From The EI Kitchen
Fataayer bis-sabaanigh: savory spinach pies
Perfect as a meal in themselves or as an accompaniment to a buffet dinner, spinach pies are delicious and good for you. These pies also make an excellent vegetarian brown-bag lunch item.
Ingredients
DOUGH
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
Dash of dried ginger
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
5 cups of unbleached flour
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| Piping hot spinach pies (L. King-Irani) |
Place water, sugar, and ginger into a large bowl. Add the yeast slowly but surely, stirring slightly. Let the mixture rest for five minutes while the yeast becomes foamy. Then stir in the egg, salt and oil.
Next begin folding in the flour gradually. If the dough is still quite wet after all five cups of flour have been folded in, add a bit more flour. Knead the dough until all the flour has left the sides of the bowl and the dough is smooth.
Coat the top of the dough ball with a bit of oil and flip over in the bowl twice. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel and set in a warm (but not too warm) place for 40 minutes.
FILLING
2 large bunches of spinach, or two bags of pre-washed spinach, cut into small pieces
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 cup chopped parsely
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon sumac
1/3 cup olive oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 cup pine nuts, lightly browned in a skillet
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| A spinach pie before it is baked (L. King-Irani) |
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, toss the chopped spinach, parsely, onions, sumac, lemon juice, oil, toasted pine nuts, salt and pepper and set aside.
Divide dough into two setions, roll each out into 1/8 inch thick rounds. Using a small bowl, cut out small rounds of 4 inches in diameter.
Place a heaping tablespoon of the spinach mixture onto each 4 inch wide round. Fold three sides of the round to form a triangle. Secure these rounds by pressing the dough together and pinching it to form a rippled ridge. Leave a small opening in the middle for steam to escape during baking.
Place the rounds onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake
for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
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