Quite popular Greek dish called souvlaki, very famous among us as homemade chicken skewers, it is very easy to cook, spending minimal amount time and products.

For cooking classic dish Souvlaki you will need the following ingredients:

• Chicken breast, which should be peeled and thoroughly washed under running water. For a portion for 3-4 people, you can use 2 large or 3 medium breasts, the total weight of which is 1 kg.
• Garlic is usually added to taste, but even for those who do not like its taste, we recommend using at least 1 clove to add a piquant flavor to the dish.
• Lemon juice must be freshly squeezed, 2 large spoons are enough.

In addition, you will need dried herbs, which everyone uses according to their own taste, in our case these will be:

• Basil with rosemary 1 small spoon.
• Marjoram and oregano, 0.5 small spoons each.
• Parsley can be used either dry or fresh, if you use the first type, then put it in the same amount as rosemary basil.

Also, for dressing, you will need a few tablespoons of olive oil and the usual spices for all, like salt and pepper, which are added to taste.

If you want to beautifully serve chicken souvlaki, then you should additionally purchase pita.

Cooking process

The cleaned and washed chicken breast must be cut into small uniform pieces of approximately 2x2 cm, try to keep the cubes the same size so that they can bake evenly.

Next, you should prepare the marinade, for this, combine all the herbs you have chosen or recommended by us, season them with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. You also need to add salt and pepper there, then dip the chopped cubes into the bowl with the sauce chicken breast, mix everything thoroughly and leave for a while. If you want to cook souvlaki quickly, then 1-2 hours is enough for marinating, but really delicious kebabs are obtained when the breast is in the sauce from 12 hours. With prolonged pickling, the breast is completely saturated with the prepared sauce and becomes not only fragrant and tasty, but also juicy. After you have waited the indicated time, the cubes chicken meat should be put on skewers, the length of which you can choose in accordance with the method of preparation of this amazing dish. Most the right way cooking mini kebabs is roasting them on charcoal, but you can also use a regular grill pan for these purposes.

ATTENTION!

If you cook souvlaki on charcoal, then before stringing the meat on skewers, the latter should be soaked in water for at least 20-30 minutes, and if a grill is used, preliminary preparation of skewers is not needed.

After everything is prepared, you can proceed to the main cooking procedure, place the skewers on the grill with coals and make sure that the breast is evenly fried on all sides.

If you decide to use a grill pan for frying, then you should not grease it with oil, since you have already used it in the previously prepared marinade, do not worry, the pieces of meat will not burn if you constantly turn them, on the contrary, the souvlaki will become uniform, crispy , golden crust.

Serve this amazingly tasty and easy-to-prepare dish with any sauce, but the most suitable is tzatziki.

As has been noted more than once, a trip to Greece is not only the sea, the sun and the beach, but also tasty food. Therefore, today we continue our acquaintance with the culinary traditions of the Mediterranean, and next in line we have most popular dish Greek cuisine - Souvlaki. And if Greek salad and Moussaka are mostly restaurant dishes, then finely chopped Greek shish kebab is sold at any street vendor and is considered a national fast food. It is noteworthy that the products of such giants of the food industry as McDonald's, KFC and Burgerking lost the competition to Souvlaki in Greece. So what is this deliciousness? Let's find out right now!

What is real Greek Souvlaki

So, the Greek dish called Souvlaki is a shish kebab very finely chopped and strung on wooden skewers. Souvlaki is traditionally made from pork, but sometimes cooks use other meat products for cooking. Therefore, there are souvlaki made from chicken, turkey, lamb or beef. Before sending the dish to the fire, it is kept in a special marinade made from olive oil, lemon juice and spices. Then the "infused" meat is strung on skewers and cooked on the coals of the grill, or spread on a frying pan / baking sheet and fried.

Story

Where and when Souvlaki appeared in Greece, Greek cuisine will not remember exactly. And even for many years there was a culinary dispute between Turkey and Greece for the right to be called the birthplace of barbecue on skewers. But in 2011, an unexpected discovery put an end to this competition. During excavations in the city of Fira ( about. Santorini, Greece) a stone brazier was found with stands for skewers and special slots for air. Thus, as early as 1500 B.C. the Greeks ate Souvlaki cooked on coals!

