Meat Cooked in a Pita? The Greatest Dish I Never Knew About

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Arayes are a popular Middle Eastern street food made by stuffing lamb into a pita and cooking the meat inside the pita, a thing I had never heard about before. Then a popular NYC restaurant, 12 Chairs, started serving them and it has caught my attention. It’s an incredible snack that we are gonna learn to make right now.
RECIPE:
Lamb Arayes
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[@NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW]

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[@mrkhan]

Love your content my dude, really happy to see your channel continuing to grow. I came in on Pasta Al Limone 4 years ago and never left. Request: I'd love to see you try more dishes from the middle east - from Palestine ideally - or Yemen, Lebanon, Morocco. I feel like you bring authenticity that's not really that common in other channels and have a great message about love through food. Most people do a riff on the original and you go out of your way to make it authentic as you can, based on ingredients available. Love the channel, keep on going Stephen, and the hair is looking hella slick ;)

[@yamyamyams2629]

Imma bartender, what's the difference between homemade grenadine and pomegranate syrup?

[@yamyamyams2629]

Bro you said "That way you got a little hole to stuff your meat into." 😂😂😂😂😂

[@pringledingle3180]

You can grate the onion onto a clean kitchen cloth/ tea towel and then gather it up ,twist and squeeze the juice out. Love your channel!

[@NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW]

Dyslexia stricks again. It's spelt Arayas, my apologies

[@marswillrule2431]

or Arayes

[@pslm23]

😂 stricks / spelt... you crick me up 😂

[@violetviolet888]

@NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW The recipe link in your description is non-existent. When will it be added?

[@NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW]

@@marswillrule2431 I can't be trusted with words

[@giraffesinc.2193]

No worries, it's a transliteration anyways!

[@capone_rd_809]

This is just like a pastelito a Dominican empanada, this is so simple to make!

[@diannesingletary9772]

Hmmm.. definitely trying this. Have all but the sumac. Tasty weekend ahead! You'll have to make a few more recipes with sumac so I can use up the rest of the jar 😄😄

[@josiahgibson6373]

Sumac is commonly used as a condiment for hummus and baba ganoush, so if you eat those at home it's a great ingredient to have around. Another dish I love is sabanekh, which are triangular spinach hand pies seasoned with onion and sumac. (They're closely related to greek spanakopita, but not exactly the same)

[@jasonoconnell3557]

I've made these before in an almost pita quesadilla style a lot thinner and half moon shaped. I would definitely like to try these again in this form!

[@jma5623]

Great tip on moistening the pitas

[@larsnordstrom364]

I can't wait to try this. Simple, delicious and elegant

[@PicSta]

Funny, I have just seen a similar video yesterday of those Arayes. They look absolutely cool, easy to make, and I will try out this recipe for sure.

[@zegermanscientist2667]

Also, I've had the best arayes when using chubs bread, filling them thinly. Also, some green peppers in the blender mix work wonders as well.

[@Cristian.Cortez]

Middle Eastern food is one of my favorite things to cook, alot of the weird ingredients I ended up using alot more than I thought when I first started. That pomegranate molasses is AMAZING on some vanilla ice cream

[@SassyPants34]

I was already planning to try this over the weekend so defo using your recipe.

[@CheeseburgersImpact]

Great to see your take... I remember seeing these a month or so ago from Derekkchen another really good content creator for food! Been really enjoying all the sandos you been doing!

[@jma5623]

I am definitely going to make this. This looks fantastic!

[@seanboland2194]

Never heard of these until like a week ago. Now im definitely making them.

[@12kwallace]

Dish looks delicious. Love the Greyson sweatshirt🏌🏻‍♂️

[@anngcampbellbower4385]

Wear swimming goggles or a visor to prevent the onion juice from striking with force. Helpful tip of the day.

[@BillGreenAZ]

Since you're putting the meat in the pita in 2 stages, I would like to suggest putting some tahini in after the first stage and then put the rest of the meat in on top of that for a nice surprise.

[@DannyKoKo]

I like this recipe as could be reworked with different spices, meats and cooking options

[@sarahdyer1967]

I am making this....no doubt

[@tedfry236]

oh that looks awesome! gonna have to make it.

[@samsaadat1387]

Can you post the receipt on your website. The link doesn’t work

[@NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW]

Sorry, up now/going up now

[@hiroyopoetker]

wow looking superb!

