This Pita Pocket Could Be Your Child’s Favorite Burger
Let’s just call this what it is: kinda amazing. In Egypt, it is known as hawawshi; in Lebanon, it’s known as arayes–but it might make the most sense to you when called by its colloquial moniker, the Arabic hamburger. From the recipe photo, it certainly looks like a cross between a quesadilla and a hamburger, but it’s what you don’t see that makes the difference: all those middle eastern warming spices–cardamom, cinnamon, coriander–and a lot more vegetables than you might have an imagined hiding within meat and bread. Both soft and crunchy, rich and homey, bold and simple–it’s a bit of everything in one hand-holdable package, and a great addition to your lunch repertoire and/or your burger recipes.
Ingredients
Instructions
Prep
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Remove shell and ends from onion and seeds and pith from pepper; cut each into 3-4 pieces.
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Blend onion and pepper pieces until finely minced. Drain any excess liquid from the blender jar.
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Add a splash of olive oil, followed by the ground meat, tomato paste and a couple of shakes each of garlic powder, parsley or cilantro, and your middle eastern spice mix. Blend again until a smooth paste forms, adding an additional glug of olive oil as needed to break apart meat and vegetable mix.
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Cut your pita in half. (If the inside of each half doesn’t open readily, microwave for 10 seconds and then poke a hole in it to open up).
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Take a clump of the meat mixture and press it down into a half-moon shape roughly the same size as the pita halves.
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Stick the meat mixture inside the pita and close the pita up; place your fingers on top of the pita and push the meat mixture inside towards the edges of the pita to distribute.
Cook
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Heat a large pan to Medium. Once hot, coat the outside of the pita in cooking spray and place in the pan; repeat for remaining pieces.
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Cook until the bottom side of the pita is brown, roughly 2 minutes; flip, then cook until meat inside the pita is fully cooked, roughly two minutes more.
Serve
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While it’s more traditional/authentic to eat this dish holding a half or quarter of a pita, it’s easier–and possibly more familiar–for young children to eat this cut into smaller triangles, much like you might do for a quesadilla. Squeeze a bit of lemon over the top and eat quickly–the meat juice will soak the pita and make it go soft soon after it leaves the stove.
Adapt
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You can ditch the red pepper and onion and just stick spiced burger meat inside the pita–you’ll miss an easy opportunity to add some veggies, but you’ll save a few minutes and the pita will stay crisper longer. A crunchier version of this can be made by oven cooking: 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes–with a flip midway–will ensure a crunchy exterior (albeit with less juicy meat). You can also add some cheese to the mix, which won’t affect the process or cooking time.
