Samsa

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 10 gsalt
• 280 mlcold water
• 80 gsoft butter or lamb tail fat, for laminating

Filling

• 600 glamb shoulder, hand-chopped into 5 mm dice, never minced
• 200 glamb tail fat or fatty lamb trim, in 5 mm dice
• 500 gonions, sliced very thinly, not chopped
• 1 tbspwhole cumin seed, rubbed between the palms
• 2 tspsalt
• 1.5 tspcoarse black pepper
• 1 tspground coriander
• 3 tbspcold water

To finish

• 1egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbspsesame or nigella seeds
• Sliced onion and vinegar, to serve

Directions

1. Knead the flour, salt and cold water into a firm, unyielding dough for 10 minutes, then rest it covered for 30 minutes until it softens and rolls easily.
2. Roll the dough into a very thin rectangle, about 2 mm, spread the soft butter or fat over the whole surface, and roll it up tightly into a long sausage.
3. Stretch the roll gently, coil it, and chill 30 minutes. This lamination is what gives samsa its flaky, layered shell rather than a solid pastry.
4. Mix the diced lamb and fat with the sliced onion, cumin, salt, pepper, coriander and the cold water. The water and the onion juice become the broth inside the pastry.
5. Cut the chilled roll into 12 pieces, stand each on its cut end, press flat and roll into a 12 cm round so the spiral layers face out top and bottom.
6. Put 2 heaped tbsp of filling in the centre, gather the dough into a triangle by folding three sides over, and pinch the seams hard. Any gap will leak the juice and burn.
7. Set them seam side down on a lined tray, brush with egg yolk and scatter with sesame or nigella seeds.
8. Bake at 230°C (450°F) for 15 minutes, then drop to 200°C (400°F) for a further 20 minutes until deep glossy brown, puffed and layered, and juice bubbles at the seam.
9. Rest 5 minutes before eating; the broth inside is scalding. Serve with raw onion rings dressed in vinegar.

Technique

• The lamb must be hand-chopped. Mince releases its water immediately, packs into a paste and gives a dry, grey filling with no broth.
• Onion should equal roughly half the weight of the meat. It is not a background flavour but the thing that steams and creates the juice.
• A real samsa is slapped onto the wall of a tandyr and bakes in fierce dry radiant heat. A pizza stone preheated at 250°C (475°F) in a domestic oven gets you closest, and the base browns properly.

Substitutions

• No tail fat? Use fatty lamb belly or add 100 g diced butter to the filling, but the flavour will be milder.
• All-butter puff pastry is a shortcut used even in Tashkent bakeries for the flaky varaqi samsa; roll it to 3 mm and fill as written.

Variations

• Varaqi samsa, the puff-pastry layered version, usually square.
• Pumpkin samsa (koklamon or qovoq samsa), a vegetarian autumn favourite with cumin and onion.
• Beef samsa and potato samsa, the everyday city bakery options.

History

Sold at bazaars and roadside tandyrs throughout Kazakhstan, an Uzbek and Uyghur import now everywhere.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samsa?

Samsa is a street food from Kazakhstan: baked pastry parcels of minced meat, onion and fat from a tandyr oven. Sold at bazaars and roadside tandyrs throughout Kazakhstan, an Uzbek and Uyghur import now everywhere.

How long does Samsa take to make?

Samsa takes 1 hr of preparation and 35 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 samsa. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Samsa?

Yes, within limits. No tail fat? Use fatty lamb belly or add 100 g diced butter to the filling, but the flavour will be milder. All-butter puff pastry is a shortcut used even in Tashkent bakeries for the flaky varaqi samsa; roll it to 3 mm and fill as written.

What is the most important thing to get right in Samsa?

Roll the dough into a very thin rectangle, about 2 mm, spread the soft butter or fat over the whole surface, and roll it up tightly into a long sausage.