Recipe and pics by me (Petra)
For the tzatziki:
- 1 lemon
- 2 cucumbers
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- agave syrup (or sugar works too if you use it)
- 1 tub of Greek yogurt (I used fat free but you can pick whichever one you prefer)
*WARNING: makes a lot of tzatziki :)
Meat: get about 2 lbs of beef strips (like the kind you get to make fajitas) or you can use lamb, chicken whatever you like.
3 tbsp of olive oil.
nutmeg
salt and pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
Other Ingredients:
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- romaine lettuce (shredded)
- pita bread (I used whole grain but there are many more different varieties so pick the one you like)
Preparation:
Wash all the veggies and chop up the lettuce and put aside. Dice tomatoes; put aside. Slice onion; put aside.
Put the yogurt in a bowl and squeeze the juice of the lemon in it. I also used the mandolin grater to get the zest of the lemon into the bowl.
Grate the garlic into the bowl. Grate the cucumber into a separate bowl and when done, pick it up into your hands and gently squeeze all the access fluid out of it. Add it to the bowl with the yogurt.
Add salt and pepper, 2 table spoons of olive oil and only if the mixture is to sour tasting to my liking do I add a spoonful of agave syrup or sugar to cut down in the acidity. If it tastes good, then you can skip that.
Mix it all together and put in fridge or cooler for at least 4-5 hours to let the flavors mix together. 24 hours in advance would even be better!
I also made my own marinade for the meat and let that soak in for 4 hours. I put the strips in a tub, added onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper and 3 table spoons of olive oil and a pinch of nutmeg (don't overdo it as it is overpowering otherwise!!). Mix everything together and put in the fridge.
When everything has marinated get a skillet and turn on high heat and add just a drizzle of olive oil (remember you already used oil to marinade the meat with so you don't need much.
Once the skillet is hot, drop in half the strips of meat and stir fry until done as you like it. Over crowding the skillet by adding all the meat at once won't sear nor brown it which is why it's best to split the portion in half. Once the first batch is done, put aside on a plate and repeat with the second batch. Let the meat rest for about 10 minutes so it remains juicy.
Grab the pita bread and put in microwave for about 30 seconds just to warm it up. Then cut the top open and gently open it up on the inside so you have a pocket which you can stuff.
Now get everything ready in a sort of 'assembly line' and add first a layer of tzatziki, then add a little lettuce, tomato, some meat, more tzatziki, onion, lettuce, tzatziki, meat etc. until the pocket is full.
Now, open your mouth and bon appetit!! ;)
