Shawarma, a popular Middle Eastern street food, is popular among foodies in India. Consisting of thinly sliced meat served in pita bread or wraps with vegetables, hummus and garlic sauce, it offers a perfect blend of textures and flavours. However, in a now-viral Instagram video, the classic dish is seen getting a complete sweet makeover. Ditching the traditional ingredients, the video shows a vendor preparing the shawarma with his own sweet additions. First, he pours a creamy, crepe-style batter onto a tawa and cooks it until golden brown to create the outer layer. He then spreads a generous amount of chocolate syrup over the crepe, followed by shavings from red velvet and chocolate cakes.
The sponge cakes are stacked vertically on a spit, similar to how meat is layered for shawarma and roasted slowly. After shaving small chunks of cake using a scalpel-like tool, the vendor adds them to the crepe, drizzling more chocolate sauce and a few dollops of fresh cream on top. He then rolls the crepe, tops it with chocolate chips and serves it to the vlogger. After tasting the sweet shawarma, she is seen expressing her approval with a hand gesture and a delighted expression.
The sweet shawarma is available at a food truck located on Waff's Street in Janakpuri, Delhi. As per the text overlay in the video, the outlet has been serving the dessert-style shawarma for Rs 230 per wrap.
Foodies were divided over the sweet shawarma and flooded the comments section with mixed reactions.
An upset foodie said, “RIP shawarma.”
Another disappointed person commented, “Diabetes is on the way.”
Someone added, “Ant karib hai guys (The end is near, guys).”
“Isse acha cake kharid ke khaa lu (It is better to have cake instead),” recommended a foodie.
“This is the worst shawarma I will ever eat in my entire life,” read another comment.
Meanwhile, one user showed enthusiasm about trying the dish and exclaimed, “This is unique.”
Other Unique Shawarma Fusions
This is not the first time shawarma fusions have gone viral. In the past, a food vlogger prepared a fish shawarma from scratch using a mix of ketchup and mayonnaise - but the end result disappointed even the creator. Read more here.
Before that, a London-based influencer transformed the dish into a healthier option with her gluten-free potato wrap shawarma recipe. She shared the recipe on Instagram with the caption, “Gluten-Free Potato Wrap Shawarma." Click here to know more.
A chef once shared a unique recipe for a chicken shawarma hummus cake on Instagram, leaving the internet divided. Unlike the traditional process, the hummus was prepared using chickpeas, jalapeno, tahini and lemon juice, while the ground chicken was seasoned with garlic sauce and layered with salt, grapeseed oil and lemon juice to create a thick paste. Read the full recipe here.