633. Hawawshi: Meat Stuffed Pastry Pockets

Although Italian calzones are more famous world-wide, there exist so many more variation in the Arab world.

These Egyptian hawawshi (حواوشي) are pastry pockets filled with a simple meat mixture.

I adapted the recipe from Pretty Scraps, but I had my own leftover filling from a bourag so I used that.

Feel free to use your own filling, raw or cooked, but I have provided the original recipe below.

This makes a perfect contribution to an afternoon tea or snack.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
3 cups flour
3 Tbsp powder milk
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp instant dried yeast
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
1 cup warm water

For the meat:
1/2 kilo minced meat
1 big diced onions
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 medium green pepper
1 medium tomato (optional)
1 tsp salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

To make the dough, put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until a dough is formed, then blitz for 1-2 minutes longer.
Remove the dough, form into a ball, put in an oiled bowl and let rise for about an hour until doubled in size.
Prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients together.
Preheat oven to 500F.
Divide the dough into four balls; divide the filling into four.
Roll each ball of dough into a circle about half centimeter thick, spread a portion of the meat on one half.
Fold the pastry over the filling to create a pocket, and crimp the edges with a fork.
Poke the surface with a fork to create breathing space.
Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Bake your pockets in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, then a couple more (1-2) under the broiler for color.
Cool for 5 minutes before eating.

 صحة و عافية