Shawarma is the most common name for this Middle Eastern dish in Russia. The meat fixed on a vertical grill is cut into thin layers as soon as it is ready, chopped into small pieces and, together with a salad of vegetables (tomatoes with cucumber, cabbage and onions, etc.), with spices and sauce, is placed in pita or wrapped in pita bread. There is no canonical recipe - meat, spices, vegetables and sauce are different.
The most common stuffing meat in our country is chicken, and sauces are mayonnaise and ketchup. Despite its Middle Eastern origin, Russian shawarma can be made with pork. Moscow shawarma and St. Petersburg shawarma are one and the same dish, except that St. Petersburg residents do not favor cabbage.
Arabs and Jews cook shawarma (shawarma, shwarma, shwarma, shuarma, shaorma) in pita or in thin pita bread - laff, from any meat except pork. For Jews, according to the rules of kashrut, dairy ingredients are completely excluded in the sauce. In addition, Middle Eastern shawarma contains hummus, tehina, sometimes amba sauce (mango, mustard, curry and garlic), sometimes shug, and if you're lucky, then baked eggplant. Lamb shawarma, which is also prepared in the Middle East, is much more expensive than chicken shawarma, so sometimes sellers find a compromise: fat tail fat is placed on top of the chicken meat, which gives the chicken shawarma the smell of lamb.
The word "shawarma" most likely comes from the Turkish word çevirme, meaning "rotation", "spinning". At the same time, the Turks categorically do not use the word “shawarma”, and call the doner kebab dish similar to shawarma.
doner kebab
In Berlin, meat in bread has become an important city food, it is prepared on an industrial scale by Turkish immigrants, and this dish is called doner kebab or simply doner. Döner uses all types of meat, except pork, to which fresh and pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs and onions are added. In some doner shops, you can choose a sauce - for example, yogurt, tomato, and some other compound, invented by a particular master. Some doners are not made with real chicken and with chicken sausage. Therefore, once in Berlin, go to places checked by local residents.
Lavash with barbecue
A popular Armenian food is lavash stuffed with Karski shish kebab, an essential dish for any Soviet vacationer. Karski shish kebab is when a large piece of meat marinated with vodka or cognac, for example, lamb, is put on a skewer, alternated with pieces of fat tail fat and, when ready, a ripe edge is cut off from the meat. The meat is wrapped in Armenian lavash - fresh and thin. In the "Book of Tasty and Healthy Food" it was proposed to cook Karski shish kebab without fat tail and lavash, but always with lamb kidneys: two pieces for half a kilo of lamb. The name comes from the name of the ancient Armenian capital - the city of Kars, in the vicinity of which sheep always grazed in abundance.
Durum
Marinated meat with vegetables and sauce, essentially the same Turkish and German doner, but necessarily tightly wrapped in thin lavash. This name is common in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and France, sometimes the word roll can be found on tents with durum. It is believed that women prefer durum, because it is more convenient to eat and it does not splash juice.
Gyros
A Greek dish reminiscent of Arabic shawarma or Turkish doner. "Gyro" is a circle: the meat for the gyros is cooked on a spinning spit. The Greeks are Christians, so they easily cook pork neck gyros. Gyros are always served with french fries, garlic, oregano and traditional Greek tzatziki yogurt sauce.
Brtuch
An Armenian dish that can be called burum, brduch, brduj and brtunch. It does not have a strict recipe: anything can be wrapped in thin pita bread, from meat to boiled eggs, but there are constants - greens and salted cheese.
Burrito
The name comes from the Spanish word burro - "donkey". There is a legend that the dish is named after the Mexican Juan Mendoza, who bore the nickname Donkey. Mendoz traded food on the border of Mexico and Texas, saved on dishes and sold meat and vegetables not in a ceramic pot, but in a tortilla. A burrito is prepared from a wheat tortilla, which is wrapped, for example, minced meat, beans, cheese, tomatoes, rice, avocado, sour cream or chili-based salsa. It is believed that the name of the cake was given by the Spanish conquistadors. Allegedly, she reminded them of an omelette tortilla. When deep-fried, a wheat tortilla burrito becomes a chimichanga. And if chimichanga is cooked not with wheat tortilla, but with corn tortilla, and with the obligatory addition of chili sauce, then this is already an enchilada.
