My Greek Souvlaki recipe

Anyone that has been to Greece , always comes back and talks about –THAT- specific food, that which was like a kebap but not exactly the same. That food where you could find it everywhere but still could be so different in the way it was made.

That …is souvlaki, the fast food dish that you have to try when you are in Greece. Reading along on the internet about souvlakia and opinios from different people I really liked the following that Jamie Oliver wrote in his blog regarding souvlaki.

“We Brits often think of kebabs as a guilty pleasure. But, having seen the love and attention that goes into preparing a proper Greek kebab, I can assure you there is nothing to feel guilty about. It’s all about quality ingredients and fresh zingy flavours.”

I couldn’t agree with him more on that. After living for 8 years in London I think the basic difference on the Greek Souvlaki is the attention that the cook puts and the distinct flavours that can come out of it depending on how you prepare it.

As every dish, every Greek has a different way to make a souvlaki changing the recipe a little bit more than the others and still keeping it original.

I can’t say that one is more right than the other but there are some basic rules I would say. In my opinion the traditional souvlakia are always being made with pork and tzatziki. Despite that there are different variations depending on the meat that you use (chicken and mustard or different kind of sauce etc) . Nevertheless, the main essence is that the results that comes in is a beautiful mix of flavours ideal for a Sunday barbeque or… any kind of day together with beer 🙂

GREEK SOUVLAKI RECIPE INGREDIENTS

• 800gr of pork fillets
• 1 medium onion chopped
• Thyme
• 2 garlic cloves cut
• 5 spoons of olive oil
• 5spoos of vinegar from white wine
• Salt/Pepper
• wooden sticks for the souvlakia
• 3 tomatoes in thin slices.
• (optional) some lettuce chopped
• (optional) potato chips

Tzatziki Sauce

• 3 cups Greek yogurt (around 350gr)
• 2-3 garlic clove, minced
• 1 large English cucumber, diced (the long, skinny ones)
• 1 tablespoon salt (for salting cucumbers)
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill (or both, depending on preference) or 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped (or both, depending on preference)

Method

• In one small oven pot we add the vinegar and the thyme and add the sticks to marinate a bit so they dont burn.
• We remove any white fat that our pork fillets might have with a good long pointed knife. Its important as if we dont it will remain hard no matter how we well we cook it
• Cut the pork in nice cubes of around 1 cm each
• Take the deep pot and add inside the meat.
• Cut the onion in slices of various sides and add it also in.
• Add any more seasoning you might want at this point.
• Now add, the olive oil, 5 spoons of vinegar, salt and pepper and  mix them all together. You will notice that the pork will start to become more whitish because of the vinegar.Leave it on the fridge for 20 more minutes.
• After it marinates, take the meat and add it to our wooden sticks one by one until each one has around 5. (give and take..)
• Grill them, until they have a nice color and they are tender.
• Serve it together with pita bread that is already grilled.
• Add the tomatoes, tzatziki sauce and  some chopped lettuce if you do wish.

Check here how to make tzatziki

Ok, to be honest you can change the order in the end but the result remains the same. Ideally in the end you eat it with your hands like a wrap. Hope you enjoy it!

If you do prefer i have embedded a nice video where you can make the same recipe but on a pan.  Its a bit more heavy but faster.