Egyptian beef shawarma
Middle Eats · ♥ 10.4K likes · 281.1K views · 10 min video
Read about round (top, bottom, eye of round, knuckle) in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 1 kg beef topside
Slice the beef into manageable pieces and trim off any silver skin or gristle, which will not dissolve.
Find the grain on each piece and slice against it at 90 degrees, into strips about 5 to 7 mm wide and thick and 3 to 6 cm long.
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp lemon zest
Zest the orange and lemon on a microplane, avoiding the pith.
Zesting the orange and lemon
- 2–3 whole medium onions
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- ½ tsp baharat (optional)
- ½ tsp sumac
- 5 tbsp white or distilled vinegar
Roughly chop the onions and blend them with the orange and lemon zest, salt, pepper, baharat, sumac and vinegar.
Put the meat in the cooking pot, pour the marinade over and mix thoroughly so every piece is coated.
- 1 whole large tomato
- 1 whole green chilli
Add the whole tomato and green chilli, and marinate 2 to 3 hours.
Put the covered pot on high heat; the steam forces liquid out of the beef so no liquid is added.
Bring to a light boil, then turn down to medium low. If using a solid chunk of beef or lamb fat, add it now.
Cook until tender, about one and a half hours for topside; a better cut takes much less, so check sooner.
Taste for tenderness; the tomato and chilli should have dissolved, and if not, mash them up.
- 3 tbsp beef fat
Add the beef fat or drippings, let it melt, stir, and cook about 15 minutes more.
- 1 whole red onion
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sumac
Cut the red onion into strips, mix with the salt and sumac and massage the salt in.
Macerated red onion salad
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Let the onion sit 10 to 15 minutes to macerate, which takes the raw edge off, then add the lemon juice.
- 75 g yogurt
- 50 g tahini
- 50 g water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp chilli powder
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp salt
Mix the yogurt, tahini, water, lemon juice, chilli powder, white pepper, cumin and salt into the tahini sauce.
Tahini sauce
- 25 g parsley
- 2 tbsp tahini sauce
- buns
Add the macerated red onions, the chopped parsley and two tablespoons of the tahini sauce to the pot and mix.
Build the sandwich: a good dollop of tahini sauce in a bun, then the meat, with extra salad alongside.