Hawawshi - Egyptian Minced Meat Pitas

5 from 5 votes

Hawawshi is a delicious Egyptian minced meat pita sandwich made with ground meat, onion, tomato, mint, parsley, bell pepper, and pita bread.

Servings:

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
10 Egyptian Baladi bread 10" (25 cm) in diameter or substitute regular pita bread
3 small onion or 2 medium onion
1 tomato
4 garlic cloves
1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch fresh parsley
2 bell pepper
1 spicy pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
juice from a whole large lemon
2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400 ℉ (205 ℃).
Peel and chop onions into very small pieces. Chop tomato, bell pepper, and spicy pepper into very small pieces. Remove leaves from mint and parsley. Chop mint and parsley into very fine chopped pieces. Smash garlic cloves with salt.
Add onions, smashed garlic, tomato, bell pepper, fresh mint, fresh parsley, spicy pepper, cumin, coriander, salt, and black pepper to a large bowl. Add lemon juice and tomato paste.
Add ground meat to the bowl with the chopped veggies. Mix all of the ingredients together with your hands.
Cut Baladi bread into two halves. Stuff meat mixture into the Baladi bread. Do not add too much meat. Just enough for a thin layer inside. For a 10" (25 cm) diameter pita, I use about ¼ cup of meat mixture in each pita half (so ½ cup for the whole pita). However, the amount will vary depending on the size of the bread.
On a cookie sheet, add a layer of parchment paper. Place bread pieces onto the cookie sheet pan with the thicker side of the bread facing down. Baladi bread has a thin side and a thick side, the thin side should face upwards.
Wet hands and rub the outside of the bread. Using a pastry brush, spread a little olive oil on top of the sandwich (optional).
Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove when the top is golden brown. If the bread is cooking too quickly, remove and pat the top of the bread with water and reduce the heat in the oven to 375 ℉ (190 ℃). Don't flip the bread over.

Egyptian Baladi bread is a thicker bread. If you can't find a thicker pita bread, then use regular pita bread and cook at 375 ℉ (190 ℃) instead of 400 ℉ (205 ℃).
If using a smaller diameter pita, this recipe will make more sandwiches.
If using lower fat meat, you can rub some olive oil or avocado oil on the outside of the bread.
Freeze cooked pita sandwiches in a freezer-friendly bag for up to 3 months. To defrost, allow them to thaw for 30 minutes and reheat in the oven at 375 ℉ (190 ℃) for about 10 minutes.