In the past, I’ve made schwarma recipes from websites like BBC Good Food, which were generally meat-based, usually using chicken. I recently moved out of my childhood home, and have been eating less meat overall as a result – although I don’t place labels on my diet, meat is something (except for fish, which I love) that I don’t really miss if I don’t have it. Sort of like alcohol. As a result, I’ve been trying out vegetarian versions of some of my favourite dishes – hence, a chickpea tofu schwarma! Schwarma is a Middle Eastern dish which is traditionally meat-based – the meat is usually marinated, slowly roasted and then slices of it are cut and stuffed into pita breads. It is DELICIOUS, and I hope you find this vegetarian twist on it to be similarly tasty!

Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1/4 tsp mild chili powder
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of ground turmeric
• 1 tsp of ground coriander
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1 tsp of paprika
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce or tamari (this is basically gluten-free soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of tomato puree
• 3 tbsp of water
• 1 red onion
• 1 medium courgette
• 250g button mushrooms
• 1 green/red/yellow pepper
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 200g of tofu (I used a smoked tofu for this, but fresh tofu would work too, it will probably crumble a little bit more however) – dice the block of tofu into 1 inch chunks
• 4 wholemeal/wholegrain pita breads
• To Serve: You’ll need lettuce or green leaves, baby tomatoes, HUMMUS, avocado and tahini if you like those (favourites of mine!).

Method 

1. Prepare your garlic and veggies first – peel and finely dice the garlic clove, peel and dice the onion, wash and dice up the courgette/mushrooms/peppers (remove the stems/seeds first of course!).
2. Heat the olive oil in a medium size pot, and then add the diced onion and garlic, followed by the veggies. Cook for a couple of minutes to soften the veg a little, then add the soy sauce/tamari and cook for another minute or so.
3. Add the spices, stir them in, and cook for another few minutes to coat the veggies in them.
4. Add the chickpeas and the tofu next, and stir them in.
5. Add the tomato puree, honey and water and stir for another 5-10 minutes on a low heat. If it starts to dry out, add a little extra water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
6. You’re good to go! Serve by stuffing scoops of this schwarma into a pitta pocket and tucking in! I definitely recommend popping lettuce, chopped tomatoes and a scoop of hummus and tahini, with a little slice of avocado into your pitta with the schwarma for the full foodie experience of this dish!

Enjoy guys! Tag me if you try this one out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x