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The Best Cheese Sambousek

These fried cheesy middle eastern pastries are so irresistible, you won’t be able to stop at one.

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ tbsp powdered milk see note above
  • ½ tbsp corn starch
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • cup vegetable oil like corn or sunflower oil
  • 1 cup water

For the cheese filling

  • 600 g grated cheese Akkawi, Nabulsi or Halloumi, see note above
  • 2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • ½ tsp nigella seeds

For frying

  • Oil for frying

Instructions

  • Add all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well combined.
  • Add vegetable oil and water and knead until dough is soft.
  • All the dough to set for 30 minutes.
  • Mix cheese, parsley, flour and nigella seeds together.
  • Roll out the dough and cut out circle using a 9 cm cookie cutter.
  • fill the circle with about 1 tbsp of cheese mixture. Make sure to leave the edges empty so that you seal them properly. Close to form a crescent shape.
  • Braid the edges to form the classic sambousek shape. If you find this technique hard, press the edges of a fork against the dough to make sure it is well sealed.
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the sambousek in batches.
  • Serve hot as part of a mezze spread or on their own as a snack.