Savoury spinach strudel

This week I made fruit strudel and had a few sheets of filo pastry left over. They needed to be used up, and I wanted to prepare something different for our Saturday brunch with the kids and grandchildren. So I took my Indian spinach dish and used that as the filling.

Filling Ingredients >  350 – 400 gm (half a packet) of frozen spinach >  3 Tbsp olive oil  >  ½ tsp black mustard seeds >  1 large onion, thinly sliced >  4 cloves garlic, crushed >  1 cm ginger, finely chopped >  ½ tsp turmeric >  ½ tsp ground cumin >  1/3 tsp chilli powder or Togarashi seasoning >  1 tsp ground coriander >  3 sheets of filo pastry, defrosted >  Oil or melted butter for the pastry >  1 egg, beaten Gives 5-6 slices.

Steps  1.Defrost the spinach. This can be done in the microwave. Put into a fine sieve and let it drain. 2. Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a large frying pan.  3. Add the mustard seeds to the pan and cook until they start to pop. 4. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry until golden. 6. Add the turmeric, cumin, chilli powder and coriander, and stir fry for one minute. 7. Add the spinach stir well and fry for another 2 minutes. 8. Cover the pan, and let it cook for a further 10 minutes, on a slightly lower flame. 9. Turn off the heat and let the filling cool. 10.Heat the oven to 200C 11.I have a silicone sheet, and this helped me with the pastry, but if you don't use a wet tea towel. 12.Open the filo pastry packet and carefully remove one sheet and place it on the silicone sheet or tea towel, long side facing you. Filo pastry dries out very quickly, so cover the remaining sheets with a wet tea towel. 13.Brush the sheet with melted butter (or oil). 14.Repeat the procedure for another 2 sheets. 15.Place half the filling on the bottom half of the sheet as it faces you. 16.Turn over both of the short sides of the pastry, and then carefully fold the pastry from you towards the top. This is where the tea towel comes in handy. 17.Line a baking tin with silicone paper and carefully place the strudel on it.  18.Brush the top and sides of the strudel with the beaten egg. 19.Cut diagonal slices into the top level of the pastry, until you reach the filling. 20.Cover the strudel with another sheet of silicone paper. 21.Put into the oven for 30-40 minutes. The pastry should be brown and crispy.