Gyros Marinade

For the past few weeks, every Thursday was "Kebab Day". With delicious kebab seitan from my WTF seitan shreds. But the kids wanted a little variety and we agreed on gyros as a compromise. ;D

That is why there was delicious tomato rice, tzaziki sauce, coleslaw, tomato-cucumber salad with feta, flatbread, French fries, pepperoni and of course gyros based on seitan, which gets its unbelievably delicious taste from the marinade.

Duration: 1-2 hours (the longer you let the gyros pull, the better)

Difficulty: easy

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

750g seitan shreds or soaked soy curls

150g onions

25g tomato paste

50g red wine

40g soy sauce

10g lemon juice

50g rapeseed oil

10g salt

4g pepper

15g paprika powder

5g onion granules

5g yeast flakes/nooch

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon savory

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1/2 teaspoon basil

Pinch of rosemary

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of cumin

A few drops of liquid smoke

Garlic at your own discretion

Preparation:

Yes, I know no red wine or tomatoes belong in a gyros seasoning, but the whole thing together with the soy sauce simply gives the seitan a certain depth that you just can't get with just the spices. Since I usually don't season my seitan shreds too much beforehand, the amount of spices and ingredients is definitely necessary to get the classic spiciness of gyros. First, the seitan is torn into beautiful shreds and the onion is cut into strips that are not too fine. If you don't want to use seitan, you can of course replace it with boiled and well-squeezed soy schnitzel. Then mix all the ingredients for the marinade together and then massage them into the shreds and onions. I like to let the whole thing soak in overnight or at least for 3-4 hours, but even after an hour the gyros should be pulled through well enough to continue using it.

In the meantime, there is definitely enough time to make a tzaziki sauce and prepare the remaining components, for example if you want to bake flatbread or make a salad yourself. For the tzaziki, I let 1-1.5 cups of unsweetened yoghurt drain through a sieve lined with a kitchen towel for 1-2 hours so that it becomes a little creamier.

Then add a little olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic as desired, fresh herbs such as dill and parsley, a little oregano and finely chopped cucumber. It is best to sprinkle the cucumber with a little salt after cutting and then dry it with a piece of kitchen roll so that it does not bring too much water / moisture into the sauce. Then the tzaziki is allowed to move in the refrigerator so that the aroma of the garlic and herbs can develop better. It is best to season again before serving and, if necessary, to add seasoning.

For the tomato rice I finely chopped 75g onion and sautéed in about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Then add 250g of rice and sauté briefly with the onions. Then the rice is extinguished with a 400g can of chopped tomatoes and 250g of light vegetable stock. The whole thing can then boil once while stirring and then simmer on reduced heat until the rice is cooked through and the liquid is almost completely cooked off. Then the rice is seasoned with nutmeg, oregano, thyme, pepper, garlic and plenty of paprika.

Now only the marinated gyros has to be seared in a little oil until it has reached the desired crispness ...

And the delicious alternative to "Kebab Day" is ready. ;)

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