Spinach fatayer
Fatayer bi sabanekh are triangular spinach pastries baked in Lebanon for every occasion, from breakfast to funerals. The filling is simple but sharp: spinach with onion, plenty of sumac and lemon juice, and no cheese at all. Two things matter: the spinach must be salted and squeezed bone dry, or the pastries burst, and the seams must be pinched hard, because the filling steams and pushes the dough apart. They are served warm or cold, with lemon.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Dough 15 min
- Rising 60 min
- Filling 25 min
- Shaping 25 min
- Baking 45 min
- Cooling 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead the dough
Mix the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt, add the water and olive oil and knead 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 220 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp sugar · 8 g salt
Leave to rise
Cover and leave somewhere warm for 60 minutes, until doubled.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 220 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp sugar · 8 g salt
Prepare the spinach
Chop the spinach, toss it with a teaspoon of salt and leave 15 minutes. Then squeeze it by the handful as hard as you can — 800 g of leaves come down to about 280 g of packed spinach.
Ingredients: 800 g fresh spinach (two 400 g bags) · 1 pcs onion · 2 tbsp sumac · 3 tbsp lemon juice · 4 tbsp olive oil (3 tbsp for the filling, 1 for brushing) · 30 g pine nuts (optional) · 1 tsp salt · ¼ tsp black pepper
Squeeze it bone dry — everything depends on it.Make the filling
Chop the onion finely and rub it with a little salt. Mix with the spinach, sumac, lemon juice, three tablespoons of the olive oil, the pepper and pine nuts (keep the fourth spoonful of oil for brushing). Taste — it should be clearly sour. Sumac comes from Middle Eastern shops and the spice aisle of larger supermarkets; at a pinch use a teaspoon of grated lemon zest and an extra spoonful of juice.
Ingredients: 800 g fresh spinach (two 400 g bags) · 1 pcs onion · 2 tbsp sumac · 3 tbsp lemon juice · 4 tbsp olive oil (3 tbsp for the filling, 1 for brushing) · 30 g pine nuts (optional) · 1 tsp salt · ¼ tsp black pepper
Sumac and lemon — the sourness is the point.Divide the dough
Divide the dough into 16 balls of about 42 g, cover and rest 10 minutes.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 220 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp sugar · 8 g salt
Shape the rounds
Roll each ball into an 11 cm circle about 2 mm thick. Put a heaped spoonful of filling (about 30 g) in the middle, drained of any liquid.
Ingredients: 800 g fresh spinach (two 400 g bags) · 1 pcs onion · 2 tbsp sumac · 3 tbsp lemon juice · 4 tbsp olive oil (3 tbsp for the filling, 1 for brushing) · 30 g pine nuts (optional) · 1 tsp salt · ¼ tsp black pepper
Seal into triangles
Lift the edge at three points and pinch them together towards the centre to form a triangle. Press the seams hard — loose ones open in the oven.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 220 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp sugar · 8 g salt
Three seams, firmly pinched.Bake
Set them on two lined trays — sixteen will not fit on one — brush with the reserved olive oil and bake at 200°C for 20–25 minutes, until golden. Bake the trays one after the other, about 45 minutes in all. Cool 10 minutes and serve with lemon.
Ingredients: 800 g fresh spinach (two 400 g bags) · 1 pcs onion · 2 tbsp sumac · 3 tbsp lemon juice · 4 tbsp olive oil (3 tbsp for the filling, 1 for brushing) · 30 g pine nuts (optional) · 1 tsp salt · ¼ tsp black pepper
Before you start
From frozen spinach
You can use 450 g of frozen leaf spinach instead of 800 g fresh: thaw it completely and squeeze even harder than fresh. Avoid chopped spinach cubes, which hold too much water.
Other fillings
The same construction works with cheese (labneh or feta with chives) or minced meat with onion and pomegranate molasses. Meat ones are shaped into open boats rather than triangles.
Storage
Baked fatayer keep 2 days at room temperature and 4 days in the fridge. They freeze well — reheat from frozen for 10 minutes at 180°C.
