From the tandoor with love
One of the most famous dishes in Central Asia is samsa, a savoury pastry stuffed with meat or vegetable. The samsa has a special place on the Uzbek table and in the customs of our people. Like traditional flatbreads, it is baked in a clay oven – the tandoor.
Text: Shodiya Khamidullaeva
By tradition, samsa – a small pie made of puff pastry that comes in various shapes – is baked in a large clay oven called a tandoor. Hot coals are placed at the bottom, and the samsa are stuck directly onto the hot walls of the oven. The stuffing can be made of beef, mutton or chicken, and there are also options with vegetable fillings. Each region has a special cooking method and a secret recipe for the filling and shape of the samsa. In this article, we describe the most popular varieties of samsa from different regions of Uzbekistan.
Jizzak. Samsa from Jizzak is characterised by a thin dough and a lot of meat. Onions and a little mutton fat are included for extra flavour. The pastry is quite large, and the way it is positioned in the tandoor is a secret guarded by regional masters.
Bukhara. Bukharan samsa, also known as olot samsa, is one of the most popular types of samsa in the country. It is distinguished by its graceful shape – it looks like an uneven trapezium – and a juicy stuffing that includes tomato. Unlike many other oven-baked samsa types, Bukharan samsa is prepared without puffs pastry and is not basted with egg wash before cooking.
Karshi. The samsa from Karshi has an extended shape, similar to fingers. Its dough is thin and crispy, and a generous amount of meat goes into the filling.
Khorezm. Samsa from Khorezm differs in its cooking method – it is filled with mincemeat and fried rather than baked.
Fergana Valley. The locals of the valley serve meat pastry in the most unusual way, known as kosa samsa, or samsa in a clay bowl. A soup made of meat, onions and tomatoes is ladled into a bowl, then the top is covered with dough and baked.
Tashkent. Kok samsa or green samsa is made mostly in spring using fresh greens. The dough is prepared in the shape of a large square, without puff pastry. Green samsa is thin and fragrant.
