Vegetarian Mushroom Shawarma


Did you think these kebabs were beef? They’re not! They’re portobello mushrooms that marinated overnight and then got baked in the oven until they were firm and crispy on the edges. Guys, this shawarma interpretation was SO, SO good! I’ll be making this forever and ever. If you aren’t familiar with shawarma, it’s meat that is skewered and rotated over a spit. To accompany the shawarma is a spicy jalapeño sauce that’s divine. I used Trader Joe’s sweet & spicy pickled jalapeños. The sauce is mind blowingly good. The marinade calls for preserved lemon. While the lemon tastes pretty funky on its own, I promise you it’ll render you speechless when you take a bite of the finished dish. 


Shawarma is a pretty old way of cooking. It's middle eastern street food dating back to the Ottoman Empire. Traditionally shawarma is served with hummus and pickled veggies on a pita. On the first night I ate this as kebabs but on the second night I made it as a wrap using a Kbosh low carb wrap. Wow was it good! 


Getting enough protein in vegetarians meals can be a bit of a challenge for me. Using the balance my plate method, I added protein by focusing on dairy and legumes. To do this, I served the kebabs with some sesame and honeyed halloumi, homemade hummus and the same cucumber + tomato salad I meal prepped for the lamb chops. If you have leftover lentils and rice from the lamb chops we made earlier you can certainly have them here. That’ll give some extra protein and be satiating. 


The recipe is by @jamieoliver from his Veg cookbook. I’ve linked it below. Definitely make this! 


RECIPE NOTES

  • I didn't use yogurt or make the cucumber, radish and tomato salad. I had meal prepped a cucumber + tomato salad and repurposed it here.
  • For the jalapeño sauce I used 1/2 oz mint + 1.5 oz sweet & spicy pickled jalapeños from Trader Joes + .25 oz of the juice. Added it to the blender. It was perfect for me. I think the full amount of mint would be too much.
  • I used hummus instead of yogurt to build a flat bread and it was to-die for
  • I soaked my skewers in hot water from a recently boiled kettle for 10 minutes before threading the mushrooms
  • I served this with moudardara, which is a lentil and rice dish. It's really good. Recipe here

For all the stats below, if you have My Fitness Pal ["MFP"] you can search for the entry.


For 3 kebabs: 160 cals | 18 C | 8 P | 7 F

In MFP NJFV Crispy Shawarma


For hummus: 168 cals | 21 C | 8 P | 6 F

In MFP NJFV Warm Hummus 


Jalapeno Sauce: 40 cals | 9 C 

In MFP NJFV Jalapeno Sauce


RECIPE link 


Another recipe with preserved lemon 

North African Chicken


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