Classic and one of the most popular dishesCentral Asia - samsa with meat - should traditionally be baked in a special open oven, which is called tandoor. Without the participation of this “heating apparatus”, the dish seems to be not real. However, inquisitive cooks have found out from their own experience that in samsa the main thing is the correct dough and filling, and not at all the method of baking.
What is samsa
If you do not find fault with the details, then this dish- just a pie. Usually it is made of a triangular shape, but there are square varieties and round, similar to delicious buns. However, in order to get exactly samsa with meat, and not just a simple pie with it, you need to follow clear rules.
The simplest and easily doable is to apply.These are the spices that are provided, for example, by the recipe of Uzbek samsa with meat. That is, no sets of spices, no "Central Asian" herbs - only black (let's say red) pepper, sung by Oriental poets of Zira and sesame seeds. Moreover, the latter are not part of the filling, they sprinkled the finished product before the end of cooking.
The basis of success - the dough
However, the seasonings are seasoned, but if you decidethat samsa with meat will turn out well from the finished dough, get a standard meat pie. Although the basic ingredients for any test are the same, the Central Asian dish contains both additional ingredients and also requires adherence to some subtleties.
The beginning of the creation of the test, from which will beOur samsa is cooked with meat, quite trivial: flour is poured into a bowl of salted water (half a teaspoon of salt for 0.5 cups of liquid), but do not forget to stop in time - the dough should not be too dense.
But then the process of making doughdeviates to the side: from 50 g of chopped fat (surely fat tail!) fat is heated and added to the dough. There is no place for cracklings, so they will have to either be thrown out, or, as an option, be used in another dish - to eat with fried potatoes, for example.
The dough is very carefully kneaded, rolled into a bowl, covered with a napkin and placed in a refrigerator where it should stand for about an hour.
The right stuffing: the selection and preparation of meat
Classic and the most delicious samsa - with mincedmeat, and it is with lamb. In our conditions, you will not find it everywhere, so you have to replace the lamb with something more affordable. However, the meat is still chopped, and not grind. Firstly, it will not be so “wet”, and secondly, with minced samsa stuffed with meat, more juicy and closer “in spirit” to the original.
In addition, the composition of the meat should be all thatsame fatty fat. However, if in the dough its flavor is palpable only with a delicate touch and gives it a piquancy, then in the filling the rump greatly influences the taste. If you do not really like the smell of lamb, fat can be replaced with melted butter.
The right stuffing: respect for the ratio
Exact keeping of proportions - almost to a milligram - is naturally not required, so you shouldn’t buy pharmaceutical scales. However, too much deviation from accepted norms will kill the taste of samsa.
So how to make samsa with meat and not turn it intopie? In contrast to the ratio we are used to, in this Asian dish, the meat should be less than twice the onion, and lard — or ghee — two times less than the mutton. Moreover, the calculations must take into account the fat, which is part of the meat. Onion is better to take white, often called salad. If you decide to take it a little less than normal - add more fat.
All components are finely cut, salt and pepper are added (you can pepper both red and black at the same time), zira is a pinch, not more, it is very spicy, and everything is thoroughly mixed.
Art modeling
When the dough is infused to the desired condition, itcut into four equal parts in length. The resulting bars are cut across, again into equal pieces. Determine the size of their own, it depends on what size samsa is planned with meat. The resulting lumps of dough are rolled into not thick, but not thin cakes, the prepared filling is put on them, and the most fascinating begins - modeling.
This samsa with meat (recipe with photos posted inour article) the output should turn out round, like a small bun. The basic principle is similar to khinkali burrowing: the edges are pinched as the neck of the bag. It is necessary to press the dough as tightly as possible, there should not be even a small hole or slit, otherwise meat juice will leak out when baking. The resulting nodule is pressed into the "body" of the samsa and becomes its base, so that it must be made flat.
How to make samsa triangular
Since most of the Asian "pies" still performed in the form of triangles, consider how to achieve this form.
Option one: flat cakes rolled the same round. After folding the filling, the edges of the pancake are wrapped in an envelope, so that the dough comes over each other.
