Sfiha – aka “Arab Pizza” – is Middle Eastern street food that masters the sweet-savory flavor profile. Lamb, pine nuts, hummus, onion, tomato, fresh mint, pomegranate and spices pack a powerful punch that I can’t get enough of! So, I’ve been using the leftovers to make Sfiha sliders and Sfiha tacos this week.
Original Recipe Sfiha – mostly taken from The World’s Best Street Food
Dough – Use thin crust pillsbury pizza dough if you can find it. Though I’m tempted to try pie crust as well.
Filling
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1 Lb minced lamb
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 1 handful fresh mint, finely chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 2 Tb yogurt
- 1 Tb tahini
- 1 Tb pomegranate molasses (Cranberry sauce, lingonberry jam, or fresh pomegranate seeds make a fine substitute)
- 1 Tbs butter
1. Toast pine nuts in a frying pan, then set aside once browned and fragrant.
2. Melt butter in the pan until it just turns tan, then add your onions and cook them down until they begin to caramelize (I find that caramelizing onions adds to the sweet/savory richness of the dish).
3. Add your spices to the pan with the onions and stir until fragrant.
4. Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well. It’s going to be wet, I warn you! Set aside.
5. Take your dough and stamp out circles of a 3″ diameter. I did this with the opening of a water glass, whatever works. Now – depending on the dough you use, you can place a walnut-sized ball of filling in the center of your circle and turn up the sides to form a square, pinching the corners. This did not work with pizza dough. Would work better with pie crust dough.
6. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or utnil the pastry is golden and the filling sizzling.
7. Serve with wedges of lemon and dollups of Greek yogurt.
Once you have the raw meat mixture though, you can go wild! It doesn’t hold together well, so your Sliders may be more like Sloppy Joes, but slather one side of your mini-bun with cranberry sauce, and the other with yogurt, and add a squeeze of lemon, and it’s Slider Heaven. If your Sfiha is really loose, you might have better luck calling it Taco night. Add some fresh pomegranate seeds on top for extra kick.
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