A little about the name

If we talk about why the Greek kebab is called Souvlaki, then you should pay attention to the "core" of the dish. Greek-style meat is cooked not on long steel skewers, but on small wooden sticks called "Σούβλα" (Suvla). From these skewers, the name of the dish itself first came, and then the designation of street cafes. Today, a diner with a sign Σουβλατζίδικо (Suvladzidiko) can be found literally on every corner. By the way, if you remake it in the Russian manner, the expression will be something like this - “Suvlachnaya”.

By the way, kebabs in Greek were cooked on special cane sticks, which were called Καλαμι (Kalami). Since then, this dish has also retained a second name - Kalamaki. However, in modern Greece the term Souvlaki is used much more frequently.

Serving methods

Greek kebab is served in two ways. Classic variant: skewers with meat are laid out on a plate, and garnished with french fries, sauces or vegetable salads. So you will be served Souvlaki in a restaurant or a large cafe.

The street version of serving is as follows: meat with the addition of various sauces and vegetables is served wrapped in Greek pita bread. The exact composition of the ingredients is not constant, because. formed to the taste of the client. Most often ordered are souvlaki with Tzadiki sauce, ketchup, sweet onion and tomato slices, as well as a small portion french fries. All this is wrapped in Pita (like in pita bread) and it turns out delicious roll reminiscent of shawarma.

By the way, because of this similarity, Souvlaki is sometimes confused with the Greek dish Gyros, which is considered a direct analogue of shawarma. However, the composition of the products and the technology of preparing Gyros differ from Souvlaki, and accordingly the taste of the dish is completely different.

Read also: Greek Dough Philo, what is it, how is it prepared and in what dishes is it used

How to cook Greek Souvlaki

hearty and delicious barbecue in Greek it will not be difficult to cook outside sunny Greece. At the same time, you can add spices to your taste in the recipe or reduce the calorie content of the dish by getting rid of cakes and sauces, and instead of pork, for example, cook Souvlaki with chicken or turkey.

And about the secrets of cooking Souvlaki at home according to different recipes We will definitely tell you, but a little later. Now let's dwell on the traditional way of cooking this dish, which has come down to us since ancient Greece.

Ingredients

To begin with, we note that since Since we cook Souvlaki at home and you can hardly buy Greek Pita near the house, the recipe for Greek kebabs also includes ingredients for baking tortillas. Agree, since the method of preparing Souvlaki is classic, then all the ingredients, if possible, should be as Greek as possible. Although, if you don't want to mess around with tortillas, then you can just cook kebabs and serve them with a vegetable side dish. But Souvlaki in Pita will impress the invited guests more with its appetizing and unusual look.

So, let's move on to the list of basic products that will be required for cooking Greek barbecue. For convenience, we will divide it into 2 parts: ingredients for the meat component, and products for the Greek Pita.

We have decided on the list of products - it remains only to find out how to cook Greek Souvlaki at home.

Classic recipe

The technology for preparing Greek kebab contains several stages. Let's start cooking our pork souvlaki by marinating the meat.

Marinade and meat

1. Squeeze lemon juice into a deep bowl. Add olive oil, soy sauce and white wine to it, stir.
2. Preparing spices. We press the garlic or finely chop it, chop the parsley, pass the onion through a blender. Measure out a teaspoon of oregano and rosemary. Pour all the spices into the marinade, add salt and ground pepper to taste, mix.
3. We wash the meat, cut it into small pieces (cubes 2x2), in fact " for one bite».
4. We spread the meat in a vacuum bag, pour the prepared marinade and send it to the refrigerator overnight. ( If there is no package, you can leave the meat in a bowl, covering it with a lid).

We carry out the next stages of preparation the very next day.

Dough for Pita

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water half a glass), after adding ch.l. Sahara.
2. Sift flour, add salt. We make a hole in the flour pea, where we pour the dissolved yeast, olive oil and the remaining warm water. Knead the dough until it is no longer sticky to your hands. Add a little more water if necessary.
3. Put the prepared dough in a greased bowl, cover with a towel and leave to stand for 1.5-2 hours.

While the dough is infused, we will return to our pickled meat.

Roasting kebabs

1. Prepare the skewers by soaking them in water for 15-30 minutes.
2. Thread meat onto skewers.
3. We send our kebab to the grill, grill or fry in a regular frying pan.

