Egyptian Goulash

Week Four of our Food Atlas Challenge was Egyptian Food 🇪🇬! We made an Egyptian Goulash (Phyllo Meat Pie) for our main course. This simple dish is a flavorful beef and onion filling wrapped in deliciously crispy and flakey dough!

Ingredients:

For the Dough

• 16oz Package of Phyllo Dough, thawed in its package

• 
1 Egg Whisked in 1 Cup of Milk

• 1 Teaspoons Salt

• 1/2 Teaspoons Pepper


• 1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, (OR 1/2 Cup Olive Oil Combined with 1/2 Cup Melted Butter)

For The Meat Filling

• 
1 Cup Chopped Onions

• 
1 & 1/2 lbs Lean Ground Beef

• 
2 & 1/2 Teaspoon Baharat


• 2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder


• 1 Teaspoon Salt

• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2. Carefully lay the thawed phyllo dough sheets between two lightly damp kitchen towels.

3. Begin with preparing the meat filling. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large nonstick pan. On medium-high heat, saute the chopped onions briefly. Add the ground beef. Cook until fully browned, tossing regularly. Remove the pan from the heat briefly to drain any fat, then return back to the stove. Add in the Baharat, Garlic, Salt, and Pepper and stir to fully combine. Remove from the heat.

4. Now, to assemble the phyllo pie, lay three to four sheets of phyllo dough on the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Fold any excess dough in. Brush the top phyllo sheet generously with olive oil (or oil and butter mixture). Repeat this step as you lay three to four sheets of phyllo at a time in the baking pan until you have used up 1/2 of the phyllo sheets.

5. Now, as you have a nice base for your pie, spread the meat filling evenly on top of the last phyllo sheet.

6. Layer the remaining sheets on top of the meat repeating the same process as before (again, three or four sheets at a time, fold excess phyllo and brush with the olive oil) until all phyllo is used up.

7. Brush the top sheet with olive oil (or oil and butter mixture). With a sharp knife, cut the phyllo pie into 12 squares.

8. Season the prepared milk and egg mixture with salt and pepper and pour evenly over the pie.

9. Place the meat pie on the middle rack of the 350° F heated-oven for about 30-45 minutes, or until cooked through. The phyllo should be crispy and a nice golden brown.