Growing up in Kuwait, “fatayer” were one of my favorite snacks. They are bread-like pastries filled with a variety of fillings like lemony spinach, feta cheese or spicy ground beef. Making these makes me want to go back home and eat all the yummy street food. We have shawarma and fatayer stands at every corner in Kuwait.

The spinach fatayer recipe below is a classic and uses a Middle Eastern spice called sumac. Instead of giving you the scientific description (you can find that on wikipedia), I’ll attempt to describe its flavor. Its extremely tart, kind of lemony, a little savory and a beautiful dark red colour. It gives Arabic food like stuffed grape leaves (dolmas) and roast chicken its distinct lemony flavor. You can even use it as a garnish for dips like hummus and baba ghanoush. If you live in Austin, you can find it any Middle Eastern grocery store like Phoenicia or even at some HEBs.

Back to the fatayer. I found this awesome 10 minute bread dough recipe on Arabic Bites. This is definitely the easiest and quickest bread dough I have ever made…I wasn’t sure if it would work. Have you ever heard of making bread in 10 minutes? Even dough for naans takes 2 hours. But I was proved wrong. The fatayers came out perfect…nice and browned on the outside, slightly sweet and fluffy and soft on the inside. In fact, this dough would be perfect for mini-pizzas (which is what it’s used for in Kuwait). Even if you aren’t a baker, I say go and try it. People will think you slaved in the kitchen for hours!

Spinach Fatayer
Adapted from Arabic Bites

For dough:
1 cup warm water.
1 Tablespoons yeast.
2 Tablespoons Sugar.
2 1/2 cups flour, unbleached, whole wheat, or a mixture of the two.
2 Tablespoons oil.
1 teaspoons salt.

For filling:
2 teaspoons olive oil.
1/2 large onion, finely chopped.
10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed.
2 teaspoons salt.
2 Tablespoons sumac.
1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder.
1/2 tsp cumin powder.
1/2 tsp ground black pepper.
1/2 tsp cayenne powder.
 Juice from 1/2 lemon.

Make dough:
Mix the yeast, Sugar, and water. Mix in 1 cup flour. Cover the bowl and let rise for 10 minutes in a warm place.
Mix the remaining ingredients with the mixture above and knead for 10 minutes. The dough is ready.

Make Fatayers:
Heat oil in pan. Add onion, cook, stirring until is soft. Than add spices, and spinach, stirring. Add lemon juice, cook about 5 minutes. Let filling cool.
Take a golf ball size piece of dough and roll out into a 9 cm circle. Fill with 1 heaping tablespoon of filling.
To make into triangles as above, take two opposites ends of circle and press together at a point. There will one end open. Bring that end to the point and press. Now press all the sides together.  You can make any shape you like.
Bake at 375 F about 15 minutes or until browned.

Makes about 20 fatayer.

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