Enchilada
Mexican flatbread with meat, the name of which translates as "seasoned with chili." It is made from corn tortilla fried on a large clay circle, boiled or stewed meat, sometimes eggs and vegetables. Enchiladas are rolled up and fried in a pan or baked in the oven. Sometimes the flatbread is cooked with cheese. The finished dish is poured with cocoa, mole sauce or salsa. It is believed that enchiladas were invented by Catholic nuns who lived in southern Mexico. When this happened is unknown, but the 1831 cookbook El cocinero mexicano already has a recipe for the dish. Enchiladas come in different colors, depending on which tortilla to wrap it in. If the tortilla is made from blue Hopi corn, then the tortilla will acquire a gloomy bluish tint, if chili is added to the tortilla, as is often done, then it turns red.
Taco
A pre-Columbian Mexican dish in which a corn or wheat tortilla is stuffed with anything: meat, poultry, beans, seafood, fish, vegetables, chorizo sausage, and cactus. Ready-made tacos are served with onions and greens, guacamole and salsa. They eat tacos with their hands, having previously folded the tortilla in half. Corn tortilla tacos are common throughout Mexico, while wheat tortilla tacos are more common in the north of the country. The most popular variations of tacos have their own names, for example, for tacos al carbon, meat is cooked on an open fire, and for tacos al pastor, just like for shawarma, on a vertical skewer.
Tantuni
Chopped veal (rarely chicken) is boiled in salt water, then fried in a pan with tomato pulp and hot pepper. The meat is packed in pita, pita or plain bread, which is first soaked in meat juice before it is combined with the filling. Appeared in the Turkish city of Mersin, which annually hosts the Tantuni festival.
Quesadilla
Wheat or corn tortilla stuffed with cheese and folded in half, but by no means rolled into a tube. The name of this Mexican dish comes from the fusion of two words: queso, "cheese", - and "tortilla". It is prepared like this: a tortilla folded in half is filled with cheese, and then fried until the cheese is completely melted. The traditional quesadilla is bread and cheese, but there are also liberties when chorizo sausages, mushrooms, meat, potatoes and vegetables are mixed with cheese. Quesadillas are traditionally served with salsa or guacamole. If it is molded like a sandwich of two cakes and cut into slices, then it is already customary to call it a syncronisada.
Fajitas
A Mexican dish in which a wheat tortilla is filled with sliced long strips and grilled meat and vegetables (faja - "strip"). Fajitas are most often made with beef, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, cheese and Mexican spicy tomato sauce pico de gallo are served separately. It is believed that fajitas was invented in the area of the Tex-Mex border.
Pancake with meat
A traditional Russian flour product, which was prepared by the Slavic tribes in pagan times. There is a version that the word "pancake" comes from the word "mlyn", derived from the verb "grind". One of the most beautiful descriptions pancake belongs to William Pokhlebkin: “Russian pancakes are distinguished by a very special texture, they are soft, loose, spongy, lush, light and at the same time, as it were, translucent, with a clearly distinguishable pattern of numerous pores. Such pancakes as a sponge absorb melted butter, sour cream, which makes them juicy, shiny and tasty. Pancakes are stuffed with whatever is possible, if meat is wrapped in a pancake, then sour cream is most often used for it. The success of the Teremok network contributed to the widest distribution of pancakes with filling as an analogue of shawarma. Their cafes are now even in New York.
kati roll
Indian fast food, in which the stuffing fits into the paratha wheat cake. The dish was invented in Calcutta at the beginning of the 20th century. Now almost any paratha filled with something is boldly called kati-roll.
