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Our cookbook of the week is Forever Beirut by Barbara Abdeni Massaad. Over the next two days, we’ll feature another recipe from the book and an interview with the author.

To try another recipe from the book, check out: Armenian meat flatbread (lahm bi ‘ajeen).

This triangular turnover “is like a small salad in a piece of dough,” says Beirut-based cookbook author and photographer Barbara Abdeni Massaad . “It’s really good, and you put a lot of lemon juice and sumac … (which) is astringent and lemony.”

Fatayer are usually bite-sized and can be stuffed with all manner of fillings. Massaad recommends thinking of her recipe as a base to build on.

Add cheese (like Akkawi or feta), crushed walnuts, raisins or pine nuts to the spinach stuffing. Use other leafy greens besides spinach, like Swiss chard, sorrel or purslane.

Massaad reads cookbooks like novels; she gathers inspiration and then finds her own way. “Based on your experience and based on the spices or the ingredients that you have at hand, you can do so many things,” she says.

Her favourite fatayer filling is kishk: a fermented mixture of bulgur and cow’s or goat’s milk yogurt dried in the sun and rubbed into a fine powder (find it at Middle Eastern grocery stores).

“This is the way that our ancestors used to keep the abundance of goat’s milk,” Massaad explains. You can also add it to soup, and make it into a paste and bake it onto flatbread for man’oushé bi kishk (the recipes are in Forever Beirut ).

“You fry onion with a bit of red pepper paste, tomato paste and fresh tomatoes, and then you put the kishk powder with a bit of olive oil. And then you use it as a topping on your flatbread. It’s really, really good.”

Dough: 3 1/2 cups (420 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting 1 tsp sugar 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegetable oil, plus extra for brushing 1 1/2 cup (350 mL) lukewarm water

Stuffing: 1 lb (450 g) spinach leaves (from a 4 1/2 lb/2 kg bunch of spinach) 1 tbsp salt, plus a pinch 1 onion, finely chopped 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 medium tomato, finely chopped 2 tbsp ground sumac Juice of 1 lemon 1/2 cup (120 mL) extra-virgin olive oil

Prepare the dough: Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar and salt. Pour in the oil, mixing with your fingers. Gradually mix in the water until it comes together. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 to 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Don’t overwork the dough or it won’t be flaky. Set aside in a bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel.

Carefully rinse the spinach leaves in cold water. Drain and dry well. Coarsely chop the leaves. Add the salt and gently rub the salt and spinach together. This will help draw out any excess water. Drain the spinach again.

Place the onion in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Using your hands (wearing gloves if your hands are sensitive), rub them together to soften the onions and squeeze out excess moisture. Add the spinach, tomato, sumac, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix well with your hands.

Lightly oil two large baking sheets. On a floured surface, form the dough into a log and divide it into 4 equal balls. Flatten each ball with your palm, then use a rolling pin to roll out as evenly and thinly as possible (ideally about 3 mm). Cut out 3 in (8 cm) circles using a pastry cutter or the top of a glass. Drop a generous tablespoon of the spinach mixture in the centre of each circle. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling in thirds and firmly pinch the edges together to form a triangular parcel. Space the formed turnovers out on your baking sheets. At this stage you can freeze them (to cook, remove from the freezer and continue as below).

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Brush the tops of the turnovers with oil and let stand for 30 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe and image excerpted from Forever Beirut by Barbara Abdeni Massaad. Text copyright ©2022 Barbara Abdeni Massaad. Photography copyright ©2022 Barbara Abdeni Massaad. Published by Interlink Books, an imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.

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