Qottab

The almond turnover is deep-fried rather than baked, and dusted thickly afterwards.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (yogurt).

Ingredients

for the dough

• 350 g plain flour
• 100 ml sunflower oil
• 2 egg yolks
• 100 ml yogurt
• pinch of salt

for the filling

• 250 g ground almonds, or ground walnuts
• 120 g icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom

to finish

• oil for deep frying
• 100 g icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. THE ALMOND TURNOVER IS DEEP-FRIED RATHER THAN BAKED, AND DUSTED THICKLY AFTERWARDS. Its article is unambiguous: qottab is an almond-filled DEEP-FRIED turnover, made with flour, almonds, powdered sugar, vegetable oil and cardamom. That one word changes the pastry entirely. Frying blisters the dough into a crisp, bubbled, slightly uneven shell in three minutes, where baking would give a smooth short biscuit; and because the surface comes out oily, the icing sugar goes on while they are still warm and sticks in a thick layer rather than dusting lightly. Baked instead, you have a perfectly nice almond pastry and not this one.
2. THE FILLING IS DRY AND IT IS THREE THINGS. Ground almonds, icing sugar, cardamom -- no butter and no egg. A wet filling boils inside the pastry and bursts it in hot oil, which is dangerous as well as disappointing.
3. GROUND WALNUTS ARE THE SANCTIONED SUBSTITUTE. Its article notes walnuts are sometimes used instead of almonds. They are oilier and the filling clumps more, which is fine.
4. THE DOUGH HAS YOGURT AND YOLK IN IT AND IS RESTED. Mixed to a soft dough, then half an hour covered. Rested, it rolls out thin without springing back.
5. IT IS ROLLED THIN AND SEALED WITH WATER, NOT PRESSED DRY. Two millimetres, cut in discs, a teaspoon of filling, the edge damped with a wet finger and folded over into a half-moon, then crimped. A dry seal opens in the fryer.
6. THE OIL IS MODERATE, NOT FIERCE. 165C. Hot oil browns the thin dough before the filling has warmed, and the pastry tastes raw at the fold.
7. THEY ARE DRAINED, THEN SUGARED WARM. Onto paper for a minute, then rolled or sifted heavily with icing sugar while still warm. Cold, the sugar slides off.
8. ITS ARTICLE PLACES IT IN YAZD AND AT THE NEW YEAR, and records an older savoury relative, sanbosag, from which it changed -- the same ancestor as the samosa -- noting the savoury form has become rare outside the Gulf coast and Laristan since the 16th century.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes