Shawarma Recipe

Have you ever had a shawarma sandwich. With all the traveling my family has done we developed a taste for shawarma which is something like a  sandwich wrap. The meat might be beef, lamb, or chicken. The meat is stacked in slices on a spindle and roasted by fire.

You might be able to find a Mediterranean restaurant where you can get this fast food sandwich. Where we live the nearest restaurant that serves shawarma is at least an hours drive away.  A two hour round trip is a little too much for even a great sandwich. We usually make a trip there every two or three months. Grandpa and I started to think about finding a way to make a similar sandwich at home. I started looking for recipes and testing a few. The shawarma meat in a sandwich has a distinct taste that is hard to define. I finally found a recipe that was near what we were looking for and with some tweaking from grandpa it is almost a match. My children have tried our recipe and have decided its a winner. So, today I am sharing it with my friends. I hope you enjoy. 

Sharwma

1 lb beef strips cut very thin. (important)

1 chopped tomato (optional)

Marinade

4 chopped cloves garlic

¼ c. olive oil

1/3 c. vinegar

1 tsp meat spices (7spices)

1/4tsp black pepper

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1tbl ground coriander

1tsp salt

Mix all marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add beef to marinade and let sit in refrigerator 1 to 3 hours. After the meat is marinated, heat pan add small amount of olive oil to pan and add garlic to pan. Start to brown  garlic add meat simmer on medium for 20 min. Stirring constantly add chopped tomato. Cook meat until done. Total cooking time about 30 to 45 minutes. 

Sandwich Filling

1 chopped red onion

chopped parsley

french fries

sliced dill pickle spears

sliced pickled turnips

tahini

pita bread

Open pita bread and split into two whole round pieces. Spread tahini on one piece of bread add meat and filling ingredients. Spread more tahini over top. Roll bread into sandwich. 

Tahini

1 c. tahini(sesame seed paste)

3/4c. water

1/4c lemon juice

2tbl spoons vinegar

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

Mix all ingredients together if too thick add a little more water. I like to make it the consistency of a thick pancake batter. Fill squeeze bottle with tahini or use a spoon to spread.

Enjoy and have a great day!!