Features of cooking Greek fast food. TOP 5 recipes for gyros with different types of fillings and different sauces for every taste.
Gyros is a traditional Greek dish. It is called simply "gyro" for short. It is very similar to Turkish shawarma or doner. That is why it is often called that - Greek shawarma. The main difference in the gyros recipe is the variety of ingredients for the filling.
Features of cooking gyros
Gyros is a national Greek fast food famous for its simplicity of preparation and the abundance of ingredients used for the filling. The base is not pita bread, but a Greek flatbread called "pita". This is unleavened flat bread that is easy to bake. Pita can be prepared at home or purchased from bakeries.
As for the filling, in this case they use lettuce or arugula, fresh vegetables and meat. The main secret of the gyros dish is that the meat is not heavily marinated and fried. In this case, it should be with a well-expressed taste, which should not be interrupted by various spices and additives. You can use chicken, pork or beef.
Unlike shawarma, fries are also added to gyros. This gives the dish a certain flavor and also makes it more satisfying. Gyros can be considered a complete meal.
Greek fast food gyros is most often seasoned with tomato sauce or a traditional Greek sauce called dzatziki. For its preparation, as a rule, goat's milk is used, from which thick natural yogurt is made. Garlic, cucumber, herbs and lemon passed through a press are added. Sometimes a little more mint is added. No flavoring agents are used anymore. This sauce is usually served with meat dishes or bread.
Greek eateries and fast food establishments serve wine, lemonade or tomato juice with gyros.
TOP 5 Greek gyros recipes
Gyros is a fast food, street food that can be found in many establishments. An interesting fact is that in Greece this dish is so popular that it can easily compete with everyone's favorite McDonald's and other fast food establishments. Gyros is not only fast and tasty, but also less high in calories. We present to your attention the TOP 5 recipes on how to cook gyros.
Homemade gyros with chicken
Most often, it is chicken meat that is used for gyros. It is more tender and goes well with the famous dzatziki sauce. Homemade pita, soaked in garlic, has incredible flavor and will make the dish delicious.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 1483 kcal.
- Servings - 2
- Cooking time - 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Wheat flour - 250 g (for pita)
- Water - 50 g, kefir - 40 g (for pita)
- Egg - 1 pc. (for pita)
- Baking dough - 1/2 tsp (for pita)
- Salt - 1/4 tsp, sugar - 1/2 tsp (for pita)
- Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon (for pita)
- Homemade yogurt (thick) - 150 g (for tzatziki sauce)
- Cucumber - 1 pc. (for dzatziki sauce)
- Garlic - 2 cloves (for tzatziki sauce)
- Greens (mint, dill, basil), olive oil - to taste (for dzatziki sauce)
- Chicken fillet - 400 g (for filling)
- French fries - 300 g (for filling)
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs., Cucumber - 1 pc. (For filling)
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc. (For filling)
- Lettuce onions - 2 pcs., Lettuce leaves - to taste (for filling)
Step-by-step cooking of homemade gyros with chicken:
- First you need to start making a cake. To do this, mix all the ingredients and knead the dough, roll it into a ball. Then put in a bowl and sprinkle with a little flour. Leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Homemade yoghurt must be prepared in advance. It should be white in color without additives, thick in consistency. Rub the cucumber and garlic on a fine grater. Add olive oil and salt. You can choose greens to your taste. It must be washed and finely chopped. Mix all ingredients well and leave in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
- Cut the chicken fillet into small slices. Add salt and pepper. Fry in olive oil until golden brown. Do not fry too much. While the meat is roasting, chop the vegetables for the filling.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 2 parts. Roll each of them with a rolling pin in the form of small thin cakes that fit in the pan.
- Preheat the pan, add olive oil. Fry the tortillas on both sides until brown specks form.
- Smear the ready-made tortilla a little with sauce and lay out the lettuce leaves. Top with filling ingredients. Roll up the cake, you can add more sauce inside.
Gyros with pork in tomato-yoghurt sauce
Gyros will turn out to be no less tasty if you add pork instead of chicken. In this case, it is better to use pork tenderloin. The meat should not be very stringy and soft. Tomato-yoghurt sauce will definitely not leave anyone indifferent and will perfectly emphasize the taste of this dish.
Ingredients:
- Pork tenderloin - 450 g
- Pita - 3 pcs.
- Olive oil - 1/4 tablespoon
- Dry red wine - 1/4 tbsp.
