We were inspired to make shawarma recently and, as usual, replaced the traditional with the offal. The prep for the meal was simple and the meat cooked quickly with perfect seasonings. Break up any mid-winter blues with this bright and delicious Offal Shawarma with Liver and Kidney! (Or any organs you have on hand. 🙂
Wilderness Cooking
Friends, do you know about Wilderness Cooking with Tavakkul? If you aren’t already one of his 2.5 million subscribers… Well, I’m sorry to introduce you. Consider clearing your schedule to catch up.
There’s lots to love in these films. This Azeri man is cooking nose to tail, over fire, in traditional ways. The expansive and serene mountain landscape and wordless films are captivating. His tea breaks remind of of my father-in-law. Indeed, all my favorite clips involve organ preparations and his matter-of-fact handling and methods.
Inspired
Alas, not all the videos include organ meats though. In this one here, he prepares lamb cuts and stacks them onto an upright rotisserie. After watching this, I was reminded how long it’s been since I’ve had shawarma and decided to make some.
Correction: while I thought that the dish he prepares was shawarma, I was mistaken. Apparently, ‘doner kebab’ (seen in this film) is the only kebab variety not cooked on skewers and is prepared upright like shawarma. Learn something new everyday!
Regardless, I revisited my old friend Cook’s Illustrated to find a base recipe. The original called for two and a half pounds of deboned chicken thighs. My daughter helped me prepare the original recipe with chicken thighs and flank steak – half of each.
Offal Shawarma
But it was so good, and I always have all those organs defrosting in the fridge… So we whipped up a second batch with offal on the fly. Our familiar Kidneys with Rice and Liver Piccata for later in the week could always wait.
I loved that this recipe didn’t require much work for the meat. After seasoning it, broil in large pieces. With minimal trimming, I was able to prepare several large slices of liver and a whole kidney quite easily.
Handily, two to two and a half pounds of meat easily fit on a baking sheet. If I had wire racks handy, I would have placed the meat on racks on the baking sheet for better broiling. And added foil to the bottom of the pan for easier cleaning. In the absence of wire racks, it turned out pretty well.
Liver and kidney with seasonings before broiling
The liver was thinner than the whole kidneys and came out of the broiler after about 10 minutes. In total, the kidneys took about 16 minutes.
The sliced meat was appealing on it’s own, especially after squeezing one of the lemon halves over it. The second lemon half is squeezed over the cabbage salad.
Sliced for serving
We served this shawarma with cabbage salad, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. We didn’t have warm pita, but that would also be nice. Enjoy!
Offal Shawarma with Liver and Kidneys
Notes
Optionally, soak liver and kidney in water (with a lemon squeezed in it) for an hour in the fridge. If you have a wire rack, set in baking sheet and place meat on top of rack to increase air circulation in the broiler.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 small red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced (~6 cups)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 t salt
For the sauce
- 1 cup whole-milk yogurt
- juice from 1 lemon squeezed
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3/4 t salt
- 1/2 t pepper
For the offal
- 1.25 lb liver, trimmed of skin and connective tissue
- 1.25 lb kidney, trimmed of center fat and connective tissue
- 1 t smoked paprika
- 1 t sweet paprika
- 2 t cumin
- 2 t salt
- 1/2 t pepper
- 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, cut in half, with ends trimmed off
For serving
- 3 tomatoes, sliced thin
- 4 baby cucumbers, sliced thin
- pita or sourdough bread slices, optional
Instructions
- First, prep the salad and the sauce. Add thinly-sliced cabbage, parsley leaves, olive oil and salt to large bowl. Mix well to combine and set aside. For the sauce, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- Next, move oven rack to top shelf or 6 inches from broiler element. Set broiler to high to preheat oven.
- Dry organs and remove any connective tissue you may have missed. Add to bowl with paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix well so that all surfaces are evenly seasoned.
- Line up meat in a single layer on baking sheet. Place lemon halves on their trimmed ends, one on each side of the baking sheet. Broil until offal is well-browned, about 8-12 minutes for liver and 12-16 minutes for kidneys. Rotate baking sheet after 6 minutes and gauge cooking status of each meat. Remove liver to cutting board to rest and return baking sheet to oven if kidney needs more time to cook. Meanwhile, as meat is cooking, slice tomatoes and cucumbers for serving.
- Let meat rest on cutting board for 5 minutes. Thinly slice meat into strips, add to a plate or platter and squeeze one of the broiled lemon halves over meat. Squeeze the second lemon half over the cabbage salad and remix before serving. Enjoy!
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