mixed well and placed in the refrigerator.
4. The chicken fillet must be rinsed under running water and then dried with paper towels.
5. The prepared fillet must be cut into 3 parts (lengthwise), each of which must be well peppered and salted.
6. The resulting layers must be placed on top of each other and removed to the side.
7. Tomatoes and cucumbers need to be cut into slices that are convenient for use.
8. Chop the cabbage and place in a small bowl, mash with your hands.
9. In a grill pan, fry the chicken fillet on both sides for about 3 minutes.

10. Using a fork and knife, separate the hot chicken fillet into thin slices.
11. You need to spread a thin pita bread on the work surface, and then start laying out layers of filling. First you need to place cabbage, then chicken fillet, several slices of tomatoes and pickles, and then Korean carrots. It is necessary to season all products with the previously prepared sauce.
12. The resulting mixture of ingredients must be folded into an envelope and placed on a heated grill pan.

Fry the shawarma for the required amount for 2 minutes.

Serving rules, decoration

The finished dish must be served hot. If desired, you can decorate the resulting product with prepared sauce, fresh lettuce or parsley. Shawarma must be served with any drink.

Secrets of making shawarma

According to one Eastern chef, one of the secrets to delicious shawarma is the use of several types of meat, such as chicken, pork and lamb, which must be soaked in a mixture of Arabic spices before frying.

If the meat is a little dry, sprinkle it with orange juice during cooking or add a little oil or tail fat to the pan while frying. The meat will become tender and have a spicy aroma.

For the sauce, grind the herbs along with garlic and spices, and then mix these ingredients with the base. The sauce will be more tasty and aromatic. If you want to liven up the pale color of the sauce, add bright paprika, curry or herbs. It will turn out to be a very beautiful and festive dressing!

Never heat shawarma in the microwave, as it will make the pita bread soggy and lose its texture. The finished shawarma can be additionally coated with sauce on top for juiciness and piquancy.

Useful tips and tricks

Using these recommendations, you can prepare the dish correctly:

• When preparing a dish, you need to pay special attention to spices. Fragrant, high-quality spices make the finished dish more appetizing and enjoyable;
• the sauce should be very rich. For preparation, a mixture of mayonnaise, sour cream and mustard is often used;
• When cooking food, it is not recommended to use a microwave oven. The device turns all ingredients into porridge.

Using these recommendations, you can prepare a high-quality and rich dish. Shawarma is a dish that is eaten without the use of cutlery. Because of its peculiarity, it has become widespread throughout the world, and is sold in stalls and street trailers in different countries. Another feature is the ability to diversify a classic dish with any ingredients.

Homemade shawarma with chicken

A very simple recipe, and the result will please you! Cut 600 g of chicken fillet into strips and fry it in a small amount of vegetable oil, salt and sprinkle with chicken spices. Chop half a head of Chinese cabbage, tear half a head of iceberg lettuce with your hands, cut 2 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 1 bell pepper and 1 stalk of celery into cubes, mix the vegetables with the meat.

Make a sauce from 200 g sour cream, 2 tbsp. l. mayonnaise, a bunch of dill, parsley and green onions, also squeeze a couple of cloves of garlic into it. Now combine the sauce with meat and vegetables, mix well. Place the filling on the pita bread, first roll it into an envelope, and then into a roll. You can heat it in a frying pan or eat it like this - bon appetit!

Vegetarian shawarma with spinach

Vegetarians can also enjoy shawarma - with vegetables and cheese, it is even easier to prepare. Finely chop a bunch of any greens (dill, cilantro or parsley) and a bunch of basil. Mix about 400g of defrosted spinach with 1 clove of minced garlic and cook in the microwave for 10 minutes, then crack an egg into the hot spinach and stir – it should curl and harden.

Brush 2 sheets of pita bread with butter, drain the spinach and place it on the tortillas. Crumble 100 g of any cheese on top - hard or soft type Dorblu, feta, Adyghe or mozzarella. Wrap the shawarma into a roll and lightly fry on both sides in a dry frying pan until the cheese melts. This is a real delicacy!

Now you know how to cook shawarma at home. More precisely, the cooking technology, because there can be many options - it all depends on the meat, filling, spices and sauce. In this dish you can show your imagination, as many housewives as there are so many shawarma recipes, and all of them are successful!

How to cook shawarma at home using a classic recipe

This is the option I cook most often. It's easy to prepare and tastes simply amazing. The recipe is closer to the classic one; all the ingredients are available and inexpensive. If desired, you can include sweet peppers, onions or French fries. This will not make the taste worse, quite the opposite.

So, if you want to have a bite of real and very tasty shawarma, then prepare everything according to the list and repeat after me!

Ingredients:

• Armenian lavash - 4 pieces;
• 1 chicken breast - approximately 500-600 grams;
• 2 medium tomatoes;
• 2 small cucumbers;
• white cabbage (you can also use Beijing cabbage) - 200 grams;
• a glass of kefir;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• a bunch of dill and parsley;
• 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise (preferably homemade);
• salt and ground pepper to taste;
• 3 tablespoons pomegranate sauce.

You can also change the quantity of ingredients if desired.

1.Cut the chicken into medium-sized pieces. Some people like large pieces of meat in shawarma, others like small ones. You do as you see fit.

2. Marinate in pomegranate sauce for 1 hour.

3. Cut the cucumbers into medium pieces. Size and shape are not important. The main thing is that they look appetizing and are convenient to eat.

4. Also cut the tomatoes into medium pieces.

5. Finely chop the cabbage with a knife or a special grater attachment. Season with salt and mash with your hands.

If you use Chinese cabbage or lettuce leaves, you can not chop them, but put them on pita bread, smeared with sauce as a whole. You can already lay out the remaining ingredients for the filling on it.

5. In addition to dill and parsley, you can use basil or cilantro. The greens need to be finely chopped.

6. Sauce is a very important ingredient in shawarma. It determines juiciness and piquant taste. I love making white sauce, because it is not only tasty, but also healthy. For it you need to mix mayonnaise (preferably homemade), kefir and chopped herbs. The consistency is creamy. Taste it. If you don't have enough saltiness, add salt. I don't add any salt to this sauce at all.

7. While we were preparing the vegetables and sauce, the chicken had already marinated. Now it, along with the juice, needs to be simmered in a frying pan until the liquid evaporates. At this stage you need to add salt and, if desired, season. If you are not interested in this dietary option, you can fry the pieces in oil until cooked.

8. Place the pita bread unfolded in front of you. Stepping back a little from the edges, apply the sauce and arrange the filling in a strip, adhering to the bottom edge. Pour the sauce over the top again and start wrapping. To do this, first roll up the sides and then twist the roll from bottom to top.

For shawarma you need to take thin, Armenian lavash. If you can't buy it at the store, prepare it yourself. To do this, you need to replace a tight elastic dough with flour, salt and cold water. Place the thoroughly kneaded dough in a plastic bag and leave for 1 hour. Then knead it thoroughly again and roll out thin layers, no more than 3 millimeters wide. Fry the flatbreads in a hot frying pan, without oil, on both sides for 30-60 seconds.

Now that the shawarma is wrapped in thick rolls, each one needs to be fried in a dry grill pan on both sides until crispy.