A shawarma master shared his secret of what are the best spices and seasonings to add to shawarma.

Shawarma is extremely popular among fast food lovers. Spicy vegetables combined with meat, wrapped in pita bread and seasoned with sauce quickly satisfy your hunger. But purchasing such food on the street is not always safe, so many people prepare the snack at home. Seasoning for shawarma is selected taking into account your own taste.

The most popular spices and seasonings for shawarma

There are no strict requirements regarding spices and sauces for seasoning homemade shawarma. Everyone adds seasonings according to their own gastronomic preferences. But this should be done taking into account the fact that the dish belongs to Eastern cuisine, which means it is better to give preference to spices with a flavor corresponding to the East.

Pepper

Black pepper is always the main ingredient. This additive is considered mandatory in shawarma. Most often it is added in ground form, although it is preferable to use coarsely ground pepper. It is fried with meat and additionally added to the prepared dressing.

Fans of spicy spiciness are allowed to season with red pepper. Mostly they use chili pepper or cayenne. Many people prefer paprika; this spice will give the finished snack a sweetish-pepper aftertaste.

Coriander

Another spice that goes perfectly with fried pieces of meat and vegetables, which is why it is actively used as one of the components of shawarma.Cilantro seeds can be fried with meat; they are also often ground and combined with the rest of the sauce ingredients.

Spices

Shawarma that uses herbs as spices turns out to be very tasty. Popular:

marjoram;
oregano;
thyme;
basil;
rosemary.

Spices are added both dried and fresh. You can also use herbs from the garden, for example, parsley and dill, they will add freshness and piquancy to the appetizer.

Mustard

When making homemade shawarma, mustard is often used; it has a piquant taste and a pleasant spicy aroma. The seeds have much more aroma and taste, so chefs recommend adding them to shawarma. It is best to combine the component with the sauce, and do it whole, without preliminary chopping.

Garlic

This ingredient is considered the most common; you rarely find everyone’s favorite shawarma that does not contain garlic. The component is added to meat when frying meat or when preparing dressing.

It is used in dried powder form and fresh. The second option involves grinding garlic with salt and then passing the components through a special press or processing in a blender.

Zira

Shawarma seasoned with cumin acquires a special taste and unique aroma. This spice is used everywhere in the East, among the inhabitants of Central Asia. It is necessary to add seasoning in moderation, since an excess can radically ruin the snack. It's best to add a little spice directly to the sauce.

How to prepare ready-made spice mixtures for shawarma yourself

Many shawarma lovers try to use ready-made mixtures to season the snack.There are different compositions on the market, there are “Natruli”, “Knorr”, “Quality Standard”. But it is much more economical to prepare spices yourself. In addition, in this case you can control the amount of one or another seasoning.

Universal spice

One of the most popular mixtures used by most housewives. To prepare, you will need the following ingredients; they can be found in any grocery store:

10 g paprika;
10 g dried garlic;
10 g dried dill;
10 g curry;
5 g coriander;
5 g hot red pepper;
1 teaspoon sugar;
1 teaspoon salt;
3 black peppercorns.

The composition is prepared as follows:

Combine peppercorns, paprika and coriander in a mortar and grind to a powder. For grinding, you can use a coffee grinder or a special mill.
Combine all the prepared spices, sprinkle them with sugar, add salt and stir well.

When preparing shawarma, the spicy mixture is mixed with kefir, and 1 teaspoon of spices is added per 100 g of fermented milk product.

Spicy mixture

In the East they prefer spicier shawarma; Easterners believe that it is hot spices that provide the best combination with meat. To prepare you will need:

0.2 ml light mayonnaise;
5 g paprika;
5 g curry;
5 g ground red pepper;
3 g dried garlic;
1 teaspoon dried herbs;
½ teaspoon salt;
1 teaspoon of sugar.

To make the mixture homogeneous, you should process the ingredients in a blender. The shawarma spice should have a paste-like texture. At the end, sweeten and salt the mass, taking into account your own taste preferences.

Diet option

For those who do not particularly like too hot spices, you can add less spicy ingredients, for example, use mustard and coriander.You can prepare a mixture for dressing shawarma from the following ingredients:

200 ml of kefir, you can replace it with yogurt;
15 g mustard; 1 teaspoon lemon juice;
½ teaspoon ground coriander;
1.5 teaspoons of ground herbs, you can add a mixture of parsley, oregano and basil;
1 teaspoon granulated sugar;
salt is added according to taste.

Preparing seasoning for shawarma is very simple. You need to combine all the ingredients and process them until smooth in a blender. The finished shawarma is moderately spicy and piquant.

