Sambusek (Lebanese pastries) with coriander vinaigrette

I was going to make these with my friend Saph and her two kids to celebrate a friend’s birthday, but due to illness it didn’t happen. I already had the ingredients so I thought I’d make them anyway. They are delicious with and without the vinaigrette. If you wanted to cheat a little, I think they’d work well with puff pastry.

You’ll need:

Pastry

• 200g self-raising flour
• 30g butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50-100ml of warm water
• pinch of sugar
• Egg wash (one egg beaten with 50ml of water)

Filling

• 30 ml olive oil
• 2 shallots
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 big handfuls of baby spinach
• 100g roasted and crushed hazelnuts
• 50-80g of feta
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• Juice of 1 lemon
• tsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp pomegranate molassess

Vinaigrette

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove
• 200ml olive oil
• 1/3 cup coriander finely chopped (stalks and leaves)
• 1tsp roasted and crushed coriander seeds
• 2  boiled eggs (cook for 6-8 minutes)
• salt and pepper

To cook

Pastry – process the butter, salt, sugar, and flour in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs. Slowly add in the water until it comes together. Refrigerate for 1.5 hours.

Filling – Fry the shallots and garlic then wilt the spinach. Place into a bowl and add all the other ingredients and mix together.

To make – Roll the pastry to around 3mm thick and cut circles 8cm in diameter. Brush one edge with eggwash then place a tablespoon of the filling in the middle, fold in half and pinch. Then brush with egg wash.

Bake for around 10minutes or until golden

Vinaigrette

Separate the yolks from the egg whites (after they’re cooked). Blend the yolks with garlic, lemon juice and garlic then slowly add the oil. Once done, fold in the whites, coriander and coriander seeds.

(Arabesque, Greg and Lucy Malouf (2006) Hardie Grant Books.)

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