Samosa recipe

Tajik pastry of hand-chopped lamb and tail fat with as much onion as meat, baked stuck to the wall of a tandoor.

2 hours and 35 minuteshard11 ingredients

Ingredients

• 500 g lamb shoulder
• 150 g lamb tail fat
• 3 onions
• 500 g all-purpose flour
• 100 g butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 250 ml water

How to make Samosa

1. Knead 500 g of flour with 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon of salt and about 250 ml of water into a firm dough, cover and rest 30 minutes.
2. For the layered varaki version, roll the dough paper-thin, brush it with 100 g of soft butter or tail fat, roll it into a log, chill 1 hour, then slice and roll each piece out. Skip this and you get a plain pie instead of a flaky one.
3. Chop 500 g of lamb shoulder with a knife into small cubes. Do not mince it to a paste; the texture of the filling depends on it.
4. Mix the lamb with 150 g of tail fat in small dice, 3 onions chopped fine, 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon of black pepper and 1 and a half teaspoons of salt. The onion is nearly as heavy as the meat and it is what makes the juice inside.
5. Put 2 tablespoons of filling on each square of dough, fold into a triangle and pinch the seams tight, then press flat.
6. Brush with the beaten egg white and scatter 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds.
7. Traditionally they are damped on one side and slapped onto the inner wall of a tandoor for 20 to 25 minutes. In a home oven, bake them seam down on a preheated stone at 230°C for 25 to 30 minutes. They are baked, never deep-fried.
8. Rest 5 minutes before eating: the tail fat has melted into broth inside and will burn your mouth.

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