Kars is situated in the North-East of Turkey and holds an interesting place in the history of Turkey and the South Caucasus. But we'd better leave this to the history blogs and let us discuss delicious facts about Kars.
Fact #1: Shawarma is Leventin-Arab meal.
Fact #2: In Turkey Shawarma is called Donner Kebab, which means "spinning meat."
Fact #3: Donner and Shawarma are both ancient, complete dishes as they consist of all the products which human body needs for functioning – vegetable, bread and meat.
To cut it short, Georgians also spin the meat, roast barbeque and make Kebab, but the question is – why don't we have Georgian Shawarma, Georgian spinning meat, which will be a middle product between Kebab and barbeque.
The following recipe is for Kars barbeque, which will stand as a Georgian version of Turkish Donner accompanied by aromatic bread and Matsoni sauce.
250
250
gr.
beef
250
250
gr.
pork
15
15
gr.
savory
150
150
gr.
onion
150
150
gr.
spinach
10
10
gr.
coriander
15
15
gr.
garlic
50
50
ml.
sour milk
4
4
green pepper
300
300
gr.
wheat flour
30
30
gr.
yeast
3
3
eggs
30
30
gr.
leek
30
30
gr.
corn flavor
200
200
gr.
dry white wine
Break two eggs (washed beforehand) into the flour, then add 100ml Borjomi and kneed.
Pour 50ml warm water in a separate vessel, add some yeast and sugar and wait for 10 minutes for yeast to breath and emit some bubbles.
Add one third of spoon of salt, yeast water and 2 table spoons of Matsoni, 2 cloves of pressed and minced garlic, 2 stalks of thinly minced scallions or leek. Stir carefully, kneed for 10 minutes and roll the dough down to 1cm of thickness.
Rest the dough on a well-floured vessel, cover it and keep on about 32 degrees for 40 minutes. Yeast is a living organism. It loves sugar and hates high temperature, so don't keep it too hot.
Cut your pork and beef in long pieces and batter them thinly. Place the meat in a vessel, spring with about 2 teaspoons of summer savory, pour some wine and cover with Borjomi (Borjomi creates alkali environment and neutralizes wine's acidity and softens the meat) and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then skew the meat on the grill one by one mixing pork and beef in order to get the beef greased by the pork fat.
Press 2 cloves of garlic in Matsoni, add 2 table spoons of honey and spring with black pepper and salt. Mix up and put in the fridge until next usage. Imagine how great it would taste to have cool Matsoni with freshly baked hot bread and juicy barbeque as meat greases down into the bread topped with aromatic sauce.
Place your meat on the brazier and do not salt until the meat pieces start whitening. Meanwhile cut some onion and spinach thinly and mix them up. Spinach is one of the most underestimated salad varieties in Georgia as almost nobody consumes it raw, while the most delicious spinach is a raw spinach.
Meanwhile place the bread in the 250C oven for 4-5 minutes until we get it golden. The newly baked bread will be hard. At that time barbeque should already be roasted and you can cut some roasted pieces with a sharp knife and throw them in the cut out bread, top it with sauce, and season with spinach and onion.
How To Serve
The dish can be spread on the place and be accompanied by bread, or pack it in the bread and eat with hands. It can be washed down with tarragon or basil lemonade or a mixture of Borjomi and grapes juice (1:1).
Click if you already have prepared