It is difficult to find a resident of Greece who would say that he does not eat souvlaki - the most affordable and adored dish, sold here at every turn: in the capital and provinces, cities and villages, on the islands and the mainland.
In Greece, souvlaki is loved by everyone: poor and rich, schoolchildren and students, professors and clerks, housewives and even prime ministers. And the migrants who settled in the country from different parts of the world liked this delicacy.
And indeed: during a school recess or lunch break, in the evening after work or study, while walking around the city or shopping, getting together with friends to watch their favorite football or basketball team play, or simply being hungry, residents of the country rush to nearby local street food, called souvladzidiko (σουβλατζίδικko), to satisfy your hunger with your favorite dish.
Every family carefully keeps catalogs and advertising booklets with phone numbers where you can choose and order souvlaki at home if the hostess did not have time to prepare lunch or dinner, or friends unexpectedly came to the house for a party.
In any case, you can be sure that everyone will enjoy the treat.
In Greece, it has long been an open secret that many world-famous fast food franchise chains, such as McDonald's or Goodis, have suffered a crushing defeat here from small σουβλατζίδικkos offering traditional Greek cuisine, which primarily includes souvlaki.
What kind of delicacy is this that is not similar to hamburgers, or Bic-Macs with hot dogs, or other “fast food delights”?
Why do the Greeks love it, and not only them, but all those who have tried it at least once in Greece?
What is Greek Souvlaki and where does this dish come from?
Souvlaki (Greek: Σουβλάκι) are small kebabs made from pork or chicken, less often lamb or beef, cut into small pieces and aged in a special marinade of olive oil and lemon juice, with the addition of oregano and other aromatic herbs.
They are threaded onto short wooden skewers or skewers that resemble a long thick toothpick, the so-called souvla (σούβλα), from which the name of this dish comes.
Once upon a time, such skewers were made from reeds - “kalami” (καλαμι), therefore the dish has another name - “kalamaki” (καλαμάκι). By the way, in Greece this is also the name for a straw served with soft drinks or various cocktails.
Such kebabs are fried on coals or on a grill, but sometimes they are also cooked in the oven, however, this method is practiced in cases where it is not possible to light an open fire.
But it’s not only the size and marinating method that distinguishes souvlaki from other types of kebabs.
There is also a difference in the methods of serving the finished dish:
The first, and the simplest - after frying, they are served in portions, right on the skewers with pieces of grilled bread and fried French fries. This method of serving is more common in the south of Greece and in the Greek capital. This is how souvlaki served is called “kalamaki”.
Second, and now more popular- the meat removed from the spit is wrapped in “pita” (lavash) and various salads and sauces are added to it according to the client’s order: ketchup, mustard sauce, tomato and onion salad, as well as fried potatoes.
Souvlaki wrapped in pita flatbread resembles in appearance another similar dish, which here is called “gyro” (analogous to shawarma, which is well known to many tourists).
But the similarity is only external: the meat is also wrapped in pita. Gyro is a completely different dish both in terms of preparation and taste.
Souvlaki is not just a very tasty, but also an economical dish. And, although it is quite high in calories (460 Kcal with pita), but by eating just one portion, you can satisfy your hunger for a long time.
And the calorie content can be easily reduced by almost half if you fry the pita without oil and do not add French fries and fatty sauces to the dish.
Thanks to these advantages, souvlaki has been, is and remains a favorite national Greek dish for many centuries.
Don't believe me? This is what history tells us...
The ancient Greeks also ate souvlaki
This fact is easy to confirm!
In 2011, when on the island, excavations were carried out of Bronze Age settlements, well preserved under a layer of ash from a volcanic eruption that occurred around 1500 BC. e., then among other artifacts, to the surprise of archaeological scientists, they managed to discover an interesting object: stone grill! With holes cut inside it for air circulation, into which souvla skewers made of hard wood were inserted.
Now this grill is on display at the local museum in Fira, the Museum of Prehistoric Thera.
Greek archaeologist Christos Dumas, who led the excavations, said that 3,500 years ago the Greeks feasted on kebabs grilled over coals. And this is the main proof that then souvlaki is the most Greek dish, and not Turkish at all, as many culinary critics claim.
On such grills they fried not only souvlaki, but also meat cut into very small pieces, with the addition of aromatic herbs, mounted on a spit like minced meat for kebab. And again we can say that kebab was also invented by ancient Greek chefs, the name of the dish was borrowed much later from the Turks during the Ottoman yoke.
