Samsa - general principles and methods of preparation
Russians are rarely in the countries of Central Asia, with a real cuisine of Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan can be found only on TV and culinary portals. But if you visited the Crimea, you probably noticed that the recipes of oriental cuisine took root here firmly than the local population is very pretty. The Crimean Tatars, returning from exile, brought back with them the traditional pita bread, lagman, pilaf and, of course, baking. Today, our focus is on samsa - a puff pastry with meat, preferably of a triangular shape. In all settlements of Central Asia, and now even in the Crimea, Samsoy is traded in any roadside cafe, in the markets, in roadside eateries.
In Russia, samsa is also sold in cafes of Central Asian cuisine along with hot dogs and pies. In restaurants, it is served in a more Europeanized form - from yeast dough and various shapes. Thin crunchy puff pastry, aromatic nourishing filling, spices - all this gives the Central Asian samsa a unique taste. The filling can be the most diverse - meat, sweet, vegetable, cheese. Even if it is samasa with potatoes, it would not occur to anyone to call it a simple pie because of the special dough and characteristic oriental spices. The Central Asian samsa is traditionally baked in tandyr (a special oven for making national bread), but recently it has been baked in the oven. In shape, it can be not only triangular, but also square, hexagonal, round.
Samsa - product preparation
As a rule, eastern samsa is made from puff pastry. As a “fatty” ingredient, little margarine or fat-tailed fat is used. First, mix the flour with water, and then grease it with fat, fold it and send it in the fridge. As a filling cheese, meat or ground beef with lots of stewed onions. Among the sweet fillings - pumpkin, quince.
Samsa - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Samsa with Chicken and Sesame
It is best to take fatty chicken pieces. But if you want to reduce a few calories - chicken breast will do. Ingredients: flour (250 grams), butter (100 grams), onions (200 grams), yolk, sesame (for sprinkling), salt, pepper.
Method of preparation
For minced meat, we will cut the chicken fillet into very small pieces, or skip through a large meat grinder grate. Onion and chop also finely, salt, pepper and add 2 spoons of water. We need a homogeneous mass, mix thoroughly. Spread the cake with melted butter or margarine and fold it into rectangles and send to the fridge for 40 minutes. Roll out the dough, cut it into cakes and roll circles.
Put the stuffing in the middle and pinch the edges with a triangle. Spread samsa on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 210 degrees. 5 minutes before the end we will get a baking sheet and spread the product with an egg for browning. Serve samsa should be hot. If you have cooked more than required - leave the leftovers in the freezer, the semi-finished product can be stored frozen for a long time. Tea can be served to the samsa, a couple of vegetable salads.
Recipe 2: Fat Shoulder Puff Pastry
Puff pastry with fat tail - the usual pastries in Central Asia. A hot dish is incredibly nourishing and tasty, you need to bake it at a very high temperature - at least 220 degrees, and sometimes up to 250 degrees.
Ingredients: flour (1 kg), water, salt, onion (4-5 pieces), spices (cumin, ground black pepper), fat tail (200-300 grams), fat tail (100 grams) , meat (800 grams).
Method of preparation
Knead the dough like dumplings - flour, salt, water. Let him rest in a bowl covered 40-50 minutes.
Filling. We cut the meat and fat tail into small cubes of the same size. We cut onions a little larger than meat. Mix everything - meat, rump, onion, salt and add spices. Before adding cumin to meat, you can knead it in a mortar - so it will add more flavor to products. For juiciness, add 2-3 tablespoons of water to the filling.
Roll out the dough with a thin layer and lubricate it with melted pork fat at room temperature. We roll it into a large sausage with quick movements. Leave in the freezer for at least an hour. Heat the oven. Cut the roll into small pieces 4 cm long. Form the cakes with your hands, crushing the dough, and lay out the stuffing. We pinch in the form of a triangular envelope. Surface smear raw yolk and bake in the oven at high temperature. The dough should rise, the remaining 15-20 minutes bake at a small temperature.
Recipe 3: Samsa with Pumpkin
We need puff pastry. Of course, this is a hassle, and if you do not have time - it is quite possible to use ready-made dough from the deli. Stock up on dough and pumpkin, and now at any time for an hour you can cook a wonderful pumpkin samsa, fragrant and tender.
Ingredients: puff pastry (1 kg), pumpkin (200 grams), lard (30-50 grams), onions (2-3 heads), pepper, salt.
Method of preparation
Pumpkin peel and rub on a fine grater. Salo cut into small pieces. We clean and cut onions finely, mix all the products and salt and pepper the stuffing. Thawed dough thawed in advance, roll it into a layer, divide it into squares with a knife. On the center of the square lay out the filling and pinch the edges. Grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil, put the samsa on it down with seams and put it in the oven at a temperature of 220 degrees. Samsa is baked for 20-30 minutes, but 5-10 minutes before the end, smear with yolk. Before serving, you can pour our beauties zhirnoly sour cream. This dish refers to savory pastries, but you can add sweets - sprinkle sour cream with sugar and get a healthy dessert.
Samsa - useful advice from experienced chefs
In Uzbekistan, traditionally samsa is served to the table with dairy products, radish salad, green tea. Seasoning can be table vinegar. But samsa with potatoes is really difficult to call a pie - try to make a filling of a large amount of greens (cilantro, parsley, dill), potatoes and an abundance of spices. In combination with the dough, which is smeared on each layer with a mixture of fats, a real oriental dish is obtained - and it looks, and smells and tastes appropriate.