- Garlic - 4 cloves
- Salt to taste
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Iceberg salad - to taste
- Salad onions - to taste
- Cucumber - 2 pcs.
- Sweet pepper - 2 pcs.
- Parmesan cheese - to taste
- Natural yogurt - 0.5 l (for sauce)
- Garlic - 2 cloves (for the sauce)
- Capers (no brine) - 2 tablespoons (for the sauce)
- Oregano - to taste (for the sauce)
- Wine vinegar (red) - 1 tablespoon (for the sauce)
- Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon (for the sauce)
- Salt - 1 tsp (for the sauce)
- Ground black pepper - to taste (for the sauce)
- Tomato (plum) - 2 pcs. (for the sauce)
Step by step preparation of pork gyros in tomato-yogurt sauce:
- First you need to prepare the marinade for the meat. Pour wine and olive oil into a deep bowl. Rub the garlic on the finest grater. Cut the oregano into small pieces. Mix everything well. Put the meat in a deep bowl and fill it with the resulting marinade. Cover with cling film and leave in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
- In the meantime, prepare the sauce. To do this, you must first prepare natural yogurt. It should be white, without various additives, thick consistency. Pour the yogurt into a bowl. Rub the garlic on a fine grater or pass through a press and add to the yogurt. Finely chop the oregano and add to the yogurt. Add lemon juice and red wine vinegar to the bowl. Salt and pepper. Mix everything well.
- Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and put them in a blender bowl. Beat until smooth. Pour the resulting yoghurt sauce to the tomatoes and beat for a couple of minutes. Pour into a bowl, cover with cling film. Leave in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- After the time has elapsed, we take out the meat from the refrigerator. Cut into small slices and fry in olive oil until golden brown.
- Cover the plate with a napkin. Put the meat on a napkin. This is done in order to remove excess fat.
- After that, you need to prepare the vegetables for the filling. Cut the onion into thin half rings. Cut the cucumber and bell pepper into strips. Grate Parmesan cheese on a fine grater.
- Place the pita on the work surface. Add some sauce. We spread the iceberg leaves, add the meat and previously prepared vegetables. We turn the pita into a cake. Add a little more sauce on top and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Gyros with lamb and cranberry sauce
Gyros with lamb is exactly the dish with which you can surprise your family and friends. Fragrant lamb will go well with sweet and sour cranberry sauce. And homemade cheese pita will be incredibly crispy and soaked in garlic.
Ingredients:
- Lamb - 400 g
- Onions - 2 pcs.
- Cherry tomatoes - 6-10 pcs.
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Rosemary - to taste
- Oregano - to taste
- Wheat flour - 400 g (for pita)
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon (for pita)
- Dry yeast - 7 g (for pita)
- Water - 250 ml (for pita)
- Salt - 2 tablespoons (for pita)
- Grated cheese - 250 g (for pita)
- Cranberries - 200 g (for the sauce)
- Honey - 3 tablespoons (for the sauce)
- Sugar - 2 tablespoons (for the sauce)
- Onions - 1 pc. (for the sauce)
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon (for the sauce)
- Tangerine juice - 100 ml (for sauce)
- Tangerine zest - 1 pc. (for the sauce)
Step by step preparation of gyros with lamb and cranberry sauce:
- First you need to start making pita bread. Mix wheat flour, yeast and salt, add olive oil and water. It is important that the water is warm. Knead the dough by hand. Add cheese to it and knead well for 10-15 minutes. Then put in a floured dish, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for a couple of hours. The dough should rise and increase in volume.
- After that, marinate the meat. Rub the onion on a fine grater. Rub the meat with spices. Wrap in foil. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and bake for an hour and a half. To prevent the meat from being dry, it is recommended to take it out of the oven every 30 minutes and make small cuts.
- In the meantime, prepare the cranberry sauce. Finely chop the onion and fry in olive oil until golden brown. Add the cranberries and tangerine zest to the saucepan, pour out the tangerine juice. Pour the ready-made onion with olive oil into a saucepan. Mix well and cook over low heat. Add honey and sugar. Mix again and leave on fire until boiling. Then we reduce the heat and cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the sauce cool completely. Then pour into a blender bowl and beat until smooth.
- Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Divide the dough into 3 parts and roll out into small flat cakes. Grease the pan with olive oil and heat well. Bake the tortillas on both sides until tender. They should come out with a golden brown crust.