[@mrkattm]

ATK made this or something similar, I made it and it was very good but I like your take a little better I think, I will give it a try and let you know.

[@willtalebian]

Looks great

[@keithdavies52]

I was just about to ask about the garlic, lol...cheers

[@rameelio5616]

Since you can’t get great lamb in North America (compared to the Middle East) it’s best to mix ground beef with the ground lamb. 50/50.

[@conradbennett3251]

Awesome!!!

[@mikep5308]

Im doin it! You sold me.

[@riogalore]

Yum ❤

[@omargeddonthemighty]

"Then you have a little hole to stuff the meat into" 😂😂😂😂

[@reneebonnell5010]

Trader Joe's just started carrying great whole wheat pita. 😊

[@omargeddonthemighty]

"Now because we need to be delicate to avoid tearing the pita I filled it in two stages. I put a little bit down in the bottom to Make sure all the crevices at the bottom of the pita are filled up then I throw the rest in, make sure that meat sorta meets the edge of the pita." I'm in tears

[@OktoberStorm]

1:28 Half a teaspoon of ground human?

[@yankeeromeoalpha]

cumin

[@meemo6946]

This is not an Israeli dish. This is a dish from the levant region ( Lebanon, Palestine and Syria)

[@elikapul2482]

No argument there,the name says it all,its in Arabic,but it is very popular in Israel

[@hoffycom]

2 million arabs in Israel

[@adamyoung480]

Pretty sure he said middle eastern.

[@calebwoods9607]

@@adamyoung480 12 Chairs is an Israeli restaurant

[@ashalorena8906]

thank you for pointing this out, it is really important

[@niralon8068]

I dont know the product you have in the states, but Za'atar is not a spice mix.... it's a middle eastern plant, looks like oregano, a bit more sour, dried and smashed to powder.... and that it the seseme seeds are sometimes added to balance the taste of the Za'atar.

[@dingleberrymore9725]

Zaatar refers to both the plant and the mix. The mix is just called zaatar, and it had zaatar (thyme), sumac, sesame seeds, and salt.

[@niralon8068]

@@dingleberrymore9725 Really? Good to know. We use a lot of zaatar in my country, never saw it mixed with another spice… Maybe sesame… sometimes salt. Thats it.

[@dingleberrymore9725]

@@niralon8068 that’s how it is in Palestine, jordan, and Lebanon as far as I know! Not sure what country you hail from. Zaatar is delicious in all its forms

[@niralon8068]

@@dingleberrymore9725 from israel, which you might refer to as "palestine" (or maybe to the palestinian athority?). and you're right, it is delicious in all its forms

[@danivasquez2441]

Just another thing Israel stole trying to pretend it's there's. This is an Arab dish from the Levant. Lebanese, Syrian, etc. Not an Eastern European dish in Israel

[@Lkristina65]

❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱

[@dingleberrymore9725]

Genocidal terror state.

[@The1Mustache3]

Make burek and thank me later doggy. You edit your natural reactions and comments. I don't care for that

[@ElDerpy]

youve got fresh onions and coriander in there! WHY ARE YOU ADDING POWDERED VERSIONS?!

[@yankeeromeoalpha]

It’s kind of like saying if you’ve got glutamates in mushrooms, shrimp, cheese, etc, why add MSG? People just do it, it enhances the flavor a bit more…

[@kevinkelly3880]

Because fresh cilantro and dry coriander seed taste completely different.

[@belacy87]

Didn't wash them herbs or nothin...

[@RayBanGirl]

Good job , but the filling has to be way much more thin , around 2 cm max , full pita bread or halves are ok , never quarters

[@justcheesepizzaplease]

Making this for sure! I am going to use half beef, half lamb as I like that flavor combo. Thanks for sharing, I didn't know these were a thing.

[@daandemeyer1708]

I just bought lamb meat to make kofte tonight but I also have pita bread in the house so my dinner plans just changed 😊

[@beloved1982]

I've seen several videos of this dish, and I have to say your recipe is the one I'm interested in trying the most. Your attention to detail doesn't go unnoticed and makes your recipes easy to follow and complete. On a side note, I think many of this video's views came from the WNBA (if you know, you know). 😂

[@nbilocca]

Big fan for a while here! Got me cooking in Covid and havent stop following since :) Your eyeballed "half teaspoon" portions made me giggle in this one :)

[@andymelendez9757]

This reminds me of working at a restaurant in Nashville. We made our own pitas and baked them in a wood burning oven. The Chef was Armenian and cooked many inspiring dishes from the surrounding areas as well. There was a lot of love going in our food! Thanks for bringing back the memories. The stuffed pitas look great.