The meat is cooked, time to get back to the dough.

We bake cakes (pitas)

1. We knead the settled dough, form balls from it, and roll them into round cakes (1 cm thick and 15 cm in diameter).
2. Bake Pita in the oven (5-7 minutes at a temperature of 230-260 degrees). The main thing is not to overdo the cakes, otherwise they will turn into crackers.
3. Hot pitas are served to the table, and cooled ones can be carefully frozen until the next time. Then it will be enough to fry them in a frying pan or grill, pre-lubricated with oil and seasoned with salt and oregano for taste.

It remains to remove the meat from the skewers and wrap it in cakes, adding the sauce and garnish. By the way, you can cook a real Greek Tzatziki, which takes literally 15 minutes. Detailed recipe set out on the next page. Also goes well with souvlaki coleslaw, French fries, mustard, ketchup, green salad etc.

You need to wrap the filling in hot cakes (when they are just cooked), otherwise the pita will cool down and begin to crumble. Also, for convenience, we advise you to tightly wrap the bottom of the “envelope” with paper, then the cake will firmly hold the filling.

Some popular souvlaki recipes

It has already been noted that in addition to the classic Greek pork souvlaki, this dish is prepared with other ingredients. Consider several variations of the classic recipe.

Beef souvlaki in the oven

Souvlaki with vegetables

Due to the taste compatibility, meat is often supplemented with vegetables, so in this recipe both components are combined into one dish.

Ingredients: pork 800 gr., zucchini 1 pc., Cherry tomatoes 300 gr., lemon 1 pc. For the marinade: garlic 2 cloves, dried mint, oregano and thyme 1 tbsp. spoon 1 tbsp wine vinegar, 100 ml olive oil, salt, pepper.

Recipe:

1. We are preparing the marinade. In a bowl, mix oil, vinegar and all spices. Squeeze out the lemon juice last. Mix until smooth.
2. We cut the meat into small cubes, cut the zucchini into circles 1.5 cm thick, leave the Cherry tomatoes whole. We put everything in a deep bowl and pour the marinade, mix. We send the finished mixture for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
3. Thread meat and vegetables onto skewers.
4. Grill over hot charcoal grill until tender (10 minutes).

The food is very appetizing, juicy and rich. So we recommend that you get to know this delicious and quick snack, which can be treated to guests in the summer at the cottage or picnic.

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if you love Greek cuisine and meat, be sure to try making souvlaki! But first find out what it is!

What's this?

Souvlaki is a national Greek dish, which is small skewers on wooden skewers. Most often, pork is used for cooking, but lamb, chicken and even fish are also suitable (fish souvlaki is prepared almost exclusively for tourists).

Cooking is quite simple and does not require special skills. The meat is cut into small pieces, then marinated in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice and spices, after which it is strung on small wooden skewers and either grilled or fried on a baking sheet set over the coals. Today, souvlaki is considered something like a Greek fast food and is served in almost all restaurants, cafes and bistros.

How to cook?

How to cook Greek souvlaki? We offer several options.

Pork souvlaki

This recipe is a classic. For cooking you will need:

• 1 kg of pork;
• 1 lemon;
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil;
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano;
• pepper and salt to taste.

Cooking:

1. In a small bowl, mix olive oil with freshly squeezed lemon juice, there, pepper and salt, still mix well again.
2. Wash the pork and cut into small cubes, pour marinade over them and leave for three hours.
3. Now take the skewers, thread the pork on them and fry on the coals until fully prepared. This usually takes about 15-20 minutes as the pieces are small.

Chicken

No less delicious souvlaki can be made from chicken. Such a dish, by the way, will turn out to be almost dietary.

Ingredients needed for cooking:

• about 1 kg of chicken fillet or breasts;
• 50 ml of white wine;
• 100 ml of olive oil;
• 50 ml lemon juice;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• ½ teaspoon oregano;
• ½ teaspoon thyme;
• pepper and salt to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the chicken fillet into small cubes about 2x2 centimeters in size.
2. Peel and chop the garlic using a knife, garlic crusher or blender.
3. Prepare the marinade by mixing olive oil, wine, lemon juice, minced garlic, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper.
4. Pour the marinade over the chopped fillet and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
5. String the cubes on wooden skewers and fry the souvlaki on the grill.

