In the Middle-East many dishes are common to the different countries. Each country, and sometimes, region, gives the dishes its own flair and its own touch. Take shawarma for instance: it’s part of practically each middle-eastern cuisine but tastes different from one to the other. This recipe uses the same marinade for the Lebanese shawarma, but substitutes the meats with wonderful vegetables. What makes a lebanese shawarma lebanese, might you ask: it’s mainly two ingredients: cardamom and vinegar. They give shawarma that very Lebanese flavour. This dish is truly a vegetable feast with lovely flavours and a high degree of comfort food-ness 🙂

Marinade
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
1,5 teaspoon cardamom
1,5 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon allspice
Salt
Black pepper

Salad
15 cherry tomatoes
1/2 large cucumber
1 small red onion
A handful of flat-leaf parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

On the side
75 ml tahini
75 ml water
1 garlic clove
Sriraccia
Wraps or Lebanese flatbread

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven at 200ºC.
  2. Prepare the vegetables: cut the potatoes (keep the skin) and aubergines in cubes; cut the cauliflower into small pieces; cut the pepper and onion in stripes.
  3. In a large bowl combine the marinade ingredients and mix well. Add the vegetables and mix well to coat all the pieces.
  4. Spread the vegetables on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and roast them in the oven, about 25 minutes, until cooked through.
  5. Quarter the cherry tomatoes and cut the cucumber in small cubes.
  6. Finely chop the red onion and parsley and combine them with the tomatoes and cucumber. Add the olive oil and season with a pinch of salt.
  7. Crush the garlic in a mortar.
  8. Mix the tahini with the water and stir in the garlic.
  9. To serve, divide the hot veggies onto individual plates. Scoop some of the salad on top and finish off with the tahini sauce and sriraccia.