Uyghur Lamb Samsa

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 220 ml cold water
• 1 tsp fine salt (for the dough)
• 40 g softened butter or lamb tail fat, for layering
• 450 g lamb shoulder, cut into 5 mm dice
• 80 g lamb fat, finely diced
• 2 onions (about 300 g), finely diced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1.5 tsp ground black pepper
• 1.5 tsp fine salt (for the filling)
• 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds

Before you cook

• Mix the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and the cold water into a firm dough and knead for 6 minutes.
• Cover the dough and rest it for 40 minutes.
• Cut the lamb shoulder into 5 millimetre dice with a knife rather than mincing it, so the filling stays chunky.
• Dice the lamb fat finely and dice the onions finely.
• Mix the lamb, lamb fat, onion, ground cumin, cumin seeds, black pepper and 1.5 teaspoons of salt in a bowl and refrigerate.
• Heat the oven to 220C fan and put a heavy baking tray inside to get hot.

Steps

1. Roll the rested dough into a rectangle roughly 40 by 30 centimetres.
2. Smear the softened butter or lamb fat evenly over the whole surface.
3. Roll the dough up tightly from the long edge into a snug log.
4. Cut the log into 12 equal pieces and stand each one on its cut end.
5. Press each piece flat with your palm, then roll it into a round about 10 centimetres across.
6. Place a heaped tablespoon of the lamb filling in the centre of one round.
7. Bring three sides of the round up over the filling and pinch the seams together to make a triangular parcel.
8. Turn the parcel seam side down and press it gently flat, then set it on a lined tray.
9. Shape the remaining eleven parcels the same way.
10. Brush the tops with the egg yolk wash and scatter over the sesame seeds.
11. Slide the parcels onto the preheated tray and bake for 15 minutes at 220C fan.
12. Lower the oven to 190C fan and bake for a further 20 minutes, until deep bronze and firm.
13. Rest the samsa for 5 minutes before eating so the juices settle.