Option Two:the dough is not cut into pieces, but rolled out in one big cake, sort of like on a cake. The resulting layer of the desired thickness is cut into triangles. When the filling is placed on them, the corners are bent, and the edges are stuck together with each other.
And in fact, and in another case, the "seams" are closed up in approximately the same way as on dumplings, and very, very carefully, so as not to lose a single drop of precious meat juice.
Basic principles of baking
Baked samsa with meat in the oven.Moreover, it must be preheated very strongly. If you have chosen for baking a baking sheet or a large frying pan - grease the bottom with vegetable oil. If samsa will be baked in ceramics (all of a sudden you have a suitable vessel and you want to get almost tandyr samsa), then you should slightly sprinkle the bottom of each product with water.
On top of the future goodies must be oiled(vegetable, and not necessarily olive), sprinkle with sesame and also slightly sprinkle. It is necessary to sprinkle the samsa a couple more times in the baking process, otherwise the dough may come out dry.
And the last secret: when your balls-envelopes are reddened, the cabinet door opens slightly, but the oven itself does not turn off. In this position, the samsa should stand in the oven for another ten minutes.
Layer Dough
They say the recipe of Uzbek samsa with meatinvolves the use of puff pastry. Of course, shop, ready, does not fit for our purposes. However, puffed samsa with meat will not require anything too complicated. You can just slightly transform the usual dumpling dough - and get an excellent result.
The order of work will be as follows:flour is poured into a bowl, salted and boiling water gradually flows in (in no case is cold water). It should make elastic dough; kneading ends when it stops sticking to hands. Butter or high-quality margarine is slowly melted on a small fire (or in the microwave), the dough is rolled so thin that it is about to tear, and smeared with butter-margarine. Then the pancake is folded, rolled out again and smeared again. This procedure must be done five or six times. The resulting "puff" is removed in the refrigerator, and for quite a long time - about two hours.
Features further work with puff pastry
After settling, the dough is obtained fromrefrigerator, rolled into a thin cake and again smeared with melted butter. But now you don’t need to fold it - it rolls up like a roll. The resulting "sausage" is cut across into parts, and these pieces are rolled into cakes. Please note that the roll segments should be laid on one side, not on the cut. Otherwise, instead of a tortilla, you get some kind of lace.
Brisket thickness, as in the case of the traditionaltest should not be too small. The filling is, in principle, the same, if you want to get a result close to the natural Uzbek one. Baking is also no different from the one described. True, some cooks advise: when preparing puff samsa with meat, do not lubricate the baking sheet (dough and so oily), but lay it with food parchment.
Modern variety of toppings
As already mentioned, initially there was only onesamsa type - with lamb. However, over time, a rather wide selection of toppings appeared. First of all, it is, of course, other types of meat. In our places, samsa with beef is made more often: mutton still needs to be found, and cow meat is here, side by side. No less often for the filling use chicken. Interestingly, nobody cooks pork samsa. Whether the meat is fatty for this dish, or it is an echo of the Islamic heritage of samsa.
In addition to meat, this dish is also found in vegetables. They start "pies" with pumpkin, and peas, and potatoes, and mushrooms. There are also recipes filled with eggs, complete with something.
“Parents” of samsa - Uzbeks - since ancient times made it a dessert. For this, fruit jams were placed inside, and from above, besides unchanged sesame, the delicacy was sprinkled with sugar.
There are mixed fillings.One of the most popular options is samsa with potatoes and meat. Dough for her, you can take any - even the usual, even puff. Some experimenters propose to add semolina to such a samsa, they say, because the dough is more fluffy, but tight. However, even if you choose the usual, note that it will take longer to knead to make it more dense. Nevertheless, the filling is supposed to be more moist and heterogeneous, so that it can break through the sides of the pie.
Again, the question of the ratio of the components.Most culinary experts agree that even mixed samsa, with potatoes and meat, should have onions in its composition. However, its amount probably depends on personal tastes. Yet in such a volume, as in traditional Samsa, you no longer use it.
In a word, you need to get the hang of it, practice it.on classic recipes, to feel the taste of this samsa - and there it will be possible to invent your own recipes. Successful experiments and bon appetit!
