Name: Samsa
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 12 servings
Cuisine: Uzbek
Ingredients: For the dough: 3 cups all-purpose flour; 1 cup cold water; 1 tsp salt; 4 tbsp melted butter or vegetable shortening (for laminating); For the filling: 400g lamb shoulder, very finely chopped (not ground); 2 large onions, very finely diced; 1.5 tsp ground cumin; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp salt; For topping: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp water; 2 tbsp sesame seeds

Flaky, golden pastry triangles baked in a clay tandoor oven, filled with seasoned lamb and onion — the Uzbek street food eaten hot from the oven at every market in the country.

The Cultural Story

In every bazaar in Uzbekistan, a tandoor oven glows orange from before sunrise. Around it, women and men slap unbaked samsa against its inner clay walls and pull them out minutes later, blistered and golden, smelling of lamb fat and cumin. Samsa is Uzbekistan's great street food, its portable lunch, the thing travelers eat standing up at the market with grease running down their wrists. The pastry is made with a laminated dough — rolled thin, brushed with fat, folded, rolled again — which gives each baked samsa its characteristic flaky layers. The filling is raw lamb and onion, heavily seasoned, always in a roughly 1:1 ratio by weight. The onion is what keeps the filling juicy: it releases moisture during baking and prevents the lamb from drying out. Samsa can also be made with pumpkin and onion for a vegetarian version called kadi samsa, beloved in autumn. Sesame seeds are scattered on top before baking. In home kitchens without a tandoor, a very hot oven and a pizza stone approximate the effect.

Ingredients

For the dough: 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold water
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter or vegetable shortening (for laminating)
For the filling: 400g lamb shoulder, very finely chopped (not ground)
2 large onions, very finely diced
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
For topping: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Instructions

1Make dough: combine flour and salt, add cold water gradually and mix until a firm dough forms. Knead 8 minutes. Rest covered for 30 minutes.
2Make filling: combine finely chopped lamb, diced onion, cumin, pepper, and salt. Mix well. The filling should feel wet from the onion juice — this is correct.
3Roll dough into a large thin rectangle. Brush generously with melted butter. Fold in thirds like a letter, then roll thin again. Brush with butter again. Fold and rest in freezer for 15 minutes.
4Roll the chilled laminated dough out and cut into 10cm squares.
5Place a heaped tablespoon of filling in the center of each square. Fold up into a triangle, pressing edges firmly to seal. Crimp the edges with your fingers for extra security.
6Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment, seam-side down. Brush with egg wash and scatter sesame seeds on top.
7Bake at 230C (450F) for 20-25 minutes until deeply golden brown. The filling should be cooked through and bubbling inside.
8Eat immediately while hot. Samsa is best within 15 minutes of coming out of the oven.

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