VEGAN SHAWARMA

Serves: 20
Cooks in: 180 minutes
Difficulty: 7/10
Can be gluten free

YOU MUST WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW. I spent nearly £100 on oyster mushrooms to create the most epic shawarma of all time. Complete with homemade flatbreads and middle eastern style salad. My recipe is below but you can adjust the quantities to the amount you’re serving.

Ingredients

20-25 Oyster Mushroom Clusters
1 cup/250ml Vegetable Oil 

Spice Mix 

2 tbs Sweet Smoked Paprika
2 tbs Garlic Granules
2 tbs Ground Cumin
2 tbs Ground Coriander
1 tbs Ground Caraway
2 tbs Onion Granules
2 tbs Dried Mint
2 tbs Dried Sage
1 tbs Salt
1 tbs Cracked Black Pepper 

Harissa Dressing

4 tbs Harissa Paste
1/2 cup/125ml Olive Oil
Zest & Juice 2 Lemons
1/2 cup/125ml Maple Syrup
2 tbs of the above Spice Mix
2 tsp Sea Salt 

Flat Breads 

7g Dried Fast Active Yeast
1 & 1/2 cups/375ml Luke Warm Water
2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cups/360g Strong White Bread Flour or Bread Flour of your Choice
2 tsp Sea Salt

Jason’s Middle Eastern Style Salad 

4 Large Tomatoes, chopped small
1/2 Cucumber, chopped small
1/2 Red Onion, chopped fine
1 Handful Fresh Curly Parsley, chopped fine
1 Handful Fresh Mint, chopped fine
2 tbs Fresh Chives, chopped fine
1/4 cup/50g Pomegranate Seeds
1/4 cup/25g Shelled Pistachio Nuts, roughly chopped
1 Clove Garlic, minced
Zest & Juice of a Lemon
1/4 cup/125ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch Dried Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Sea Salt 

Serve with 

Yoghurt Dressing
Fresh Mint
Crispy Onions

Mushroom Shawarma 

First up, mixed together the herbs & spices for the spice mix in a small bowl.

Place a cast iron pan over a high heat & add a little oil, when the pan is hot add a few cluster mushrooms, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Place another pan that is small enough to just fit inside the bottom pan on top, this compression will press then mushrooms flat – making sure the get extra meaty. If you’re top pan isn’t that heavy, carefully apply some pressure with your hand (using a tea towel)

After 4-5 minutes of cooking and pressing, season the mushrooms generously, then flip them over. 

Continue to press the mushrooms for a further 5 minutes, making sure all the water has evaporated & they are going golden.

Once the first batch has cooked, remove them from the pan and set aside whilst you repeat the process with the rest of the mushrooms clusters. 

When you’ve cooked & pressed all the mushrooms it’s time to carefully place them onto your skewer (my skewer was 20”).

Once you’ve filled your skewer, you can roast the kebab in your oven for 20 minutes set at 200 degrees C. Drizzle over the harissa dressing before roasting.

Alternatively cook it on your bbq or on a spit like I did – see video tutorial above.

Flat Breads 

To make the bread dough, meanwhile, mix together the flour, salt & yeast in a large mixing bowl or bread mixer. Make a well in the middle then add the water & oiler oil. Stir/Mix until the mix starts combining.

Once everything has come together, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Now it’s time to knead, if using a bread mixer, use your dough hook and mix/knead for 5 minutes.

By hand you need to knead for around 8 minutes. The dough should be beautifully smooth and elastic after the 8 mins. Add a little flour whilst kneading if you feel its way too sticky.

Once kneaded, place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl & cover over with a damp cloth. 

Leave the dough to rise somewhere warm for around 45 hour or until they have doubled in size.

When the dough has risen, lightly flour your work surface and portion the dough into 7-8 evenly sized pieces. Roll each piece out thin. 

To cook the flat breads place a cast iron pan over a medium heat & add a little oil. When the plan is hot individually cook each flat bread for 4 minutes on each side.  

Harissa Dressing 

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined 

Middle Eastern Salad 

Add all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well combined. Adjust for seasoning and let sit for 15 minutes before serving to let the flavours marinate.

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