Vegan Gyros
Servings: 2
These vegan gyros perfectly recreate the texture of the shaved lamb gyro wraps I loved when living in London. They definitely take some additional prep and planning work – although the chickwheat loaf here is the same one I use in vegan beef stirfry so you can make the chickwheat loaf and use it in multiple meals. If you are planning to make the "chickwheat" beef, note you'll need an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, a blender, and a pretty powerful food processor (or standing mixer with a dough hook). As an alternative, you can use a vegan sliced deli meat like the Tofurky brand although the texture won't be quite the same. Just use that in place of the chickwheat strips where referenced.
Print Recipe
Equipment
- Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Food processor
Ingredients
Chickwheat Loaf, Modified from Avocados and Ales
- 2 cup canned chickpeas (300g)
- 1 cup aquafava (225ml) Aquafava is the liquid out of the can of chickpeas. You can sub vegetable stock instead.
- 2 tbls vegetable oil
- 2 tbls miso paste I used a yellow miso paste, but any light variation will do
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbls onion powder
- 1 tbls garlic powder
- 1 tbls poultry seasoning If you don't have any premade available, you can make your own with 2 teaspoons ground dried sage. 1 ½ teaspoons ground dried thyme, 1 teaspoon ground dried marjoram, ¾ teaspoon ground dried rosemary. ½ teaspoon black pepper, and a good pinch of nutmeg.
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten (255g)
Gyros
- 3 tbls
Just Egg vegan egg subsitute IfJust Egg is not available, you can use plant based milk instead - 2 tbls vegetable oil divided, see instructions
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbls cornstarch
- 1 cucumber
- 1 cup vegan yogurt (150g) ideally look for a vegan Greek-style yogurt – I use the Kite Hill brand
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1 tomato
- 1 head gem lettuce
- 2 flatbread or pita wraps If you can't find a vegan flatbread, you can use a large tortilla instead
- salt and pepper to taste
- hot sauce optional (I've used both Cholula and Frank's Red Hot and both were delicious)
Instructions
Make the Chickwheat Loaf
- Combine all of the ingredients in the chickwheat loaf except the vital wheat gluten and blend using a high speed blender until completely combined. It will be the consistency of a medium-thick batter.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl, being sure to scrape out the inside of the blender cup, and add the vital wheat gluten. Stir to combine, then use your hands to kneed the dough for ~2 minutes to fully combine. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes for the gluten to absorb.
- Take half of the chickwheat dough and put it in the bowl of your food processor and process for about 5-8 minutes. If you don't have a food processor, you can use the dough hook of a standing mixer but you won't get quite the same texture. You can't replace this with hand-kneeding – it won't get the same texture at all. While the dough is in the food processor or mixer, it will become very stretchy and stringy – you'll know it's almost ready when you see little 'strings' of the dough sticking to the sides of the food processor bowl. If your food processor is anything like mine, it will get quite hot, and because the dough gets so sticky, it will take a few minutes to scoop all of the dough out. Clear out your food processor, clean off the blade, then repeat with the second half of the dough (the only reason not to do them both together is it will be too much resistance and burn out most home food processors).
- Once you've fully processed both halves of the chickwheat dough, kneed them back together and pat into a roughly rectangular shape. Wrap the square very tightly in tin foil – I recommend using 4 or 5 layers. This will create additional pressure and texture when you cook it in the next step.
- Add two cups of water to your Instant Pot, or enough to cover the base but not reach the bottom of a trivet or stand. Place the foil-wrapped chickwheat dough on the trivet, then seal the Instant Pot.
- Set the pressure cooker on manual and cook for 120 minutes.
- Quick release the pressure, and remove the chickwheat loaf. The foil may have split as the loaf expanded – don't worry, it will still be fine. Let the loaf cool, then remove the foil. Once it's fully cooled to room temperature, you can use it immediately in the gyros, or put it in the fridge for up to 3 days. It makes enough to use in other recipes as well, so be sure to save the leftovers and check out other meals using chickwheat.
Make the Gyros
- Whisk together the Just Egg (or vegan milk if substituting) ,1 tbls of the vegetable oil and salt. Then take 1/2 of the chickwheat loaf, and slice into 1/4 inch thick strips. These are your 'lamb' strips so feel free to slice as you prefer. Add the sliced chickwheat loaf to the Just Egg, oil, and salt mix and toss to coat. Then add the cornstarch and toss again to give the slices an uneven coating.
- Heat the remaining oil (~1 tbls) in a fry pan, then add the coated chickwheat strips to the pan – try and avoid them touching if you can. You will likely have to cook in multiple batches. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side on medium heat. When they start to get a dark color, and a bit crispy on the outside, remove the strips and place on a plate or drying rack if you want to remove the excess oil.
- Once the chickwheat strips are all cooked, make your vegan tzatziki for the sandwiches. Grate the cucumber on a cheese grater, then fold the grated cucumber in a kitchen or paper towel and squeeze firmly to remove all of the excess liquid. Then add the shredded and drained cucumber to the vegan yogurt along with the juice of 1/2 lemon and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
- Slice the red onion into very thin slices, and slice the tomato (it doesn't have to be nearly as thin). Chop the lettuce into small thin strips.
- Finally, prepare the gyros by warming the flatbread, pita, or tortilla for a 20-30 seconds in the microwave so it's easier to fold up, then layering first a thick layer of the tzatziki, then the sliced tomato, onion, and lettuce, and finally layering a very generous amount of the cooked chickwheat slices. Top with hot sauce of your choice, then roll up the gyro like a burrito with one end open. Enjoy!
