Beef Fatayer

Name: Beef Fatayer
Yield: about 30 (depends how much dough you use!)
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: to make bread type dough:; 2 c warm water; 2 Tbsp yeast; 3 Tbsp sugar; 5 c bread flour; 1/4 c oil (i used olive); 1 1/2 tsp salt; SPINACH FILLING; 2 lb spinach (fresh or frozen..i used frozen); 1 small chopped onion; juice of 2 lemons; 1/4 to 1/3 c oil (once again, i chose olive oil!!); salt and pepper to taste; MEAT FILLING; 2 lb ground beef or ground lamb (or both); 2 large tomatoes (finely diced); 1/2 c parsley (finely chopped); 1/4 c tomato paste; 1/2 c tomato sauce; 2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp pepper; 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1 onion (finely chopped)

By Nicole P.
@froggeh

Fatayer is a Middle Eastern meat pie pastry that can alternatively be stuffed with spinach, cheese or meat. I made 2 flavors today, one being the spinach (triangle) and the meat (square)
The pastry texture is more like a bread type than a pie crust :)
And again, this recipe was handed down from my Lebanese friend Joumana :)
On this page, i am posting the beef fatayer recipe (i will share the spinach one shortly)

Rating:

★★★★☆ 1 vote4

Comments:

1 Comment

Serves:

about 30 (depends how much dough you use!)

Method:

Bake

Ingredients

Add to Grocery List

·

to make bread type dough:
2 c

warm water
2 Tbsp

yeast
3 Tbsp

sugar
5 c

bread flour
1/4 c

oil (i used olive)
1 1/2 tsp

salt
SPINACH FILLING
2 lb

spinach (fresh or frozen..i used frozen)
1

small chopped onion
·

juice of 2 lemons
1/4 to 1/3 c

oil (once again, i chose olive oil!!)
·

salt and pepper to taste
MEAT FILLING
2 lb

ground beef or ground lamb (or both)
2

large tomatoes (finely diced)
1/2 c

parsley (finely chopped)
1/4 c

tomato paste
1/2 c

tomato sauce
2 tsp

salt
1/2 tsp

pepper
1/2 tsp

cinnamon
1

onion (finely chopped)

How to Make Beef Fatayer

Step-by-Step

SPINACH FILLING DIRECTIONS:
1. Thaw the spinach and then cut up and wash it and make sure to drain it very well!! This is a VERY important step, you do not want to keep any liquid from the spinach, it needs to be water-free!
2. Add chopped onion (since I’m not a huge onion fan, we’ll go with 1 large onion, maybe a little more)
3. Add lemon to taste ( I prefer it tart, so aim for 1 large lemon per lb. of spinach = 2 lemons for this)
4. Add oil to the mix
5. Add salt, pepper and a little bit of sumac
Mix together to get something similar to a 'paste'

ASSEMBLE AND MAKE TRIANGLES:
Pinch off about 2 1/2″ balls of dough and roll out into a 4″ circle. Put a heaping tablespoon of the spinach filling in the middle of each circle. Fold up from the bottom to the middle and bring in sides to the center to form a triangle. Press down on the seams firmly and pinch ends together.

Place the fatayer on a cookie sheet that has been brushed with butter or olive oil and place the pies on the tray. Brush the tops with oil and put in a preheated 500 degree oven for 15 minutes or until a little brown.
MEAT FILLING DIRECTIONS:
Mix all above ingredients together

Instead of making into triangles, you will make squares. Just add a tablespoon of the mixture to the middle of the square dough and pinch each side of the edge to hold the meat. Put on a greased cookie sheet and bake on 500 for 15 minutes.