[@buffy4525]

Lyra?

[@MaquiladoraIII]

Absolutely awesome stuff. Love the Middle-Eastern inspiration and lamb is my favourite meat. With this direction, is it cheeky to suggest a potential Golden Balance collaboration?

[@ahsayakir4274]

Really hope Stephen goes down the Middle Eastern rabbit hole and starts whippin up recipes from there. Game changer. Let’s see Shakshuka next!

[@donkon1718]

I look forward to your uploads all week ❤

[@suzilahlah]

My childhood right there… My Mum made the best kafte and we knew this was what we were having the next day with the leftovers. We don’t fill it as much so just a quick griddle is all ours needs. I love mine with labne

[@Bkesal14]

This was an incredible show. Great to see it get some coverage!

[@umka7536]

I have never seen it but I am definitely going to make it.

[@zegermanscientist2667]

You might want to venture into levantine cuisine in general. You're gonna love it.

[@christopherhanna2629]

I love how the Israeli restaurant based in NYC is cited as the place to try the “popular middle eastern street food”… typical. 😅

[@yankeeromeoalpha]

He probably don’t want to trigger the falafelstinians 😂😂😂

[@Torso6131]

I made these for the first time a few weeks ago, and without fail I could never get the pitas to actually open nicely. I tried a few brands and somehow none of them would actually give me pockets. I tried steaming, toasting, whatever, just nothing worked. Made me miss the old "pita pockets" brand. Were they the best? Nope, but they did give me clean pockets ha. Anyway these are absolutely delicious. I'll have to give em another shot.

[@Blue-xk8vq]

Ahh so this is where Molly Baz got her "inspo" for her "breakfast pitas are the new breakfast sandos ...???" shameless...

[@bstewartexecutivecarcare3797]

Luckily I just bought some ground lamb and was trying to figure out how I wanted to cook it. Now I know 😮 Thanks for the advice 👍✌️☮️

[@violetviolet888]

This looks fantastic. Look forward to trying it. A better flatbread would be *Turkish Pide bread *(not pita) bread. Also known as Ramazan Pidesi during Ramadan. Not hard to make and extremely flexible both literally and for meat filled flatbread. Would soak in a LOT more of the juice, has a nice crumb and far more interesting in texture and flavor when made with love (let the flavors develop). It's like a cross between pita, foccacia and pizza, you slice into it as with the pita to fill, form it and put toppings on it like a pizza, or simply eat it on the side. Highly recommend and very under-rated. Made dough ahead of time and keep it portioned in the fridge. Use as needed and it only takes 12 minutes to bake. Or make the bread ahead of time and store in a freezer bag in the fridge or freezer.

[@BillRalens]

you're supposed to put the cheese on the raw hamburger.

[@jenniferlauri5512]

Yes, yes, yes---I AM making this! Another delicious idea for dinner (and not too involved)!

[@bkm2797]

Never have I ever had arayes, but they sure look tasty. Spring lamb would be the way to go imho, I might even add on the side some fresh diced tomato. Thanks Steve for showing us how to do it right, and the recipe of course!❤️👍

[@kimberly411]

Wow, this looks amazing! I have not seen this dish, but will be trying this recipe for sure!

[@everythingunderthesun7803]

You did great but I live near some Lebanese restaurants. I'll pick them up at Al Ameer. I'm not cooking all that. 🤣

[@theaemulator]

My ... kind ... of..... Can I order? 😅

[@permanentfitness1919]

I'm used to these being very thin and only cooked on the griddle

[@Zachary_Sweis]

Ahh-Rah-Yess

[@missyk5474]

That looks yummy..... I wonder how it would do with falafel filling.. Would need additional moisture 🤔 Summer time is falafel time for me. I make the tahini and harrisa both...... Hmmmm

[@omargeddonthemighty]

I smoked a cigarette after watching this

[@hichamxd2963]

