Samsa with puff pastry and minced meat

Puff pastry can be an excellent base for baking, and as an example, we can mention samsa with puff pastry and minced meat – a famous Uzbek dish. Preparing the right puff pastry is not easy, but today you will learn all the subtleties and secrets from the best chefs. The filling for samsa can be anything, but we will focus on the meat option. Samsa with puff pastry and minced meat does not like to be rushed, so try to free up a few hours and treat yourself to excellent baking.

Caloric content: 211 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Cooking time: 160 minutes.

Serves: 12.

Cuisine: Uzbek.

Ingredients

For puff pastry:

• 500 g of flour;
• 250 ml of water;
• 1 tsp of salt;
• 1 tsp of vegetable oil;
• 30 g of melted butter.

For the filling:

• 300 g of minced meat;
• 300 g of onion;
• 2 tsp of salt;
• 1 tsp of pepper or other spices.

For decoration:

• 1 raw yolk;
• 15 g of sesame seeds.

Preparation

1. We start with the dough: dissolve the salt in slightly warm water, then make a well in the flour and pour the water into it. Begin kneading the dough by hand, and if you have a food processor, it is certainly much easier to make the dough with its help.

2. Add a bit of vegetable oil to the dough to make it more pliable. Continue kneading the dough for 7-10 minutes on the table or a special mat. Then cover it with plastic wrap for about 20 minutes; this time is enough for the gluten to relax and make it easier to work with.

3. Once the dough has rested, knead it for another 5 minutes. Now you will definitely notice the difference in consistency, as it has become more elastic. Again, wrap it in plastic for 15 minutes. Then knead it one more time and start rolling it out. To make it easier to achieve a thin layer, grease the ball of dough with a small drop of vegetable oil. The thinner you roll it out, the better the finished samsa will be.

4. Evenly spread melted butter over the entire surface of the rolled-out dough. If necessary, you can replace it with another. Roll the dough into a tight log, avoiding air pockets. Do this carefully so as not to tear the dough. The resulting 'sausage' can be slightly twisted into a strand. Leave the dough in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours; if you're in a hurry, put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.

5. The chilled dough should be divided into pieces. To make the samsa tasty and for you to feel the layers, you should not roll it out too thinly. The dough should be rolled out thinly initially, before we rolled it into a roll. Therefore, we need to divide it into hefty pieces now, so that there is enough dough for baking. From the entire volume of dough, it is optimal to make 12 pieces.

6. Now we move on to working with the filling. Add any spices, salt, and finely chopped onion to the minced meat. Mix well. If the minced meat is very dry, add a little vegetable oil or other fat. However, traditionally, samsa is filled with chopped meat. The meat can be absolutely any, but it is better to choose fatty varieties. If there is not enough fat, then add oil to the filling later. The meat is cut into small cubes. Next, we do the same as with the minced meat — add chopped onion, spices, and salt.

7. Each piece of dough is pressed with the palm of the hand and then rolled out to a thickness of 3-4 mm. In the center, place a tablespoon of filling. There are many ways to shape samsa, but I suggest making the simplest and most familiar option in the shape of a triangle. First, fold one side towards the center, then the second and third. Slightly twist the sharp edges of the resulting triangles. Place the finished samsa seam side down.

8. We transfer all the pieces to parchment, after which we brush the edges with beaten egg yolk. You can sprinkle the samsa with sesame seeds on top; by the way, this moment is also used in the traditional recipe. Place the samsa on a baking sheet in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. It should be cooked for 45-60 minutes, depending on the power of the appliance.

The puff pastry samsa with filling is ready; look how beautiful it turned out! And the beautiful and crispy puff pastry is fantastic. Be sure to try it!