Beef Shawarma

Shawarma with meat: Shawarma is probably the most known Middle Eastern food besides hummus. Usually it is made of marinated layers of beef with lamb cuts together and there is also chicken shawarma separately. It is piled up on a vertical rotating stand grilling against a low fire for hours and hours.

Here with my delicious and simple recipe, you are going to enjoy preparing the shawarma in your own kitchen as much as enjoying eating it too. For me it is as fast as preparing any quick lunch as long as you choose tender cuts. Don't hesitate to prepare it yourself, believe me it is worth it.

Prep. time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 50 mins

Serves: 5 to 6

INGREDIENTS :

750 grams beef thin cuts 8 cm long and around 2 cm of thickness or a bit less thin cuts or like fajita cuts

250 grams lamb thin strips like beef

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

a dash of coriander

a dash of clove spice (kebsh erenfol)

2 medium onions sliced wings

2 medium tomatoes sliced thin long

1 tbsp summac

1 cup chopped parsley

chopped lettuce optional

The sauce:

200 grams tahini paste or almost 1 cup

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup water

PREPARATION: There are 2 ways to prepare the shawarma either let it marinate with all the spices, vinegar and wine, then set aside in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours. After that you cook in the oven for one hour after the boiling point or until it is done.

Myself I prefer the second way which is: drop the oil in a large cooking pot, fry the meat strips until it is done add the vinegar, the wine, the salt and all the spices and let it simmer over medium to low heat for almost 50 mins or until tender.

Put the onions in a pan, add to it 2 tbsp from the meat sauce after boiling and stir it for 2 mins, it should stay a bit crispy then sprinkle the summac on top of the onions, I know this is something you can't find anywhere so you can do without the summac because the tahini sauce will make up for the lemony taste which is found in the summac. Saute the sliced tomatoes with a bit of the meat sauce for a minute, keep it almost fresh.

How to prepare the sauce: In a deep bowl using a whisk, mix the tahini paste and water then add the salt and lemon and mix again very well until you get the right batter.

It can be eaten as a sandwich with pita bread including the onions, tomatoes, chopped parsley or lettuce as you desire and finally adding to it the mouth watering lemony tahini sauce which complete the amazing taste of this dish. When I prepare it myself, I prefer to eat it myself as shown in the image of course with pita bread aside. Alf sahtein in the Lebanese way