Today being Yom Yerushalayim I am reminded of how much I love shawarma. While the local Chicago based Israeli restaurants scratch the itch for it, nothing beats the greasy storefront joints of Jerusalem. Brooklyn comes close, but there’s just something about being in the Holyland and loading a pita with spit roasted mystery meat and all the toppings you can handle. Although I have asked many times, my wife has repeatedly told me I am not allowed to buy a vertical shawarma spit. So instead, I have decided for this installment of burger of the week to try and capture some of those flavors with the shawarma burger.
Just like the last BOTW, I know this recipe looks intimidating. You can buy premade shawarma seasoning, tahini, and schug . I was planning on adding amba, a fermented mango sauce, to this recipe but I could not find it anywhere locally.
What is Shawarma and where did it come from?
Shawarma is a dish made of some sort of protein seasoned heavily, thinly sliced, and cooked on a vertical spit. It is then stuffed into a pita or rolled burrito style into flat bread known as a laffa. It is served along with a myriad of sauces and vegetables. For the protein lamb is king, but you will often see beef, chicken, or turkey being used. As for sauces hummus, tahini, schug (see below), and amba are traditional. When it comes to vegetables some of my favorites are chips (AKA French fries), Israeli pickles, sauteed onions, and occasionally sauerkraut. Sumac onions and Israeli salad are also very traditional additions, but I am not a huge fan of tomatoes and raw onion.
Where does Shawarma come from? The word shawarma comes from the term çevirme in Ottoman Turkish that means turn, referencing the vertical spit it rotates on. I came across a Wikipedia page that states shawarma descends from the döner kebab. The döner kebab was brought to Israel by the Ottomans in the 19th century. There is a great YouTube series by @FrenchGuyCooking all about the döner kebab that I highly recommend.
Schug, what’s that?
Schug, also known as charif (חָרִיף) in Hebrew, which literally translates to spicy, is a paste made from hot peppers. It comes from the Middle East and North Africa. The recipe varies depending on the area. They type I prefer seems to hail for Yemen and uses red peppers. It tends to be a bit hotter than the green varieties that uses pepper that are not quite so high on the Scoville scale and incorporates more herbs to tame the heat.
For years I was never able to get the texture right on my schug. I would always just use fresh peppers in my recipe. My schug was always much wetter than what I bought in stores or was served in restaurants. For this recipe I added some dried red pepper flakes to the mix. After that the texture was exactly what I was looking for.
Please check out some of our burger-related content. Let us know in the comments what type of burger I should make next.
There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it-Tony Stark
- 1 tbsp Ground Coriander
- 1 tbsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tbsp Granulated Onion
- 1 tbsp Granulated Garlic
- 1 tbsp Ground Sumac
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Ground Allspice
- 1 Cup Fresh Spicy Red Pepper (Jalapeno for Mild, Cayenne for Medium, Habanero for Hot
- 1 Large Red Bell Pepper
- ¼ Cup Chopped Cilantro
- 4 Cloves Garlic
- ¼ Cup Dried Red Pepper Flakes
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Ketchup
- 1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Red Schug
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1 Medium Red Onion Sliced thinly
- 2 Tbsp Ground Sumac
- ½ Cup Lemon Juice
- 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
- ½ Cup Tahini Paste
- ½ Cup Water
- ¼ Cup Lemon Juice
- ¼ cup Dried Parsley
- 2 tbsp Granulated garlic
- 2 tbsp Za'atar
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- ¼ Cup Diced Tomato
- ¼ Cup Diced Seedless Cucumber
- ¼ Cup Diced Red Pepper
- ¼ Cup Diced Red Onion
- 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp White Pepper
- ¼ Cup Lemon Juice
- 1 lb. Ground Beef Formed into 4 quarter pound patties
- 4 tbsp Shawarma Spice
- 2 Pitas Cut each one in half
- 4 Israeli Pickles Sliced into thin rounds
- 1/4 cup Sumac Pickled Onions
- 1/4 cup Schug BBQ Sauce
- 1/4 cup Tahini Burger Sauce
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Add the coriander, cumin, onion, garlic, sumac, cinnamon, ground black pepper, allspice into a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
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Slice the red onion in half and then into thin half moons. If you have a mandolin this is the time to use it but please be careful. Always use the hand guard.
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Add the onions, sumac, salt, and lemon juice to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine and let sit for half an hour for the flavors to meld. Transfer to an air tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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Using a blender or a food processor, blend the hot peppers, bell pepper, garlic, and cilantro into a paste.
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Add the dried red pepper flake. The mixture should look a little dry.
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Add the olive oil a little bit at time until desired consistency is achieved.
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Transfer to an air tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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Add the ketchup, schug. honey, and vinegar to a small saucepan. Stir to combine.
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Place on the stove over low heat. Cook until it just starts to simmer. Allow to cool, transfer to an air tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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In a mixing bowl combine the tahini paste, water, lemon juice, dried parsley, granulated garlic, za'atar, and kosher salt. Stir until all ingredients incorporated and transfer to an air tight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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In a large mixing bowl combine the diced tomato, diced seedless cucumber, diced red pepper, diced red onion, Kosher salt, white pepper, and lemon juice and transfer to an air tight container. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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Season your burger patties with shawarma seasoning on both sides, cook on a charcoal grill (if you gave one) until desired doneness is achieved. If you don't have a charcoal grill, use a gas grill or cook on the stove in a cast iron skillet.
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Add the patty to your pita along with your Israeli salad an Israeli pickles. Drizzle on your tahini sauce and schug BBQ sauce and serve.
There are many classic culinary pairings: lemon and blueberry, tomato and basil and the good ‘ole, eggplant and tahini. Well, you can also add in other pairings with eggplant like ground beef or lamb (or Beyond Meat in my case), parsley, lemon, garlic.. oh the list can go on and on.
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