Friday, March 22, 2013

Gyro with Cucumber Sauce (Tzatziki)

My mother-in-law found this recipe and sent it to me and my whole family loved it. I really enjoy the seasoning of the seitan, it's much different than your typical seitan flavor. I make these with homemade pita.
It may strike you as a lot of ingredients or a lot of work when you see the recipe, but most of it is just seasoning and it's actually a really quick and easy meal.

For the sauce
1 cup soy yogurt, unsweetened
1/2 large cucumber, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste


For the seitan
1 lb seitan, shaved thin or ground
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons oregano
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cayenne pepper
salt & freshly ground black pepper


For the sandwich
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cups lettuce or spinach, shredded
6 pieces pita bread, warmed



  • Peel and grate the cucumber. Put the grated cucumber into a strainer and set in the sink for 10 minutes to drain.
  • Squeeze the cucumber to remove excess moisture and place into a small bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine. Cover and place in the fridge to let the flavors meld while you cook.
  • Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the seitan and garlic and stir until the seitan begins to brown. Add all of the seasonings and stir well. Sauté until the seitan is well cooked and fragrant. Turn off the heat.
  • Assemble the sandwich with the shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and onions, cooked seitan and cucumber sauce. 
Disclaimer: I always triple the cucumber sauce recipe. 1, Because it's delicious and my family doesn't simply drizzle on a little, we heap it on every bite. And 2, I can only find plain soy yogurt in 24oz containers, what am I going to do with 16 extra ounces of plain yogurt? Besides, if I ever did end up with any extra, it would make a pretty yummy salad dressing...but I've never had extra so I can't say that for sure ;)

2 comments:

  1. This sounds really good. I found your blog by looking for a Veginaise tzakziki sauce ('cause I have a gallon of veginaise) but I saw how to make some on your other post, how cool! I see you use soy yogurt here, have you ever tried it with veginaise instead? I'm canning garbonzo beans now for making hummus, but wanted to make falafales next week, have you ever had those? So good and not that hard. Your pita looks so good, I think I'll make some of that tonight for the fresh hummus I'm making. YUM!

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  2. I have never used Vegenaise for tzatziki sauce but it seems like a nice, cheap alternative since I make my own vegenaise. My family loves falafel, I cheat and smash the balls into disks and fry them in a pan with a little oil. This makes the falafel really crispy and it fits in the pita a lot better. Good luck with everything, it all sounds so good, I think I might just make some hummus and pita for my kids' lunch this week. :)

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