Hawawshi (arayes)- Egyptian meat-stuffed pitafeatured
Hawawshi is a quick and delicious Egyptian meal of pita bread stuffed with seasoned meat and onions, then grilled or baked to crispy perfection. A famous Egyptian street food, it is also eaten throughout the Levant where it is known as ‘arayes’.
Hawawshi makes for a quick and easy dinner, loved by kids and adults alike! Dip it in something creamy, like plain yogurt, labna, or tahina sauce. I love it with my all-time favorite salad, Egyptian salata baladi, or pickles!
How to make Hawawshi
Hawawshi is made by stuffing pita bread with minced meat and then baking, grilling or cooking on a griddle until crisp. While cooking, the fat from the meat seeps into the bread, which crisps up to give a crunchy exterior surrounding your juicy, flavorful meat filling. If you can get your hands on Egyptian ‘aish balady’ bread, use that. Since that can be hard in diaspora, here I use small to medium-sized pita bread.
To make, mince a few cloves of garlic, dice one medium onion, and chop up a handful of parsley- or be extra lazy like me and throw it all in the food processor. Add that to one pound of ground beef.
Spices
Next you will season your meat mixture. Of course, we start with salt and pepper, then we go in with some warm and fragrant spices. With hawawshi, as with most of my cooking, I mix up my spicing a bit every time. You can use spices like allspice, cumin and coriander (or a Middle-Eastern spice mix that contains these called baharat) and maybe even a bit cinnamon, cardamom and chilli pepper or paprika.
I also love to add diced green Thai or serrano chiles to my hawawshi.
Assembling and cooking your hawawshi
Cut your pita into halves, and stuff with a thin layer of the mixture. This should not look like a big bulky burger, it should be 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick, or about 1 cm.
To cook, place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, brush with olive oil and bake in a 400F oven for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway.
You can watch the hawawshi-making process on my instagram reels here!
Bel hana wel shifa!
Hawawshi
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef 80/20 fat
- 1 white or yellow onion medium size, minced
- 1/2 bunch parsley flat leaf, minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 5 or 6 small pita breads pocket style
Spices
- 2 tsp salt kosher
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp baharat spice mix OR 1 tsp each allspice, cumin, coriander
- Thai or serrano chilli pepper minced, to taste, optional
For cooking
- olive oil for brushing on hawashi
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
- Finely mince garlic, onions and parsley by hand in food processor.
- Add ground beef and spices and mix thoroughly, You can do this all together in a food processor, or mix in a bowl by hand.
- Cut pita pockets in half.
- Stuff each half with some of the meat mixture, It should be spread in a thing even layer throughout the pita half and each the edges.
- Place stuffed pita on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and brush with a thin layer of olive oil.
- Bake in oven on middle rack for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping halfway, or until crispy and golden brown.
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