Hey man, Im a big fan of your authenticity so I think you'd like to know that Arayes is not made like this. (but this is youtube) 1- The amount of meat you've stuffed is 70% too much. It makes a huge difference to texture. (The meat also never gets grilled itself and is cooked within the bread so no meat searing) 2- The bread you've used is pita, you need Lebanese bread. You don't want "dryer" pita, you want "thinner pita" which is lebanese bread. This makes the bread caramelize and crisp naturally from the fat in the meat (Or you can use butter/olive oil to crisp it further). 3- Zaatar has no place in Arayes but does belong to the levant region; so true to the region but not the dish. If you'd like a more correct flavour, use all spice or seven spice. 4- Harissa is not used in this dish or the entire levant, so has no place here when it comes to authenticity and imo as someone half Lebanese half North African, it'll overwhelm the flavour of Arayes. 5- Pomegranate molasses is rarely used inside this recipe but maybe can be garnish. 6- Finally, arayes comes from the word aroos; which means bride or to be wrapped. And these are called Arayes because they are served "Wrapped in meat" so they do not get cut into 4 triangles with this amount of thickness; instead the bread gets opened, stuffed with meat, then closed and grilled whole. Regardless thanks for putting a Lebanese dish on your channel! We do appreciate the love

[@amandafellows7508]

I'm cooking this recipe right now and just noticed the recipe on the website doesn't match the recipe in the video. The website doesn't list onion powder or garlic powder. Also, the website lists 1/2 tablespoon of all spices but in the video you said some were only 1/2 teaspoon. I of course didn't notice the differences until I already added everything to the food processor. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Hopefully it still tastes good. 🤞

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Thanks For this! Love your content ❤❤😊😊

[@JoeBlow-mw5oo]

Balsamic glaze is a decent sub for pomegranate syrup

[@pilates68]

Too bad that the green Harissa is getting harder to find. I think it’s superior to the red but all I see these days is the red. Mina Harissa green is awesome!!!

[@kristacousins9502]

Bro that looks so delicious and easy 😮

[@along5925]

Very exciting! Yummy...

[@AlexTurpin]

Make em thinner! Trust me!

[@greyknightus7]

Tahini.. noo... toum.. YES!!

[@GripEnemy.]

Free 🇵🇸

[@BillGreenAZ]

This is great! I can't wait to try it. I'm on a keto diet so I have to watch my carbs. Keto buns and keto bread is too "stretchy" and hard to chew. Keto tortillas and keto pitas and keto flour taste as close to the original as possible so I'm limiting my starch intake to these items. Thanks!

[@cindirocks322]

👏👏👏

[@KRayxKodessA]

Could've probably just used the food processor to grate the onions as well... then drained them..............

[@Stafford-d8u]

Outstanding! Gotta try cooking this

[@kevinkelly3880]

I think I'm gonna add Black Garlic to mine just to piss off the "authenticity" police. Gonna make 'em thick, too. And definitely combining tahini and yogurt, despite those saying you should NEVER do that. Been doing it for years, and it's damn delicious. Keep up the good work, Mr. Cusato!

[@pslm23]

This is a new recipe for me. Looks fantastic...I love how you incorporate a variety of cultures into your show. Gotta love the melting pot of the world. Good ole USA

[@mad555max]

They look good, just these are extra thick compared to middle eastern ones. Suppose it depends what you're going for. Would recommend to anyone to make these at least once.

[@Zammka]

I recommend you take cold water into your mouth while dealing with onions. It helps like to 80% if change the water from time to time. Thanks for the great recipe anyway!

[@tnasr3254]

I think by pomegranate syrup he actually means pomegranate molasses

[@travenator16]

made this a few months ago, great stuff goes great with some sumach pickled onions!

[@dingleberrymore9725]

Steve showing some Arab love. I don’t think zaatar is used in making Arayes, but if you can find it, Canary brand Palestinian zaatar is the best. If you can’t find that brand, Al’Ard is another incredibly good brand for zaatar. Bonus points, it’s from Palestine - specifically, Nablus.

[@shelleypalmer1549]

OH MY GOD! guess what I’m making on Sunday? looks amazing and it is a new food for me, can’t wait

[@CopenhagenCollabo]

PIDA 😂 Copenhagen 🇩🇰supports

[@mattcarman855]

That looks incredible! Mmmm!

[@lukepbriggs6225]

These look ace- definitely gonna indulge 😊

[@Brobobobobobobo]

Definitely making this when i get the chance

[@martysoulard7349]

wow! I want some. I will let you know how well I did.

[@BerryBoi13]

Ive been seeing these pretty often lately.

[@omargeddonthemighty]

😂 "now we take our meat and stuff it into the pitas.

[@groundzero270]

Let’s go!

[@MST3kpumaman]

I'm absolutely making this!