Lebanese Shawarma Pickle Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are shawarma pickles made of? ›

Shawarma Pickle Recipe | Pickled Veggies Recipe

This is made with Carrot, Beetroot, Cucumber and Radish.

Pickling, a method of preserving food in a solution of vinegar, salt, and sometimes sugar or spices, has been a traditional practice in Lebanon and the broader Middle East. Lebanese pickles often include cucumbers, turnips, cauliflower, and other vegetables.

While the Americans pickle the Kirby cucumber, a very thick variety with rough skin, the Israelis use Middle Eastern cucumbers, which are thin, smooth skinned, and the smaller they are the better. The Israelis also use more salt in their brine.

Mixed pickles are a common appearance on Lebanese tables, wraps and plates. They add a tart punch and can be paired with almost anything. Fermented mixed pickles are fat-free, low in calories and like labneh, contain healthy good bacteria which promote the body's gut health.

Shawarma is all about the delicious sauces that accompany the meat – typically garlic yoghurt or tahini and hommus – and the secret ingredient: pickles. Pickled vegetables are what take shawarma to a whole new plane: pickled cucumbers, turnips, and even carrots or mangoes are common.

Shawarma is the Middle Eastern dish of shaved pieces of spit roasted chicken, beef, or lamb. The thin slices of meat (and fat) are layered in a cone-like shape on a vertical spit.

Tag: Middle Eastern pickles

On a counter in every kitchen, batch after batch of pickles would be were fermented in a jar whose brine was seldom thrown out, although I would guess that salt was added from time to time. In a 2-quart jar, mix the cauliflower, caraway, garlic, bay, beet, and hot peppers.

Pickles have a very long history and are found across all cultures. The earliest known examples are cucumbers that are known to have been pickled some time around 2030 BC in Mesopotamia, when inhabitants from northern India brought cucumber seeds to the Tigris valley.

The Arabic word for pickle, pickled is pronounced mukhallal and written ﻣُﺨَﻠَّﻞ.

They should taste sour and be a little effervescent. If they are sour enough for you, store them in the refrigerator for the long term. Otherwise allow them to ferment a little longer. Pickles will last several months in the refrigerator.

What are Israeli pickles called? ›

Israeli Pickled Vegetables (Hamutzim - the Hebrew plural for "sour") are a staple at lunch, dinner or for a snack.

“The pickles that are beneficial for your gut health are the fermented ones, made by brining them in salt rather than vinegar,” says Dr. Oppezzo. “While vinegar pickling is a common method, true fermentation in brine enriches them with beneficial probiotics for your gut.

If you're on a low-sodium diet, pickles should not be consumed on a regular basis, says Zumpano. People with high blood pressure, heart failure, or kidney or liver disease should only enjoy pickles as a once-in-a-while treat, says Largeman-Roth. Always talk to your doctor if you have concerns.

Liver and kidney stress

Eating too much sodium can cause your kidneys and liver to work harder. Also, the high blood pressure that often follows diets high in sodium puts even more stress on these organs. As a result, eating too many pickles may be risky for anyone with liver disease or kidney conditions.

In American supermarkets you'll usually find the longer type of cucumbers or the full-of-bumps gherkins, but Mediterranean pickles are made with smooth-skin and shorter cucumbers (what's “short”? well, more like a small-medium sized zucchini). To have the best pickles ever, choose the smallest cucumbers you can find.

Have you ever had a shawarma or falafel plate with those delicious purple pickles? They are actually pickled turnips and beets! In fact, they are fermented turnips and beets. This means that fermentation (not vinegar) was used to make the pickles.

Shawarma is prepared from thin cuts of seasoned and marinated lamb, mutton, veal, beef, chicken, or turkey. The slices are stacked on a skewer about 60 cm (20 in) high. Pieces of fat may be added to the stack to provide extra juiciness and flavour.