Serves 4-6 (makes 10)
1 tbsp olive oil
220g lamb mince
Half a red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Handful of finely choppedflat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp Turkish pepper flakes or smoked paprika
250g ricotta
Sea salt
5 sheets filo pastry
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp nigella seeds
1 Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and fry the lamb and onion for 2-3 minutes until the lamb is just cooked through.
2 Add the garlic and fry for 10 seconds until fragrant. Remove from the heat and tip into a mixing bowl. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then add the parsley, black pepper, pepper flakes or paprika, ricotta and a pinch of salt. Mix everything together well.
3 Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Cut the filo pastry sheets into squares. Take one square and lay it on a chopping board. Brush the sides with beaten egg and fold it into a triangle. Place a walnut-sized piece of the filling on the pastry, 2.5cm in from one of the narrow corners. Fold up the pastry from the tip over the filling, so that you can start to see a triangle shape. Fold this over itself and brush the top with more beaten egg. Fold the remaining corner of pastry over the top and push down gently around the filling. Trim off any excess pastry so that you have a neat-looking triangle. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and repeat until all the filling is used up.
Advertisement
4 Brush the tops with beaten egg and scatter over the nigella seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crispy.
Recipe extracted from Turkish Delights, published by Kyle Books. Buy from the Times Bookshop for £15.99 (RRP £19.99), free p&p, on 0845 2712134; timesbooks.co.uk