If you love steak and chips, try this Middle Eastern-inspired vamped-up version
Think of your favourite juicy sirloin steak, marinated in a beautiful blend of spices – not hot with chilli – but a fragrant earthy shawarma blend including cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and cardamom. Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes replaces regular fries with a side of oven-roasted butter garlic lemon potatoes and to finish, a decadent drizzle of tarator – a popular Middle Eastern sauce which blends tahini, water, garlic and lemon. The combined flavours are reminiscent of your favourite shawarma takeout but with a comforting homemade touch.
What is shawarma beef?
Shawarma is an Arabic word used to describe a cooking technique originating in the Middle East. Layers of meat are piled on top of each other into an inverted cone shape, then slowly roasted for many hours on a turning vertical rotisserie (or spit). The meat is marinated in a mix of spices, called shawarma spice blend, which gives the meat its distinctive taste.
The twist on a classic beef shawarma recipe
Naturally, this recipe is not cooked on a spit, it’s been adapted for home cooking with the aim to produce as much of the same spices and tastes as what you buy in a restaurant. Thick-cut sirloin steak is classically pan-fried to your liking – rare, medium or well-done – and basted in butter and lemon juice. Typically beef shawarma is served with a side of fries and tarator sauce, and this recipe does its best to replicate that.
Marinate the beef overnight
The importance of this dish lies in the marinating process. Sirloin steak is rubbed generously with Shawarma Spice Blend and marinated overnight (or in the morning, ready to be eaten at dinner), allowing the warming earthy spices to generously penetrate the beef. Without the full amount of marinating time, you will miss out on that beautiful spiced flavour, so it’s definitely worth the extra planning. Combined with crispy potatoes, tarator sauce and a salad of your choice, it’s a very satisfying plate of food.
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Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
Thick cut sirloin steak marinated in shawarma spice blend, cooked to perfection and served with roasted lemon potatoes and tarator sauce
- Prep Time: Overnight marinating up to 8 hours
- Cook Time: 45 Minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Category: Beef
- Cuisine: Modern Fusion
Ingredients
Beef
- 2 thick cut sirloin steaks
- 1 tbsp shawarma spice blend, recipe here
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt flakes
- Knob of butter
- Squeeze lemon juice
Lemon Potatoes
- 500ml water
- 25g salt
- 400g roasting potatoes
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- Sea salt flakes
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 large knob of butter
- 15ml olive oil
Tarator Sauce
- 120ml tahini
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 90ml lemon juice
- 90ml water
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- Sea salt flakes and fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Marinade: Combine shawarma spice blend with olive oil. Season both steaks with salt and then rub evenly with shawarma-oil marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours.
- When ready to start cooking the meal, begin with the lemon potatoes: Combine water and salt in a large bowl, this is the brine. Peel potatoes and cut into wedges (not too thick). Transfer to the salt-water brine and allow to brine for 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 200°C.
- Drain potatoes and pat dry. It’s now time to also remove the shawarma steaks from the fridge and allow them to sit at room temperature whilst you continue to cook.
- Roasting the potatoes: Using a small-medium oven roasting tin, add butter and oil and place in the oven for a couple of minutes or until the butter has melted into the oil. Add potatoes to the butter-oil mixture along with some cracked black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss around to coat and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
- Prepare tarator sauce: Combine tahini, water and lemon juice and blend until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add small splashes of water until you have the right consistency. Stir through chopped parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper as per your liking.
- Back to the potatoes: Remove the roasting pan from the oven and increase the temperature to 220°C . Sprinkle over garlic powder, toss to combine, and return potatoes to the oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until the outsides are crispy.
- Shawarma beef steak: Heat a frying pan with oil and fry the steak to your liking (rare, medium, well done). 30 seconds before removing, add a kob of butter and baste the steak repetitively with the butter. Remove from pan, season with salt and a squeeze of lemon juice. Allow steak to rest while you plate up.
- When potatoes are nice and crispy, remove from the oven, squeeze over lemon juice and sprinkle with a little salt. Toss to combine.
- To finish: Slice steak into thick pieces. Place some tarator sauce on a plate and top with steak slices and salad (optional, see notes). Serve lemon potatoes and the remaining tarator sauce in separate side bowls. Enjoy!
Notes
*This dish can be served with a salad of your choice, however, a nice simple pairing would be parsley leaves, chopped cucumber, tomato and white onion with a squeeze of lemon juice.
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Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