The ancient Greek writer Athenaeus from Naucratis, who lived at the turn of the 2nd–3rd centuries AD. e. in his famous 15-volume book “The Feasting Sophists,” he describes in detail the dish called kandavlos (Κάνδαυλος), served in the house of the wealthy scientist and philanthropist Lorenzo at a symposium organized in honor of the philosophers and sages of the time, among whom were such celebrities as Galen and Plutarch.
The dish described by Athenaeus is almost exactly reminiscent of modern souvlaki- meat removed from small skewers, after roasting it over coals, wrapped in a thin bread cake along with cheese and dill.
According to statistics, the Greek dish souvlaki has no serious competitors; they are not afraid of even such a popular dish in the world as sushi!
In the joke that the Hellenes like to repeat that they not only absorbed the love of souvlaki with their mother’s milk, but that it is embedded in their DNA, there is only a grain of joke, and everything else is historical truth.
Souvlaki is a famous Greek world brand. For tourists coming to Greece, souvlaki has become as integral a symbol of the country as sirtaki, ouzo, Feta cheese, etc.
Remembering the Greek proverb “A hungry bear does not dance,” we can say: after trying Greek souvlaki, you will want to dance the fiery “Sirtaki” dance.
Let's find out how to prepare authentic Greek souvlaki at home.
Classic Greek souvlaki recipe
First, let's prepare the pita in which we will wrap our souvlaki.
We will need:
Cooking method
- Mix the yeast with sugar and ½ cup warm water and wait until the yeast dissolves.
- Add salt to the sifted flour and make a hole in the center of the flour mound. Pour in the dissolved yeast, olive oil and ½ cup of warm water.
- Knead the dough, adding warm water as needed, until the dough no longer sticks to your hands and is soft and pliable.
- Place the dough in a well-greased bowl. Having formed a ball out of it, cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it stand for 1.5 hours so that it infuses and increases in volume.
- Punch down the dough and shape it into round pitas, 15 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick.
- Pita should be baked in the oven at a temperature of 230°, but not until fully cooked, but only 5~7 minutes.
- Once the pitas have cooled, place them in plastic bags and place them in the freezer to use when needed.
- If you need pitas, all you have to do is remove them from the freezer and, after brushing with oil on both sides and sprinkling with salt and oregano, fry them on the grill or frying pan.
For 4 servings of souvlaki you should prepare 800 g. pork tenderloin without veins and tendons, cutting the meat into small, bite-sized cubes, approximately 2.5 x 2.5 cm.
The most basic thing is the marinade for the future dish, for which mix 4 tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of a small lemon and 1 small glass of white wine.
Add to the mixture:
- 2 cloves finely chopped garlic;
- onion ground in a blender;
- ½ bunch of parsley;
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce;
- rosemary;
- oregano;
- salt and pepper.
Prepare souvlaki as follows:
- Mix everything thoroughly.
- Pour the sauce over the meat pieces, cover the bowl with a lid and place the meat in the refrigerator overnight so that it is well saturated with the marinade.
- In the morning, thread the pieces of meat onto wooden skewers and grill the souvlaki over charcoal or on the grill, occasionally basting it with the remaining marinade.
- Serve the skewers with pita bread, garnished with cherry tomatoes and a green salad.
Kali Orexy! Bon appetit!
Ekatirina Aravani spoke about the most popular dish in Greece
In situations where it is not possible to cook barbecue over an open fire, you can use an ordinary oven.
In Greece there is an analogue of kebab called souvlaki. Souvlaki is prepared from pork or chicken.
Meat is most often alternated with vegetables, threaded onto small skewers.
In Greece, souvlaki is often put into pita bread and sold as fast food.
In a home kitchen, making souvlaki is not very difficult.
Moreover, for this dish it is not at all necessary to select products from Greece.
For 5 servings of homemade souvlaki you will need:
- 1 kg pork;
- 1 kg chicken fillet.
For the marinade:
- lemon;
- herbs to choose from;
- salt;
- pepper;
- 50 ml oil.
For the sauce:
- 150 g yogurt;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- 100 g cucumber;
- 10 g parsley.
For vegetable side dish:
- 200 g pepper;
- a head of young garlic;
- 200 g onion;
- 200 g cherry tomatoes.