Fish

Fish souvlaki is also tasty, light and healthy dish. To prepare it you will need:

• 500 grams of fish fillet;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• zest of one lemon;
• 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil;
• a tablespoon of lemon juice;
• ground pepper;
• half a teaspoon of dry oregano;
• sea ​​salt to taste.

How to cook? It's simple:

1. Separately, it is worth writing about the fish. In general, swordfish are traditionally used in Greece, but you can replace it with some other, but certainly marine (river fish does not have the most pleasant smell and taste), white and oily (low-fat can become very dry when frying). So, the fillet needs to be cut into small cubes.
2. Now prepare the marinade. Peel and chop the garlic in any convenient way. Next, mix it with lemon zest(it should be finely grated), lemon juice, oregano, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
3. Immerse the chopped fish in the marinade and leave for about 20 minutes (the fish may become dry if marinated longer).
4. Now string the pieces on skewers and fry the souvlaki on charcoal or on the grill.

How to apply?

Souvlaki is usually served either directly on skewers with lemon slices and white bread (sometimes the appetizer is combined with salads or other dishes) or in pita along with a filling, the role of which can be played by tomatoes, onions, potatoes, Bell pepper, lettuce leaves. Also included is a sauce, such as ketchup, tzatziki, or mustard.

• Souvlaki can also be cooked on the grill, but then they can turn out quite dry. You can also use the oven, in it the meat will retain juiciness and aroma, but it will not smell like coals.
• Cutting meat so finely is quite difficult, so take a sharp knife, it will be much more convenient and easier to work with it.
• Use tender meat, as stringy meat will be dry and tough.
• Olive oil can be replaced with ordinary sunflower oil or some other, but in Greece it is olive oil that is used, and its aroma is unique.
• Be sure to turn the skewers regularly to ensure they cook evenly.
• Some chefs soak the skewers in water for five or ten minutes, which makes them more slippery and also allows the meat or fish to be slightly steamed from the inside during cooking (due to evaporating moisture). But if you are using lean meat, then you can use olive oil instead of water, then the pieces will quickly be removed from the skewers and soaked with oil from the inside.
• Also on skewers, along with fish or meat, you can put onions or vegetables, for example, slices of tomatoes, eggplant rings, bell peppers.

Be sure to try this amazing Greek dish, it's so easy!

There is, of course, a difference between gyros and souvlaki. Souvlaki is souvlaki, Greek barbecue. But gyros is finely chopped meat, taken with a knife from a vertical skewer, something like shawarma, along with various additives.

How does it happen in a Greek diner right in front of your eyes?

Gyros - this is when they are strung on a skewer big chunks meat like pancakes, one on top of the other. The spit rotates all the time so that the meat is fried evenly. As soon as it is ready, thin slices are cut from the piece so that the next layers are fried. Then these slices are put into a flatbread and wrapped with vegetables and sauces.

souvlaki they cook on sticks, right there in front of you they remove pieces of meat into a cake and put everything else. Thus, gyros and souvlaki differ in the way meat is roasted and appearance. Gyros are thin, oblong slices, while souvlaki are square pieces of meat.

French fries are used as additives, different vegetables, greens, pouring it all with sauces, tzatziki, first of all. In Greek eateries, you can take cool wine in a glass jug or pretty tin mugs with souvlaki in flatbread and gyros ...

By the way, in addition to souvlaki-kalamaki, you can wrap everything you ask for in a flat cake: kebab, homemade sausages. Instead of tzatziki, you can pour mayonnaise, ketchup. The most popular set of vegetables for flatbread are tomatoes and onions, although the options for this sandwich are varied.

Gyros is not prepared at home (unless you have a vertical skewer), but we will make souvlaki in a tortilla, it's easy. Almost gyros, almost shawarma. In short, souvlaki in a tortilla :).

For 4 persons

Ingredients

• ready-made cakes - 4 pcs.,
• pork meat - 200 gr.,
• skewers - 4 wooden sticks,
• olive oil - 100 gr.
• juice of ½ lemon,
• seasoning oregano (oregano) - 1 teaspoon,
• salt,
• pepper.

For filling:

• French fries,
• onion -1 pc.,
• tomato - 1 pc.,
• tzatziki sauce - 100g (optional).
• oil for frying potatoes.

