How to Make Shawarma at Home

Before you learn how to make shawarma, isn’t it important to know how to spell the word? We know the proof of the pudding is in the eating and not the spelling. But don’t you think what is worth cooking is worth spelling well? 

Shawarma, the thinly sliced roasted meat (chicken, lamb, or turkey) wrapped in flatbread, is spelled SHAWARMA, not SHARWAMA or SHAWAMA. The easiest way to learn and remember the spelling of this word is to visualize it. Shawarma is best served hot but a warm ShaWARMa is not bad either!

How to prepare shawarma

Before we go into that, let’s acquaint ourselves with the snack. Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish that originated during the Ottoman Empire, an empire that reigned supreme in most parts of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa between 1844 and 1922.

The delicacy has, however, traveled from those regions to Nigeria and other parts of Africa, where its popularity is increasing by the day.

The dish comprises meat cut into thin slices, piled in a pyramidal shape, and roasted on a slowly turning charcoal broil. Traditionally, shawarma is made with lamb or mutton, but chicken, turkey, beef, or veal could take its place.

Now, let’s get back to our GST 101 class and teach you how to make shawarma at home. We start with the chicken variant.

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How to prepare chicken shawarma

If you’re craving a snack and quite lazy to drive to the nearby restaurant (the thoughts of fuel scarcity loom large too), then try your hands on homemade chicken shawarma in easy-to-follow steps.

Let’s start with the shawarma sauce.

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Ingredients for shawarma sauce

Most people fancy the Tahini sauce or yogurt sauce for shawarma recipes but we recommend the African shawarma sauce.

A mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, and pepper is a must in making this shawarma sauce. You can add red pepper flakes to it if you don’t mind the extra heat. So you need:

3 tablespoons of ketchup

3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

A hint of cayenne pepper (optional)

A hint of red pepper (optional)

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Chicken shawarma ingredients

For the shawarma marinade you will need:

2 lbs. chicken thigh (boneless)

1 large onion  

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

4 cloves garlic (minced)

1 tablespoon of ginger (minced)

2 teaspoons of black pepper

2 teaspoons of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of turmeric or curry powder

1/2 teaspoon of thyme

1/2 teaspoon of bouillon cube (optional)

1 scotch bonnet pepper (minced)

2 tablespoons of olive oil preferred cooking oil

Salt to taste

For the filling you will need:

1 tomato (ripe and hard)

1 small onion (sliced into strips)

1/4 lb. of cucumber (sliced into strips)

4 to 6 Lettuce leaves

4 to 6 large tortilla wraps

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Chicken shawarma recipe

Here are the directions to take in preparing your homemade chicken shawarma.

Marinate the chicken

·       Add all the spices to the chicken and mix thoroughly

·       Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for at least 15 minutes

Grill the shawarma

·       Lay the chicken pieces on a non-sticking baking pan

·       Transfer to a 425°F and bake for 25 minutes

·       Check to see if it’s cooking the way you like it. If you want the chicken darker, char it for about two minutes

Prepare the shawarma sauce

·       Mix the ketchup, mayonnaise, and cayenne pepper and set aside

Serve the shawarma

·       Wash and dice all the vegetables

·       Spread a pencil-thin layer of the mayonnaise and ketchup mixture on the tortilla wrap

·       Layer the vegetables and shawarma chicken on the wrap

·       Sprinkle a little more sauce on it and roll it up

SEE: Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Ingredients for shawarma bread

3½ cups of bread flour

½ cup of flour (for dusting)

2 teaspoons of instant yeast

1 tablespoon of melted butter

1 teaspoon of sugar

½ cup of warm whole milk

1 cup of warm water

1 teaspoon of olive oil, oiling the bowl

Add salt to taste

How to make shawarma bread

Add one cup of flour, sugar, instant yeast, salt, butter, milk, and water in a large bowl. Then mix thoroughly, with your hands or mixer, to combine well.

Add, in bits, the remaining flour till a soft dough is formed.

Knead your dough for about 10 minutes on a floured surface. Add olive oil to the bowl to oil it then, return the kneaded dough to the bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel to double it for about two hours.

After doubling, punch to deflate it. Then divide the dough into the number of pieces you want and cover it so it doesn’t dry out. Allow resting for about 20 minutes.

Place the parchment-lined pan on medium heat. With the aid of a rolling pin, roll out a piece of the dough to the preferred level of thickness.

Place the flatbread on the non-stick pan. Allow to bubble, then flip to the other side. Cook till both sides are golden brown. Repeat the process until you exhaust all the dough.

Now, let’s put everything together in one piece and make a delicious chicken shawarma.

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How do you eat chicken shawarma?

Though wraps are the most common way to serve shawarma, you can try it out as chicken salad, in sandwiches, on fried or jollof rice, or snack on it.

You can as well serve shawarma in crunchy lettuce cups away from the norm. This is highly recommended for low-carb eaters without compromising the taste.  

How to make beef shawarma: a step-by-step guide

Step 1: Put together the shawarma spices and marinade

Mix the shawarma seasoning with a quarter cup of olive oil, the same quantity of white wine vinegar and zest, and one lemon juice in a large bowl. That’s your marinade for the meat.

Step 2: Slice up the meat

Thinly slice your meat against the grain but ensure the pieces are in a good bite size. Though, they need to be fairly thin for the best texture.

Step 3: Marinate the meat

Put the sliced meat in the big bowl, then season it with a big dash of kosher salt and black pepper. Add sliced fresh garlic and onion. With a pair of tongs, toss the meat to make sure it’s well-coated. Then let it marinate at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Another option is to cover and refrigerate for up to two hours.

Step 4: Cook the beef shawarma

If you don’t have a skillet or large cast iron pan, any large pan will do the job. The first thing you do here is to heat the pan and using tongs, add the meat to the pan. Then spread the meat out so that as much of it is touching the hot surface as possible. For a better effect, do it in batches. Cook for 15 minutes, flipping and tossing from time to time.

Viola, your beef shawarma is ready for consumption!

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How to make shawarma with a frying pan

If you don’t have an oven or microwave or you have both, but there’s no electricity, do not despair. We shall teach you how to improvise with a frying pan so that NEPA won’t put your love affair with shawarma asunder!

Just grab an old pot or my old frying pan as an oven and bake. It’s as simple as ABC, as it doesn’t take long to cook and doesn’t really need too much heat. Once you know that the ingredients in any good shawarma have to be crunchy and nutritionally alive, then you’ll have no problem using a frying pan or that bequeathed pot.

Here’s how to go about it.

Wrap your shawarma with the bread.

Put a frying pan on a burner, and keep the heat low.

Fit a wire rack in a microwave in the frying pan. If you don’t have a wire rack, you can use any other object that will prevent the shawarma from lying flat on the pan. It burns easily that way, which isn’t right.

Turn on the heat and place a large pot on the frying pan. Leave to heat for about 180 seconds.

Take off the lid and place the shawarma on the rack.

Cover the pan and leave to cook for about three minutes or more, or less, depending on how you want your shawarma to look.

Take off the lid and pick the shawarma out.

So, here you have – how to make shawarma with a frying pan. It’s very easy, right?

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Nutrition

Shawarma is rich in calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, sodium, potassium, fiber, sugar, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

Conclusion

Put your knowledge on how to make shawarma to test and let’s know how it panned out in the comment section below.