If you hang around Seneca@York, you’re bound to run into Shawarma joints such as Pitaland and Osmow’s, in fact Osmow’s has two locations on campus (QUAD and York Lanes). Now if I know anything about Canada and University or College students, it’s that they love a good shawarma. With this in mind, what makes a good Shawarma?
It comes down to several things in my opinion:
The Right Amount of Filling
Before we get into how you enjoy Shawarma, whether it’s on the sticks, on the rocks, or in a wrap, we need to examine the content of the delicious dinner. It’s the most important part of the shawarma. The meat filling needs the right amount of spices and juices. Whether it’s beef, my personal favourite topping, or chicken which is my close second, it needs to be juicy enough that it pretty much melts in your moth while being cooked to perfection.
There’s nothing quite like watching the chefs shave off bits from the meat’s rotary spits as it slowly cooks in the warm orange glow. Oh it makes my mouth water thinking about it. What about you?
Before I keep conjuring up mental images, the next bit that comes with the proteins is the vegetable filling. I prefer lettuce, cucumbers, and a bit of Tabbouleh inside of my shawarmas. For those who don’t know, Tabbouleh (or Tabouli or Tabouleh etc.) is salad made with chopped parsley, tomatoes, mint, onions, and a some bulgur wheat. I like it because it includes just the right amount of tomatoes and onions with a nice herbal kick inside of the veggies.
What comes next are the condiments, naturally garlic sauce and hummus go with Shawarma, and it isn’t complete without a copious amount of the spicy sauce. If you gotta put sauce on the shawarma, go big or go home.
Rice, Sticks, or Wraps?
This is going to be a bit of a hot take, but I like my Shawarma inside of a pita wrap. I’ve always liked how the bread just holds everything together. Sure you can have it on a bed of Rice or French fries, but a wrap is the perfect thing for a shawarma. There is nothing quite like biting into a piece of toasted pita bread and getting a savoury mouthful of garlic sauce, lettuce, and meat.
I think I’m going to head out to my local Shawarma joint and grab some of that grub in the future.
If you want more foodie advice and rants, check out Braden on S@y Radio every Monday from 1pm-3pm.
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