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These Crispy Mini Meatless Pies make for the perfect appetizer or snack! A delicious tofu “meat” seasoned with fresh onions, sundried tomatoes, parsley, pomegranate molasses, cinnamon, and allspice, and served atop crispy spring roll (or wonton) wrappers. It is the perfect balance of sweet and savory, and the ingredient combination makes for such a fresh and flavorful dish!
We are excited to be sharing with today a recipe from Vicky Cohen and Ruth Fox’s new cookbook, Tahini and Turmeric. The cookbook contains 101 middle eastern classics, made vegan. Vicky and Ruth are the creators of the popular vegan and vegetarian food blog, “May I Have That Recipe?”, and this is their very first cookbook! We are stoked to be a part of their online “cookbook tour”, so let’s get into the recipe!
The traditional version of these Crispy Mini Meatless Pies (called lajme bil ajin) is made with homemade pizza dough, ground beef, pine nuts, tomatoes, and pomegranate molasses. The cookbook simplifies the recipe by using crispy spring roll wrappers as a base and substitutes tofu for the meat. The tofu makes for a great meat substitute and mixed together with the pomegranate molasses, it takes on a color just like it’s non-vegan counterpart.
The cookbook itself is filled with so many unique recipes that I am excited to explore. The authors drew their inspiration from traditional dishes of Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Barcelona, and Spain, so the book is filled with a variety of sophisticated flavor profiles and beautiful, crowd-pleasing dishes. The photos alone got me drooling the first time I flipped through!
Another thing that I love about the book are the detailed explanations of the Middle Eastern foods and dishes. I feel like most people will learn A LOT when picking this up, minus those who are already familiar with the dishes of course.
We are also excited to share that we are giving away a copy of this cookbook as well to one lucky winner! All you have to do is comment down below and let us know why you want to win 🙂 The winner will be chosen on Friday, 9/14. This giveaway is US Only, good luck!
If you make this recipe, let us know what you think in the comments below! + If you post any photos on Instagram, make sure you tag us @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris so that we don’t miss it, we love seeing your photos!
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Crispy Mini Meatless Pies
- Total Time: 50 minutes
Description
This recipe makes for the perfect appetizer or snack! A delicious tofu “meat” seasoned with fresh onions, sundried tomatoes, parsley, pomegranate molasses, cinnamon, and allspice, and served atop crispy spring roll wrappers. It is the perfect balance of sweet and savory, and the ingredient combination makes for such a fresh and flavorful dish!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium-size onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 10 ounces extra-firm tofu, patted dry
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, diced
- 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses (info for a homemade option in their book!)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baharat or ground allspice
- 2 tablespoons raw pine nuts
- 9 spring roll wrappers*
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil*
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large, nonstick pan. Add the diced onion and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, until translucent.
- Crumble the tofu into a medium-size bowl. Add the cooked onion, parsley, diced sun-dried tomatoes, pomegranate molasses, salt, cinnamon, and baharat and mix well.
- Using the same pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the tofu mixture and cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- In the same skillet, heat the remaining ½ teaspoon of olive oil. Add the pine nuts and toast for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently and watching carefully to prevent them from burning. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Brush each spring roll wrapper on both sides with vegetable oil. Cut each wrapper in half and fold each half into a square (you will end up with 18 squares).
- Spoon a heaping tablespoon of tofu mixture into the middle of each wrapper square, lightly pushing it down so it almost covers the surface of the wrapper.
- Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts on top and transfer to the lined baking sheets (9 per sheet). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Notes
- We used wonton wrappers instead of spring roll wrappers as they were all that was available to us. So for step 5, instead of cutting the wrapper, we just stacked 2 on top of each other after oiling.
- Instead of brushing over the vegetable oil, we used a coconut oil spray instead and it worked perfectly plus it was faster to do.
- To make sure the wrappers don’t dry out while you fold them, pile them on top of one another and cover with a clean towel until they are ready to be filled and baked.
- If you would like to freeze these, arrange them on a large baking sheet before they’re baked, and place in the freezer for about two hours (this will keep the filling from falling off). Transfer to a large freezer bag and freeze for up to a month.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
Disclaimer: This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
Recipe excerpted from Tahini & Turmeric: 101 Middle Eastern Classics—Made Irresistibly Vegan by Vicky Cohen and Ruth Fox. Copyright ©2018. Available from Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
I want to win bc I love cooking and this book makes me want to cook!
I’d really like to win the book because my daughter and I are looking to broaden our vegan horizons.
I’d love to win the book based on that one recipe above, it looks delicious!
I’m obsessed with your guys’ recipes! You’re two of my favorite food bloggers because your recipes are so easy to follow but also sooo good. I would love to try a different style of cooking with this cookbook! I also love middle eastern food and have never branched out but would love to!
I’d like to win a copy of this book to connect to the culture I was born into but never learned. The recipe(s) sound do-able and I think I could get good at making.
Thank you so much, Jasmine, for such a great review! We really appreciate your support.
Vicky and Ruth
Authors of Tahini and Turmeric
This looks so good! And so does the whole cookbook! I’d love to win a copy as Middle Eastern cuisine is one of my absolute favorites. I just recently went vegan (within the last few months) and there are definitely some dishes that I miss that I would love to learn how to adapt or just make at home. This is an awesome idea. Thanks so much for sharing Jasmine!
This looks so good! And the whole cookbook sounds amazing! I’d love to win a copy as Middle Eastern cuisine is one of my absolute favorites. I only became a vegan recently (within the last few months) and there are definitely some dishes that I miss that I would love to learn how to adapt or just make at home! This is an awesome idea, thanks for sharing Jasmine!
I would love to win this book. I love middle eastern food and would love to be able to share these recipes with my family.
I would love to win this book. I love middle eastern food and would love to be able to make it at home to share with my family.
Why I’d love to win the cookbook? I
Love middle eastern food but have no experience in preparing it. Thanks for the opportunity.
I would love to win the Tahini and Turmeric cookbook. I loved Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food before going vegan and I’d love to be able to veganize them! I’m always looking for vegan recipes that my non vegan boyfriend would be willing to try.
Would LOVE to win because I love to try new things, but mostly because my parents are Egyptian-Lebanese and it would be so much fun to try out some meals we grew up eating from our middle-eastern cousins and compare them to a dairy-free/meatless version!!!
Thanks for sharing!
I am newly vegan and get bored of the same old recipes…i would love to win this cookbook to spice things up ????
I would love to win this cookbook to add some new recipes to my vegan repertoire to serve to family and friends! Everything looks delicious!
These look delicious! I’d love to win Tahini and Turmeric because the only middle eastern dish I’ve really had has been falafel! I’ve been wanting to buy pomegranate molasses to try more things, but never find a recipe I actually like! Based on your description, I think I’ll definitely like the options in this book 🙂
Thank you so much Jasmine and Chris for sharing! (I’m normally a pretty silent follower so this is my first comment/post too!)
So I can make more BOMB AF recipes! <3
I would love to win the cook book you are offering because I am always looking for new vegan recipes to spice up my vegan lifestyle and this book sounds like an interesting addition to my cook book collection.
Wow, this recipe makes a very pretty presentation! I’d love to have this cookbook just to look at the pictures!
I’d love to win a copy of this cookbook. I have it and love it, but I’d love to gift a copy to my mom who I know would love it just as much as me!