Sfihas

A few weeks ago someone from the blog page on Facebook asked me the recipe of the vegan sfihas and that was when I realized that I didn't post it here.

According to Wikipedia, "sfiha is a pizza-like dish originating from the Levang (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq), and introduced in Brazil and Argentina by Levantine immigrants. In contrast to the modern use of lamb of beef, traditional sfiha are open-faced meat pies made with ground mutton. Historically, sfiha were much like dolma- simply ground lamb, lightly spiced, wrapped in brined grape leaves. In Brazil, sfihas are folded into a triangular pastry, although the open-faced version is very common too."



That's why we Brazilian know (and love) sfihas. But I thought everybody new about them and just realized that this is not through when I started talking to people here in Dublin about them and nobody - Irish or European - new what they are.

They're delicious, easy to cook and easy to "veganize". You can fill them with your favourite soy mince sauce or with vegetables (Matteo loves to use a filling that is made with broccoli, tofu, soy cream and herbs). I don't think a recipe for the filling is necessary, but let me know if you want it.

Sfiha dough recipe

Ingredients:
3 cup self-raising flour
2/3 cup water
1/3 vegetable oil
salt
1 small cooked potato

Preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Combine the flour, water, oil and salt using your hands. Add the mashed potato to the mix and combine until get a smooth dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about a few minutes. Take small portions of dough – the size of a walnut – and make them into balls. Using a rolling pin, open each dough ball into a circle. Place ½ tablespoon of the filling into the center of the circle. Fold in the lower third of the circle towards the center of the sfiha, then the left and right thirds of the circle, forming a triangle. Pinch the ends together to seal the filling inside.

Place the sfihas, 1 inch apart, onto an oiled baking sheet.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.