Olive and Pepper Dumplings (Pies), Borak Zaitoon

I have been blessed to have a number of Syrian familes in my church. Their food is just wonderful. This recipe is for a “pie” and it is my iteration on the traditional method of making these wonderful packets of flavor. The dough is very unique with the addition of 1 cup of oil. This makes a dough with a consistency of “play dough”. Rolling out this dough is somewhat of a challenge, however I think I have an option that makes uniform dumplings that turn out delicious. First I don’t find that this dough raises similar to a bread dough. It rises but not to double it’s size. Secondly the dough seems much drier than most bread doughs, even with the oil, milk and water. So I make the dough, let it sit for 1-2 hours in my proofing box and then make the skins for the dumplings.

The classic approach to making these pies is to make the dough as I have outlined, then tear off a piece of dough and make a round about the size of a golf ball. Then place them on a clean flat floured surface and push them into a oval, then roll them with a rolling pin. Once this is done, you take one of the skins, place it in your hand, scoop out the filling and seal it up. Or alternatively, place the filling on top of the ovals, then close them up on the floured surface.

I am sure the final result is almost as delicious as what I have outlined. However, my approach makes even dumplings with a thinner skin. I take enough dough for say 3-4 4 inch rounds. The rest of the dough I leave covered with a moist towel. I make these 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, or a 2-3 setting on my pasta maker. I roll the dough into a short log, then smash it into a long strip, then roll it thin enough with a rolling pin to use in my pasta machine on the 0 setting. I then roll it through the settings 0, 1, 2, 3. Placing the sheet of dough on the clean flat surface. I then use a 4 inch cookie cutter to make the rounds. I set the rounds aside covered in a moist towel, as this dough seems to dry out quickly.

I take about 1-2 TBPS of filling, fill the round, and seal them into the torpeado shape you see in the picture above. Interestingly the olives used in this recipe are from the Middle East and have a very different flavor from those most Americans buy in their markets. I strongly suggest you use the Middle Eastern oilves, if you can find them. We have a couple of middle eastern groceries here in Lexington who carry this type of olives. If you can’t find them, the standard green olive (without stuffing) will work fine.