Truthfully, I'm not a very huge fan of Mediterranean food. I feel that sometimes, the ingredients they used is a bit too far out for my simple, Joe Shmoe Palate. But I do have to admit, I'm a fan of a good Shawarma. I pick out the tomatoes, and cucumbers and whatever vegetable they may have thrown in there (Or request it with no veggies hehe), drizzle my meat packed wrap in the garlic sauce, and BAM, i'm good to go (Did that sound weird?).
One time a few years back, I was having dinner at my parent's place. My mom (who loves experimenting with recipes), made a deconstructed Vegetable Shawarma, filled with egg plant, yellow peppers and the like (I say "deconstructed" because you wrap it yourself). Truthfully, when mixed with the garlic sauce she made, it was actually quite good. If there is anyone who is aware that I am a Picky Eater, it's the woman who raised me and had to deal with my picky-ness first hand, so she also prepared a plate of liempo for me to devour, just to make sure I don't complain.
As I was watching them wrapping up their shawarmas in the pita bread (she also set aside some grilled chicken breast strips for those who wanted more protein in their shawarma), I realized I was missing out on the fun. The steaming Pitas were too irresistible to pass up, so I decided I wanted to make a shawarma. I had already put a small pile of liempo on to my plate, so I was getting a little guilty (just a little) about double carb-ing my meal.. A chicken breast-veggie shawarma, and liempo with rice? You can't have liempo without rice, can you? You could very well lose your Filipino citizenship!
Torn between wanting to make myself a shawarma and eating my liempo, a had a moment of Zen, and did the unthinkable: I made a Liempo Shawarma. And it was incredible. How incredible? Well.. My companions for the evening.. meaning my brother, my wife, and yes, even my mom saw what I was doing. And guess what? There was loads of chicken breast and veggies leftover that night.. and not a single piece of liempo.
I called my creation "Inihaw na Shawarma", and realized that there was so much possible concoctions one could come up with, using that classic Mediterranean wrap. The closest thing I had ever seen to creativity with a shawarma, was when a popular Mediterranean restaurant gave you an option to add french fries into it (Quite good though). But how about a shawarma for the everyman.. the guy that doesn't eat too much veggies.. the guy whose taste buds has been far too influenced by the Western culture.. A guy like me?
Enter Shawarma Guys.
