How to Make SHAVERMA! (Shaurma): Basic and Loaded

I guess it's about time I posted a "Russian" (it's actually more middle Eastern) recipe on here!

Shaverma is a favorite street food in St. Petersburg, not sure about other parts of Russia. It's the local version of various ingredients wrapped in a bread product and topped with a sauce! Gyro.... tortilla... kabob... nope, SHAVERMA! It's common to deny liking this popular dish, as the ingredients may be of unknown origins...but come on, it's delicious! All the more reason to make it at home without that stigma.

ALSO (see photo), Andrei and I discovered another version which is called "Shaverma on a plate." I'll call it "loaded" Shaverma here. We (he) recreated it at home, and it's awesome!

What's so yummy about shaverma? First of all, the meat is flavored nicely. And then, the sauce really ties it all together. It's sort of a homemade ranch dressing. Details below!

"Loaded" Shaverma (sans pita)...I can't get enough of that sauce!

Recipe after the jump...

How to Make "Italian" Breadsticks

I wanted to make a savory treat for Bible study and I thought making breadsticks brushed with garlic butter would be a good choice. You know, the kind you get at Olive Garden or with an order of pizza. It's been really cold lately, so heating up the kitchen was a goal, too!

I was pleasantly surprised by the recipe I found via food.com. No test run or anything and they turned out excellent!

Managed to snap a photo before they disappeared!

Minimal ingredients and effort. The recipe is here and you can read the comment section for more ideas.

Here are my modifications:

-all-purpose flour (still totally fine and a good texture, but probably even BETTER with cake flour); or try whole wheat for a healthier version

-seasoning mix included butter, olive oil, garlic, salt, "Italian" seasoning (oregano, basil, thyme, etc.) and a little grated cheese...easy to mix up while they're in the oven

-proofing the yeast in the warm water before adding the flour (doesn't say in the directions but I did it just in case)

Really, really easy and I'm excited to add it to my snack repertoire. It would be fun to try with dipping sauces, too!

How to Make Folares for Easter

Another recipe from our family cookbook is this famous folares recipe from my childhood. This is the first time I had made it myself! Not bad, though I think I could have pulled them out of the oven a TINY bit sooner.

A reminder of the cross and the RISEN Savior!

The idea here is that you take a boiled Easter egg (they really should be dyed to get the visual effect, but you could use onion skins or another natural source of color if you're nervous about chemicals), place it in the middle of the dough, and form a dough cross on top. As they bake, they rise.

Folares-going into the oven

To make for breakfast, you can have them rising in the fridge the night before. To serve, you can have butter out and either eat them as a sweet treat with jam or make a little sandwich out of them with the peeled eggs as filling, whatever you'd like.

Recipe is after the jump: