Homemade Pork Gyros Souvlaki Recipe

  • by XpatAthens
  • Friday, 20 February 2015
Homemade Pork Gyros Souvlaki Recipe

Make your own homemade, traditional Greek pork gyros wrapped in a pita bread – souvlaki style with this easy to follow recipe! Souvlaki is one of the most popular street foods in Greece and for good reason. Its stuffed with well cooked and seasoned meat, garnished with a cooling tzatziki sauce, wrapped in a delicious crispy pita and best of all? It tastes like heaven!

 

 

For the pork gyros

1 pork tenderloin, cut into strips
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 tbsps of olive oil
1-2 tbsps red wine vinegar
1 tbsp oregano
thyme
rosemary
1/2 tbsp of honey

For the tzatziki sauce

1 cucumber
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 of a cup extra virgin olive oil
500g of yogurt (18 ounces)
1-2 tbsps of red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

To serve

4 pita breads
1 red onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
fried potatoes (optional)
some lettuce

Instructions

To prepare the pork gyros, mix into a large bowl the tenderloin (cut into strips), the garlic, the red onion, 3-4 tbsp of olive oil, 1-2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, some thyme, some rosemary, and mix with your hands. Squeeze the ingredients together, so that all the flavours blend and add 1/2 tbsp of honey. Wrap the bowl and put it into the fridge. Leave the marinade in the fridge for at least 2 hours, before using it (ideally leave it over night).

In a (very hot) large non-sticking pan, add the tenderloin along with the ingredients of the marinade, and sauté for 1 minute on each side, without stirring, until the meat is nicely coloured, crispy and tender inside.

To prepare the tzatziki sauce for the pork gyros, pour in a food processor the olive oil and garlic and blend until the garlic is diluted (don’t leave any large pieces of garlic). Into a large bowl, grate the cucumber, season with salt and pepper and leave it aside for 10 minutes. Wrap the grated cucumber into a towel and squeeze, in order to get rid of most of the water. Into a bowl, add the cucumber, the blended garlic and oil, the yogurt, 1-2 of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and mix. (This recipe is for 5-6 servings. Store in the fridge and always serve cold.)

Use a cooking brush to oil the pita breads on both sides and season with salt, pepper and oregano. Place a large pan (upside down) at the bottom of the oven, place the pita breads on top, and bake in preheated oven at 250C for about 1 minute.

Pork gyros is usually served wrapped, like a sandwich. To serve, spread some tzatziki sauce on the pita breads and top with the pork gyros, some slices of red onion, some sliced tomato and wrap.

For an easier version, you can substitute the tzatziki sauce with some fresh yogurt or some mustard and mayonnaise sauce.

To read more, please visit mygreekdish.com