It started out as a research project. I was curious if anyone had ever made a good homemade shawarma in the oven, since a rotating machine was in the range of hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars. My first pass of recipes and images found online were disappointing. I was never going to make a real shawarma at home. I lost interest for while. All of a sudden I stumbled on a YouTube video of someone making a gyro machine out of a Sunbeam rotissiere. I figured this was doable. I could do the same thing.
Three days later I found an Oster brand carousel rotissiere on Craigslist for $30. I drove out to Walnut Creek and left the money under the doormat of the seller who was kind enough to put the machine on her front porch for me. My project had begun.
I started by modifiying the basket that holds the chicken. I wrapped some tape around it and sliced it off using a dremel too. Once completed, I didn’t have a metal plate to make a solid base. I covered a thick paper disk (the type that is the cover for a tin take out container) with aluminum foil to solve the problem.
Here it is completed. The metal rod screws into the base.
I had already sliced some lamb and marinated it overnight in a mixture of yogurt, tumeric, garlic, cumin, corriender, allspice, pepper, and salt. I flipped the metal rod over and carefully stacked the slices of meat on. I put it all together, placed it back in the machine and turned it on.
Now that the meat was slowly roasting away I worked on my pita bread. I rolled out the small and delicate pieces of dough and set them to rise.
Some must have condiments include onion and tahina sauce.
And after hours of waiting I had my lunch.
There was not much leftover.
