The DELICIOUS Savoury Pies Every Middle Easterner Loves

Fatayer are savoury pies, which are filled with all sorts of delicious fillings. They are a great make ahead and freeze food, perfect for snacking on or serving at a party. Today I'll show you the perfect dough, and we'll be making the 4 classic flavours, Spinach, Cheese, Meat and Za'atar.
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0:00 Intro
0:47 Cheese Filling
1:45 Spinach Filling
3:33 Meat Filling
4:35 Zaatar topping
4:45 Making the dough
7:35 Spinach pies
8:23 Meat pies
9:04 Cheese pies
9:28 Zaatar pies
9:37 Cooking
10:06 Outro
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Cheese Filling: (makes 24)
250g Mozzarella, Akkawi, or Nabulsi cheese
200g Feta Cheese
20g Parsley
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Nigella Seeds
1 Tsp Dried Mint

Spinach Filling: (makes 24)
250g Spinach
250g Onion
30g Pine nuts
2 Cloves Garlic
4 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Lemon juice
1 Tbsp Sumac
1 Tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
1 Tsp salt
1/4 Tsp Pepper
1/4 Tsp Cayene pepper
1/4 Tsp Paprika

Meat filling: (makes 24)
250g Lamb mince or high fat beef
175g Tomatoes
125g Onion
1.5 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Paprika
1/2 Tsp Sumac
1/4 Tsp Pepper
1/4 Tsp Cayenne

Zaatar: (makes 8)
2 Tbsp Zaatar
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Dough: (makes ~68)
1kg All Purpose Flour
540g Whole Milk or water
240g Vegetable Oil
4 Tsp Sugar
4 Tsp Dry Active Yeast
2 Tsp Salt

Directions:

Cheese filling:
Shred the cheeses, then roughly chop the parsley. Whisk the eggs, and then add to the cheese with remaining ingredients. Mix well to combine

Zaatar:
Mix to combine

Spinach filling:
1- Roughly chop the filling then add 1/2 Tsp salt and massage in. Allow to sit for 15-30 mins, then squeeze out all the water
2- Add half the oil to a pan, and toast the pinenuts until golden
3- Add the other half of oil to a pan, and add the onions, chopped to a small dice. Saute until soft and just turning golden
4- Once cooled add the onion, pinenuts and remaining ingredients to the spinach and mix together

Meat filling:
1- Dice your tomatoes and onions small, then place the tomatoes in a sieve to drain. Once drained add to a bowl with the meat and other ingredients
2- Knead together until well incorporated and the mixture can form a smooth log

Dough:
1- Heat your milk to a warm temp (28c) and then add the sugar and yeast. Mix together and let rest somewhere warm until frothy (15-30m)
2- In your stand mixer, add the flour and salt. Mix together briefly
3- Pour in the oil and mix to combine with the flour, until it is sandy and clumpy
4- Add the milk and combine, then knead for about 3 minutes until soft and it leaves no trace on your hands
5- Oil a bowl, and add the dough, then allow to rest for 30 minutes
6- After resting portion out into 25g pieces then shape and top them

To cook:
Run a timed test batch at your highest oven temperature. You want them to be turning golden on top, with a golden underside. Don't forget to oil the tray after every batch to ensure you get a lightly fried bottom

[mariliathomaz]

We call it esfiha in Brazil. It’s a common food here because of the Syrian-Lebanese immigration in the past.

[Loukie]

I really appreciate the authenticity of this channel. Excellently developed recipes (thanks Salma) executed by bloke that admits his knife skills aren't great, breaks bowls, doesn't shape or role the pastry like a pro... It's all so relatable. Thanks Obi, you show us that we do t need to be master bakers/culinary experts to make these wonderful and exotic recipes.

[morpheussieben]

omg. As a native European I have to say that Middle Eastern food ist unmatched in deliciousness.

[fp]

Firstly THANK YOU on behalf of all vegans/vegetarians for showing some veggie options 🙌 And also thank you thank you thank you for showing the close ups of what size, texture, amount of browned etc things are meant to be. This is so helpful for people who have less experience in the kitchen and mightn't have a feel for these kind of instructions without being shown. You are a natural teacher 😊 Cannot wait to try these, every recipe of yours I have tried so far has been phenomenal!