- We take the meat out of the oven and cut it into small pieces. Cut the onion into small half rings.
- We spread the finished cake on the work surface. Add cranberry sauce on top, lay out the meat and onions. We turn it off with an Easter cake. Pour more sauce on top.
Traditional Greek gyros
The traditional Greek dish gyros includes not only meat and vegetables, but also french fries. Tomato sauce is used as a dressing, which is very easy to make at home. All this is wrapped in a fragrant, garlic-soaked cake called pita.
Ingredients:
- Tomato - 2 pcs.
- French fries - 300 g
- Chicken fillet - 400 g
- Salt to taste
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Red bell pepper - 1 pc.
- Salad onion - 1 pc.
- Cucumber - 1 pc.
- Oregano - to taste
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
- Olives to taste
- Lettuce leaves - for decoration
- Pita - 2 pcs.
- Olive oil - 2 tsp (for the sauce)
- Bulb onions - 1/2 pc. (for the sauce)
- Garlic - 2 cloves (for the sauce)
- Oregano - to taste (for the sauce)
- Canned tomatoes - 400 g (for the sauce)
- Fresh tomatoes - 2 pcs. (for the sauce)
- Tomato paste - 2 tsp (for the sauce)
- Sugar - 1 tsp (for the sauce)
How to prepare traditional Greek gyros step by step:
- First you need to prepare the sauce. Add olive oil to a small saucepan. Rub onion and garlic on a fine grater and add to a saucepan. Cook over low heat for about 5-7 minutes.
- Cut the canned tomatoes into small pieces and add to the saucepan. Season with oregano and add sugar. Leave on the stove for another 15 minutes. During this time, the sauce will stew a little and thicken.
- Peel fresh tomatoes, cut into small pieces and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the sauce from the stove and let cool.
- While the sauce is cooling, you need to prepare the filling. Cut the chicken fillet into small slices. Salt and pepper. Heat the pan well, fry the fillets on both sides in olive oil until golden brown. Cut the cucumber and bell peppers into strips. Cut the salad onions into half rings. Cut the olives in half.
- Prepare French fries in advance.
- Put pita on the work surface, grease with tomato sauce. Top with lettuce, add meat, french fries, vegetables and olives. Roll up the pita, add a little more sauce on top.
Gyros with veal in cherry sauce
At first glance, gyros is a fast food dish that can be found in many street establishments. But this does not mean at all that you cannot make an exquisite dish out of it. Soft veal meat combined with herbs and thick cherry sauce in a fragrant flatbread is a vivid proof of this.
Ingredients:
- Pita - 2 pcs.
- Iceberg salad - to taste
- Arugula - to taste
- Olives - 150 g
- Veal - 300 g
- Cherry tomatoes - 6 pcs.
- Salad onion - 1 pc.
- Cherries - 300 g (for the sauce)
- Dry red wine - 200 ml (for sauce)
- Flour - 1.5 tbsp. (for the sauce)
- Sugar - 2 tbsp. (for the sauce)
- Vanilla sugar - 10 g (for the sauce)
- Black peppercorns - 2 pcs. (for the sauce)
- Cloves - 1 bud (for the sauce)
Step by step preparation of gyros with veal in cherry sauce:
- First you need to prepare the cherry sauce. To do this, pour wine into a small saucepan, add pepper, cloves and sugar, bring to a boil. At this time, peel the cherries and cut them into halves. After boiling, add the cherry halves to the saucepan. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add flour to a well-heated frying pan for a couple of minutes. Then add a couple of tablespoons of wine to the pan and cook until thick. It will take just a couple of minutes. Then pour everything into a saucepan, mix well. Simmer for another couple of minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a deep bowl. Leave to cool completely. The sauce will turn out to be a rich red color, it will be quite thick in consistency.
- While the sauce is cooling, cut the veal into small slices. Add a couple of drops of olive oil to a preheated pan and fry the meat on both sides until golden brown. It is important not to overdry the meat.
- Cover the plate with a napkin and put the meat on it. This is done in order to remove excess fat.
- Cut the cherry tomatoes into 4 parts, the olives - in half. Cut the onion thinly into small half rings.
- Put the cakes on the work surface, anoint with cherry sauce on top. Put the lettuce leaves, then add vegetables, meat and olives. Add arugula on top. Collapse the cake. Add a little more sauce on top.
