A well-organised gathering starts with dishes you can serve well, not a long menu competing for pans and oven space. Choose a clear main, two or three starters, bread and salad to maintain quality and know meat quantities before ordering.
A menu for six
Consider grilled kebab with hummus, salad and small sfeeha, or freekeh with meat, yoghurt, vegetables and lighter starters. For shawarma as the main, offer bread, pickles and tahini separately so guests assemble their own portions.
For initial planning only, estimate about 180–250 g raw boneless meat per adult when meat is the main meal, then adjust for appetite and other dishes. Children, meat pies and starters alter the calculation. This is a shopping estimate, not a mandatory dietary portion.
Preparing the day before
Prepare sauces suitable for chilling, wash and dry vegetables, and divide mince and strips into labelled packs. If your sfeeha recipe uses cooked filling, cook and chill it promptly; raw-filling recipes require their own sequence.
Do not partially cook meat to leave until the next day. Either store raw meat refrigerated within safe limits or cook fully, cool promptly and reheat to 74°C for service.
Serving-day sequence
Begin with longer-cooking dishes, then warm bread and prepare salad plates. Cook kebab or shawarma last so it arrives hot. Use clean utensils and plates separate from raw-meat equipment.
Do not crowd all the shawarma into a small pan. Portion ahead, cook batches and serve in short stages. Keep waiting hot food at 60°C or above and cold food chilled; do not leave the spread out throughout the event.
Reducing waste
Serve a moderate first quantity and replenish from properly stored food. Use small replaceable sauce bowls and record leftovers afterward. Those observations improve the next gathering's calculation more than repeated guessing.
Related products from ALRAQI MEATS
Local Naimi Lamb Mince - 1 kg, or Boneless Beef Cubes - 1 kg. Check the product page for weight, ingredients and cutting options before ordering. Choose a cut suited to the cooking method; a boneless or mixed-meat label alone does not guarantee suitability for quick cooking.
Further guidance
Safe minimum cooking temperatures, Refrigerated food storage.