Lebanese Vegan Mushroom Shawarma
This vegan mushroom shawarma marinates shiitake mushrooms in warm Middle Eastern spices, then pan-sears them until golden with a cast-iron press instead of deep-frying.Wrapped with garlic tahini sauce, a fresh herb salad, and air-fried potatoes, it turns a Friday-night favorite into a plant-based meal built on healing ingredients.
Servings 4
Equipment
Ingredients
Marinade for Mushrooms
- 6 tbsp organic olive oil
- 4 tbsp organic lemon juice
- 2 tsp organic lemon zest
- 4 cloves organic garlic minced
- 4 tsp organic ground cumin
- 4 tsp organic ground coriander
- 4 tsp organic ground cardamom
- 2 tsp organic smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp organic cinnamon
- 1 tsp organic dried oregano
- 1 tsp organic black pepper
- 1 tsp organic turmeric
- 1 tsp organic onion powder
- 1 tsp organic garlic granules
- 1 tsp organic cayenne
- ¼ cup organic maple syrup
- 2 cups organic coconut yoghurt
- 1 tbsp organic chili paste optional
- 5 cups organic shiitake mushrooms
Garlic Tahini Sauce
- 1 ½ cups organic tahini
- 4 cloves organic garlic
- ¼ cup organic lemon juice
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup water
Middle-Eastern Style Salad Dressing
- 1 clove organic garlic
- 1 tbsp organic lemon
- 2 tbsp organic olive oil
Middle-Eastern Style Salad
- 1 cup organic cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup organic cucumber
- ½ cup organic red onion
- 1 cup organic parsley
- 1 cup organic chickpeas optional
Shawarma Wrap
Instructions
Potato Fries
- See the link for the air fried potatoes and make them.
Middle-Eastern Salad
- Prepare the Middle-Eastern salad and place in the fridge. In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together minced garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Then chop the cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, and parsley. Add the chickpeas if using. Toss everything together and season with salt to taste.
Marinade for Mushrooms
- In a small bowl mix together garlic granules, black pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano, onion powder, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne to your heat tolerance, turmeric, and salt.
- In another small bowl whisk together olive oil, yoghurt, the zest and juice of one lemon, maple syrup, and the spice mix we just created.
- Cut the shiitake mushrooms into large pieces and combine with the marinade. Make sure all the mushrooms are coated evenly. Place in the fridge to marinate for 20 mins.
- Take a skewer and carefully slide a mushroom to about 3/4 down. Keep stacking more mushrooms till you reach the top of the skewer.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil on a large frying pan over medium heat. Add one skewer of mushrooms on the pan and keep adding skewers until there is no room left on the pan, but ensuring that it is not crowded. Place a heavy cast iron pan on top of them (ensure your cast iron pan fits inside your large pan so it is pressing on the mushrooms).
- Cook for 4 minutes and flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the liquid in the pan has evaporated.
- After both sides of the mushrooms on the skewer are cooked and golden, remove them from the heat and place them on a plate. Repeat with the remaining skewers.
Garlic Tahini Sauce
- Place all the ingredients for the Garlic Tahini Sauce in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
Assembling the Shawarma
- Heat one of the wraps in the oven for about 2 minutes. Place on a plate and slide one of mushroom skewers in the center of the wrap. Add a handful of fries and drizzle some of the garlic tahini sauce on top. Add some of the salad inside the wrap or on the side if you prefer. Enjoy!
Notes
An alternative to using all the spices, is to buy your own spice mix from Afia on amazon.
If you are using the skewers it is important to make sure the mushrooms are cut quite large, because if not, they will easily break once on the skewer. When I made this recipe for the first time, I cut them too small and this happened to me, but in a way it worked out better because I was able to cook the mushrooms directly on the grill. If you would prefer cooking them straight on the grill, then don't worry about the skewers. If you are not able to get a hold of skewers it is ok, in fact, even better to cook the mushrooms on the grill. In addition, it will also be less time consuming this way.
