Egypt – Shawerma

by Anaa Rajpoot

Shawerma is a cone-shaped chapati or naan which is filled with some spices and meat and vegetables. It is actually related to LEVANTINE CUISINE, which is a very famous cuisine of Egypt. You can use different kinds of meat in their fillings like a lamb, mutton, chicken, beef, veal, and many more. It is totally up to you that which type of meat you want in your dish, you can use your favorite meat in it.

Shawerma is not only the STREET FOOD of EGYPT but also the street food of every country that is in the world. It is one of the most popular street food but it is most famous in EGYPT, ARABIAN PENINSULA, and all others.

Shawerma is famous all over the world but the recipe and method of making shawerma are different, different countries use different techniques of making shawerma. Egypt uses roasted meat in their fillings which is roasted over the horizontal spits. This makes the dish very special and tasty by using this kind of technique.

ALTERNATIVE NAMES

• Shawarma
• Chawarma
• Shaurma
• Showarma
• Shawerma

HISTORY ORIGIN

Egypt uses a special technique of roasting meat on different horizontal spits, which give a very unique taste and appearance to shawarma. OTTOMAN EMPIRES made this dish for the first time in the 19th century. The very first time Turkey made doner kabab by using this technique and then different recipes are originated like Shawarma and Gyros.

In the 20th century when the Lebanese migrated to different countries like Egypt then they spread the recipe of Shwarama and then this dish become the most known and tastiest dish which is slowly become the street food of Egypt.

LEVANTINE CUISINE

As we know that Shawarma is related to Levantine cuisine which is basically the traditional food of Levant, you can also say this as BILAD-UL-SHAM in ARABIC. There are many counties that are based on Levantine cuisine and different dishes. The most popular dishes of Levantine cuisine are mentioned below because they all are related to Egyptian cuisine.

FAMOUS DISHES

• Meze
• Tabbouleh
• Hummus
• Baba ghanoush

A good Levantine wine list will read like a sommelier’s Grand Tour of the Eastern Med

MEAT USED IN SHAWERMA

• Chicken
• Mutton
• Beef
• Buffalo
• Turkeys
• Lamb
• Veal

ROTISSERIE

Rotisserie is actually a style of roasting meat which is a very popular style and enhances the taste of meat. This method is also known as SPIT ROASTING. This is a very unique method and makes your dish a very luxurious look. This rotisserie method brings taste to your dish and makes it special.

There are two types of Rotisserie

• Horizontal rotisserie
• Vertical rotisserie

ARABIAN PENINSULA

The Arabian peninsula is a region of the Middle East which is called Arabia. There are four regions of the Arabian Peninsula

• The Central Plateau (Najd or Al-Yamama)
• South Arabia
• Al-Bahrain (Eastern Arabia or Al-Hassa)
• The Hejaz (Tihamah for the western coast)

NAMING

Shawarma is an ARABIC word that means TURNING, this is due to the turns of roti. It all depends upon the turnings and filling of meat. Shawarma is named in the 19th century.

BAHARAT

Baharat is a mixture of spices. It is an Arabic word that actually means “SPICES“. These spices are used to marinate different meats and are widely used in dishes of Egypt.

These spices include

• Black peppercorns
• Cardamom seeds
• Cassia bark
• Cloves
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Nutmeg
• Turmeric
• Saffron
• Ginger
• Dried red chili peppers or paprika

IN DIFFERENT REGIONS

IN ISRAEL

Shawarma is almost the same but few ingredients are different which change the taste of shwarma according to region. They commonly used turkey meat in their shawarma and serve with Tahini sauce. They never use yogurt or any milky serving because this is not in their culture. They serve it with a pickle and some vegetables.

KATII ROLL

Katti roll is a street food of Bengal and is also famous in India. They wrapped it with different things like bread, paratha bread, lat bread, etc. Some people called this “STICK”. Some people thought that Shawarma and Katti roll both are the same but it is not, there is very little difference between them. Katti roll is more oil as compared to Shawarma.

SIMILAR DISHES

DONER KEBAB

Doner kebab is also made with the same method of cooking and techniques which is the Rotisserie method, they use the vertical rotisserie method of cooking and roast the meat. It is actually a type of kebab. They turned it slowly and roast it. It is also invented in the 19th century by Ottoman Empires. These are the slices of kebab.

AL PASTOR

The full name of Al Pastor is ” TACOS AL PASTOR”. This is also roasted with a vertical rotisserie, same as shawarma. The special thing about it is the meat used in this is “Lamb’s meat”. There are different names of it like

• taco de adobada
• tacos arabes

GYROS

Gyros are also the same as Shwarma and used Lamb’s meat which is roasted over the vertical rotisserie. They also used pork in it. Gyros marinade is simple and easy to use that you can use regularly, even if you don’t make chicken pieces. Yogurt infusion with fresh garlic puree and a little spice.

NUTRITIONS ASPECTS

• Calories 321
• Protein 21g
• Cholesterol 124
• Fat 32g
• Carbohydrates 8g
• Dietary Fiber 2g

SERVING

• pickle
• sauce
• tahini sauce
• chili sauce
• ketchup
• vegetables
• salad

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• chicken
• salt
• soy sauce
• cumin seeds
• coriander
• red chili
• cinnamon
• black pepper
• turmeric
• garlic
• onion
• tomatoes
• mashroom
• olives

METHOD

• Take a pan.
• Add small pieces of chicken
• chopped the onions and tomatoes.
• fry garlic in the oil.
• add all the spces along with it.
• when chicken and rest of spices are equally fried.
• take flat bread.
• sprea sauce ( chilli) in it.
• add pieces of vegetables.
• add chiken
• and now roll up.