samsa
(omnivorous)

recipe by mb

just the recipe

what I was looking for

I need to make a confession here. I find our new book of the month intimidating with a capital I. When I first got it I just kept flipping through the pages waiting for understanding or breakthrough or at least acceptance. Nothin'. The more I flipped the more intimidated I got. The more intimidated I got, the more I freaked out. The more I freaked out, the less I wanted to cook anything from this beautiful book. Finally I had to walk away and give myself a chance to percolate on what I had seen, without having it so near.

After stepping away for a moment I remembered having seen a recipe for little meat pies that didn't look as terrifying as everything else I had seen, so I went back and looked at it again. On second viewing, the recipe looked fantastic and I was actually excited to try it.

So (to wrap up) what was I looking for? Just something I could cook from this book without having my pants scared off.

what I made

I made the recipe for samsa from Beyond the Great Wall (pages 198-199), which are little pies filled with meat and seasonings.

grades for my version

healthy	C	This might deserve a D, but I refuse to give it one.
fast	D	Rolling out 16 little tiny pie-dough rounds is not fast.
easy	C	Other than all the rolling, it was surprisingly easy.
cheap	B	Other than the fancy beef I mentioned above it's very cheap.
delicious	A-	The meat was perfectly seasoned, full of incredible flavor and depth, but the crusts weren't quite right for me.

yield

16 perfect little meaty packages -- 6 for dinner (3 each) and 10 which J took to work.

equipment

   a food processor
   a rolling pin
   a large bowl
   a garlic press
   a cookie sheet

the dough

ingredients	A+D	mb	why?
flour	white, 2½ cups	white whole wheat, 2½ cups	healthier
salt	1 teaspoon	1 teaspoon	no change
sugar	1 teaspoon	1 teaspoon	no change
water	1¼ cups	1¼ cups	no change

   Put the flour, salt, and sugar into the bowl of a food processor and mix thoroughly. Then, while the machine is running, slowly add the water until there is a ball of dough.

Flour your tabletop and then knead the dough on it for a couple of minutes, until the dough is very firm and smooth. Now cut this piece in half, cut both of those pieces in half, cut those four pieces in half, and then finally cut the 8 pieces in half until you have 16 little pieces of dough. Flour your palms and roll these pieces of dough into little balls.

   Now make sure your tabletop is well floured and roll out each individual piece of dough into circles that are about 5 or 6 inches across. Stack these up, cover them with plastic wrap, and prepare your filling.

the filling

ingredients	A+D	mb	why?
meat	lamb, ½ lb. ground	beef, ½ lb. ground	easier, cheaper [1]
lamb fat	¼ cup	---	healthier [2]
onion family	1 cup chopped onion	1 cup chopped shallot	tastier
garlic	2 teaspoons, minced	4 teaspoons, crushed	easier
ginger	---	1 teaspoon, minced	tastier [3]
yogurt	2 Tablespoons full-fat	2 Tablespoons low-fat	cheaper [4]
cayenne pepper	⅛ teaspoon	⅛ teaspoon	no change
salt	1 teaspoon	1 teaspoon	no change
ground black pepper	¼ teaspoon	½ teaspoon	tastier
Notes
[1]	For Christmas my dear mother game me some delicious grass-fed beef, some of which has been chilling in my freezer just waiting for the right time to be used. So using it was most definitely cheaper and easier than going out and buying ground lamb. Maybe not as tasty, but who knows?
[2]	Maybe if I had been using lamb then using lamb fat would have seemed ok to me, but with beef there's just no way. Sorry.
[3]	This recipe called out to me for some ginger. And I'm glad it did because it was good with the ginger in it.
[4]	I've started making my own low-fat yogurt at home, so it seemed like an unnecessary expense to go out and buy yogurt just to make this one dish. I just used my own.

Now is the right time to preheat your oven to 400°.

      In a large bowl mix all of the above ingredients thoroughly, making sure that the spices are completely mixed into the meat.

Take a circle of dough and place about 2 Tablespoons of filling right in the middle of it. Lift up two opposite sides and pinch them closed, sort of like a cannoli. Then lift up the other two sides over the top and pinch them closed so that the whole thing is sealed up. Now press down lightly on the top so that a compact little rectangle filled with meat is created.

   Place the samsa seam side up on a baking sheet and then repeat the entire process 15 more times!

Bake the samsa for 30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown, and then let them sit for a few minutes to cool before serving them.

Questions? Comments? Corrections?
Suggestions? Contributions?
Please let us know!