1. Cut the meat and chicken fillet into pieces weighing about 30 - 35 g;
2. Transfer them to a suitable container, pour in a liter of water in which 40 g of salt have been dissolved. Leave everything for half an hour or an hour.
3. Drain the water from the meat. Prepare a marinade from oil, juice of 1-2 lemons, pepper.
4. Pour it into the meat and mix well. If desired, you can add dry herbs, in this case thyme is used.
5. Then thread the meat onto skewers, which were kept in water for 10 minutes.
6. Place the skewers with meat on a baking sheet covered with foil.
7. Place the baking sheet on which the souvlaki is placed in the center of the oven. Set the temperature in it to + 180 degrees.
8. Cook kebabs for 35 - 40 minutes.
9. While the Greek souvlaki is frying, wash, peel and chop the vegetables into large pieces. Leave the cherry whole.
10. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, fry the vegetables for 10 - 12 minutes, salt and pepper them to taste.
In Greek cuisine, vegetables are either skewered mixed with meat or grilled. At home, they turn out tastier in a frying pan with oil.
11. All that remains is to prepare the tzatziki sauce. Cut the peeled cucumber lengthwise; if the variety has well-formed seeds, remove them with a spoon.
The cucumber is cut into very small cubes. Chop the parsley and garlic with a knife. Combine everything with yogurt.
Add salt to taste. If the store does not have yogurt from Greece, you can take yogurt from a local manufacturer or sour cream.
Bon appetit!
If you love Greek cuisine and meat, be sure to try making souvlaki! But first, find out what it is!
What is this?
Souvlaki is a national Greek dish, which consists of small kebabs on wooden skewers. Most often, pork is used for preparation, but lamb, chicken and even fish are also suitable (fish souvlaki is prepared almost exclusively for tourists).
The preparation 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, before being threaded onto small wooden skewers and either grilled over coals or roasted on a baking sheet placed over coals. Today, souvlaki is considered something of a Greek fast food and is served in almost all restaurants, cafes and bistros.
How to cook?
How to make Greek souvlaki? We offer several options.
Pork souvlaki
This recipe can be called classic. To prepare you will need:
- 1 kg pork;
- 1 lemon;
- 5 tablespoons of olive oil;
- 1 teaspoon of dried oregano;
- pepper and salt to taste.
Preparation:
- In a small bowl, mix olive oil with freshly squeezed lemon juice, pepper and salt, mix well again.
- Wash the pork and cut it into small cubes, pour the marinade over them and leave for three hours.
- Now take skewers, thread the pork onto them and fry over coals until fully cooked. This usually takes about 15-20 minutes since the pieces are small.
Chicken
No less tasty souvlaki can be made from chicken. By the way, such a dish will turn out to be practically dietary.
Ingredients needed for cooking:
- about 1 kg of chicken fillet or breasts;
- 50 ml white wine;
- 100 ml olive oil;
- 50 ml lemon juice;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- ½ teaspoon oregano;
- ½ teaspoon thyme;
- pepper and salt to taste.
Cooking method:
- Cut the chicken fillet into small cubes approximately 2x2 centimeters in size.
- Peel and chop the garlic using a knife, garlic press or blender.
- Prepare the marinade by mixing olive oil, wine, lemon juice, minced garlic, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Pour the marinade over the sliced fillet and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Thread the cubes onto wooden skewers and grill the souvlaki.
Fish
Fish souvlaki is also a 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:
- Separately, it is worth writing about fish. In general, in Greece they traditionally use swordfish, but you can replace it with some other fish, but certainly sea fish (river fish does not have the most pleasant smell and taste), white and fatty fish (low-fat fish can become very dry when fried). So, the fillet needs to be cut into small cubes.
- 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.
- Immerse the sliced fish in the marinade and leave for about 20 minutes (if marinated for longer, the fish may become dry).
- Now thread the pieces onto skewers and fry the souvlaki over charcoal or on the grill.
How to submit?
Souvlaki is usually served either directly on skewers with slices of lemon and white bread (sometimes the appetizer is combined with salads or other dishes) or in pita bread along with a filling, which can be tomatoes, onions, potatoes, sweet peppers, and lettuce. A sauce, such as ketchup, tzatziki or mustard, is also included.
- Souvlaki can also be cooked on the grill, but then it can turn out quite dry. You can also use the oven, in which the meat will retain its juiciness and aroma, but will not smell like coals.
