Katrien's Vegetarian Kefta Briouats
Adapted from About.com 

Jack Zahora

Ingredients
1 12-ounce meatless ground mock meat
1 cubanelle pepper, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
olive oil
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 preserved jalapeno pepper, very finely chopped
2 to 3 teaspoons tomato paste
1 package fillo dough
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 lightly beaten egg

Directions:
    1) Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and green peppers, and saute them, stirring occasionally, for five minutes or more, until they begin to soften.

    2) Add the tomatoes, garlic and ground mock meat. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring to break up the meat into fine pieces, until the meat is well-browned and thoroughly cooked.

    3) Stir in the spices and the jalapeno pepper, and taste. Adjust the seasoning if desired. Add the tomato paste, mixing well to bind the mock  meat, and continue cooking for two or three minutes to blend the flavors.

    4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. And in the meantime, fold the briouats.

    5) With scissors, cut the phyllo dough into strips about two-and-a-half inches wide.

    6) Place two layered strips of phyllo dough – on your work surface.

    7) Lightly brush butter on the dough strip.

    8) Place a teaspoon of filling towards the bottom of the strip, and fold the bottom up to enclose the filling.

    9) Fold the bottom left corner of the enclosed dough upwards to the right, aligning it with the right edge of the strip. Then flip the bottom right corner upwards to the left, aligning it with the left edge of the dough. You should see a triangle take shape. Continue folding the triangle, flipping right and then left in this manner, until you reach the end of the dough.

   10) Trim any excess length off the edge of the dough, dab it with a little of the beaten egg, and tuck the end of the dough into the "pocket" formed by the open edge of dough on the briouat.

   11) Bake the briouats in a preheated oven on 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes -make sure to check on them to avoid that they brown too much.

Katrien teaches Arabic, and she's writing a dissertation on contemporary poetry from the Arabian Peninsula. She's been cooking vegetarian food for 16 years.