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lebanese spinach pie held in a hand
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5 from 43 votes

Fatayer bi Sabanekh (Lebanese Spinach Pie - فطائر)

Fatayer bi sabanekh is a Lebanese spinach pie featuring a delectable sour spinach filling encased in a soft pastry shaped into a triangle. 
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time13 minutes
Rising Time1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time2 hours 23 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, main
Cuisine: Lebanese
Diet: Vegan
Servings: 26 pieces
Calories: 95kcal
Author: Janelle Hama

Ingredients

Fatayer Dough

  • 250 g Plain Flour + extra for dusting
  • 250 g Self raising flour same as self rising
  • 1 tablespoon Dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon Coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 110 ml Olive oil
  • 290 ml Almond milk warm

Fatayer Filling

  • 1 kg Spinach
  • 1 small Onion chopped small
  • ¼ cup Sumac
  • 1 teaspoon Paprika
  • ½ teaspoon Black pepper cracked
  • tbs Lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • ¼ cup Olive oil
  • tablespoon Pomegranate molasses
  • 1 teaspoon Salt to taste

Additionals

  • 1 teaspoon Salt for rubbing into spinach
  • 1 tablespoon Olive oil use as needed for brushing fatayer

Instructions

Prepare fatayer dough

  • In a large mixing bowl, add all the dry dough ingredients. Once combined add all the wet ingredients and mix through. 
    250 g Plain Flour, 250 g Self raising flour, 1 tablespoon Dry yeast, 1 tablespoon Coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon Salt, 110 ml Olive oil, 290 ml Almond milk
  • Once the dough starts to stick, use your hands and knead the dough until it no longer sticks. Knead the dough for approx. 4-5 minutes. 
  • Oil proofing bowl and place the dough ball into it. Cover with cling wrap and a tea towel, allow it to rise for an hour in a warm place.

Prepare fatayer bi sabanekh filling

  • In a large bowl add a teaspoon of salt to the spinach and massage the salt into the leaves. Allow spinach to sit for at least 10-15 minutes. Squeeze out as much moisture from the spinach with your hands and place into a dry bowl.
    1 kg Spinach, 1 teaspoon Salt
  • Add all other filling ingredients to the spinach and combine thoroughly. Place the spinach mixture into a colander and sit it propped up into a bowl to allow any excess juice to flow out.
    1 small Onion, ¼ cup Sumac, 1 teaspoon Paprika, ½ teaspoon Black pepper, 1½ tbs Lemon juice, ¼ cup Olive oil, 1½ tablespoon Pomegranate molasses, 1 teaspoon Salt

Spinach fatayer assembly

  • Measure out as many 35g dough balls. Approx. 26 balls. Keep these covered with a tea towel whilst working with the dough.
  • Dust clean flat surface with flour, pat down one dough ball at a time with fingers into a circle, then use a rolling pin to roll out dough into a larger circle. Dough should have a thickness of approx. 2 -3mm (0.1” inches)
  • Place filling in the centre of the dough, without touching the edge. Fold and seal into a triangle. See video and notes.
  • Place each triangle on a lined baking tray and brush with olive oil.
    1 tablespoon Olive oil
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven of 220C (430F) until golden brown (approx. 12-13 minutes). Enjoy warm.

Video

Notes

✔️Variations
  • Switch out spinach with silverbeet greens. Do not use the stalk. This is something I do quite a lot, the taste is equally amazing.
  • Switch out the spinach with purslane, similar to this purslane pocket recipe.
Tips
  • Filling - Ensure spinach filling is as dry as possible. A soggy filling will result in the pies open up during baking. Once the filling has been mixed together, place it into a colander with a bowl underneath it, this will help release any juice. Keep the filling in the colander whilst using it to make the pies. Chop up the contents of the filling small. Chunky filling will be harder to handle when trying to seal the dough. Adding salt to taste - I recommend tasting your filling.
  • Moisture - Keep all moisture to a minimum. Do not allow any moisture on the dough whilst handling. Moisture will result in the pies not closing at the seams.
  • Dough - Whilst working with the dough, keep it covered under a tea towel or cling wrap to ensure it doesn’t dry out. I prefer to measure out individual dough balls rather than cutting out the dough with a dough cutter 10cm (approx. 4 inches) wide. See video.
  • Rolling - use fingers to initially pat out dough into a circle, then roll out into a larger circle. Dough should be approx. 2.5mm thick (approx. 1 inch)
  • Salting spinach - allowing spinach to sit in salt for 10 minutes helps to expel moisture. Squeeze out as much juice as possible out of the spinach.
  • Creating spinach triangles - fold two ends of the circle dough, and pinch off centre about a ⅓ of the way, then fold the next side. This will create an even triangle. See video.
  • Storing - whilst vegan Lebanese spinach pies are best eaten immediately, these can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for a day or two. The pastry may soften further, but they still taste amazing!
  • Oven - should be really hot, you could bake these at 230C (440F) until golden (my oven atm is not reliable so I stuck to the 220C mark - it's important to note each oven varies)
N.B., measurements used are Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml.

Nutrition

Calories: 95kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 406mg | Potassium: 246mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 3668IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 2mg