Cinnamon Souvlaki-Pita

Intro: Cinnamon Souvlaki-Pita

Souvlaki is a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer. It may be served on the skewer for eating out of hand, in a pita sandwich with garnishes and sauces, or on a dinner plate, often with pilaf. The meat is traditionally pork in Greece, or in modern times increasingly chicken. In other countries and for tourists, souvlaki may be made with other meats such as lamb and sometimes fish (especially swordfish).

The terminology of souvlaki and its variants is confusing and inconsistent. Depending on the context, the term 'souvlaki' by itself may refer to any of the variants. In some regions and some restaurants, the name shish kebab is used to denote a particular variant of souvlaki(e.g. with vegetables on the skewer), but it is essentially a synonym. In many regions, primarily Athens and the south of Greece, a gyros sandwich is nicknamed a 'souvlaki'.
-Wikipedia.org

This tasty dish serves approximately 12 people, and is surprisingly easy to make. Souvlaki is sometimes referred to as "the hamburger of Greece", in that, there are thousands of restaurants and stalls that each have a variation on the recipe. I think the cinnamon really sets this variation apart from the rest.

I have included a PDF of my recipe below.

STEP 1: Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients:

Meat
-4 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into small pieces
-1/4 cup white wine
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup soy sauce
-2 teaspoon dried oregano
-3 cloves garlic, crushed (or 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder)
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-3 tablespoons sugar
-black pepper to taste
Filling
-diced onions (optional)
-diced green bell peppers (optional)
-cucumbers (cut in half and sliced thin)
-tomatoes (diced)
-whole milk yogurt
-feta cheese
6 large Pitas (pocket bread)

once you have all this, you can get down to the cooking.

STEP 2: Cooking

In a large glass bowl, mix together wine, olive oil, soy sauce, oregano, garlic, cinnamon, sugar, and pepper to make the marinade.

Put meat in a large (1 gallon) freezer bag, add the marinade and let it sit for 2 hours.

Cook the meat thoroughly in a frying pan or skillet.

Lightly brush the pitas with olive oil and allow them to warm in the oven. They should still be relatively soft, so don't overheat them.

Place meat, pitas, and all fillings in bowls and plates to serve.

STEP 3: Eating

Take a pita and cut it in half.
Put meat, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and peppers into the pocket.
Pour one or two spoonfuls of yogurt into the opening.
Top with crumbled or grated feta cheese.

Enjoy.

Comments

[yota]

"In many regions, primarily Athens and the south of Greece, a gyros sandwich is nicknamed a 'souvlaki'." Just so you know: WRONG! Nowhere is this true (unless the particular restaurant is full of tourists or idiots). Gyros and Souvlaki are completely different, aside from maybe the pita. Gyros meat is traditionally beef, lamb, pork, etc. mixed (it's kind of like Greece's answer to the hotdog that way), and souvlaki is usually all pork, though you can get chicken souvlaki. Also, traditionally, souvlaki is not served with vegetables (although it can depend on where you go) or tzatziki sauce (the cucumber yogurt stuff), and in Greece they serve it in a wrap, with the fries inside the sandwich... Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia... :P And making cinnamon souvlaki? Interesting, I guess, so points for fusion. I'll probably try it soon, and hope my family doesn't disown me...

[dim20]

are u greek?

[phevtron]

well thats good , i hope womeday ill be able to show suvlaki just the way its made here ;)

[hacedor]

That looks so good! We used to eat gyros in Germany all the time.

[susie]

carnivore porn

[nikpel]

Hi, if you want some Greek Souvlaki, these are the steps you should do: 1) Get a pita (original pita is round) 2) Get some pork 3) fried potatoes 4) onions sliced 5) Tzatziki or yogurt or mustard and ketchup 6) tomato sliced 7) Salt and pepper 1st, fry the potatoes and pita 2nd, chop the pork into medium pieces (as much as it fits in your mouth), add salt and pepper as much as you like. Notice that the original is very salty and peppered. 3rd, slice the onion After you have all these prepared, add all the above: 1) take the pita, 2) add the meat, 3) add potatoes, 4) tomato and onion, 5) mustard and ketchup, or tzatziki or yogurt Some variations include: a) addition of a mix of salt and oregano after the potatoes b) addtion of pepper after yogurt, on the yogurt c) mustard and ketchup on the potatoes and exclude tomatoes d) exclude potatoes and use only 1,2,4,a. This makes a small souvlaki, and you can eat enough of them. Don't do the variations all together. NOTICE: Souvlaki mixes meat and potatoes which is not a good combination. So during eating a souvlaki or after, drink a coca-cola or a beer. After meal, a coca-cola or a soda is served. Finally, souvlaki is not served on a plate. You take it on hand (you can use some paper that resists on oil) and wrap the souvlaki around. You can search in google images the word Σουβλάκι (copy and paste it). If you want to ask something, please do.

[LasVegas]

Nice intro, and it's nice that you supplied a PDF for easy printing. It would be nice if you put the rest of the recipe and preperation into the instructable and let us decide beforehand if we want the PDF. BTW: you show a picture of a product I've never seen in the US. It appears to be labled "whole milk plain cream on top." Another example of why we need some text with the instructable.

[gschoppe]

yeah, i kinda rushed this one off, I'll add steps.... the Stonyfield Farm container is whole milk yogurt...