Meat pies (lahme bi ajeen)/ spinach pies (Fatayer)

Whenever I'm feeling sad, I like to think about growing up, the smell of freshly baked bread, the weighted smell of cooking meat and sweetness of frying onions. These things comfort me. My mom used to make homemade pita bread when we were growing up, and oftentimes she would make double the amount of dough because its very laborious work to repeat multiple times in a week. Of course, she may not have used all the dough at once, but usually would stuff the dough with different things and freeze them to have something quick to offer us during the next week. So using the same dough, she may have produced meat triangles, mini spinach pies, or pita bread with a leavened pocket of air between. So, in honor of my mommy...

For the dough: 

4c whole wheat flour

1.5c warm water

2 TB yeast

1 TB sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4c olive oil (to coat the bowl)

mix the sugar to the warm water (water should be about 100F). Add the yeast culture to the water and mix well. Let this set for about 7-10 minutes, allowing the yeast to consume some of the sugar mixture. This is called proofing the yeast.

On the side, Mix the salt in with the flour well in a large bowl.

In the center of the flour mixture, create a large valley by pushing flour from the center of the bowl up the sides.

 Add the yeast/water to the flour valley slowly, 1/4 cup at a time.

Mix by folding the flour into the center of the water and pushing it back slowly and repeatedly until all water is added and dough feels firm and elastic. You may add more water to elasticize it more, but continue adding by teaspoonfuls only until it is the consistency you desire. 

When the dough forms a cohesive, elastic and non-sticky ball, lightly oil the bowl and dough ball with olive oil, cover in a cloth, and leave in a warm location away from draft, like the oven. Give your dough approximately 1.5 hours to rise.

And wait... Oh the waiting is annoying... You can watch a movie, clean up some of your kitchen disasters, run some errands, or make the stuffing for the dough.

Continue the dough by separating your risen dough into small balls, and covering these with a cloth to allow them to continue to rise, about 30 minutes. 

Browned pine nuts, essential to everything!

Roll the dough balls out into flat discs, about the size of a CD/DVD, and about 1/8 inch (1/3 cm) thick. 

Cut each disc into pie-shaped thirds for the meat filling, or leave as discs for the spinach stuffing.

For the meat mixture: 

• 1lb ground lamb, goat, beef or turkey
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium tomato, finely chopped
• 1 TB pomegranate paste or molasses
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp Seven Spices
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1/2c toasted pine nuts for garnish

1. Mix all the ingredients for the meat filling together. 
2. Place the meat filling into the pie-shaped third of dough that you'd cut from your disc. 
3. Moisten the edges of your dough with water using the tip of your finger. 
4. Pinch the corners of your dough together so they form a triangular boat shape as in the picture. 
5. Press the meat down into the corners of your boat, using the meat to help stabilize the walls of the dough. 
6. Be sure the bottom of your dough is slightly dry and floured.
7. Garnish each pie with 3-5 toasted pine nuts, making sure to stay consistant.
8. Bake on a tray in the oven at 350 degrees F until the bottom of your dough is slightly browned (about 10 minutes), and remove while dough remains slightly soft. 

For the Spinach Filling: 

• 4c packed fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 TB olive oil.
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp sumac
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4c pine nuts 

1. Brown the pine nuts in a sautee pan over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, with 1/2tsp olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. In the same pan, sautee onions in remaining olive oil for about 15 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring frequently until they are lightly browned. Add the garlic, sauteeing for another 2 minutes. 
3. Add the spinach, and continue cooking on medium heat until the spinach has slightly wilted and softened and there is no liquid in the pan, about 7 minutes. Remove any excess liquid from your spinach mixture if there is any.
4. Remove from heat and mix in the spices. 
5. Place 2 TB spinach filling in each disc, placing 3-5 pine nuts on top of each mound of filling. This will ensure that each fatayer has enough nuts.
6. Gently dampen the edges of the disc with water. 

There are a few different ways to make your pocket, as I have in a shape of a half-circle, or as a 3-sided pyramid form, and THIS is where I always get indecisive and begin cursing. The spinach contains a lot of water, making it difficult to get a dry-enough filling. This can be frustrating when you are closing, pinching and stretching the dough and it becomes weaker and weaker until it breaks and you begin really cursing. 

If I have a more dry mixture, I'll use the pyramid form, because this requires more stretching of the dough. If the mixture is more moist, I'll make a pocket-- the less stretching, the less breaking!

For the half-circle shape: 

1. Fold the disc in half to close it around the filling. 
2. To seal your pocket, pinch the edge of your half-circle, rotating it up as you pinch (like a mini twist). 
3. Continue this all along the edge of the half-circle to seal completely. 

To make my pockets, I used the little gadget you see in the pictures, which I found online in a pack of 4 different sizes. Yep. Here, laziness totally wins! You can also buy it on my website.

For the triangular pyramid shape: 

1. As with the other shape, start with your filling in a disc and the edges of the disc slightly moistened.
2. Bring the sides of the dough together over the center of the filling, pinching together to form a triangle.  I often use 3 fingers to pinch the 3 sides closed. 
3. Close the dough with firm pinches.

Place the pockets you've made on a tray, making sure their bottoms are lightly floured or otherwise non-moist. Baked at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes. 

This amount of dough and filling I've used makes enough for about 50-60 meat pies and 18-20 spinach pies. Otherwise, you may double the batch of meat or spinach filling and make an entire batch of dough using either filling for double the output.  

Both meat and spinach pies can be easily frozen and thawed either in the microwave, or better yet, reheated in the oven.


Nutrition facts for 3 meat pies (lahme bi ajeen):
205 total calories, 25gm total carbohydrate, 5 gm fiber, 16gm protein, 6gm fat
(2 Carbohydrates (1 NET carbs), 1 Fat, and 2 protein exchanges)

Nutrition facts for 3 spinach pies:
185 total calories, 30gm total carbohydrate, 7 gm fiber, 2gm protein, 8gm fat
(2 Carbohydrates (1 NET carb), 1.5 Fat, and 0 protein exchanges)