Its all Greek to me! Greek Pork Souvlaki with homemade flat breads and Tzatziki

Pork Souvlaki, flatbreads and Tzatziki

Greek food holds a very special place in my heart. I was very lucky to have a holiday home on the stunning island of Cyprus growing up but Chris and I chose this amazing island as our wedding destination (we even had a 30-course Cypriot meze as our wedding meal!). Cyprus, in particular, has a wonderful culture with influences from the middle east, Greece and even the UK. I decided to cook this recipe when it was a particularly sunny day in Lancashire during our lockdown and longing for a holiday to Greece or anywhere other than my back garden! 

This recipe is stupidly easy and requires very little effort but does need some forward planning. The flatbreads are really versatile and could be used to accompany a curry or just as an alternative to have with dips as a snack! 

The combination of the flavoursome and tender pork with the creamy tzatziki and crunchy flatbreads is one of my dreams. I always have mine with a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber and washed down with an ice-cold beer!  

I cooked this using a BBQ however you can use a grill or griddle pan if you don't have a bbq or its pissing it down! 
Serves 4 (Scale up or down as desired) 

You will need:

For the Souvlaki:

• 1kg of Pork Shoulder cut into 1-inch cubes  (NOTE: I used 2 packets of Aldi Pork Shoulder steaks (you could use pork leg cubed or just chop up some pork shoulder!) approx 8 steaks but you can scale up or down depending on how many hungry guests you're serving.)
• 1 tbsp of dried oregano 
• The zest of 1 lemon, and juice.
• Good extra virgin olive oil 
• 4 Cloves of Garlic Minced 
• Sea Salt 
• Pepper 
• Skewers - if these are wooden soak them in water for as long as possible to prevent them from burning. 
• some fresh mint as a garnish

For the Tzatziki:

• 200g of Greek Yogurt - I used 0% fat but its preferential to use full fat for an extra creamy flavour. 
• 1/2 a cucumber grated 
• 1 clove of Garlic minced 
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• Salt 

For the Flatbreads:

• 250g Greek Yoghurt 
• 250g Plain flour 
• 1 tsp of Baking Powder 
• Big pinch of Salt 
• 1/2 tsp Garlic powder (Optional)
• 1/2 tsp Oregano (Optional)

How I did it: 

Meat Marinade:

• Ideally, the night before or at least a few hours before, start by marinating your meat. I would recommend you do this the night before you want to eat them as this will help to tenderise the meat. However, if you're anything like me and have a last-minute craving you can cook straight from mixing- it just won't be as flavoursome. 
• Shove your cubed meat, lemon zest and juice, minced garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and a GOOD glug of oil into a bowl (or Tupperware box) using your hands mix all the flavours into the meat and cover with some clingfilm (or the lid) and refrigerate for a long as your stomach can hold out!
• Soak your bamboo skewers in water if you're using them! 

To make the Tzatziki: 

• Grate your cucumber into a bowl and then using a fine sieve or clean muslin cloth, press or squeeze as much liquid out of the cucumber as you can. The less water in the cucumber the richer the tzatziki will be. Once you've done this, sprinkle some salt on the cucumber to keep it plump! 
• Mix the cucumber into the yoghurt, with the minced garlic. Add a glug of olive oil, add any seasoning to your taste and stir well. 
• Pop this into the fridge for a while so the garlic can develop into the Tzatziki. 
• For an authentic look sprinkle some dried oregano before serving.

Flatbreads

• Then you want to start making your flatbread dough. This couldn't be easier! in fact, my 3-year-old made these with my help! 
• Pop your flour, yoghurt, baking powder and salt into a bowl. (If you're using the optional extras add them in too)
• Using your hands start to mix the yoghurt into the flour until there isn't any dry flour left. If your dough is too dry, add some more yoghurt, if its too wet, you guessed it! add flour. 
• The beauty of these is that you really don't need to knead the dough for long. Just enough to bring everything together and make sure the dough is nice and smooth. 
• Cover the dough with clingfilm in a floured or oiled bowl and leave to rest until you're ready to roll. 
• When you're ready to cook the bread, portion your dough onto a well-floured work surface or rolling mat and using a rolling pin, roll the dough into your desired shape until the bread is approx 1/2 a cm thick. Coat the bread in some flour so they don't stick. 

When you're ready to start cooking:

• Carefully lance the meat on your skewers in roughly equal portions. 
• Fire up your BBQ - we have a gas weber bbq but any will do or if you're using a grill the same applies. 
• Save the juices from the bottom of your marinade bowl- you'll need these for when you're cooking! 
• Pop the meat on the grill and cook on relatively high heat - turning every few minutes to ensure even cooking and then using the saved marinade - baste the kebabs on every turn. 
• When you think they're done. Rest the kebabs on a platter whilst you cook the flatbreads. DONT be tempted to eat them straight away- they need to rest to be extra tender and delicious! 
• Turn the BBQ up or heat up a dry griddle pan. Pop your well-floured flatbreads on the grill and wait until they puff up a bit! Flip and cook for another minute or so. 

You're ready to eat! 

This recipe is super versatile- you could marinate chicken if you don't eat pork

You can use this flatbread recipe for plenty of other recipes and homemade Tzatziki is 10x better than the shop-bought version so brilliant to make for a party! 

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!! 

Char 

xxxx