A tale of 4 Shawarmas

Reference Wikipedia - Shawarma also spelled Chawarma, Schawarma, Shawirma, Shwarma, Shuarma, Shawerma, Shoarma, Schwarma, Shoermeh, Siaorma, or Shaorma) is a Middle Eastern Arabic-style sandwich-like wrap usually composed of chicken, turkey, beef, or a mixture of meats. Shawarma is a popular dish and fast-food staple across the Middle East and North Africa; it has also become popular worldwide.
Its been a loooooooooong time since I first thought of starting a blog and I made my first entry and I know I should have done this a long time ago. Anyways, Hogster is back this time with "a tale of 4 Shawarmas".

Without wasting much time, let me get you the details and directions first.
Place - Al-Bake, NFC Delhi

Price - INR 30 for a Shawarma

Type - Strictly Non Vegeterian

Wiki has already given you an idea of what a Shawarma is.. but hey hang on... that is the most deceiving, most played down description of a shawarma, which MISleads you to believe that shawarma is your normal, run-of-the-mill, roadside chikken roll which you get at every neighborhood market.

Before I give you my description, let go through this little snippet..Below is a glimpse of a real life incident. Transporter, Hogster, Gamer, Movie-Freak are the characters involved (aliases used but anyone who knows em would know who are we talking about here).

While at Work, on a Wednesday around 19:00 hours,

Transporter to Hogster : Chalo Sir aj apko NFC le kar chalte hain, badey dino se pending ho rha hai

Hogster : Haan Haan chalo. Gamer, kya kehta hai ?

Gamer : I am ON, lets ask Movie Freak too

20:30 Hours at Al-Bake, NFC Delhi
Transporter to Waiter : "Bhaiya (counting in his mind)...8 shawarma le aao !"

Gamer : "Abey aath ?"

Transporter : "arrey achcha hota hai.. khaya jayega"

Hogster (To himself) : 'khane ki cheez hai...kitni buri ho sakti hai'

Gamer (To himself) : "pata nahi kya khila raha hai saala"

Movie Freak : "haha aath ?" (nervous laughter)

5 minutes gone, everyone is hungry, eagerly waiting (Note Only Transporter knew and had tried shawarmas in past). Everyone is blabbering, abey yaar kahan hai ye waiter, bhook lag rahi hai and saying things of that nature.Enter Waiter, with a platter full of shawarmas.

Arrangement - 8 roll like edible things, arranged neatly in queue and each one cut right at the centre making it 16 pieces in all. Accompanied is thick viscosity mayonese like white colored paste.

Transporter : "waah, chalo bhai shuru ho jao... i cannot wait" (picks one piece and takes a bite.. others follow)

Hogster : Bites into the first piece. NUMB, the whole world is at a standstill. Explosions in the mind...too indulged to say anything...hurries onto the next bite. The whole sequence revisited.

Gamer : "ummmmmmmm.." (making gestures with hand which suggest this stuff is mighty good...says nothing..bites into his piece for a second time)

Movie Freak : "Oh man..." (Laughing and relishing)

Silence! Not a word spoken.. Second round.. same fate. 2 pieces gone down for everyone

Hogster : "Beep Beep this is the most amazing thing I have ever had in my whole god damn life. Saala dimaag fat gaya hai"

Movie Freak : "Haha.. wow man.. this is really something"

Gamer : "God Bless Transporter..bhai kya kamaal ki cheez hai"

Transporter : (Looks equally intoxicated as others, content that everyone likes them) "achche hain na? kaun keh rha tha ki aath nahi khaye jayenge..Hogster se pooch lo.. saala aath aur to akele hi kha jayega"

The 16 pieces were gone in a jiffy. We had already ordered for main course which was on the way by now.
The incident happened nearly an year and a half ago, and there have been very few weeks that go by, without me making a trip to the shawarma-land.The owner claims that the recipe has been handed over through generations and very few people actually know how to make them. No trip to shawarma-land is complete without the Mitha paan available outside Mezz , so much so that it is almost a ritual now to have that paan after shawarmas. I dont think I have had better paan and trust me when I say that because I am not the only one who thinks so :)

Let me try and give you my account of what I think goes into the shawarma and that white mayonese like paste
Shawarma - The outer shell consists of maida, and aata, rolled into a roti like structure, which is subsequently placed on a tawa and and prepared with gracious amounts of butter/ghee/oil. The inner filling consists of very small chikken pieces, often minced and probably roasted like a chikken tikka. The chikken inside is tender and juicy beyond description and often leaves you wondering why doesnt chicken taste so good anywhere else. The filling also has traces of onion and tomato mixture which only spruces up the taste a notch. Then there is gracious presence of the mysterious white mayonese like paste, and the super yummy dhaniya-pudina chutney, and together these 2 make the filling a KILLER. Well there you have it, roll down the filling inside the outer shell and what have you got?... a portion of shawarma with a couple of bites that guarntee to mess up with your mind, leaving you amazed, content, tranquilised, and gluttunous all at the same time.

White Paste - Abey mujhe pata hota to main khud shawarma bechne lagta. All i know is that it is bloody brilliant and shawarma aint complete without it.

Alrite folks, thats that then. All this explaining has enticed my taste buds, and am off to you know where.... the shawarma-land.

--adios

HOGSTER !