Shawarma is one of the most popular Middle Eastern dishes that is popular almost everywhere. Chopped juicy meat, pre-grilled and wrapped in soft pita bread, along with vegetable salad and sauce, is a real delicacy of Arabic cuisine. Since shawarma is fast food, many people are afraid to buy it on the street or in eateries. However, such precautions do not interfere. However, if you find yourself in an Arabic restaurant, be sure to order a real lamb, beef, veal, chicken or turkey shawarma - you will not regret it! And even better - homemade shawarma, the recipe with a photo of which looks so appetizing that you can eat it every day. Let's try to make this dish, please your loved ones with homemade fast food and dive into oriental cuisine, where there are so many spices and fragrant herbs...
Shawarma: origin story
They say that the very first version was invented by steppe nomads, who wrapped saiga meat roasted at the stake in a flat cake. And in Europe, this appetizer appeared in the 70s of the last century, when the Turkish chef Kadyr Nurman decided to introduce the inhabitants of Berlin to oriental cuisine and began to wrap fried meat in pita bread, successfully selling this unusual sandwich to the ever-hurrying citizens. Thus, the Turkish kebab (the so-called shawarma in Turkey) was liked by the inhabitants 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. Oriental chefs mixed meat with raw vegetables and sauce, then wrapped in cakes. Shawarma became popular with Europeans, as this dish was quickly cooked, hearty and tasty.
How to cook meat for shawarma
In oriental cuisine, any meat other than pork is used for this snack, but in non-Muslim countries, shawarma is prepared from any moderately fatty meat, including pork. The meat is strung on vertical skewers that rotate around its axis - they are called a vertical grill. When ready, the meat is cut with a sharp knife into very thin pieces, then they are additionally crushed.
The meat fillet is cut into pieces, slightly beaten off, immersed in the marinade and put in the refrigerator for 2 hours, and preferably for 5-8 hours, depending on the stiffness of the meat. Marinade can also be made from kefir, pomegranate juice, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar or wine - as you like, the main thing is to 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 pan with a ribbed bottom, without adding oil and with constant stirring. The meat turns out to be ruddy and crispy, but inside it remains juicy and soft if it is not overdried during frying. Interestingly, many people use sausages and wieners instead of meat, and some cooks fry meat with onions and stew it in broth with a small amount of vinegar added.
The ideal flatbread for shawarma is thin pita bread or half an Arabian pita. The most important thing is that the cake is fresh and soft, otherwise the dish will not turn out very tasty, besides, dried pita bread or pita bread crumbles when rolled up, and cracks appear on them. You can roll shawarma only with very fresh pita bread.
Vegetable filling can be different - thinly chopped white or Chinese cabbage with mayonnaise or ketchup, cabbage with Korean carrot, leaf salad, onion, fresh or pickled cucumbers or tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini. Cucumbers are usually cut into cubes or sticks, and onions - into half rings or small cubes. Do not spare the 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, tastes differ!
Shawarma sauce preparation
The sauce not only saturates the shawarma with new flavors, but also makes it more juicy. As a basis for the sauce, you can take 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.
Most simple options sauces that do not need to be prepared are mayonnaise and ketchup, but if you want to cook a truly delicious shawarma, use only homemade sauces. The difference is immediately felt! The most popular sauces are white garlic and spicy tomato. Garlic Sause prepared from sour cream of medium density, mixed with chopped garlic, chopped green onions and grated pickled cucumber.
For tomato sauce, tomato puree is mixed, 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, creamy, mushroom, cucumber and mustard. However, Eastern chefs claim that real shawarma sauce is made from sour cream, kefir and homemade mayonnaise, taken in equal proportions - a few chopped garlic cloves, salt, black and red ground pepper, coriander, curry, cilantro, parsley and dill are added to the mass . When the sauce has stood for an hour, it can be used.
