Easy Cheesy Sambousek

When it comes to food origins, we are properly in love with Middle Eastern spices and blends. This is why we try and recreate as many recipes with Arabic influences as possible.

For today, I have prepared my personal interpretation of a dish called 'Sambousek.' This is a crunchy dough that comes with different fillings. Still, my favorite version is a cheese and spinach sambousek. This being said, let me guide you on how to make these beautiful little fellows.

• The first thing you will need to prepare is the sambousek pastry. I recommend using a standing mixer with a dough hook for this step, but you can also knead it by hand if you don't have one. It will just take longer.
• Add the flour, oil, salt, and water to the mixing bowl and start kneading for 5 minutes or until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Cover and leave it to rest for an hour.
• Finely chop the onion and fry it in olive oil on medium heat until it becomes translucent. It should take 4-5 minutes. When this is done, grate the garlic and stir. Leave 2 more minutes on medium-low heat, then add the spinach.
• Continue to stir for a couple of more minutes, then add the spices, butter, double cream, and keep everything at a low temp until the butter is completely melted. 

‍

‍

• Remove from heat, add the pine nuts and let it cool.

‍

‍

• In a bowl, shred the feta cheese and grate the mozzarella. When the spinach composition has cooled completely, add it to the cheese mixture. Stir and give it a taste. Technically, it should not need more salt, but it's your meal, so if you feel like adding more, then add more.

‍

‍

• Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Take each piece and powder it. Take a rolling pin and start rolling it out until you get a nice 2 cm thick sheet.
• With a round 10 cm cutter, start cutting pieces. With a tsp, put the filling right in the middle.

‍

‍

You will have to close the pieces, and I am positive that I will do this better than me since I am terrible at this part.

• Now, what you will have to do is to bring one end over the other one and press.

‍

‍

• Take the piece in your hand and seal it further by knitting it. See below, but again, I am sure you will do a much prettier job than me.

‍

‍

• Heat the oil and add the sealed pieces, deep-frying them for one minute on each side. You should turn them over every 30 seconds so they won't get charred.

‍

‍

• Take them out and leave them on a piece of paper to absorb the excess oil.
• To make the sauce, you will need a food processor. Add the garlic, a pinch of salt, and the egg whites to the food processor. Pulse and gradually pour the oil as you would when making mayo. Take your time, so you won't ruin your sauce. Taste it and add more salt if you want.

This dish can be found in many countries all over the Asian and African continents. Some of them, such as India, call this recipe 'samosa'.

However, I have chosen a recipe from the Lebanese cuisine for the day. This might not be the original Lebanese cheese sambousek recipe. Still, it is our sambousek recipe which I highly recommend eating along with some spicy batata harra potatoes.

* If you want to make the filling spicy, you can do that, but remember that the sauce is extremely garlicky.

** Don't forget to give us a tag on Instagram when making this dish.