This easy vegan shamburak is essentially a pizza bread stuffed with mashed sweet potatoes, roasted mushrooms and caramelized onions topped with spices and chimichurri. It’s an incredibly delicious, mouthwatering and irresistible vegan homemade takeout dinner that everyone needs to try at least once in their life.

This recipe is inspired by Paul Hollywoods visit to Jerusalem and is a vegan copycat of Oren Sasson’s Shamburak served in his restaurant Ish Tabach.

My vegan Shamburak is loaded with everything good, from sweet and creamy mashed sweet potatoes filled with herbs to meaty mushrooms. It’s so good and can be made in advance and frozen for later.

What’s great about this vegan Shamburak or stuffed bread recipe:

Just about everything
Delicious vegan comfort food
Think crispy golden bread stuffed with roasted mushrooms, soft lentils, creamy sweet mashed potatoes and soft fried onions all held together by spices and herbs
Healthy-ish comfort food
Meal prep friendly – can be made in advance and reheated later
Easy to bring with you to-go
Vegan, nut free and soy free

What is Shamburak?

Shamburak is a Syrian and Kurdish stuffed bread. It is usually stuffed with ground beef and is the go-to comfort food of Kurds living in Israel. The dough is folded into the shape of an eye, with the ends twisted and the filling resembling the iris of the eye.

Making the vegan Shamburak

You can make a shamburak smaller or bigger as you prefer by either using one large pizza dough or dividing the pizza dough into 4 smaller pizzas.

If you go for the bigger shamburak, just slice it up into pieces like you would a regular stuffed bread. But if you decide to serve as 4 individual stuffed breads, try serving them whole. Top the shamburaks with sweet and sour chili sauce and a fresh sprinkle of parsley.

Mashed sweet potatoes

For this recipe I like to use my favourite vegan mashed sweet potatoes – but you can also use regular mashed potatoes if you prefer. Just be sure that you add lots of fresh herbs to really bring out the flavours in the shamburak.

For a cheesy flavour to the dish (which, spoiler alert, tastes amazing) you can add 2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast. I like to add the nutritional yeast directly to the mashed sweet potatoes. It makes the vegan shamburak taste even more comforting and flavourful.

Gluten free option

To make a gluten free shamburak, the simplest solution is to use a gluten free pizza dough. You can either make your own gluten free pizza dough by using gluten free flour… or you can get a ready to use gluten free pizza dough from the grocery store.

How is this easy Vegan Shamburak recipe made? It’s so simple. Just:

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Heat a large skillet and add the diced mushrooms and sliced red onions. Let the mushrooms fry at medium high heat until they start to sweat and release the excess liquid. Stir occasionally. Once the liquid has evaporated, add the green lentils, smoked paprika, pinch of salt and dried thyme and stir to combine. Finally add sesame seeds, fresh parsley and a pinch of chili flakes. Mix to combine. Let it fry for one more minute before removing from the heat and set aside.
Roll out the pizza dough and place 2-4 large tablespoons of the mashed sweet potatoes in the centre of the dough. Spread the mashed potatoes out a little bit using the spoon and top with 1-2 tablespoons of chimichurri. Finally add 2-3 large spoonfuls of the mushrooms/lentil mix on top.
Next, gently grab each side of the dough and gather it up around the filling. Be sure to leave a 2-inch gap on the top. Fold the ends of the dough over each other and press them together. Brush the dough with olive oil and bake the shamburaks in the oven for 7-10 minutes… or until the dough is golden and done. Serve the shamburak with a drizzle of sweet and sour chili sauce on top and enjoy.

Vegan Shamburak – Kurdish stuffed bread

This shamburak is essentially a pizza bread stuffed with mashed sweet potatoes, roasted mushrooms and caramelized onions topped with spices and chimichurri. It’s an incredibly delicious, mouthwatering and irresistible vegan homemade takeout dinner that everyone needs to try at least once in their life.

Simone – Munchyesta.com

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Serving Size 4 people

Ingredients

1 Pizza dough divided into 4 smaller doughs
2 cups Mushrooms Rinsed and diced
1 15oz can Green Lentils Rinsed and drained
2 Red Onions Sliced
1 tbsp Dried Thyme
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
Pinch of Chili Powder
1½ cup Mashed Sweet Potatoes
1 bunch Fresh Parsley
4 tbsp Chimichurri
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Heat a large skillet and add the diced mushrooms and sliced red onions. Let the mushrooms fry at medium high heat until they start to sweat and release the excess liquid. Stir occasionally. Once the liquid has evaporated, add the green lentils, smoked paprika, pinch of salt and dried thyme and stir to combine. Finally add sesame seeds, fresh parsley and a pinch of chili flakes and mix together. Let it fry for one more minute before removing from the heat and set aside.
Roll out the pizza dough and place 2-4 large tablespoons of the mashed sweet potatoes in the centre of the dough. Spread the mashed potatoes out a little by using the spoon and top with 1-2 tablespoons of chimichurri. Finally add 2-3 large spoonfuls of the mushrooms/lentil mix on top.
Next, gently grab each side of the dough and gather it up around the filling, leaving a 2-inch gap on the top. Fold the ends of the dough over each other and press them together.
Brush the dough with olive oil and bake the shamburaks in the oven for 7-10 minutes or until the dough is golden and done.
Serve the shamburak with a drizzle of sweet and sour chili sauce on top and enjoy.

Easy Vegan Shamburak