- It is quite difficult to cut meat so finely, so take a sharp knife, it will be much more convenient and easier to work with.
- Use tender meat, as stringy meat will turn out dry and tough.
- Olive oil can be replaced with regular sunflower oil or some other oil, but in Greece they use olive oil, and its aroma is unique.
- Remember to turn the kebabs regularly so they cook evenly.
- Some cooks soak the skewers in water for five or ten minutes, which makes them more slippery and also allows the meat or fish to be lightly steamed from the inside during cooking (due to evaporating moisture). But if you are using lean meat, then instead of water you can use olive oil, then the pieces will quickly be removed from the skewers and soaked in oil from the inside.
- You can also put onions or vegetables on skewers along with fish or meat, for example, tomato slices, eggplant rings, bell peppers.
Be sure to try this amazing Greek dish, it's so easy!
Souvlaki– traditional for Greek cuisine, small-sized kebabs cooked on wooden skewers. The name of the dish comes from the word “suvla”, which is the name given to kebabs. Previously, it was baked on skewers made from reed stalks, called kala, which is why the dish is also called “kalamaki”.
It’s interesting that souvlaki is sold at every turn in Greece, so almost everyone who vacationed in this amazing country has tried these delicious kebabs. There is some debate about the history of souvlaki. Some culinary critics argue that souvlaki is not a walnut, but a Turkish dish. The controversy over souvlaki would have continued to drag on if not for archaeological excavations that indicate that the Greeks spit-roasted cut-up meat as early as 3,500 years ago.
As for meat, souvlaki is most often prepared from pork, but don’t be surprised if you come across recipes for souvlaki made from chicken, lamb, beef or salmon. Traditionally, souvlaki is cooked over an open fire, on a grill, but it is also possible to cook it in the oven if there is no other way to cook it.
In Greece, there are two ways to serve souvlaki. The first way is to serve it on skewers. This method of serving meat snacks is common in southern Greece. The second method involves using fried meat as a filling for pita bread. Souvlaki is placed on thin pita bread. Pour over ketchup, tzatziki sauce, add mustard, chopped tomatoes, pickled onions, and salad greens. French fries are often added to these ingredients. Everything is wrapped in pita bread and served as a fast food snack. Thus, souvlaki turns out to be similar to something like shawarma.
In Greece today there are several dozen varieties of souvlaki. Today I want to show you how to cook classic Greek souvlaki at home in the oven.
Ingredients:
- Pork – 1 kg.,
- Lemon juice – 3 teaspoons,
- Olive oil – 3 tbsp. spoons,
- Salt – 1/3 teaspoon,
- Spices: black pepper, a mixture of dried herbs - to taste,
- Fresh marjoram or oregano – 1-2 sprigs.
Souvlaki - recipe with photos
Rinse the pork prepared for souvlaki under cold water, then dry with napkins. Cut into small pieces, slightly smaller than for shish kebab on skewers. The size of the meat pieces should not exceed 3 cm.
Transfer the pork to a deep bowl. Squeeze lemon juice into bowl with meat. If you don't have lemon, replace it with apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar.
Sprinkle the meat with black ground pepper.
Drizzle olive oil over souvlaki.
Add salt.
Wash the marjoram sprigs.
Chop finely. Add to meat. Along with marjoram, you can use basil, thyme, savory, and mint to make souvlaki. Add a mixture of dried Provençal herbs.
Stir the meat for souvlaki. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in the refrigerator. The marinating time for meat is about 3-4 hours. Half an hour before cooking, soak wooden skewers in cold water. Having gained moisture, they will not burn or char during the baking process.
After this time, when the meat has marinated, it can be baked. Thread pieces of meat onto wooden skewers, piercing them in the center.
Heat the oven to 180C. Place the resulting meat kebabs on the grill. As the souvlaki bakes, they will release juice, so you need to place a baking sheet or mold underneath them so that the juice drips into it and not onto the bottom of the oven.
After about 10 minutes, turn the pork skewers over. Let it brown on the other side as well. Bake the souvlaki for no more than 30 minutes in total. Meat soaked in lemon juice becomes soft and does not require long baking.
As written above, souvlaki can be served directly on skewers, or wrapped in pita flatbread. It's up to you to decide. Souvlaki on skewers is traditionally served with fried pieces of white bread, salads, and sauces. I wish you bon appetit. I will be glad if this souvlaki recipe
