Shawarma, also known as Shaurma and Chawarma, is a popular Middle-eastern dish that comprises meat that has been roasted on a slowly-turning vertical rotisserie or spit. The roasted meat is cut from the outer edges with the help of a knife and wrapped inside a pita. Other popular fillings other than roasted meat are yogurt, mayonnaise, sumac, red pepper flakes etc. Even the choice of meat can range from lamb, chicken, beef to turkey. Shawarma has become such a popular wrap worldwide that it has many renditions across the globe. Take for instance this Surat vendor from Gujarat, who is going viral for his toothsome Paneer Shawarma.
In a video posted by YouTube channel Aamchi Mumbai, which has already collected more than 2.1 million views in four days of going live, we see a Gujarati street food vendor, skewering marinated blocks of paneer in the Rotisserie spit. One can see that the paneer is heavily marinated with red chilI powder, turmeric and yogurt by the colour of the paneer. After the paneer is well roasted, he uses a spoon and a knife to trim out some paneer from the rotisserie. These paneer chunks fall on a steel plate, where they are further prodded with the same knife. He also roasts some pita bread until they are slightly brown and smears it with ‘homemade’ mayonnaise and Schezwan chutney, further, he also adds some chopped cabbage, pickled onions, tomato ketchup, super-thin French fries, and finally the roasted paneer on top of the toasted pita bread. After two additional dollops of mayonnaise, the shawarma is wrapped and served.
Though he used many traditional shawarma elements to the wrap, yet, it looks intensely desi and decadent. Which is perhaps striking a chord among all those around him, and the ones watching the shawarma on the internet.
“I am lactose intolerant, but that looks absolutely delicious!!”, a user wrote in the comment section.
“wow.. finally something good for us vegetarians. Always wanted to try Shawarma”, wrote another.
There were many vegetarians who were just impressed by the fact that the concept of veg shawarma is also getting popular in smaller cities, even though, it may vary a bit from the ‘authentic’ shawarma “Finally someone is making Veg Shawarma, though it is not real Shawarma...”, wrote a user.
This Paneer Shawarma can be found at ‘Bhandari Paneer Shwarma, behind Star Bazar, L.P Savani Road, Adajan, Surat’, have you ever tried Paneer shawarma in your city, do let us know where.
If you wish to try making veg shawarma at home, then you should definitely try this mushroom shawarma.
