Lavash Roll with Herbs and Cilantro: Quick Snack Recipe
A tasty lavash snack with fresh herbs. As a rule, if nobody is in a hurry, a proper dinner consists of several courses. And it has nothing in common with a quick sandwich, a cup of coffee and a cigarette for dessert. Not to mention “dinner” at the nearest fast-food place. Remember how Barrymore the butler calmly announced the dinner hour: in the evening, sir! A dinner in the evening already implies taking your time, refinement and certainly no sandwiches. Ah, right! Where I live, that's called supper.
At the start of dinner it's worth having a small glass of aperitif to perk you up and whet your appetite. With a light snack, of course. Then again, a snack can often be a light meal in itself, or even the only meal. Some national feasting traditions imply that all the food is snacks. Snacks can be anything at all: meat or fish, vegetable or fruit, hot or cold, and so on. Caviar of every color, salted or pickled vegetables, mushrooms, small pies and, of course, sandwiches. The pinnacle of snacking (quite literally) is herring with onion. This snack became a classic long ago. The pros go for salo with garlic or a cheese sandwich.
Historically, the best snack has always been a salad. What makes salads interesting is that they are very quick to make, in any quantity and, importantly, out of just about anything.
But what do you do when friends drop by unexpectedly? Or, as often happens, you need a light snack to go with beer? In such cases I always turn to cold snacks. Lavash with fresh herbs can be made very quickly. Thin lavash is sold in any store. And a lavash roll takes just a few minutes to make.
Lavash is a thin unleavened flatbread common among the peoples of the Caucasus and the Middle East. That said, it isn't always so thin. I once read that in Old Armenian the word “lavash” means “good food”. I couldn't agree more. Considering that you can wrap a salad or even a whole chicken in lavash, it really is the best food.
For a quick snack, I prefer a herb salad wrapped in lavash. Lovers of fresh aromatic herbs will enjoy this snack: lavash with herbs is great. For example, I really love fresh cilantro. But many people, for whatever reason, can't stand it. Cilantro is the leaves of the coriander plant, an excellent seasoning in cooking. First, it is very healthy. Second, the smell of cilantro is pleasant rather than neutral or off-putting. I think those who dislike cilantro because of its smell are a bit suggestible and have talked themselves into it. But there's no accounting for taste…
Today I'll tell you about a cilantro salad wrapped in lavash: a lavash snack.
More with bread
Homemade Kebab in LavashHomemade pork kebab wrapped in thin lavash with a spicy marinated onion and cilantro salad. Grill on an electric grill or grill pan. Step-by-step recipe with photos.
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Garlic ToastsGarlic toasts: slices of baguette and dark bread toasted in a dry pan and rubbed with a garlic clove. A crisp base for an appetizer platter with toppings.
Corn TortillasHomemade corn tortillas from corn and wheat flour, salt and warm water, baked in a dry pan. Soft, foldable flatbreads for tacos, burritos and nachos.
Corn Tortillas in a SkilletHomemade corn tortillas cooked in a dry skillet: a soft dough of cornmeal, a little wheat flour and hot water. Ready in under an hour for tacos and snacks.Ingredients
2 servings
- Thin lavash 1 sheet
- Cilantro 1 bunch
- Mixed herbs: dill, parsley 0.5 bunch
- Olive oil 0.5 tsp
- Garlic 1-2 cloves
- Onion (yellow or green) 1 sheet
- Black peppercorns, salt, sugar, wine vinegar, dried herbs to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- A lavash snack is served in individual portions. It needs the freshest and very thin lavash. You'll be wrapping the filling in it like a roll, and it must not crack. If you can make thin lavash yourself, that's ideal. If not, you can buy it. In Egypt I saw locals baking a thin bread very similar to lavash, only slightly thicker. They use a sheet of iron laid on stones, with a fire of some kind of twigs burning underneath. It looks rather primitive, but the bread is perfectly edible.
- The first step in making the filling is to pickle a little onion. There are options here, and lavash with herbs can be quite varied.
- If you have time for pickling (it takes half an hour), peel the onion and cut it into very thin strips. For a snack for two I take half of a medium onion. I add 2 tsp of wine vinegar to the onion, mix and leave it for 20-30 minutes. If you're out of time, there's a “quick” pickling option: pour 0.5 cup of boiling water over the sliced onion with vinegar for 3-4 minutes. Either way, after pickling rinse the onion with cold boiled water to wash off the remaining acid, then squeeze it lightly with your hands. Another option, which I like better (but that's just me), is green onion without pickling. But then you need to add a little vinegar to the filling. Lemon, pomegranate juice, verjuice and so on will also do. It's a matter of taste. Choose your own option.
- Wash and sort through all the herbs, removing the stems and damaged leaves. Pick the leaves off the parsley and the sprigs off the dill: their stems are quite tough and would be out of place. Cilantro, on the other hand, can be used stems and all, as they are quite juicy and fleshy. Chop all the herbs, not too finely. Put the herbs in a bowl. Add a pinch of sugar, just a tiny bit. The sugar will dissolve in the moisture almost immediately
- In a mortar, grind the peeled garlic (young garlic doesn't need peeling), peppercorns, salt and dried herbs to a paste. Use as much as you like. Add a few drops of wine vinegar or lemon juice, otherwise the salt won't dissolve and the lavash with herbs will crunch. Then add 0.5 tsp of olive oil and stir. That's your dressing.
- Add the onion to the chopped herbs. Pour over the prepared dressing and stir. The filling is ready. Taste it. You may need to add more garlic or salt.
- Cut the thin lavash into rectangles about the size of two palms. Put 1-1.5 tbsp of the herb filling on each piece and spread it evenly over half of the piece, so that the other half stays free of filling.
- Roll up the lavash with herbs, starting from the end with the filling. Roll it fairly tightly, but don't overdo it: thin lavash tears easily. Cut each roll in half diagonally. A lavash snack is served in individual portions.
- And that's it, the lavash snack is ready. You can serve it. I think the lavash snack with herbs goes well with more than just beer.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 150 kcal per 100 g |
| Prep: | 10 mins |
| Cooking: | 10 mins |
| Ready in: | 20 mins |
| Category: | Snacks and Sauces › Sandwiches |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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4.3
(11)
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