How to roll pita bread
After the ingredients are ready, the pita bread is laid out on the table, lightly sprinkled with water mixed with lemon juice. Next, the surface of the cake 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 shawarma is made in a cafe, but you can use any sauces according to your tastes and preferences.
Vegetables are covered with the edges of the cake in the form of an envelope and rolled up into a roll - this is necessary so that the filling does not fall out of the shawarma, and tasting it in this form is more comfortable and tasty. Pita is usually hollow inside, so you need to make an incision on the side and fill the pocket with stuffing and sauce. If you fry the finished shawarma a little in a pan without oil before serving, it will turn out tastier and more appetizing.
According to one Eastern chef, one of the secrets to a delicious shawarma is the use of several types of meat, such as chicken, pork and lamb, which must be aged in a mixture of Arabic spices before frying.
If the meat is dry, drizzle it while cooking. orange juice or add a little oil or tail fat to the pan while frying. The meat will acquire tenderness and a spicy aroma.
For the sauce, grind the greens along with garlic and spices, and then mix these ingredients with the base. The sauce will turn out more tasty and fragrant. If you want to liven up the pale color of the sauce, add bright paprika, curry or herbs to it. It will turn out very beautiful and festive dressing!
Never heat shawarma in the microwave, as the pita bread in it becomes sour and loses its texture. Ready shawarma can be additionally smeared on top with sauce for juiciness and piquancy.
Homemade shawarma with chicken
Very easy recipe and you will love the result! Cut into strips 600 g chicken fillet and fry it in a small amount vegetable oil, salt and sprinkle with chicken spices. Chop half a head of cabbage Chinese cabbage, tear half a head of iceberg lettuce with your hands, cut into cubes 2 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 1 bell pepper and 1 stalk of celery, mix vegetables with meat.
Make a sauce from 200 g of 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. Put the filling on the pita bread, first roll it up with an envelope, and then with a roll. You can heat it in a 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 herbs (dill, cilantro or parsley) and a bunch of basil. Mix about 400 g of thawed spinach with 1 clove of minced garlic and cook in the microwave for 10 minutes, then break an egg into the hot spinach and stir - it should curdle and harden.
Grease 2 sheets of pita bread with butter, drain the water from the spinach and put it on tortillas. On top, crumble 100 g of any cheese - hard or soft type dorblu, feta, Adyghe or mozzarella. Wrap the shawarma in the form of a roll and lightly fry on both sides in a dry frying pan to melt the cheese. 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, how many housewives - so many shawarma recipes, and they are all successful!
Is shawarma or shawarma the same dish? And how to pronounce correctly? Today, in the “OK, Google” section, we will deal with the correct pronunciation of this oriental dish according to the norms of the Russian language.
Shawarma or Shawarma?
A Middle Eastern dish of pita bread stuffed with meat, some native speakers call shawarma, while others call it shawarma. Yes, this is the same dish, there is no gastronomic difference here. Signboards on cafes, which also cannot come up with a single name, are also confusing. In fact, in modern dictionaries there is no Russian language shawarma, then shawarma. All experts and linguists are unanimous in this regard: the correct option is shawarma, and only she.
Battle of two capitals
Interestingly, this opposition of words arose because of the two capitals. In Moscow, they say correctly - shawarma, but in St. Petersburg they eat shawarma everywhere. According to Yandex, “shawarma” is commonly spoken in the North-West, and “shawarma” in the rest of Russia.
- This is a very typical situation when there is an original word that has been used for a long time, and suddenly some reforms begin to be carried out. Suddenly, the word that was originally won, because shawarma is shawarma. There are a lot of all sorts of conversations that it is Turkic, Persian, and so on, that is, according to etymology, you can talk for a long time. But shawarma took root in our country, they tried to introduce shawarma. And then plus Moscow and St. Petersburg, of course, they are very worried about this. As a result, folk etymology wins, that is, what lives among the people still wins. And I think that it’s impossible to defeat shawarma, I think you can poison it as much as you like, but, nevertheless, it stands at every metro station and will still live. This is our normal Eurasian version of the name of a very good food, if it is well cooked, - explained the professor of Moscow State University Vladimir Elistratov.
