Samsa Recipe

This samsa (samosa, somsa) recipe is super delicious and is very similar to samsas made in the clay oven. Except you will be baking them in your regular oven. The dough is tender and very flaky. The taste is divine, because we will be using either ghee or clarified butter to create tender layers. Let me introduce you to a new way of making uzbek samsa with this samsa recipe.

You can interpret samsa as small meat pies. I’ve made these to our friends and family. They all equally enjoy samsa. This recipe will require knowing basic dough work and rolling. You will find detailed photos and explanations to go with each step. Hopefully it will not be hard to understand and follow along. The good news is, this is more or less a lazy way of making this deliciousness. Come along for the ride!

Ingredients for the dough:

• 1+1/2 Cups of warm water
• 1 TBSP salt
• 4 cups flour (keep another 1/2 if you will need to add a little more)
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp of sugar
• 1 cup of melted clarified butter or ghee
• 1 egg and a little water for egg wash
• Sesame seeds or nigella seeds (optional)

Ingredients for the filling:

• 1-1/2 lbs lamb meat
• 3 medium onions
• 1 TBSP salt (add more if needed)
• 1+1/2 TBSP Cumin seeds, lightly crushed
• 1/2 TBSP black pepper

Directions to make the dough:

These steps can be done in a stand alone mixer. I just like to make the dough by hand. Probably just a habit.

Place warm water into a medium bowl, add a pinch of sugar, 1 TBSP salt, 1 tsp yeast, 1/2 tsp sugar and mix everything together. Add 4 cups of flour and start kneading the dough. The dough should not be too hard and not too soft and most definitely not stick to your hands. If it is too soft or too sticky add the 1/2 cup of flour.

Once the dough is nicely kneaded, cover the bowl with a lid or a wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile prep the filling for the samsas. Cut the lamb into very small cubes. I like the lamb to be a little fattier. Samsas will be nice and juicy. Place cut lamb into a large bowl.

Cut onions in half, thinly cut the halves across and thinly slice the onions.

Place the onions on top of the meat. Do not mix just yet. Add 1 TBSP salt, 1+1/2 TBSP cumin seeds, 1/2 TBSP black pepper on top of the onion, mix onion with spices and slightly mince it with your hands. Mix all the ingredients along with meat.

Take out the rested dough and prep it for rolling. Using your knuckles flatten the dough into a circle. The idea is to make the circle larger and larger. Use flour liberally in order to prevent the dough sticking to itself. Fold the dough into two in using your knuckles press the dough down. Repeat this process around the circle, making sure the dough is evenly thinning and getting larger. Once you have an adequate circle, latch one edge of the dough on the rolling pin and roll the entire dough. Start rolling the dough. The best way to roll the dough is to hold the rolling pin from bare side and creating a back and forth motion. After each roll open up the  dough and latch from a new side. Again make sure you are evenly rolling the dough.

Once the circle is big enough, using your hands pull the dough gently to make it even bigger and thinner. Pull it from all sides evenly. Some tears are fine, but make sure not too pull it too hard so that you rip it.

Once the dough is thin and large enough, spread melted butter all over the dough. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, slice the dough across, making 3 inch wide lines. Every samsa needs about 12 inch long line to wrap around. Some of the samsas will be patched from pieces of smaller dough.

Place a TBSP (or slightly more) of meat filling on the edge of the line. Start rolling the dough from side to side, creating a triangle. Follow the diagram in the photos. Wrap it filling in a triangle until 12 inches are used up.

Tuck the edge of the dough around the bottom of the somsas. Some of the somsas might turn out a little disfigured, which is absolutely normal. It will all taste just the same.

Preheat the oven at 375F. Cover a baking sheet with a parchment paper and place all the samsas on the baking sheet.

Make an egg wash with 1 egg and a little water. Brush the egg wash on somsas and sprinkle some sesame seeds (or nigella seeds) on samsas. Bake the samsas for 30 minutes or until they turn golden brown.

It is actually a pretty simple process. All you have to master is the rolling the dough. Once you’ve got that, it is all a breeze from there. This flaky, slightly hard layers of dough with layers of clarified butter will taste very heavenly.

Print Recipe

Samsa Recipe

This samsa (samosa, somsa) recipe is super delicious and is very similar to samsas made in the clay oven. Except you will be baking them in your regular oven. The dough is tender and very flaky. The taste is divine, because we will be using either ghee or clarified butter to create tender layers. Let me introduce you to a new way of making uzbek samsa with this samsa recipe.

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Uzbek Cuisine

Servings: 30

Author: Lola Elise

Ingredients

• INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH:
• 1 +1/2 Cups of warm water
• 1 TBSP salt
• 4 cups flour keep another 1/2 if you will need to add a little more
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• pinch of sugar
• 1 cup of melted clarified butter or ghee
• 1 egg and a little water for egg wash
• Sesame seeds or nigella seeds optional
• INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING:
• 1-1/2 lbs lamb meat
• 3 medium onions
• 1 TBSP salt add more if needed
• 1 +1/2 TBSP Cumin seeds lightly crushed
• 1/2 TBSP black pepper

Instructions

• DIRECTIONS TO MAKE THE DOUGH:
• These steps can be done in a stand alone mixer. I just like to make the dough by hand. Probably just a habit.
• Place warm water into a medium bowl, add a pinch of sugar, 1 TBSP salt, and mix everything together. Add 4 cups of flour and start kneading the dough. The dough should not be too hard and not too soft and most definitely not stick to your hands. If it is too soft or too sticky add the 1/2 cup of flour.
• Once the dough is nicely kneaded, cover the bowl with a lid or a wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
• DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:
• Cut onions in half, thinly cut the halves across and thinly slice the onions.
• Place the onions on top of the meat. Do not mix just yet. Add 1 TBSP salt, 1+1/2 TBSP cumin seeds, 1/2 TBSP black pepper on top of the onion, mix onion with spices and slightly mince it with your hands. Mix all the ingredients along with meat.
• ASSEMBLING:
• Take out the rested dough and prep it for rolling. Using your knuckles flatten the dough into a circle. The idea is to make the circle larger and larger. Use flour liberally in order to prevent the dough sticking to itself. Fold the dough into two in using your knuckles press the dough down. Repeat this process around the circle, making sure the dough is evenly thinning and getting larger. Once you have an adequate circle, latch one edge of the dough on the rolling pin and roll the entire dough. Start rolling the dough. The best way to roll the dough is to hold the rolling pin from bare side and creating a back and forth motion. After each roll open up the dough and latch from a new side. Again make sure you are evenly rolling the dough.
• Once the circle is big enough, using your hands pull the dough gently to make it even bigger and thinner. Pull it from all sides evenly. Some tears are fine, but make sure not too pull it too hard so that you rip it.
• Once the dough is thin and large enough, spread melted butter all over the dough. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, slice the dough across, making 3 inch wide lines. Every samsa needs about 1 inch long line to wrap around. Some of the samsas will be patched from pieces of smaller dough.
• Place a TBSP (or slightly more) of meat filling on the edge of the line. Start rolling the dough from side to side, creating a triangle. Follow the diagram in the photos. Wrap it filling in a triangle until 12 inches are used up.
• Tuck the edge of the dough around the bottom of the somsas. Some of the somsas might turn out a little disfigured, which is absolutely normal. It will all taste just the same.
• Preheat the oven at 375F. Cover a baking sheet with a parchment paper and place all the samsas on the baking sheet.
• Make an egg wash with 1 egg and a little water. Brush the egg wash on somsas and sprinkle some sesame seeds (or nigella seeds) on samsas. Bake the samsas for 30 minutes or until they turn golden brown.