Shawarma, one of the most popular Middle Eastern street food that is usually stuffed with grilled meat, a cooling sauce and some tomatoes and onions. So for Day 3, for my alphabet C, I made the vegetarian version of this very popular street food. Chickpea Shawarma Wrap | Vegetarian Shawarma Sandwich, is made with roasted chickpeas and topped with a tahini yogurt sauce and a simple chopped vegetable salad.
This was our weekend lunch and the boys could not stop eating the roasted chickpeas. I had only roasted 2 cans of chickpeas and they had already finished half of it snacking. To finish the wrap, I had to make another batch of the roasted chickpeas. I had plans to make my own pita, but the time got the best out of me and I had to use the store bought pitas.
I used some whole wheat pitas as well as the regular white pitas. Instead of just using sliced onions and tomatoes, I made some chopped salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and parsley.
The sauce just takes the wrap to the next level. Do not skip on the sauce. Just plain yogurt or sour cream would not make up for the flavor of the sauce. It cools down the wrap as well as gives it the much needed light bite. I used tahini, Greek yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and parsley for the sauce. We could use sour cream or even regular yogurt instead of Greek Yogurt.
The sandwich was so delicious that I had to make a second batch of almost everything. Just as an head's up, make sure you make enought of everything. The leftovers stores very well for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator, if they manage to remain that long.
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Preparation time - 15 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
Difficulty level - Easy
Recipe adapted from - Minimalist Baker
Ingredients to make Chickpea Shawarma Wrap | Vegetarian Shawarma Sandwich - Serves 4
To Make the Spiced Chickpeas -
- Chick peas - 2 cans (15 oz cans, drained and rinsed)
- Red chili powder - 1 tsp
- Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
- Cumin powder - 1 tsp
- Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp
- Olive oil - 2 tbsp
- Salt - to taste (watch if the chickpeas has salt in it)
To make the Tahini Yogurt Sauce -
- Tahini - 1/4 cup
- Greek yogurt - 1/2 cup
- Lemon juice - 3 tbsp
- Garlic - 1 large clove
- Parsley - 2 tbsp
- Salt - to taste
- Pepper - to taste
To make the Salad -
- Cucumber - 1 cup (finely chopped)
- Tomato - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
- Red onion - 1/4 cup (finely chopped)
- Parsley - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Salt - to taste
- Pepper - to taste
To Assemble the Chickpeas Shawarma Wrap -
- Pita bread - 4 (cut in half)
- Roasted chickpeas - refer to recipe below
- Tahini Yogurt Sauce - refer to recipe below
- Chopped Salad - refer to recipe below
Procedure to make Chickpea Shawarma Wrap | Vegetarian Shawarma Sandwich -
To make the Spiced Chickpeas -
- Drain and rinse the canned chickpeas well in running water. Place the rinsed chickpeas in between layers of kitchen towel and dry them.
- Place the dried chickpeas in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and spread it on a foiled lined baking sheet.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 F and roast the chickpeas for about 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and crunchy. Make sure to shake and mix the chickpeas once in 5 minutes for even cooking.
- Keep this aside until ready to assemble.
To make the Tahini Yogurt Sauce -
- Blend all the ingredients together.
- Adjust the consistency by adding a little bit of water if needed.
- Check the seasonings and adjust based on your taste.
To make the Salad -
- Chop all the ingredients and combine them in the bowl. Add the salt and pepper needed and mix well.
- The salad is now ready to assemble.
To Assemble the Chickpea Shawarma Wrap | Vegetarian Shawarma Sandwich -
- I used store bought pita bread to make the sandwich/wrap. Warm the pita for about 15 seconds in the microwave and then cut them in half.
- Open the pita to form a pocket and then stuff it with roasted spice chickpeas and the salad.
- Drizzle the Tahini Yogurt Sauce and serve immediately.
Notes and Observation -
- This works great as a weeknight meal. All the ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and kept until ready to assemble.
- Pita can be opened up as a pocket and stuffed inside or can just be used as a wrap.
- The ingredients can also be served as a salad in a bowl. In that case, we could use slice pita pieces along with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. We could also add some Tabbouleh to the blend.
Ingredients
To Make the Spiced Chickpeas -
- Chick peas - 2 cans 15 oz cans, drained and rinsed
- Red chili powder - 1 tsp
- Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
- Cumin powder - 1 tsp
- Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp
- Olive oil - 2 tbsp
- Salt - to taste watch if the chickpeas has salt in it
To make the Tahini Yogurt Sauce -
- Tahini - 1/4 cup
- Greek yogurt - 1/2 cup
- Lemon juice - 3 tbsp
- Garlic - 1 large clove
- Parsley - 2 tbsp
- Salt - to taste
- Pepper - to taste
To make the Salad -
- Cucumber - 1 cup finely chopped
- Tomato - 1/2 cup finely chopped
- Red onion - 1/4 cup finely chopped
- Parsley - 2 tbsp finely chopped
- Salt - to taste
- Pepper - to taste
To Assemble the Chickpeas Shawarma Wrap -
- Pita bread - 4 cut in half
- Roasted chickpeas - refer to recipe below
- Tahini Yogurt Sauce - refer to recipe below
- Chopped Salad - refer to recipe below
Instructions
To make the Spiced Chickpeas -
- Drain and rinse the canned chickpeas well in running water. Place the rinsed chickpeas in between layers of kitchen towel and dry them.
- Place the dried chickpeas in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and spread it on a foiled lined baking sheet.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 F and roast the chickpeas for about 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and crunchy. Make sure to shake and mix the chickpeas once in 5 minutes for even cooking.
- Keep this aside until ready to assemble.
To make the Tahini Yogurt Sauce -
- Blend all the ingredients together.
- Adjust the consistency by adding a little bit of water if needed.
- Check the seasonings and adjust based on your taste.
To make the Salad -
- Chop all the ingredients and combine them in the bowl. Add the salt and pepper needed and mix well.
- The salad is now ready to assemble.
To Assemble the Chickpea Shawarma Wrap | Vegetarian Shawarma Sandwich -
- I used store bought pita bread to make the sandwich/wrap. Warm the pita for about 15 seconds in the microwave and then cut them in half.
- Open the pita to form a pocket and then stuff it with roasted spice chickpeas and the salad.
- Drizzle the Tahini Yogurt Sauce and serve immediately.
Notes
- This works great as a weeknight meal. All the ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and kept until ready to assemble.
- Pita can be opened up as a pocket and stuffed inside or can just be used as a wrap.
- The ingredients can also be served as a salad in a bowl. In that case, we could use slice pita pieces along with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
- We could also add some Tabbouleh to the blend.
Suma Gandlur says
Loved the way you adapted to a veg version for shawarma. this protein packed version sounds fabulous and I will keep in mind this recipe for my daughter who loves pita sandwiches.
Vaishali Sabnani says
wow !..this wrap is making me hungry...I love it. The chickpeas look and sound so flavorful..the whole wrap with tahini, salad and chickpeas is a treat and the clicks look so beautiful.
Heather says
Absolutely gorgeous!! I agree with you, the tahini sauce is the only way to go. This recipe is easy and looks so delicious!
Carmy says
I love a good shawarma wrap! I also LOVE chickpeas so this is the perfect combination of the two! Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe.