Sambusa
These Tajik Sambusa, as samosa are known in Tajikistan, are filled with pumpkin, onion and cumin and sprinkled wiht sesame seeds before baking.
Servings 12 sambusa
Ingredients
Pastry dough
- 250 g all purpose flour
- 125 g warm water
- ½ tsp salt
- or use storebought filo dough / puff pastry
Filling
- 180 g pumpkin, grate
- 180 g onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin
- ½ tsp salt
- 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds
- optional aqua faba or plant milk for brushing
Instructions
Pastry dough
- Either make your own pastry dough as described here or use store bought puff pastry or filo dough. There are many accidentally vegan versions (where dairy is omitted for price and stability rather than other reasons).
- Heat the water until it is warm, warmer than tap water but not boiling.
- Mix flour, salt and water. Work the water into the dough. It will be a quite dry and very firm dough but it will work.Roll dough into a small ball, cover in clingfilm and let rest in the fridge for 30+ min, preferably 2 h.
- Take the dough out and knead it a bit extra, if needed. Let rest on the counter for a few minutes to let the gluten relax. Using a rolling pin, roll it out as thin as you can. This is a bit of work and will likely take some 10 min. If the dough starts to dry out, coat it with little bit of water. If it is tough, give it a few minutes resting or change rolling direction. I got the dough down to 1-2 mm thickness.
- Coat dough witha thin layer of olive oil and roll it up as tighly as you can. Cover the roll with a little oil and roll it up into a snail shell or snake shape. Cover in cling film and let rest for 30+ min. (If resting for longer, let rest in the fridge).
- Prepare filling
Filling
- Peel the pumpkin and grate it. Chop the onion finely.
- Mix equal volumes of onion and pumpkin. Sprinkle in some salt and cumin seeds.
Making sambusa
- Set oven to 225 °C
- When the dough is rested, take it out and cut it into 12 small pieces. On a floured surface, stand a cut piece on its end and roll it into a flat disc, about 10 cm in diameter.
- Place the dough disc in your hand, add ~2 tbsp filling.Make a fold in the dough, creating a line from the centre to the edge (see photos below). Bring up two other edges from the other side and pinch onto the created edges, forming a triangular sambusa with three seams going from the center out. Pinch the edges hard to create a seal. If needed, you can add a little bit of water where the dough pieces meet to help.Repeat with remaining dough and stuffing.
- Place sambusa on a baking sheet, brush with aqua faba, plantbased milk or water and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake for 15-25 minutes at 225 °C, until the sambusa are golden.(Using a convection oven, I found 15 min to be a good time.)