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Fatayer

These buns are from the Middle Eastern cuisine, they are basically soft yummy pies, either with a meat filling or a spinach filling, sometimes even with a cheese filling. I have made two varieties, the meat fatayer and spinach fatayer. They are light to have and very healthy, can work as an appetiser or a snack, or even as part of a light meal when one isn't hungry enough to have something too heavy.
Print Recipe
Servings: 20 Fatayar
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for Dough
  • 2 cups all-purpose/plain flour
  • 1 tsp. yeast
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 4 tbsp. oil or melted butter
  • 1 tbsp. milk powder
  • some warm milk or water for kneading
Ingredients for Spinach Filling
  • 8 cups fresh baby spinach rinsed and drained, then chopped finely
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tomato chopped very fine
  • 1 onion chopped very fine
  • 1 small potato chopped very fine then boiled till soft and drained
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
  • pinch of turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil or any vegetable oil
  • pinch of sumac spice if you have it
  • 1 tsp. red chilli powder for spice
  • crumbled feta cheese optional

Method
 

  1. For the Dough
    Knead the dough with all the ingredients using warm water/milk and then cover and set aside for about an hour or until it doubles in size. Once the dough is well risen, punch it down and divide it into 18-20 equal sized pieces. Shape them into balls, set them aside to rest for 15 minutes, make sure you keep them covered.
    In the meantime after kneading the dough and it is having its first rise, you can start preparing your filling. For the keema filling, use my standard recipe, I just added a bit of boiled potato cubes in it.
  2. For Spinach Filling
    Place the chopped spinach in a bowl. Sprinkle the salt on it and cover. Set it aside to rest for 15 minutes. This will help to wilt the spinach leaves so that all excess moisture is removed. If the spinach is used without this step, the spinach will release a lot of moisture during baking and ruin the buns, so don't skip this step. Once the 15 minutes are up, take bunches of the spinach and squeeze out excess water using your hands. Put the moisture-free spinach into a bowl. Open up the spinach so that it doesn't clump up into balls. Now add all the other ingredients, onion, tomato, potato, spices, oil, lemon etc. Toss together until everything is properly combined.
    Once the dough balls have rested for about 15 minutes, roll each one out into a small circle of about an eighth of an inch thickness. Place some of the spinach filling the center, then pick 3 ends from the circle and bring them together to make the samosa triangle shape. Pinch together in the center so that the buns don't open up during baking.
    Place the buns on a greased tray. Brush them with olive oil or egg wash and you can sprinkle some sesame seeds. Preheat the oven at 180 C and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the buns are golden. Pat them with a bit of butter when they come out of the oven.
    Serve and enjoy! 🙂