Arabic Samosas (Sambousek)
From the book; Falastin; Sami Tamimi / Tara Wrigley
Perfect Picnic Fodder
Great little pasties, I have stuck to the Falastin ingredients here, but will be trying out others soon. This recipe makes 12 pasties.
The Pastry
1.5 tsp fast acting dried yeast, 1tsp caster sugar, 170ml lukewarm water, 320g plain flour (plus extra for dusting) a hearty pinch of turmeric, 3tbsp sunflower oil, 3 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for greasing), salt.
This is actually a dough rather than pastry and so you need to factor in the proving time into your preparation.
Mix the sugar, yeast and water together in a small bowl and leave for 10 minutes until it starts to bubble.
If you have a mixer with a dough hook you can use that or you can make the dough by hand. Put the flour, turmeric and a tsp of salt into the mixing bowl and combine. Add the yeast mixture and the oils and mix until you have a soft sticky dough. Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and bring the together into a ball, grease the mixing bowl with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Make sure the dough is completely coated in oil and then leave to prove somewhere warm for about an hour, or until its doubled in size.
The Filling
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 finely chopped onion, 4 garlic cloves (crushed), 250g sirloin steak, 1.5 tsp ground cumin, 0.5 tsp ground ginger, 0.5 tsp cardamom, 0.5 tsp turmeric, 0.5 tsp paprika, 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon, 0.25 tsp chilli flakes, 10g chopped parsley, 2 tsp nigella seeds, 1 tsp white sesame seeds, 1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water.
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and then roughly crush them with the back of a fork leaving about half of them whole. Heat the oil to a medium heat and add the onion and garlic until it has softened and browned, whilst these are cooking prepare the steak, remove most of the fat and chop it finely. Once the onion mix has browned add the meat and the spices and cook for another couple of minutes, stir in the parsley and then set aside to cool.
Whilst the filling is cooling divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and form each into a ball, cover with a clean tea towel and leave for a further 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C (for a fan oven - a little hotter if not fan), and line two baking trays with baking parchment / greaseproof paper.
Roll each ball into a circle about 12 cm across, in truth the dough is so pliable you may be able to shape it with your hands rather then rolling it. Put the circle onto your lined tray and then spoon 2 tablespoons of the filling into the centre of the dough and fold over to make the semicircle / half moon shape. Press the edges with your fingers and then seal them with a fork. Repeat until you have filed all the pasties, take care to space them well apart on the trays.
Brush the tops of the pasties with the egg wash and sprinkle with the seeds, bake for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown. You can eat them after about 20 minutes or you can wait until they are cold.