Why did the word "shawarma" appear?
The fact is that shawarma for our person is not the most convenient name. The Russian language avoids the confluence of two vowels, which means that shawarma for us is just a more convenient pronunciation option. Some linguists believe that shawarma will soon appear in dictionaries, just as the norm for cottage cheese, coffee and other products once changed.
Other names for shawarma
Interestingly, in addition to the usual “shawarma”, this dish has a lot of names. For example, in Turkey, shawarma is called dener kebab, in Belgium - pita derum, and in Greece - gyros. The essence of the dish is the same everywhere - meat wrapped in a flat cake.
In the dispute between Muscovites and Petersburgers on the issue of shawarma-shawarma, both sides are mistaken. The correct option would be doner kebab. It was under this name that this dish was born 50 years ago.This is, of course, a joke. Since in one form or another, dishes similar to shawarma have been prepared in many countries for a long time. But the Germans are clearly at the forefront here. They eat almost two million servings of shawarma a day - there are now more döner kebabs in Berlin than in Istanbul. But why has this humble street snack gained so many fans? CorrespondentBBCI tried to understand this story:
It is simply impossible to visit Germany and not try the specialty German sausages currywurst or bratwurst. But, despite all their love for sausages, the Germans lean on shawarma, which is also called doner kebab here. According to the press secretary of the Association of Turkish Shawarma Producers in Europe, Gürsel Yulber, in this country of 82 million people, two million portions of shawarma are consumed per day.
It is safe to say that thin slices of meat cooked on a vertical grill and wrapped in pita or pita bread along with salad are ahead of the famous sausage duo in the fast food market. And this is a sure sign of the growing cultural and economic influence of Turkish immigrants on German society.
It is believed that this dish was invented in Berlin 50 years ago by two guest workers, Kadir Nurman and Mehmet Aigun, who came after the war to rebuild the economy of West Germany along with other immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.
There are more shawarma establishments in Berlin than in Istanbul
Doner kebab quickly became popular - and not only among migrant workers. And although Aigun claims that he invented this dish a year before Nurman, in 1971, and sold it in his store called Hasir, the Association of Turkish Shawarma Producers in Europe officially recognized Nurman as a pioneer.
According to Ülber, in 1972 Nurman was the first in Germany to start selling doner kebabs at his small kiosk across from the Zoologischer Garten train station in West Berlin. He turned a traditional dish from grilled meat with rice, salad and flatbread into a sandwich, which the ever-busy Germans could eat on the go - and each of the two former guest workers claims that the idea to put the meat inside the flatbread belongs to him.
Germans eat almost two million servings of shawarma a day
But whoever was first, these two laid the foundation for a business whose turnover in Germany is 4 billion euros (more than 250 billion rubles). Shawarma takes as much as 400 tons of meat every day to make, and it looks like this favorite street food is turning into a staple in the German diet.
According to the Association, in Germany there are now 40,000 establishments selling shawarma, and, according to the official Berlin tourist portal Visit Berlin, the capital of the country occupies the first place in terms of the number of such outlets: there are as many as 4,000 of them - even more than in Turkey's most populous city, Istanbul.
Others are not far behind Berlin big cities Germany: Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart. The dish is so popular that in 2011, a group of savvy German students came up with a recipe to restore fresh breath after such a snack: their Papa Turk drink, which includes ginger, parsley, mint and lemon, according to its creators, neutralizes garlic smell of shawarma.
But why has shawarma gained so many fans?
"Because it's delicious," Yulber says simply. "It's got all the good stuff in it: protein source and lettuce."
But it's not just about rich taste, large portions and affordable prices - on average from 4.50 to 14 euros (280-900 rubles). Apparently, one of the main advantages of this dish was the ability to adapt it to any taste.
