Monday, May 5, 2008

Mary Had a Little Lamb Pita, It's Tahini Sauce was Not Quite as White as Snow

Can you imagine someone not familiar with a certain nursery rhyme, trying to figure out this post's title? This video recipe for a Shawarma-Style Lamb Pita was made especially with home cooks in mind. Real Shawarma (which means "turn"), is barbecued slowly on a large rotisserie, and the meat is shaved off as it cooks. This version uses the slightly more common frying pan.

Another compromise is the pita bread we stuff the spiced lamb into. The real deal is rolled up in flatbread. If you look hard enough, you can find soft, fresh flatbread at the higher-end grocery stores (tip: look for parking lots with lots of imports). But, the pita bread works fine, and is very easy to find.


I also show you how to make a simple tahini dressing in the clip, which is a very nice thing to have around. It's exotic, nutty goodness makes it a great "secret" ingredient for salad dressings, as well as a quick condiment for other grilled meats. So, next time you're craving something easy, exotic, and completely un-authentic, give these Shawarma-style lamb pitas a try. Enjoy!

Click here for ingredients and transcript

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Lambtown USA, Dixon, California: Your recipe looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

YUM! I'll have to try this.

Anonymous said...

OH MY! Although, I'm not familiar with the spices. Might have to do some research on them first ;p

Anonymous said...

looks great. I love lamb and middle eastern foods.

Anonymous said...

Some Tzatziki sauce would be great for this. Do you have a good Tzatziki recipe?

Chef John said...

that does sound good. No I've never made it, only eaten it! Let me know if you find one.

Anonymous said...

They now sell Fage greek strained yogurt witch I quite fond of and it should make the tzatziki sauce preparation very easy, here is one of their recipe (but the dried apricots in tzatziki, I don't know):

http://www.fageusa.com/apricot.html

Anonymous said...

thanx 4 the recipes, i'll try this soon!

BigStupidFingers said...

Does the video keep stoping for anyone else? I'm not sure why but every 5-20 seconds after about half way through it stops playing and and acts like the video is over... then I need to click it forward and it will play, for another 5-20 seconds. After 6 min I finally finished the video lol. Wonder what it's stoping. Great recipe... I think ha ha.

Chef John said...

I haven't had any problems, so it may be your connection going in and out. I'm glad you stuck with it! Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean, that sort of stop and go has happened to me, before, but not here on Chef John's videos. When it happened, I tried using another web browser to open the page, and that helped.

paxye said...

I really have to try this... When I feel like Tanini sauce I make falafel... I hadn't really thought of making shawarma and would have never thought of that exact spice combo... (though I need to ask if another meat would go well since we don't eat lamb)

I think that this will make a great addition to my homemade pitas :)
http://paxye.com/blog/pita-bread/

Anonymous said...

Hello
i have a suggestion, you can add hummus paste to the pita, since its also a traditional edition to the shawarma. also instead of lamb you can use red turkey meat (the thigh meat) and instead of the pita you can take a baguette cut it in half and put your the meat in it, a very tasty alternative if you cant find pita bread. by the way that is how shawarma is served in Nazareth in most restaurants, in a small baguette.

Anonymous said...

Very nice Chef John! Looks lovely. Unfortunately...it's very hard for me to get lamb where I live. Would chicken be at least somewhat reasonable? Something like boneless skinless chicken breast marinated in yogurt should still be tender enough for this no? Thanks in advance...cheers! "Enjoy"

-A pal

Chef John said...

yes, thighs even better

David_ATL said...

Am making this w/ chicken rather then Lamb tonight. Chicken pieces are a little smaller then the lamb cubes, any advice as far as broiling vs. maybe stir frying the meat..? I don't know how well these cuts will work if I try to broil..
Thanks! Love your recipes!!!