Straight from my Egyptian cuisine, this hawawshi recipe is made with crispy pita pockets filled with a tempting mix of meat with onions, hot peppers and fresh herbs. Think of it as Egypt's response to a burger, but with steroids!
check this close review for this originally taste Egypt's favorite meal easy prepared in kitchen.
What is hawawshi?!
Hawawshi! Say it with me: ha-WOW-shi.
Hawawshi is essentially based crispy pita bread stuffed with a mixture like kofta. It's a super easy dinner idea which is also perfect for parties and game evenings.
Hawawshi is a popular Egyptian street food, especially in Cairo and Alexandria (where it is called baladi). Basically, it is dough (or pita) stuffed with a mixture of minced meat that is seasoned with tempting hot spices, onions, garlic, hot peppers and fresh herbs.
Legend has it that a butcher named Ahmed Al-Hawash in the Tawfeek Souk of Cairo created this sandwich in the early 1970s and gave it its name. The idea travelled parts of Africa and the Middle East (in Lebanon, another version of this sandwich is called Arayes).
As I mention there typically, there are many variations in Hawawshi, so feel free to experiment and adjust accordingly. You can use any type of minced meat you have or even a combination. This is a very lenient recipe to which I need you to stick to the spice mixture below.
I also recommend using homemade pita bread or buy a thick pita bread. Thick pita bread makes better Hawawshi sandwiches.
Homemade hawawshi
In Egypt, hawawshi peitas recipes are made to order, so they are fresh from the oven when you get them. When local Egyptian restaurants, especially in Cairo or Alexandria, do, they start by making a special dough (similar to the dough used for pita bread), then wrap the dough around the meat mixture and bake it in their large ovens (some use clay ovens or pizzas).
In this shortened version, I skip make the dough and use ready-made pita pockets, which when heated become pleasant and crispy. No special equipment is needed, but a large saucepan or two and your oven.
High heat (about 400 degrees F) is better to cook hawawshi sandwiches, which take about 15 minutes to cook.
How do you do hawawshi? And What's in it?
There are three components to making this hawawshi beef patty sandwich recipe:
- Hawawshi seasoning is not a hawawshi sandwich without the unique mix of seasoning or spices of coriander, pepper, paprika, cumin, cardamom and a pinch of cinnamon
- The mixture of lean ground beef combined with finely chopped vegetables including garlic, onion, pepper, hot pepper such as jalapeno (optional) and finely chopped parsley. Hawawshi seasoning is added to this mixture and combined before cooking (something like preparing meat for meatballs, except in this case does not form meat into dumplings). Pita pockets
- this is the shortened version that uses pita pockets already available (I cook my own pita often, here is my recipe for homemade pita bread). The seasoned meat mixture is spread into the pita pockets, and then cooked until the meat is completely cooked. It will take about 25 minutes in an oven heated to 400 degrees F. The key is to bake the pita on both sides to make it pleasant and crispy.
How to serve it?
This satisfying delicious sandwich flavors is usually served hot without much more to accompany it, but I like to add some sliced vegetables or quick pickles and a side tahini sauce (which is gorgeous sprinkled on the sandwich). And it's never a bad idea to add a great salad like this lazy Mediterranean salad, fresh bean salad, or even a Greek salad.
Ingredients
- 1 large cracked yellow onion
- kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 6 pita loaves needed by the guy with pockets
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 green pepper waxed and cut into large pieces
- 1 jalapeno cut in half and sown (leave part of the seed if you like the heat)
- ½ ounce stalks of fresh parsley topped (cut most of the stem but leave a little for more flavor)
- 2 lbs lean ground meat
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
For seasoning Hawawshi (spice mixture)
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon of Jamaican pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat & warm the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, add spices and mix stuffing step by step.
- Put onion, garlic, pepper, jalapeno and parsley in the bowl of a food processor equipped with a blade, press several times until finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a sieve to drain excess fluid (helps push with the back of a spoon)
- Transfer the onion mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add minced meat and tomato paste. Mix to match. Add the spice mixture and a pinch of kosher salt. Mix again until the mixture is well combined and the spices are well distributed inside the meat mixture.
- Cut the pita breads in half to create 12 pita pockets.
- Prepare a large brushed frying pan with some extra virgin olive oil.
- Fill each pita pouch with half a cup of meat mixture. Using the back of a spoon, spread the meat mixture inside the pita pockets.
- Place the peas in the pan of the prepared foil. Brush your pita pockets with extra virgin olive oil.
- Bake in hot oven for 15, then carefully turn the peas and bake on the other side 5-10 minutes until the meat is completely cooked and the pita is crispy on both sides.
Nutrition
Calories : 204.8 kilo calorie (kcal) Carbohydrates: 2.9g Protein: 13.5g Saturated Fat: 5.8g Cholesterol: 53.7mg Sodium: 181.1mg Potassium: 286.3mg Fiber: 0.8g Vitamin A: 304.2 IU Vitamin C: 12.9mg Calcium: 21.7mg Iron: 1.9mg, very nutrient meal reduce sugars.
