🇯🇴 Jordan
Beef Shawarma
شاورما لحمة · shāwarmā laḥme
The red-meat shawarma — thin strips in a warm-spiced yogurt-lemon marinade, blasted hot, rolled with tahini sauce, pickles and onion.
Serves 6
Photo to come
Ingredients
- Shawarma
- 1½ lb (700 g) flank or sirloin, cut in thin strips against the grain
- ¼ cup olive oil · 2 tbsp lemon juice · 2 tbsp white vinegar · ½ cup yogurt
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp each: cumin, seven-spice, garlic powder, salt
- ½ tsp each: black pepper, ginger, paprika
- 1 red onion, sliced
- Tahini sauce & wraps
- ½ cup tahini · ⅓ cup lemon juice · ¼ cup water · 2 garlic cloves · ½ tsp salt
- Pita or saj bread, pickles, tomatoes, parsley, sumac
Method
- Toss the beef and onion with the marinade; rest 30 minutes to a few hours.
- Spread in a single layer on a lined sheet pan.
- Roast at 425°F for 20–25 minutes until sizzling, then broil 1–2 minutes for char.
- Whisk the tahini sauce patiently — it seizes before it smooths.
- Pile the meat into bread with tahini, pickles, tomato, parsley and a sprinkle of sumac; roll tight.
- Or serve it as a plate over rice with fries — into the wrap, if you know.
The family table
Red-meat shawarma runs on warm spices where chicken shawarma runs on garlic — some families go all the way to clove and cardamom. Cut against the grain and don’t crowd the pan; the char is the spit’s stand-in. One school caps the marinade at two hours before the lemon breaks the meat down; another marinates overnight and swears by it.
Yumma
Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts.