Family Story
Schwarma
Shwarma is a classic street food in Israel, second only to falafel. Huge pieces of meat hang vertically on a spit, constantly roasting the outside. The cook cuts off crisp, juicy pieces from the outside and puts them in pita. Whenever we stopped at a kiosk for a meal in Israel, it was always a tough choice between falafel and shwarma.
We took a three week vacation to England and Holland with Michael and Scott when they were ten and eight years old. Rachel and Steve, who were five and three years old, stayed with Bobi and Zedi and went to day camp. Rachel understood that we were
coming back, but little Stevie sat at the back window watching the garage from which we had departed.
In Amsterdam one day we wandered into a small Middle Eastern restaurant and ordered shwarma. We were surprised to see no huge spit of meat. We were even more surprised that the cook made the shwarma in a frying pan. He browned matchstick size pieces of meat, coating them thoroughly in garlic and cumin.
A light bulb went off. It had never occurred to me that you could make shwarma without a spit. We returned to the Amsterdam restaurant several times, and when we came home, I experimented. I quickly discovered that the lamb had to be cooked first or it would not become crispy. Later I found a recipe for tzatziki sauce in a cookbook, and shwarma became a family favorite with Rachel becoming an expert tzatziki maker.
The final innovation came only a few years ago when Michael began to shave the cooked meat rather than cut it into matchstick pieces. Duh! It never had occurred to me to vary from my inspiration in Amsterdam, but shaving the meat made it even more like Israeli shwarma. Michael also cooked it a little longer so the pieces of meat are very crispy. And thus one of our favorite Israeli street foods passed through Amsterdam and onto our table.
Have the butcher bone a whole or half leg or lamb. Season lamb with garlic powder, cumin and pepper, and roast for about 2 hours until cooked to medium. If you serve the roast lamb, make sure to serve mint jelly (green stuff) for Bobby.
Let lamb cool. If desired, you can leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Cut the meat into matchstick pieces or shave into thin, small slices.
Sauté a large onion in 2 tablespoons margarine and set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon or so of oil to the pan and heat to medium. Sauté lamb pieces, seasoning liberally with cumin, coriander, garlic (powder or minced), and red (cayenne) pepper. Keep cooking until meat becomes crisp and coated with the seasonings.
Serve with pita bread, the sautéed onions, and homemade tzatziki.
Tzatziki Sauce
- Plain yogurt, regular or Greek
- Sweet onions, diced
- Cucumbers, diced
- Olive Oil
- Lemon juice
- Garlic, fresh minced or powdered
- Fresh dill, chopped
- Salt & pepper
Glenda’s
Secrets of Success
This is where the Secrets of Success go. Section can alternatively be named “Comments” and can swap out “Glenda’s” with another name in the title.
- As an alternative to lamb, bake boneless chicken breasts in the oven. Cool the cooked chicken, slice it, and sauté over the stove in a similar manner
- For optimal tzatziki, grate or finely dice the onions and cucumbers into the smallest possible pieces and use a lot so the sauce is very thick with vegetables. You can also add some chopped fresh mint leaves, for a slightly different flavor.
- Other accompanying foods include chopped tomatoes, onions, and lettuce, (Bulgarian) feta cheese, (Jordanian) olives, and Mike’s homemade hummus.
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Virginia Woolf
Cooking with the Claremons 
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