Spinach Hand Pies (Fatayer Spanegh)
Breakfast is not the only time we eat these tangy, lemony pastries and what I love most about them is how the seasons determine the filling. Where the Lebanese bakery will traditionally use a salad of spinach, onion, sumac and lemon for the filling, at home you are free to use whatever you have picked up at the grocer or have grown in your garden such as spinach and swiss chard.
Ingredients 12
4 bunches english spinach
2 onions, large
2 tomatoes, medium
1 tbsp sumac
1 tsp 7 spice bharat
1 tsp chilli powder, optional
1 lemon juice, from 1 lemon
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp citric acid, optional, see note below
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Method 8
Making The Dough
Prepare the dough from the Ajin recipe
Preparing The Spinach
Begin by washing the and finely chopping it and place it in a large mixing bowl, along with a heaped tablespoon of salt, mix to combine and set aside for 5 minutes. The salt will begin to wilt the spinach and help you to draw the moisture out of it.
Begin squeezing large handfuls of the into the sink or a separate bowl ensuring you squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Place the wilted spinach in a large clean mixing bowl.
Dice the and finely and add to the mixture along with the remaining ingredients. Using clean hands combine the mixture well, tasting it to adjust seasoning to your liking and set aside to allow the flavours to develop whilst the dough is resting. It is important to note the flavours of the spinach filling should be overpoweringly sour and lemony whilst uncooked to allow for any flavour that evaporates whilst cooking.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
Once the dough has rested, roll each ball out using either a rolling pin or your fingers into a circle and place 1 heaped TBS of filling in the centre, fold over two sides of the circle to the centre to make a triangle point and pinch down, bring up the bottom of the triangle pinching it along the centre. Repeat until you have used up your filling.
Once your triangles are ready, lightly oil a baking tray or place baking paper on a tray and align the pastries and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until they are golden brown on the top and bottom.
Serve with extra lemon wedges
Sunday Kitchen's tips
Citric acid is used to enhance the lemon flavour without adding too much lemon juice which will result in a very soggy filling.
Spinach and silverbeet carry plenty of moisture and it is crucial this moisture is drawn out before filling the pastries otherwise the result is soggy after baking.
