Shawarma snack attack

The unmistakable waft of meat being roasted on a slowly-rotating spit and you know it’s time for a shawarma break.
A Mexican taco or burrito the Middle Eastern style or an answer to Greek gyro, shawarma has, thanks to globalisation, become an international street snack.
In Qatar, the social acceptability that the sandwich/wrap has found straight into our stomachs goes way back to the country’s days of independence in early ‘70s. The obsession has been such there used to be a whole street on Rayyan Road in Al Bidaa where shop after shop offered the meat-and-chicken variety from noon to way past midnight; the street, gave way to the changing urban design during the days leading up to the Asian Games 2006.
As the shawarma joints continue to spring up in every neighbourhood in Doha, the innovation and addition to the original recipe has also spawned a food war with each one fighting to take over consumers’ taste buds.
The basic principle remains the same though: prepared meatloaf is loaded on a spit that rotates in front of or over a gas-burner as a knife is used to shave off the stack which falls in a tray below.
The choice of meat and chicken varies from vendor to vendor; some use Australian mutton and boneless frozen chicken, others go for Syrian lamb “for juiciness” or use a mixture of two meats.
“Once the meat is cleaned and washed it is mixed with spices to marinate and then sliced or minced,” a Turkish national at a shawarma outlet on the Airport Road explained.
The spices come prepared in packs from Bahrain or Iran and remain a preferred option by owners but are also mixed locally by some to save cost or to offer a different flavour.
“We mix our own and throw in salt, Chinese salt, vinegar, yoghurt, chilli, green chilly, cardamom, nutmeg. Usually meat needs more spices compared to chicken,” another vendor in Najma said.
Once marinated, the meat (or chicken) is passed through a machine that slices it thinly, or minced; some small vendors cut the meat manually.
“We use the ‘Turkey model’ where minced meat is stacked on the spit, as opposed to slices put on one another. On good days (weekends) we use as much as 100kilo of meat and chicken each,” the Airport guy said.
Manually, it takes an expert 10 minutes on average to slice 25kilo of chicken but only 6-7 kilos of meat during the same time since it tends to be harder.
Chicken is never minced and is cut in varying sizes of small, medium and large which are then placed in a way that the large chunks come on top and smaller ones at the bottom; hence the familiar cone tower. Chicken is also never skinned since fat is precious.
“The fat, often put on top as well, is a must and helps you prevent burning,” the Najma dude said.
A skewer loaded with 25 kilos of meat or chicken will produce around 200-225 sandwiches depending on how generous a particular chef is feeling at the time.
Available for as little as QR4 and up to QR10-14 the wraps or flatbread style sandwiches are then served with tahina sauce or garlic sauce (even hummus) and salad, fries and all.
For QR35 restaurants usually get up to 200 pieces of wrap-bread from bakeries some of which gets wasted after further slicing. They are often warmed and heated before serving. Shawarma is also sometimes served on a platter.
Sounds good? Smells good? I’m starving now!
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