Cooking

That, in fact, is all. Have a nice culinary experience in Greece! And at home too! More gyros and souvlaki!

Hello dear subscribers and readers! I am glad to welcome you here in the repository of valuable recipes amazing delicious meals which you can easily prepare at home. Today I want to replenish our treasury of recipes with another exquisite masterpiece.

Let's cook chicken souvlaki together at home on the grill, and the photos will help us do everything as quickly and tasty as possible!

Cooking souvlaki at home! To do this, first go to the market to buy everything the right ingredients for this dish. If you think that Greek kebab is not to your liking, look at the one prepared according to old Caucasian traditions.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken fillet - 1 kg.

2. Bulgarian pepper - 300 gr.

3. Lemon - 2 pcs.

4. Olive oil - 5 tbsp. spoons

5. Parsley - 30 gr.

6. Honey - 1 teaspoon

7. Dry oregano

8. Salt 2 tbsp. spoons

We return from the market, put on a clean apron with the inscription "CHEF IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" and proceed to create our Greek masterpiece.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the cleaned chicken fillet into 2 * 2 cm cubes. This thickness of the meat will not only help the finished kebab to fry well, but also retain juiciness and tenderness.

Be sure to buy only high-quality and fresh meat! Trust trusted sellers and unpleasant surprises will bypass you.

Souvlaki is traditionally made with pork, but the variant with chicken fillet will also be incomparable. You can experiment with different types of meat, choose the most suitable for you.

The results of their culinary masterpieces do not forget to describe in the comments. Only by joint efforts we can make our life much tastier!

2. Preparing the marinade for our delicious Greek kebab! To do this, add two tablespoons of salt to one liter of water. It would be nice if you use iodized salt. It is much more useful than ordinary table salt and enriches the body.

Mix well the salt in the water and pour our chicken with this solution. Mix everything, cover and send the meat to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. While the souvlaki is marinating, you can start preparing the second marinade.

To do this, remove about one teaspoon of lemon zest. To facilitate this procedure, you can freeze the lemon for a short time. A hard frozen lemon will easily give in to you! Put the resulting zest in a deep container.

Squeeze the juice from two lemons and add it to the bowl with the zest.

4. Add five tablespoons there. You can also use sunflower vegetable oil but personally I prefer olive. And which one do you prefer?

5. Add finely chopped parsley to the marinade. Greens must be fresh! This will give the barbecue a unique flavor.

6. Also add one teaspoon of honey to the marinade.

7. Be sure to add a little dry oregano, which, together with parsley, will fill our barbecue with a unique smell and taste of Greece.

Add ground black pepper to taste. Our souvlaki marinade sauce is ready! Please note that today we are preparing 1 kg of meat. If you have more chicken, then you should proportionally change the amount of all ingredients.

8. We take out our meat from the refrigerator and remove all the liquid with disposable towels.

Filling the chicken with new marinade sauce and mix thoroughly. Now you can string our skewers on wooden skewers.

9. As a lightweight vegetable garnish I suggest using slices in this recipe bell pepper, which we string together with chicken on skewers.

Almost any type of vegetable can be used, as souvlaki is perfect with anything!

In addition, when cooking shish kebab on the grill (grill), it often burns at both ends of the skewer. A vegetable supplement will perfectly help to cope with this problem! Thread a few pieces of vegetables on a wooden skewer first, then 3-4 pieces of meat and finally add vegetables again.

10. Ideal for grilling! Try cooking souvlaki in a pan. It will be no less delicious!

11. Roast meat should be on coals.

12. Serve this dish to the table, preferably with and warmed bread cakes(pitami).

Video recipe:

Additional Information:

What are souvlaki? If you translate this word from Greek, then it means small pieces of meat that are strung on wooden skewers.

And if you say plain language, then souvlaki is a Greek version of the barbecue we are used to, but cooked in a special way, which is always served to the table along with.

By the way, you can find on the pages of this blog great recipe, in which the entire process of preparing this is described step by step.

I look forward to your comments! Did you like this dish? What difficulties arose during the preparation process? Or maybe you have your own interesting recipe? I will be glad to everyone who will respond!

Well, it remains for me to wish you all bon appetit! See you soon!