I made these for a casual dinner most recently as Christopher was working away and Otis, mama and I wanted something we could eat while watching a film. As soon as Otis saw them he started squealing ‘pitzy! pitzy!’, and I suppose they are a bit like Pizzas; Palestinian pizzas. Christopher even took some left-overs to work for lunch a few days later, so they are very versatile.
Bakeries across Palestine cook these along with families cooking them at home, and I associate this dish wish a casual snack while out and about as well as a celebration party. Cook with friends and family and enjoy.
ingredients
bread
500g flour
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1-2 cups warm water
Extra virgin olive oil
meat topping
1 vine-ripened tomato, very finely chopped/ blended
1 green pepper, very finely chopped/ blended
1green chili, very finely chopped/ blended
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 handful of parsley, very finely chopped blended
500kg ground beef
Salt and pepper
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon pine nuts
method
making the dough
- In a mixing bowl add the dry ingredients for the bread and mix
- Add the water slowly as you bring together and knead into a smooth dough
- Pat the ball of dough with extra virgin olive oil and cover to prove in a warm corner
- Leave to rise for 45 mins
assembling the manaqeesh
- preheat oven to 250c
- mix all the meat topping ingredients (except the pine nuts) together and mulch with your hands until you have a fine consistency.
- Drain as much liquid off as you can
- divide the dough roughly into 6-8 pieces depending on how big you would like your manaqeesh. I make them big, so it’s one per baking sheet
- with your hand or a rolling pin, flatten out the dough to just a few mm thick
- add a generous but thin layer of the meat mixture onto the dough and flatten down with your hands
- sprinkle on the pine nuts and press in with your hands
- put in the oven for 7-10 minutes
- serve warm with labaneh or yoghurt.
The Olive Tree Kitchen 