Pinoy Shawarma Rice

Pinoy Shawarma Rice is a Filipino dish inspired by the Middle Eastern Kebab where tapa style grilled beef is served with a safflower and margarine seasoned rice together with lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes.

Filipinos love Shawarma, Filipinos also love rice, that’s why the one who created this Pinoy Shawarma Rice is a genius, Is he? Rice and Kebabs are nothing new, in fact in countries where kebabs are commonly sold, they sell it with the warp or rice, trust me I had seen this a lot all around the world, even here in New Zealand kebabs are popularly served over rice, so what’s new? Pinoy Shawarma Rice may look similar because they are similar, the only difference is that how its seasoned is different since the beef is more like of a tapa flavour than the vertical spit roasted beef, plus the Filipino version does not use basmati rice like its Middle Eastern counterpart.

Shawarma in the Philippines boomed when I was in high school, around late 80’s and early 90’s where shawarma joints started to spring out in Metro Manila like mushrooms. It was my favourite merienda where I grab it together with my friends on a weekend afternoon. It’s such a comfort meal, easy to consume and it’s a complete meal in one, I still even remember to ask the manong to add more of that sour cream sauce every time. Now fast-forward, I guess around late 2017 it was revived but instead of the usual offering in wraps, the rice was a much-welcomed addition. I am not sure if this was popular on shawarma shops, but I had seen a surge of social media photos of this dish.

Today we will be recreating this classic basically this is my take on the Pinoy Shawarma Rice, my version I suppose is a bit upgraded from the normal Pinoy Shawarma Rice as I added more Middle Eastern flair to the recipe by adding salads that usually accompanies kebab at the same time adding a delicious serving of hummus which is a must for any dishes similar to this, so without further ado here is Ang Sarap’s version of Pinoy Shawarma Rice.

Pinoy Shawarma Rice

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 50 mins
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Filipino

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Pinoy Shawarma Rice

• Shawarma Rice (Ingredients and Method below)
• Grilled Tapa (Ingredients and Method below)
• Garlic Yoghurt Sauce (Ingredients and Method below)
• Hummus (Ingredients and Method here)

Rice

• 2 cups jasmine rice
• 2 cups water
• 6 tbsp margarine
• 1 tsp safflower (kasubha) or a pinch of saffron
• 2 tbsp toasted garlic

Side Salad

• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 head lettuce, chopped

Garlic Yoghurt Sauce

• 125 g natural yoghurt (Greek or Indian)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt

Grilled Tapa

• 750 g beef rump steak (around 2–3 pcs)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

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Instructions

Garlic Yoghurt Sauce

1. Prepare your Garlic Yoghurt Sauce by whisking all Garlic Yoghurt Sauce ingredients in a bowl.
2. Keep it in the refrigerator to chill until needed.

Rice

1. Rinse rice in running water to remove excess starch.
2. Place all rice ingredients in a rice cooker. Cook like how you normally cook rice.
3. Once cooked fluff rice and leave the pot open.

Grilled Tapa

1. In a bowl combine all Grilled Tapa ingredients apart from the beef. Mix it well.
2. Add the beef then let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator
3. Remove beef from the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking. Prepare a grill then grill beef on high heat for 4 minutes on each side (this depends on the thickness of your steak).
4. Let the beef rest for 5 minutes.
5. Thinly slice beef then place then set it aside.

Pinoy Shawarma Rice

1. To assemble, place 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice on a plate.
2. Put Side Salad ingredients on the side.
3. Top it with sliced grilled tapa.
4. Drizzle some Garlic Yoghurt Sauce on top.
5. Serve with Hummus on the side.

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Notes

You can also drizzle some sweet chilli sauce on top for extra flavour.