Shawarma recipes with spices

Shawarma is prepared according to the same principle, but different components are added. Everyone uses the products they like best. This also applies to spices; some people like a spicier snack, others prefer a more piquant and spicy taste.

Classic recipe

To prepare shawarma according to the classic recipe, a standard set of ingredients is used:

1 Armenian lavash;
1 medium tomato; ½ cucumber;
100 g chopped cabbage;
1 tbsp. spoon of mayonnaise;
1 tbsp. spoon of sour cream;
1 tbsp. a spoonful of low-fat yogurt;
½ teaspoon coriander;
½ teaspoon of herb mixture;
2 cloves of garlic;
150 g chicken meat (it’s better to take thighs);
2 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil;
salt and pepper to taste.

The assembly of the snack itself is carried out according to the instructions:

Take chicken thighs, wash them, cut into pieces. Fry in oil until cooked, not forgetting to salt and pepper them first.
Wash the prepared vegetables, chop into strips, peel the tomato, remove juice and seeds, cut into half rings.
Prepare a sauce from liquid ingredients, add garlic cloves passed through a press to the mixture. Add spices and mix everything until smooth.
Lay out the pita bread, brush it with dressing, add the remaining ingredients, and pour the sauce over everything again. Fold into an envelope.

Fry the semi-finished product in a frying pan without adding oil on both sides.

With beef

Another option for making shawarma. For this you need to prepare the following grocery set:

2 thin pita breads;
150 g white cabbage;
0.2 kg beef meat;
1 cucumber;
2 tomatoes;
½ sweet pepper;
½ onion head;
1 tbsp. spoon of soy sauce;
2.5 tbsp. spoons of mayonnaise;
1 tbsp. spoon of ketchup;
2 garlic cloves;
1 teaspoon hops-suneli;
1 teaspoon of ground coriander seeds;
1 teaspoon of sugar.

Step-by-step preparation of homemade shawarma:

Cooking begins with the sauce: mayonnaise and ketchup are mixed, spices are added with crushed garlic. Everything is mixed, the mass should be homogeneous.
The cabbage is shredded, then the slices are salted and “smashed” by hand. Cucumbers and peppers are cut into strips, and tomatoes into rings.
The meat is fried until cooked in a small amount of oil. Add chopped onion half rings to the pieces.
Soy sauce and granulated sugar are poured into the meat. As soon as caramelization begins, add salt to the mass, mix and remove from heat.

All that remains is to assemble the shawarma, not forgetting to coat everything thoroughly with sauce. After frying on both sides in a dry frying pan, you can start tasting the appetizer.

Fish option

Some people prefer not meat shawarma, but fish. It is for such people that you can use a salmon-based recipe. Although any red fish is suitable as an ingredient, it has very tender and juicy meat.

There are several cooking options, the first involves using a lightly salted product in its pure form, the second option suggests pre-frying the meat in heated oil.

The recipe includes the following components:

0.5 kg salmon;
1 tbsp. spoon of olive oil;
½ onion;
1 fresh cucumber;
3 sprigs of dill and cilantro;
2 pcs. Armenian lavash;
3 g curry;
3 g ground nutmeg;
a pinch of red and black pepper;
1 teaspoon sugar;
6 tbsp. spoons of white yogurt;
1.5 tbsp. spoons of lemon juice.

Fish shawarma is prepared as follows:

The salmon is divided into several pieces of equal size, leaving the skin on.
Salt and pepper are combined, and the resulting mixture is rubbed onto the fish pieces. Then sprinkle with lemon juice and oil. Next, the pieces are fried until they have a beautiful golden color, resulting in an appetizing crispy crust. On average, salmon takes about 10 minutes to fry.
The greens are washed and chopped in any convenient way; you can cut them, pick them by hand, or process them in a blender until they become mushy. Spices and yogurt are added to the aromatic herbs, everything is mixed well.
The cucumber is cut into thin strips, the onion into half rings. The components are combined, then salted, peppered, and sugar is added to them. The vegetables are left to marinate, usually thirty minutes is enough.
The pita breads are greased with the prepared spicy sauce, vegetables are laid out on each, followed by pieces of fish, then the yogurt dressing is poured over again.

In the traditional way, shawarma is wrapped and fried, but without adding vegetable oil or fat. The most convenient way to do this is on a grill pan.Afterwards you can serve it to the table; the aroma of a freshly prepared snack will instantly whet your appetite.

For a long time, shawarma has occupied a leading position among fast food street food. This is not surprising; it is easy to prepare, tasty, juicy and satisfies hunger. There are many recipes for shawarma, you can create your own specific taste, this is done with the help of spices and seasonings.