Nurman used only beef for its preparation, but over time, cooks began to use other types of meat - chicken, lamb and turkey - and also diversified cakes and fillers.
Now each establishment can add its own zest to this dish.
"Shawarma-themed variations such as iskender kebab (thinly sliced lamb meat with tomato sauce, ghee made from sheep's milk and yoghurt wrapped in pita), adana kebab (minced meat cooked on a wide iron skewer) and kofte (meat patty with parsley and mint)," says Evren Demirkan, co-owner of the Stuttgart-based World of Kebap restaurant.
Everyone's favorite dish is sold in stalls and cafes
But most of all, Demirkan's customers like the classic doner kebab with beef. He sells 500 of these a week, double that on weekends.
To find out from my own experience what kind of miracle it is, I went to Germany - and quickly realized how wrong I was, considering shawarma food exclusively for hangover night revelers.
Walking around the busy financial center of Frankfurt on a Friday afternoon, I was surprised to see that shawarma is served in a variety of places - from chic restaurants to small cafes, beautifully decorated in Turkish style.
Lunch time approached, and everyone around - locals, businessmen and tourists - reached out to the nearest stalls, lining up in long lines for their favorite dish.
Some ordered grilled or kofte assorted meats, but I decided to get down to business right away: I went to Nazar Kebap Haus at 38 Schefergasse and asked for a large doner kebab with beef.
Taking the pita, I took a bite. The shawarma was amazingly fresh and tasty: juicy meat, chili sauce, yoghurt-garlic dressing and crispy salad completely justified the time spent in line.
It seemed to me that the Turks were very successful in preserving the traditions of this dish and at the same time adapting it to the ever-changing catering market, where there is fierce competition.
As the largest non-indigenous ethnic group in Germany (Berlin has the largest Turkish diaspora), the Turks have made shawarma an important tool that not only serves the needs of the local population and serves the economy, but also allows you to build a bridge between the two cultures.
For many immigrants from Turkey, doner kebab has become a symbol of new opportunities. And even now, five decades later, when several generations of shawarma sellers have already changed, the pioneers in this business are not forgotten.
“Of course, we are grateful to Kadir and Mehmet. They not only invented doner kebab, but also laid the foundation for an entire industry and helped many people earn their living,” says Demirkan. “Their invention has benefited many industries at once.”
If you are planning to open your own shawarma shop but don't know what name to choose, this article will help you choose a great option. Below you can find the basic principles of naming, as well as many examples of the names of already existing stalls around the country.
Principles for constructing the names of points for the sale of shawarma
All names of such points can be conditionally divided into several main groups. Each of them has its own characteristics and advantages, having studied which, entrepreneurs will be able to choose the most suitable category for them and form their own, bright and original name.
- Names that include the word "shawarma" or "shawarma". Using these keywords, you immediately let consumers know what kind of dish they can buy at your kiosk. That is why such names are used by the owners of such outlets most often. The huge advantage of this way of creating names is that the above keywords with different vocabulary, and give them any form. Vivid examples of such names are such names as "Shaurmania", "Shaurma on the corner", "Shauroom", "Shawarma worlds best", etc.
- Names related to food in one way or another. Despite the fact that such names are not associated with the main dish, they are still directly associated with food, its preparation and taste. To form such names, entrepreneurs can use the names of ingredients, dishes, cooking methods. In general, your imagination should not be limited by anything other than a given topic. This simple way of creating names allows you to create such interesting options as "Fast food in Russian", "Snack", "In Lavash" and so on.
- Other original titles This category of names, unlike the previous two, is not associated with shawarma and even food in general. However, such names are bright and memorable, and this is already a big plus for business. So, you can create options such as, for example, "Marrakech", "East", "From the heart", "Stop" and so on. They are guaranteed to attract attention and be remembered well by your customers.
Examples of shawarma stall names
Names that include the word "shawarma" or "shawarma"
Names related to food in one way or another
Other original titles
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