[nicolehosh]

I live in Texas and never been able to get my hands on some authentic fatayer yet. This video has been up for three days and I have already made this TWICE. This recipe is on point that if I close my eyes while devouring the delicious pastries it feels like I'm walking through Damascus streets. Thank you Obi for giving us the opportunity to make something so authentic in our own homes.

P.S: one thing I've noticed that wasn't mentioned in the video is regarding forming the pastries. When pinching the dough to form the different shapes, it really helps to make it wet by adding some water on the spots that need to be pinched. When I didn't add water, the pastries opened almost flat while baking. I remembered my taita (grandmother) used to do that so I tried it and they were baked perfectly.

[EllieIsStupid]

These are really popular in Brazil, where they're known as esfiha, I guess they came via immigrants from Lebanon. They're completely ubiquitous, you can find them everywhere. There's even a McDonald's style fast food chain called Habib's which serves esfiha and kibe and other Middle Eastern style stuff.

[smokinprincess]

I just made the cheese and the zaatar ones! Absolutely delicious and spot on with measurements and quantities. Definitely better than any other ones I’ve tried before! For anyone reading this, I had my oven on 525 degrees Fahrenheit and to cook 10 pastries took about 7 minutes. The more you put on a tray, the longer it takes to cook. Thank you soooo much for this recipe and I can’t wait for my friends to try them!

[evilgirl]

As a Lebanese, I give you authentication. You made them same as traditional specially the Spanish, you can try purslane weed or Swiss chard. For the meat use 7 spices it can give you more traditional and more savory. Spanish fatayar/turn ups, you can use pastry dough it will give it more depth. Really, I am so proud of you. Authentic and full of compassion.

[sammyjwtiet]

Oh my that parsley hack is amazing! This is gonna be such a time saver haha, thank you for the video ! :)

[AbigatorM]

That reminds me of my childhood. We had lots of middle eastern neighbours where i grew up in germany. And everytime we were at there place to play we got those as snacks.

[ChristineAqel]

Just made these today. I've tried 5 different recipes in the past and have owned a shawarma restaurant and this is the best dough recipe yet and was easy to make by hand as I don't have a mixer. The toppings were all a hit as well Ramadan mubarak!

[jethrotertiusthethird]

lovely video! thank you for sharing vegan and veggie options :) my partner and i are loving all your plant based recipes :) thank you to you and your wife for all the hard work put into your videos, research and preparation :)

[VadAndensong]

Just made a batch of the spinach ones - they turned out great! Very nice and simple dough to make and work with, and the filling was so fragrant it made my mouth water while forming the pies. Never cooked with sumac or pomegranate molasses before, but now I'm a big fan of both!

This channel is definitely in my top 5 online cooking resources, so many lovely plant-based recipes to be found!

[seanmckeownyoung]

Fatayer! My grandma always had these around. She also made one with dates and honey but I think that may have been her invention. (My mom’s parents immigrated to the US from Lebanon. My dad’s parents immigrated from Chile and Ireland…so I’m a Lebanese guy with an Irish name.)

[stevencanden]

I know you mentioned you were waiting to perfect this recipe...so glad it's finally arrived!

[trumulletman]

I worked at a Lebanese bakery for a couple years. Our most popular was rocket, feta, halloumi, mozzarella, tomato, onion, parsley and cayenne. good!

[m.shahbaz]

You guys have hit JACKPOT with a name like Middle eats🤯🤯🤯

[paleologue]

I have always wanted to make these since my friend went back to Libya. His wife used to make the BEST Fatayer. I appreciate your instructions and demonstrations. They are perfect. Easy to follow. You are thorough, direct, quick, precise, and not showy or talkative. It's a true cooking demo. Thank you.

[jo.comics]

I am genuinely SO excited to make these! Being Lebanese, every time we went to Lebanon it'd be Mana-eesh Jibneh in the morning and so far I haven't found the perfect dough recipe for them, so this is super exciting! Love the trick of oiling the sheet tray for better browning as well, that's such a good idea! My mixture for the Jibneh variety usually is Halloumi-Feta-Mozzarella but I never bothered with herbs. Definitely gonna do that from now on!

[Anarchsis]

My Grandmother was taught how to do these by the Lebanese in Carlton, Victoria, Australia in the early part of the 20th century. She always made minced meat with pine nuts, and you are the first person I have found that called the fatayer, I have asked many Lebanese people through the years and was told that different regions called them different things.