Olive & VioLife Samboussa

Hi!

I hope you are having a lovely start to your week! I seem to always update my blog after badminton... But today I was also at a job assessment! Fingers crossed I get a wee phone call at the end of the week.

Some time ago, when my friend came back from Australia, she told me about this lovely little Moroccan place, called the Moroccan Soup Bar, that she had been to - and she had brought me a copy back.... ALL the way from the other side of the world! It was even signed and everything *smiles*

The recipes are earthy and humble, but packs a punch in flavour! My boyfriend Kev doesn't even like olives, but I caught him sneaking a second one when they were fresh from the oven - I take that as a good sign!

Originally these were made with feta as well, but I just changed that to plain, vegan meltable cheese; it's delicious!

Instead of cutting out rounds and making smaller samboussas, I used a ready rolled short crust pastry (check ingredients to ensure it's vegan as some use butter instead) - and I cut it into six rectangles and folded over and sealed with fork prints around the edges.

Olive & VioLife Samboussa
(Makes 6)

Ingredients
1 pack of ready rolled short-crust pastry

Filling:
15 pitted black olives, finely chopped
100-200g (vegan) cheese, chopped into small dice
1/2 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
Few sprigs of thyme, or 2/3 tsp dried thyme
A few mint leaves finely chopped or 1/2 tsp dried mint
2 tsp sumac (I LOOOOOOOVE this spice!)
2 tsp pomegranate syrup (I used agave)
2 tsp olive oil

(Instead of the chilli and oil - I used 1 tbsp red pepper paste as that is what I had on hand)

Dipping sauce:
1 tsp pomegranate or agave syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 chilli finely chopped and deseeded or a good pinch chilli flakes
A good pinch of thyme
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

- Take out the short crust pastry from the fridge to soften (about 20 minutes)

- In the mean time, mix all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl - and set aside.

- Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

- Now mix all the ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl - set aside.

- Roll out the pastry on a baking paper-clad tray, cut into six rectangles, and put 1 tbsp of the filling in the corner of each piece. Fold over and press down the edges, before sealing with fork prints all the way around it.

- Place in the middle of the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce whilst they are still fresh out of the oven. And enjoy!

Have you been up to much? I hope you have a great evening!

xox J