Spinach Fatayer

Spinach Fatayer: A delicious filling wrapped in a light pastry!!

Oh man. I really liked these... 

Each of the fatayers hide a rich filling composed of spinach, ground beef, green olives and cheese among other things, which makes this (in my eyes!) a seemingly healthy snack! Needless to say, I wouldn't hesitate to substitute a pile of these for a whole meal...

The recipe for these was snagged off of Delices d'Orient's blog, which can be found here! (These were made 05/16/2013...)

 Fatayer Wrap

330g flour

3 TBS milk powder

1 tsp salt

1 TBS sugar

2 TBS plain yogurt

1 TBS yeast

60mL olive oil

1 egg

110mL warm water
(1 egg yolk for brushing)

Fatayer Filling

1 small onion

400g spinach

200g ground beef

100g green olives

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp paprika

3 TBS chopped parsley

A tad bit of cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

4 small rounds of Laughing Cow cheese

Salt and pepper

Bechamel Sauce (Yield: 3 cups)

5 TBS butter

4 TBS flour

4 cups milk

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preparing the Bechamel Sauce

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat, add flour and stir until smooth;
2. Cook over medium heat until rue turns a golden sandy color (~6-7 minutes);
3. Bring milk to a boil in a separate pan, add hot milk to butter mixture 1 cup at a time while whisking;
4. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring continuously;
5. Remove from heat and season with nutmeg;

Preparing the Filling

1. Saute onion with 3 TBS of olive oil;
2. Add ground beef, salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne pepper, and paprika; fry over high heat for a few minutes;
3. Stir in coarsely chopped spinach and green olives; reduce heat and fry for a few more minutes;
4. Remove from heat, add cumin, cheese and 20cl bechamel sauce and adjust seasonings as desired; 
5. Mix and cool;

Preparing the Wrap

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, baking powder, milk powder, salt and sugar;
2. Create a well in the center and add oil, yogurt and egg
3. Mix and gradually add water before kneading until it becomes a uniform paste;
4. Form a ball, cover and let it stand for 45 minutes;
5. Spread the dough until 4mm thick and cut out circles to fit a teaspoon of filling;
6. Fold edges around filling to form a pyramid, pinch edges to prevent filling from escaping;
7. Let it stand for 20 minutes before brushing with egg yolk and baking at 355F for 20 minutes;