Authentic Lebanese Recipe
Pastry:
1 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup butter or other shortening
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold water

The sambousik is a close relative of the Turkish boerek (see recipe below). Passed round within minutes after being taken from the hot fat in which they are fried, these are popular fixtures at Beirut cocktail parties.

Sift flour with salt and cut shortening in finely. Add water gradually to make a soft dough. Roll out 1/8 inch thick on pastry board. Cut into rounds with biscuit cutter. Put a teaspoon of stuffing in the center of each pastry. Fold over in half and pinch edges together. Fry in deep fat until brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Some like them hot, some like them lukewarm. Either way, they disappear in a hurry. Makes about 20 Sambousiks.

Filling:
1 1/2 cups lean minced or ground meat
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Saute onions until yellow in two tablespoons of shortening. Add meat, nuts, salt and pepper. Fry until meat loses its pink color, stirring occasionally. Pour off excess fat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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Turkish Recipe: These are a versatile Turkish pastry to be eaten with the fingers. They become a canape or a dessert, depending upon their filling. When served as a canape the boereks should be piping hot so as not to be oily.

Pastry:
3 cups pastry flour
3/4 cup water
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix dough, knead lightly and let stand one hour covered with a damp cloth. Divide into quarters. Roll out paper thin on a board dusted with cornstarch. Cut into rounds with biscuit cutter, and brush each with melted butter.

Filling 1:
1/2 Ib. cream or cottage cheese
2 Tbsp. butter
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Filling 2:
One half cup each of walnuts, almonds and hazel-nuts moistened slightly with sugar syrup or honey and flavored with cinnamon and sugar.

Filling 3:
Cooked chopped meat or chicken seasoned with chopped onions, parsley and bound with a slightly beaten egg.

Place a teaspoon of filling on each round. Roll up like a pencil or fold over in half. Place on greased baking tin, brush with melted butter and bake in hot oven until crisp and lightly browned. Or fry in deep fat.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

Authentic Lebanese Recipe: Here is another good dish for meatless days. Lebanese cooks often put these pastries on large round tin trays and carry the trays to the bakery to be cooked. The steady, intense heat of the commercial oven produces a light and crisp pastry.

Pastry:
7 cups bread flour
1/2 cap olive oil
1 tsp. dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Cold water

Dissolve yeast in a tablespoon of tepid water. Stir in olive oil and the flour mixed with salt. Add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Roll out on floured board to quarter inch thickness. Cut in circles with biscuit cutter. Put a tablespoon of filling on each pastry. Fold over in a triangular shape and press edges together firmly. Place on well oiled baking sheet and bake in hot oven until very lightly browned. Pinch each pastry open slightly and sprinkle the exposed filling with a few drops of lemon juice. Serve with lemon wedges.

Filling:
2 Ibs. fresh spinach
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins (optional)
Lemon juice
Powdered ground sammak (sumac)
Salt and pepper
Cinnamon

Wash spinach. Shake to dry. Chop finely. Mix with other ingredients, adding enough lemon juice and sammak to give a pleasantly sharp tang. Fills about 50 turnovers.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
Pastry:
5 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/4 cups samneh (or other shortening)

Filling:
2 cups lamb meat, finely chopped
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1 cup samneh
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup labneh
Pomegranate seeds
Salt and pepper

Good with a summer salad, these pastries may be prepared ahead of time, stored in a deep freeze, and reheated until piping hot in the oven. Serve with a laban sauce.

Prepare pastry by sifting flour with salt. Add melted and cooled samneh. Stir in the water. Knead until smooth, adding more water if necessary to make dough easy to handle. Let stand an hour covered with a damp cloth. Divide pastry into portions the size of an egg. Pat each with the hands, or roll out on a board until round and pastry-thin. Dip fingers in melted samneh and fold the pastry over upon itself, working all around the edge of the round. This will incorporate more of the short¬ening into the pastry and make it flakier.
Mix filling ingredients well together. Place a spoonful of filling on each pastry. Decorate with pomegranate seeds. Bake in hot oven until meat is browned and pastry is crisp. Makes about 50 tarts. Serve hot.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
6 round sheets of unbaked Jewish bread
1 1/2 cups chopped lean meat
1/2 cup minced onions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Pass meat through grinder twice. Fry minced onions in two tablespoons shortening until yellow. Add meat, pine nuts, salt and pepper and fry gently until nuts are light brown and the meat has lost its pink color. Cut each sheet of bread into four wedges. Put a spoonful of filling on the broad end of each wedge. Roll up tightly into a pencil shape. Press together. Lay rolled pastries on a damp towel close together. Just before serving, fry in deep fat until light brown and crisp. Makes about two dozen.

Filling 2:
Prepare stuffing of minced boiled brains mixed with an unbeaten egg and an equal quantity of grated cheese.
Season with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of parsley.

Filling 3:
Chop several hard boiled eggs finely. Season with salt, pepper and parsley and stuff as above.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

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